Let's get medical ...

You might be wondering about the lack of medicine-related posts on here. Just to scan through, it would appear that I have switched my priorities to politics, and that's not good for anyone. 

Yes, I am still studying medicine, and my faithful pink stethoscope tags along with me every day. It's just that ... well, I'm doing a Clinical Pharmacology term, and whilst nobody can truly claim to know what Clinical Pharmacologists do, one thing they don't do is see patients. And seeing patients is where all the best stories come from.

No wait, I remember, we did see a patient today. We ventured down to Intensive Care because we'd heard that a patient there had a high Vancomycin level. The levels should be between 15-20 - below 15 the antibiotic is ineffective, and above 20 it starts to become toxic to the body. This man had a level of above 60. After standing at the foot of his bed and staring at his chart, we established that he'd been given a dose last night when it should have been withheld. 

My supervisor chatted briefly with his treating doctor, and then we went for coffee.

Good story.