One thing that I've discovered in the last 3 months or so is how heavy a white coat can get over the course of a day. My coat has 5 pockets, and through the forces of convenience and habit, each has developed its own purpose:
Pocket #1: Upper left chest. This is the pocket for pocket-book references, one for general hospital & medicine (how to write orders, normal standard lab values, common emergencies and how to deal), the other a pharmacopoiea guide (generic and trade names, doses). I also carry 3"x5" blank notecards and make a card for each of the patients I'm carrying at a given time. And, of course, this is the pocket that has clipped to it 3 pens of different colors, a penlight, and my ID tags.
Pocket #2: Left side, waist-level. This is my stethoscope pocket. If and when I need to start carrying a reflex hammer, that'll go in here too. Sometimes I move the stethoscope around my neck to balance the weight out, but usually it's curled up with its ears hanging out the upper edge of pocket #2. Sometimes I put my cell phone in this pocket too. When it vibrates, so does the stethoscope, so I'm more aware of it ringing than if it was somewhere else.
Pocket #3: Left inside secret pocket. This is the mirror image of #2, on the inside of the coat. It contains my chapstick and eyedrops, when I remember them, and a handful of alcohol wipes.
Pocket #4: Right side, waist-level. This is my paper pocket. On any given day I'll have 20+ pages of paper folded hot-dog style, tucked vertically in. What's with all the paper? It's usually journal articles about diseases that my patients have, or daily lab values or medications, or scratch paper that I scribbled someone's history and physical findings on. By Friday this pocket is significantly heavier than the stethoscope pocket, and I'll hunt down a paper shredder basket and get rid of everything I can. This pocket also holds my beeper. When I was in surgery I stupidly attempted to carry a pocket-size surgery text in this pocket, which proved reall y painful and I quickly learned my lesson: not only is it heavy as heck, I don't actually have time to study it, so it just ends up being dead weight all around.
Pocket #5: Right inside secret pocket. This carries nothing! I didn't even realize it was there until recently. There's something really awkward about being right-handed and reaching into a right side inside pocket. It's more natural to reach across the body into the left. Anything that goes into this pocket gets neglected, so I stopped trying to use it.
A woman who gave an awesome speech at our white coat ceremony 2 years ago told us that white coat pockets can carry up to 9 pounds. I think I carry less than that, but by hour #3 or so, whatever I do carry starts pulling down on the back of my neck. I start hunching, rolling my neck around. I find myself holding the bottom of the pockets in my hands to relieve the weight. It's weird and totally unanticipated. How come nobody warned me? Do doctors develop really strong neck muscles by the time they're in practice? Maybe I should've become a chiropractor instead. Between the purse and the coat, I'll be needing one soon.
What's in your pocket?
3 comments:
Huh - I never really considered that doctors actually use all those pockets.
All that and no ipod? I think it is time for a priority check!
a hole! aughhhhh!
those all sound really good! Thanks for the poetry recommendation- I've been wanting to get into poetry lately, something I never really understood.
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