A Day in the Life of a Duke Anesthesiology Resident

Tameta Clark, MD, CA-2 Resident

OB (The Labor & Delivery Suite)

Tameta Clark, MD

My shift on OB starts as I walk into the Duty Room to find the resident who was working overnight, in this case, Dr. Josh Dooley. The attendings are there handing over their call pagers and giving report on the patients who currently have epidurals running, but no Josh. They inform me that he is in the OR finishing up a C-section. Just as I walk around the corner to the OR, he is rolling out with the patient, so I accompany him to the PACU, and we chat about how the night went, which was apparently busy. He gives me a quick report on all of the patients that are still laboring with epidurals and any potential problems with those epidurals, and any possible C-sections. He gives me the call pager and goes home to rest up for another night. I go to the OB workroom where board rounds are just starting. Here, the OB residents give report of all the laboring patients and any patients coming in for scheduled C-sections, labor inductions, or other obstetric procedures. After board rounds I talk to Tede Spahn, the CRNA who works in Obstetric Anesthesia, about dividing the patients to be seen. I proceed to see the first patient in triage for a scheduled C-section, and Tede goes to see a laboring patient who is requesting an epidural.

In triage, one of the OB nurses is placing an IV and drawing labwork for the first patient scheduled for C-section. I introduce myself and take a quick medical and obstetric history, and examine the patient’s airway. I explain to her and her husband the sequence of events once we arrive in the operating room and answer any questions that they have before obtaining the patient’s signature on the consent form. As the nurse further prepares the patient for the procedure, I go to the OR to check that all the necessary equipment is there and draw up the medicines I will need. Next, I find the attending for the day to discuss the anesthetic plan and then proceed to take the patient back to the OR to place her spinal.

After the C-section is finished, I drop the patient off in PACU and give a concise report to her nurse. Tede is headed back to the OR for the next scheduled C-section, and I have a few laboring patients who I need to check on. After I have finished rounding on the laboring patients, I take a break for lunch and go down the 3 rd floor to see who is in the resident lounge, since being on OB on the 5 th floor takes you away from the camaraderie in the main ORs. After a quick lunch I head back up to the 5 th floor to check on the post-op patients and see new patients as they come in through triage. This is just another typical, busy day on OB. When Dr. Dooley comes in to relieve me, I am ready to go home and rest up for another day.