Guess What?

So... long story short (since I am exhausted from studying)... yesterday I got a call from Dr. Khine in the morning ( I was SUPPOSED to go in in teh afternoon) saying the person who stocks the PIXIS machine was not there yesterday (Tuesday). Are you kidding me? We are being held up b/c the ONE person in Monte who stocks the PIXIS (pharmacy machine) isn't there?! COME ON!!
So.. I went in today, was there for around 5 hours, and here were the statistics: 3 wheezing patients, 1 under the age of 2 years, 0 first time wheezers under the age of two years. Good for them, bad for me. Disappointing as well. It was 60 degrees today. Maybe tomorrow morning it will be better. But that will be it for me until next Tuesday due to boards on Sunday (i be studying tomorrow afternoon and friday) and interview at LIJ on Monday. And then I lose Wednesday as well (interview at Cornell).

Thats the short story.

Oh yeah - got Hopkins interview today! Suh-weet!

Mazel tov Frann and Suzy on your babies (Ariella, and baby boy Loberfeld)

D

Update (again)

Well, I spoke to Dr. Khine today, and it seems (drumroll, please) that 8 months after i started working on this, 3 and 1/2 months since our first IRB submission and about 1 month since IRB approval that we will start enrolling patients tomorrow evening!!! Now, call me cynical, distrustful, perceptive or what you ant, but I don't necessarily believe it. I'm waiting to see what will slow us down this time.
Dr. Khien did say she spoke to the pharmacist and things should be ready to roll. I'll be going to Monte tomorrow afternoon to meet with Dr. Khine and then to the ER with her for her shift at 5, and hopefully, we can get some patients..

(but i'm not holding my breath)

D

Brief Brief Update

Dr. Khine emailed me today, saying she has yet to hear back from the pharmacy. Seems less and less likely anything will get done this week given Thanksgiving.

D

So.. I Started My Research!!!!!

Ha! No I didn't... silly you for believeing that!

So, I got to Monte, all excited to start my research. I saw Dr. Avner in the ER as I entered, and he's like "Dr. Khine is over there," so I was excited, wearing my stethescope and all (first time in 3 weeks). I see Dr. Khine, and she says that we still have to hear from the pharmacy. I am not 100% sure what the issue is now, but I believe it has to do with the money - whether it is too expensive, or who is paying for it, I dont know, but I am pretty sure it has to do with money.
Anyways, Dr. Khine called Irma (Peds Ed secretary) and went to see a patient while I studied in the ED, an hour and a half went by, no word, I went up to library to study for another 45 min, came back down, and Dr. Khine said that we were not starting today, still no word (or negative word - I am not 100% sure) from the pharmacy, and she will call or email me when stuff is ready to go.
I am pretty upset - I was very much looking forward to starting today. We shall see what happens. (Just to note in the two hours I was there, there were 3 new patients brought into the asthma room, none of whom were less than 2 years of age).
Bah. This is getting slightly annoying.. knowing that we have been ready to start for about 2 months, and first held back by the IRB and now by the pharmacy. VERY frustrating.

In lighter news, Llamas go 10-1 (8 wins in a row) and clinich a bye. Go me!
I am currently reading Lions Game... though with the boards soon, I am not reading so much.

Krevat was in last weekend, which was nice. But it seems he is staying in Seattle for a bit longer (though he might start working for MSN fantasy stuff!)

I got Billy Joel tix for me and Shosh - VERY EXCITING!

Sammy is so cute. We open new toys and he goes nuts.. He stares at them and smiles and drools and makes noise! He is awesome. We hung up some more stuff in his room. IT really looks very nice.

My cousins, Rachelle and Adina were here this past weekend, which was very nice! We had a pretty good time and I think they had fun also.

Shosh bought Sammy (me) the Lamazze musical octopus - which is AWESOME! I've already played chopsticks and some other goodies. Sammy is gonna have to fight me for that one.

Off to bed.
buenos noches!

Ready to Start!!! No... not quite yet

So... Dr. Khine called me today.... she got the stamped consent and HIPPA forms.. meaning, from IRB standpoint we are ready to go! I cant believe it! BUT (there is always a but), the pharamcy is not yet ready making the placebo .. seems there is a limit to how much sorbitol you can have per solution as it can cause osmotic diarrhea.. so... the pharamcist is futzing with the ingredients to try to get a concotion that looks/smell/taste like Orapred, but is not too sickly sweet, no bad aftertaste etc etc as we want the kids to take it. So, Dr. Khine and I got to participate in a taste test in the pharmacy of various combos of placebo, which is , I must say, pretty gross. One had a horrific after taste. And for teh record, orapred does not taste that bad!

