How to be a doctor lesson #329

So, from the title you may be wondering why I chose #329 as the number when you have never seen any other lessons on how to be a doctor. Well, it is like personal checks. Who starts at number one, right? Anyway, I am working up at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital right now with cancer patients. Any patients who are going to be staying at the hospital for a few days are all supposed to be prescribed prophylactic anti-coagulation therapy (prescriptions to prevent clotting). When patients are at the hospital, they tend to be lying down a lot increasing their risk of clots. Also, patients with cancer have a hypercoagulable state increasing their risk further for a clot. The risk of this is that these clots can often go to the lungs (as well as other body parts) and kill a part of the tissue and sometimes, if big enough, can cause sudden death. Anyway, now that I have helped you understand the seriousness of it all, I will tell you what I learned. I had noticed that my patient had not been on this prophylaxis and I had written it in my notes for four days, but because rounds were always so rushed, I never mentioned it and just assumed I was wrong. Well, finally last night, I talked to the resident and asked her about it. She checked, and sure enough, this lady was not on anti-coagulation, and she was really concerned and told me that next time I noticed something like that, I needed to let her know immediately. Well, nothing happened to the lady, fortunately, but I learned that I need to trust my instinct, and that when something seems wrong, I need to voice my opinion. Or, a catchier way that Jon put it is, "When in doubt, shout it out!" :-) Anyway, I am glad that I got to learn this lesson without someone dying, and I am glad that I actually knew something. Hooray! Well, that is all for lesson #329. Good night.