The Problem with Outpatient Medicine

I think its incredibly difficult for medical students to jump in when the schedule is so packed. In many clinics, patients get 15 or 20 minutes a visit. That includes the note-writing or dictation too. We are, by our very nature, slow. We linger on the histories. We do everything for the physical. We hesitate before making the diagnosis. We stop and play with the kids in the room (or at least I do). You stick a medical student in a room, and you can plan on playing catch-up for the rest of the day. I don't know how real practitioners do it.

I've learned a good tip. Chart when you can. I'm one of those people who wants to take copious notes, then organize my thoughts, then write a well-calligraphied, precise note (after all, its a legal document). This kills. By the end of the day, I'm itching to go home, the patients are all jumbled in my head, the attending and staff are trying to bolt, and I'm still on chart 2 of 5. So now I chart when the attending is talking to the patient, chart instead of going to the bathroom, chart when I'm waiting for the nurse to get a urine dip.