Posted by Cam W. on May 11, 2000, at 0:14:05
In reply to Hey Cam--What ya up to?, posted by tina on May 10, 2000, at 22:29:17
> Just wondering where you've been. Getting buried under that pile of work again. Come out to play once in a while okay? Miss ya--Tina
Tina - Hi there. Yeah, I bit off a little more than I can chew at work. As follows:
1)I recently downloaded and printed over 200 journal articles and am now reading and summarizing because I'll be:
a) Teaching myself geriatric psychopharmacology in preparation for a series of presentations to geriatric nurses at one of our hospitals and also to geriatric psych nurses at our clinic (as a warm-up). These guys know more about these meds than I do. Word is that I will probably do a couple of presentation to some elderly people at a few nursing homes (not set in stone, yet and I feel a lttle more confident about these).
b) Teaching myself pediatric psychopharmacology for a new program being set up in our health region. This program is going to try to streamline the intake process and speed up entry into the system. Right now, unless it is an emergency, there is a 6 month wait for a child to see a psychiatrist. I have to learn drugs and dosages for various conditions and act as a consultant/liason for the community and hospital pediatric staff. I will probably work with the hospital pharmacists to help set up medication programs and compliance control programs, once a child is released from hospital.
c) Catching up on regular journal articles about the latest (and potentially greatest) new treatments for my regular work (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression). Also handling regular requests from our psychiatrists (Unusually weird questions, like the one today. Does apple cider vinegar change any pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic parameters of any of the atypical antipsychotics or SSRIs? My answer, after 2 hours of searching. Probably not, but monitor blood pH which may or may not change the excretion rate of some of the drugs due to acidification of the blood and urine; but probably not to any appreciable extent, anyway). How's that for a cop-out answer.
d) Have to read and make a short summary of the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health and how it can apply to our Canadian system (actually there is a few of us working on this) for the COO (she's a really nice lady and excellent administrator and also gave me a chance to show what I could do for the clinic - actually went out on a limb, into ground-breaking territory, to hire me against the wishes of The Board).
e) I would also like to summarize and do some handouts for the docs and therapists from the Consensus Guidelines for both schizophrenia (1999) and bipolar disorder (2000). I would like to do a handout on the pros and cons/indications and containdications of the old and new mood stabilizers.
f) Also working on putting together 2 journal articles with one of our brightest and hardest working psychiatrists (this guy is quick - even quicker than bob). I have got the initial abstracts printed and now need to cull them, highlight pertinent phrases, and order the journal articles that I think we will need. Then tear apart these articles and check their references. I don't think I can give away what we are doing, but I don't think the results will be earth-shattering, just helpful. I'm still new to this article writing stuff. Hey bob, maybe you can put the words into english for us.
2) I am working out for my next level test (brown belt) in karate on June 19. My katas (patterns) still suck and some of my basics are worse. I'm to old for this s***. I thought that by taking karate I would be able to defend myself. How can I defend myself if I can't raise my arms and it hurts to get up from a sitting position?
3) Saving $400 by taking down the rest of the fence that blew down this winter, so that the new fence can be installed on the week of May 22. How in heck do you get posts out of the ground that are surrounded by concrete? I am going to try a chain, spikes, and a jack-all (tried a karate side kick, but ended up sticking the claw end of the hammer into the back of my hand trying to generate leg power - doh!. Nice hole in my hand. I guess that's why karate means 'empty hands'). Went to emergency, where the psych resident recognized me and fast-tracked me in. This peed off the nurses, so my hand was handled a little roughly, but really, I shouldn't complain.
4) Trying to get ready to go on holidays to Disney World on June 4. My wife, bless her heart, has arranged the entire trip for us and the 2 kids. This lady knows how to get discounts. I was planning on taking some of the journal articles with me, but then gave my head a shake. Now, I only need to set up the pharmacy so that my more non-compliant patients will still get and take their meds without me watching over them.
5) Oh yeah, one last thing. I gotta worry about crossing a picket line if the Mental Health Staff go on strike. I am hired as a consulatant and will be needed to supply meds and help the docs coordinate appointments and help the managers with problems from patients who don't understand about strikes (kinda like me). I've taken a straw pole and even the diehard unionists don't mind me coming in, as long as I don't do work that oversteps my boundaries (eg give injections). They realize that someone needs to do the "go fer" work. Hopefully the strike won't happen until I am back from holidays. I will be coming in extra early (about 6:30) to avoid television cameras.
Sorry for the ranting and whining Tina, but you asked. Thinking of you guys and I appologize that I will only be lurking occasionally for a month or two, but will try to answer any questions that I can (especially the easy ones). - Cam
P.S. - If I come across any ground shaking articles, I will pass them along.
poster:Cam W.
thread:33127
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000508/msgs/33139.html