13
EVALUATING AND KEEPING TRACK OF PATIENTS
www.entnet.orgtrick is to use an acronym that represents a
system based on disease cat-
egories
(such as “Vitamin C” in the accompanying box).
Try it for yourself, and practice using it on all your patients. You will find
that this or another system will be a big help in organizing your thoughts
when you are confused or during high-stress rounds.
V ascular
I
nfectious
T raumatic
A utoimmune (or anatomic)
M etabolic
I
atrogenic or idiopathic
N eoplastic
C ongenital
On the otolaryngology service, most patients spend very little time in the
hospital, and keeping track of everything about each patient is not worth
your time. However, certain key information is needed on each patient,
and you should learn how to keep this information in a usable format.
Physicians need a good system for keeping track of patients, and we offer
this system to help you with your inpatient duties.
Perhaps most important, a list of patients and their diseases is an ideal way
to review and select topics for additional reading. (Remember, you are
reading an hour every day.)
One system involves
3 x 5-inch note cards
. The basic idea is shown in
Figures 2.1 and 2.2. Other alternatives include using Personal Digital
Assistants (PDAs) or other mobile devices with commercial data software.
This system allows storage of the data, so should you wish to “retrieve” a
memorable patient experience, the information will be available.
What you will notice if
you look closely and
understand the system
is that you know every-
thing about the patient
during their whole stay.
When the chief resident
asks, “What was his cre-
atinine three days ago?”
you know it!
Figure 2.1.