I just got my new block schedule for my second year of residency – it tells me which rotations I’ll do in which order, but I don’t know yet when I’m on call (that will be worked on soon). I’m pretty happy with it… it goes like this:

Block 1 (7/1-7/26): Sports Medicine
Block 2 (7/27-8-23): Team 3 OWL / ACE
Block 3 (8/24-9/20): ED
Block 4 (9/21-10/18): NICU
Block 5 (10/19-11/15): Rheumatology
Block 6 (11/16-12/13): Harborview
Block 7 (12/14-1/10): Harborview
Block 8 (1/11-2/7): Adolescent Medicine
Block 9 (2/8-3/6): IICU
Block 10 (3/7-4/3): Otolaryngology (ENT)
Block 11 (4/4-5/1): Team 2 Senior
Block 12 (5/2-5-29): WWAMI in Port Angeles
Block 13 (5/30-6/30): WWAMI in Port Angeles

And here are some explanations of the rotations:

Sports Medicine, Rheumatology, and Otolaryngology (ENT) are my electives. I’m actually really excited about the ones I got (especially rheumatology – the field that deals with autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc). The ENT service is a separate residency program and they are actually a surgical subspecialty, so I might have a chance to get into the OR again during that month.

Team 3 OWL is when I am the Overnight Ward Leader for Team 3, which has patients from general medicine, cardiology, and nephrology (kidneys). I work nights for 2 weeks (7pm-7am) and I cover the team with the intern on call. The other two weeks of this block are the ACE – Ambulatory Care Experience at Harborview Medical Center in the outpatient clinics.

ED – that’s the Emergency Department. I’ll be a senior resident in the ED so I’ll either work days (7am-7pm) or nights (7pm-7am). I’ve liked the ED so far and I’m looking forward to this rotation.

NICU – the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (at the University of Washington Medical Center). I’ll be one of the two senior residents working in the NICU this month.

Harborview – pediatric residents from Children’s consult and manage many of the pediatric patients admitted to Harborview. Many times, kids with traumatic injuries will be admitted to Harborview (instead of Children’s) because they are the trauma center for our region and are better equipped to handle things like car crashes and other traumas. I’ll also be working in the outpatient clinics during these two months.

IICU stands for Infant Intensive Care Unit and it is located at Children’s Hospital. It is similar to the NICU, but since no babies are actually born at Children’s, the type of care and conditions of the patients are a little different. We don’t do any post-birth resuscitation (because the babies aren’t there yet) but we get a lot of transfers from all around the region, especially for kids who need neonatal surgeries.

Team 2 Senior is when I’m the daytime senior (7am-7pm) for the month. Team 2 takes care of general medicine patients as well as patients on the endocrinology and craniofacial services.

And, finally, WWAMI. That’s Washington Wyoming Alaska Montana Idaho. Basically, that is the region that is served by Children’s Hospital (and by the UW medical school). During our second year of residency we do two months of an outpatient experience in a location that is somewhat more rural, specifically – it’s far away from the mothership (Children’s Hospital) so you have a lot more decision making and managing to do on your own. You really have to decide if you need that CT scan, and if you can handle managing a patient at the local hospital or if you need to arrange a transfer… I have heard great things about the rotation in general and I’m really looking forward to it. Not to mention that I get to live in Port Angeles for 2 months in the beautiful springtime – how awesome is that??