*LA Family Physician V16#2 03 - Louisiana Academy of Family ...

RESIDENTS’ CORNER
share of injuries!). Those not playing had great
fun cheering the team on from the sidelines.
Hopefully, everyone will be recovered in time
for the start of the next sporting season.
Congratulations are in order for Dr. Stacy
Zeller, faculty physician, and her husband, Larry.
Dr. Zeller recently gave birth to twin boys, Daniel
and David. Although the bouncing baby boys
were premature and spent three weeks in the
NICU, they are both home now with big brother
Joseph. Dr. Zeller will be missed while out on
maternity leave, but we know she will be returning
soon. Word also has it that several of our
male residents are going to be proud Pappas in
the months to come—more on that later.
LSUHSC-Lake Charles
Lake Charles Memorial Hospital
by Rick Jeansonne, PGY III
Things are going smooth here. Since I
wrote to you last, we have scheduled close to
30 interviews already and interest in the program
has soared. We just wrapped up our fall
harvest weekend with students from all the
regional medical schools and I’m pretty sure
everyone enjoyed it. The weather was great and
the food was even better. I suckered Joe Nida
(PGY 2) into joining my musical entertainment
at the Bonfire/Pig Roast, with plenty of cajun
music as well. However Dr. Tuan Pham was
busy chowing down and was not able to do any
Michael Jackson this year. Although I guess this
was for the best since we are trying to recruit
students after all!!! The interns have finally figured
out the ins and outs of the hospital and
clinic and are slowly becoming independent.
We also wrapped up the annual in-service
examinations and we’ll get those results pretty
soon. We are especially proud of our graduates
last year as the Family Practice Board Exam
scores returned and the class average was over
the 94th percentile! Congrats to PGY 2 Jamie
Benton and husband Carter for the healthy
arrival of twin boys in November as well as to
PGY 2 Joe Nida and wife Jody with the birth of
their son at the end of November. We are excited
about the upcoming spring and the match
process. We also are already preparing for our
next site visit scheduled for 2005 to keep our
full accreditation. A lot of hard work has been
done by our program director as well as the
surrounding Lake Charles physician community
to make sure this program remains as strong
as it is. We are always striving to remain the
best Family Medicine Residency in the south.
LSUHSC-Monroe
Family Practice Residency Program
Lawrence Carter, M.D., Chief Resident
Brian Krier, MD, Director
“I’m On Call Tonight”
This is a phrase uttered by residents around
the country on a daily basis. However, at the
LSU-Monroe, E. A. Conway Family Practice
Residency Program, many times these words
can mean so much more. Our residency is
unique in that it is an unopposed residency
program, meaning that when there are procedures
to be done, we do them. There isn’t any
competition among us or other residents.
Furthermore, we are given the opportunity to
have considerable autonomy when it comes to
patient care. Because of this, about a third of
the time, our Family Practice residents have
experiences that go far beyond what is typically
expected. I’m sure this will become clear
after reading how the events of my last call
unfolded.
I arrived at the hospital around 6:45 am,
pre-rounded on my Medicine team, attended
morning report, rounded with my staff physician
and discharged several patients. Following
this, I attended noon conference and proceeded
to my Family Practice Clinic at 1pm. I saw
approximately 12 to 13 patients, performed a
circumcision, and evaluated an eight-year-old
male with a testicular mass. After resting for 30
minutes or so, I was called to the Emergency
Department to evaluate a patient with acute
pancreatitis. The nursing staff was unable to
gain peripheral IV access, so I placed a subclavion
triple lumen catheter. About 3 medicine
consults later; I performed a paracentesis
on a febrile, liver failure patient. Around 2am
that next morning, I performed a lumbar puncture
on a patient with suspected encephalitis.
At this point, I’m sure you are thinking
“what a call night!” but the fun wasn’t done yet.
At 7:30 am, while rounding on all the new
patients on my medicine team, I was paged to
the labor unit to deliver one of my OB patients
who was complete and pushing. After delivering
the baby and, of course, filling out the
paper work, I rushed to morning report to
present the 11 patients I had admitted the night
before. Wow, what a day and I was still out of
the hospital by 1pm!!!
Now that I’m a third year resident, I often
reflect on what I thought it would be like to be
a doctor. I never imagined that 13 years later,
not only would I be doing so much, but that I
would be making decisions and caring for
patients with so much confidence and independence.
There is a stigma at some University
hospitals that follow the Family Practice residents,
but my experiences at E. A. Conway disprove
all such ideas. Without going in detail,
most Family Practice Residents know what stigma
I speak of. In closing, when I first started
this program, my then Director, who happens to
be working in Kenya at present, made the comment
that I was learning how to be a “real doctor”.
Two and a half years later I understand
what he was saying, and it is truly gratifying.
Lawrence Carter, M.D.
Chief Resident,
Family Practice Residency Program
I’m sure Dr. Carter’s comments bring back
many memories of your medical training experience;
they do me. They reflect the necessity
for quality education in order for us to take
care of our patients, however, it takes more
than just being competent in procedures and
ordering the right tests to be a “real doctor.” It
takes caring enough to be available to your
patients when they need you and the confidence
in your own ability (and limitations) as
a physician. I appreciate Dr. Lawrence Carter
for his comments and opportunity to reflect
back on my own medical training.
Brian P. Krier, M.D.
Director, Family Practice Program
LSUHSC-Monroe
LSUHSC-Shreveport
Residency Program
Kim J. Hunter, Residency Coordinator
Can you believe it is already November, our
PGY-1’s are nearing the 6 month mark. They are
doing a great job, adapting well to seeing
patients and learning a lot during their rotations.
ERAS is up and running, fast and furious.
We have begun interviewing and have scheduled
several future interviews. This is a very
exciting time, so far thirteen of our applicants
are LSU students. Debbie Henry, Academic
Coordinator did a great job hosting and arranging
our resident fair in October. It was a great
success. We had 20 Family Medicine programs
to participate from Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi
and Louisiana. Student participation was outstanding.
We would like to welcome to our staff, full
time faculty member, Patrick B. Wood, MD
Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Co-
Director, Primary Care Pain Management Clinic
13