Working on the Wards

Following are some key points to help you work effectively on the wards and in the outpatient clinics:

• Be on time.
• Post your call schedule in a location where it will be seen by interns, residents and attendings (e.g., the Peds ER if you are at Children's, at the nurses station for inpatient, etc.).
• Always let your intern / resident know what is happening with your patients. Also, keep them aware of your schedule.
• Get permission for all absensces. Students sometimes experience acute respiratory or gastrointestinal illness during pediatric rotations. If this happens, promptly notify your intern / resident.
• Avoid the spread of infection by washing your hands before and after examining patients.
• Patients should be undressed when examined. Provide children with privacy, and see that infants are dressed again when you finish your examination.
• Always have a chaperone when examining any adolescent.
• Raise the sides of the crib when you leave the patient even for a moment.
• Discussion of a patients' illness in the presence of the patient or visitors, or on elevators, often leads to misinterpretation and unmitigated anxiety.
• Do not give out information over the telephone to doctors or others calling from the outside; refer such calls to the resident, the intern, or the nurse.
• Always consider the emotional reactions of the patient, parent, and other children and visitors to diagnostic procedures.