My census is one

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And that person is a neurosurgery patient sitting on my medicine service. But, with no major medical problems it isn't hard to check if he is breathing every day, optimize his blood pressure and do some basic medical screening (the man has never seen a doctor). Plus it gives me time to teach. Today I went over the neuro exam with my medical students. Tomorrow we are going to the hematology lab because my co-intern has a patient with a very rare type of leukemia.

Seriously folks. If you are in medicine and reading this you are probably laughing. I am giddy with happiness. We're on call Friday which is generally a very busy call.

Meanwhile I am writing my own guide (based on the others) to a lot of the problems I have encountered as an intern.

Why isn't everything basic I need to know in one place? The answer is that what each person considers a "need to know" "basic" thing is different. I am hoping by the end of this year I will have discovered and tested the answers to many of the common medical problems we see.

P.S. You've got to read http://www.mothersinmedicine.com/.