Schedule

Folks have been asking me what my “typical day” is like. So here it goes…

I’ve been getting up around 0500 (unless I go to water aerobics or run, then it is about 0430). I try to be at work by 0630. I have walk in patients between 0700-0800 which generally consist of sick-call and follow ups. But don’t let that fool you, I have walk-ins all day long. Patient appointments begin at 0800. Lunch is 1200-1300. Most days, I’m finished with patients around 1600 (that’s 4pm for the non-military folk) and work on records until close to 1700. At 1700 a group of us meet in the supply tent and do an exercise program called P90X. It lasts about an hour. We then mosey on over to the DFAC (that’s Hooah for chow hall**translation**that’s Army speak for the dining facility.) I then go back to the clinic to finish up records and work on a couple of my collateral duties. (Collateral duties are the assignments one has in addition to their “real” job. I am the Dashboard Chair and the Chair of the Medical Record Review Committee . Both are great collaterals, but time consuming.) I’ve been getting back to my rack (cubicle) by about 2100.

We have been averaging near 30 patients a day in our clinic. I don’t actually put “hands on” each one of them, some things my technicians can do, but I have to review and code the encounters in the computer and sign the record on every patient that passes through our door. We do physicals, routine exams, referrals from the TMC (Troop Medical Clinic), acute care (injury, trauma, infection, inflammation, etc), and we can make glasses, too. We are one of the most productive clinics here.

This cycle of events is repeated Monday through Friday. Saturdays are supposed to end at noon. P90X starts at 1200 sharp. Both Saturdays so far, I have had to return to the clinic to see follow ups or was called into the CASREC (Casualty Receiving = Emergency Room). The first Saturday I left at 1800, last Saturday it was 1400, so at least we are trending in the right direction. I have gone in on my “off” day both Sundays for patients requiring tight monitoring and patients in the CASREC. I am hoping this is an anomaly to my schedule and not a weekly event. (I have not added it to my Outlook calendar. ;o)

Luckily, I have fit in a couple movies and a camel ride….mostly during the left-over part of my Sunday. Unfortunately, both times I was called into the CASREC it was right before the beginning of Mass, so I haven’t made it…yet. Let’s hope I can add that to my “typical week” soon.