What's it like to be an emergency medicine resident? Edmond (Eddie) Irankunda, MD, is a third-year resident in the University of Cincinnati Emergency Medicine Program, the first in the country. On today's episode of UC Health: Behind the Scenes, Dr. Irankunda takes you through a typical day in his life inside and outside of the hospital.
five a.m. Preparation for the shift. Edmund Eddie Aaron Kunda MD is a third year resident physician in the University of Cincinnati Emergency medicine program. Dr Aaron Kunda is preparing to start his day five in the morning right now. And so usually this is the time that I get up in the morning is still sleeping for the seven a.m. Shift. And so let's go ahead and get ready for the day. It's time to make some breakfast right now. I always feel like if I do not eat breakfast that's the first mistake. I always try to get that first as much as I can before going into work and everybody's favorite coffee. Breakfast is done now so go ahead and get started. It looks to be snowy day here in Cincinnati and so we'll probably need to live a little bit early to clean the snow off the car and make sure that we get there in time after breakfast. He gets into his scrubs, grabs his badge and vest before he leaves for the day. Thank you money that is going to work now. I never heard him love you. Mhm. Hi he locks up the house, hops in the car and makes the four minute commute to U. C. Medical center here in the parking garage now. So we're gonna go ahead and start walking into the hospital here. So because we other times that I'm walking through this morning it's just game planning for the rest of the day but I think it's gonna be a good day at the end of the day this is the entrance to the do that. Hey guys. Hi I hi guys since I was true some minor changes have been done but overall it's still the same seven a.m. Each time a physician or resident arrives for their shift they must transfer their patients to ensure a seamless transition of care. Third year residents manage the care of eight beds in a pod and oversee patients who come to the S. R. U. The shrew receives patients in need of critical lifesaving care so I have to sign out. It's now time to clean the desk with covid and everything happening. And so now we'll go ahead and reassess the patients who are coming in and it's seven o'clock so the nurses are switching out as well. So we'll readdress from there. This is ross one of our best Good morning and this is kate, one of our fine residents. So it's now time for morning report. And given that it's a Tuesday that means that the Good doctor instead of doing a toxicology lecture or something similar to that. So let's go see what they're doing 7:30 a.m. Before starting his rounds. Dr Aaron Kunda heads to his daily morning report every day between 7:38 a.m. One of the attending physicians presents a hypothetical but possible real life medical scenario two interns, 2nd and 3rd year residents. This is in preparation for their board certification after residency which must be completed in order to practice medicine on this morning. Edward J. Otton M. D. Professor in the department of emergency medicine at the UC College of Medicine and a U. C. Health physician leads the group through a toxicology case. Once education ends dr Evan Kunda returns to a pod and walks through each bed to check on his patients, he listens carefully to their concerns and discusses their treatment plans. Okay we're now going to walk over to bi pod and talk with our fourth year resident as well as our intern and see how they're doing over there. Sure breath attractions to 10. This is the lovely our for our one mentorship going on right here in real time. Alright so this is the S. R. Uh this is where the residents here in charge of all the patients that come in through this part of the department. This is one of those places where for the timid it'll bolden you and then for those who have some pride it can easily humble you as well. But this is where we learn how to be patient positions, taking care of some of the critical patients that go into the department. And so for everybody who comes into this program, the third year experience is uh is epitomized by really being able to function as a resuscitation ist and being a leader of a team in taking care of some of the sickest patients here in Cincinnati working at the R. Three desk we also have medical squads that come through with patients and they come here the box here and so there are three you have frontline access to this area as well. Doctor to shift has been steady so far but that changes quickly. One of his phones he carries on him rings as a third year resident. We have a couple of phones that would carry the third year resident phone. And then we have our Southwest CMS telephone as well that we carry which all departments from the southwest regional area will call. And we are the online medical control for for that region. So this telephone is something that the third year resident carries in the department and it's on us the entire time when E. M. S. Tries to reach us for medical direction. So we just had a patient coming through the S. R. U. Seems to be a traumatic injury to the lower extremity. Um So in times like this we have a lot more hands on given the current patient volumes that we have. So it's always gonna have those extra set of hands but right now I'm gonna get a lot of started get some X rays and then go from there spanish station. So part of the work that we do is dealing with a reassessment of patients. And so right now of a few patients who ended up getting ready to transfer have a few active patients who are in the S. R. U. Um Our consultants are currently seeing them so that helps things right away. And so with it being mid morning shift right now the biggest things are staying hydrated talking to your patients, making sure all the active plans that you had for the patients are progressing in a way that you would like them to be. So at this point we'll continue waiting for the new patients to roll in, make sure the patients that are already here have active plans that are in process and then go from there. Are you? How's it going? And how long is that ship Usually how many rotations you guys usually get? How many ships do you usually get? I think I have like 10 or 15 this month. It's really nice because when I'm in D. Pod and I'm kind of stressing my patients I don't always have enough time to fully devote thinking about the scan. So it's nice to have dedicated time to gain the skills and everything. Awesome. Well thank you very much. Right now we got a call about a patient that's coming in season with altered mental status. And at this point appears to be hypoxic requiring a lot of oxygen supplementation and his blood pressure is significantly elevated concern for this point possible seizure versus a head bleed given the patient's history of this as well. So we'll quickly see him when he rolls into our SRE you get his work up started and make sure that we can stabilize him for the C. T. Scan and then go from there as soon as he arrives. So today is now almost over. Um Towards the end of the shift there we had some pretty sick patients that came in with a cold stroke with a stem E. They were stretchers that pretty stretches that were waiting in the hallway. So it was a busy end of the shift there. But um it's this is what we signed up for. This is why we come to work every day to definitely take care of the sickest patients. So that was a good end of the shift. Their 307 pm. Time to wrap up his shift and head home before he leaves. Dr Aaron Kunda fills in the new resident on his patients, ensuring he knows every important detail uh shift is now over and so it's not time to go home decompress, say hi to the family and I just want to say thank you for spending some time with us here today and getting a glimpse into what it's like to be a resident here at the University of Cincinnati. Take care