What else did I do today? Made copies of HIPPA/consent forms, collated, made signs for the ED, reviewed procedure, got the file box ready adn went to ED wit hDr. Khine to meet some attendings and nurses. I am very much looking forward to starting. Pharmacy says they should have stuff ready by Monday for us to get started, which is very exciting (but I am not holding my breath = )

in other news, llamas are 9-1 and can clinch a bye this week, shosh and I are starting to write thank you cards (finally got Sammy stationary) and look for babysitters, and Smamy is, of course, cute. I will post a new picture next time after i upload new ones to my computer. He is laughin gand making eye contact and following past midline and smiling and holding his head up better. Progressing very nicely.

Interviews at Jacobi, Robert Wood, and most recently at Sinai all went very well. Going to be tough to make a rank list since I like every place I am going to!

g'night

Brief Update

I spoke to Dr. Khine today and as of yet, no word from the IRB (regarding final approval which will give us the stamp on the HIPPA forms and consents) or the pharmacy (regarding prices of the medication/placebo). Tomorrow, I have an interview at Mount Sinai (interviews at Robert Wood and Jaocbi have gone very well so far - and let me tell you, that Bristol Myers Squibb hospital for UMDNJ is brand spankin new and beautiful! A pediatric cardiac cath unit!! holy cow!!) and Dr. Khine is going to call up the IRB and pharmacy and bug them. I'm going to get in touch with her on wednesday afternoon, after the weekly peds ed meeting and we'll see what happens from there.

D

Oh, It's On!

Well, I met with Dr. David today, and we chatted for a bit, and finally, after my assurances that I felt that the study is safe, and that, if G-d forbid Sammy ever met the criteria, I would indeed enroll him in the study. So, bottom line, stuff has been approved. We also have stuff worked out with the pharmacy (just waiting for prices), and now we need to wait to hear back from the IRB about if they liked our stuff and for them to stamp our consent and HIPPA form. Dr. Khine estimates that will happen early next week, I have an interview at NYU on Tuesday, so hopefully by Wednesday we can enrolling patients.

Which brings me to something Dr. Khine told me today - that I would be the only one enrolling patients, since they need to sit around for four hours and no attending has time for that. Dr. Khine might do some of it also on days she has off, but we'll see. I have a whole lot of interviews and boards upcoming also, so we'll see how enrollment goes for the next few weeks before I take the boards.

Today at Monte I sat in on a radiologists presentation to the peds ED staff - and i found it very interesting - a very good sign. Reaffirms my belief that I want to do peds ED. Anyways, I got introduced to some more ED staff, and eventually I will get to know all of them, which is pretty cool.

Have UMDNJ interview on friday, and then we are going to Steven and Laurie (and Devorah) for Shabbos. Should be a party! And ELIE is coming in for the weekend!!!

YAY!!!!!!!

Big Update

So.. i met with Dr. Khine and Dr. Avner yesterday. We fixed up the consent the way the IRb wants, filled out the IND form as well as established a DSMC (which, as far as I understand it, is a committee that makes sure we are not doing anything horribly wrong. They are independent and not associated with the project. Ours consists of Dr. Racine, a CHAM doc who has background in statistics; Dr. Hafeez - a peds ED doc who is also their ethicist, and Dr. Vicencio, a pediatric pulmonologist.) Wrote up the cover letter for all this stuff - including the resubmission of documents to the IRB as well.
We also went to the pharmacy and spoke with a very nice pharmacist who was able to assisst us and tell us that we would indeed be able to get bottles with about 60mL of either Orapred or placebo, with only a number on the bottle. The idea is to store these things in the Pixis so they will re- stock them when they see they are running low.
Now, all that we are waiting for is for Dr. David to sign off on the project. Dr. Khien and Dr. Avner aren't so happy that this is a requirement as the project has already been approved by the IRB... but, it is one of the requirements they put. Dr. Avner emailed JD yesterday to try to get the ball rolling, since as of now, I am meeting with him next wednesday. I already gave him a copy of everything we submitted to IRB. Hopefully, this will go smoothly. The ER docs will be getting inserviced about our research next wednesday.. so hopefully we can get started soon thereafter.

Update

Well.. found out what needs to be done for correction..... we need to make 2 spelling changes (actually, put in 1 dash and change 'get' to 'gets', fill out an IND form (yeah, don't remember off the top of my head, EXACTLY what that is - investigational new drug form. perhaps??), and also need to get Dr. David, the dean of the medical school to sign off on the project sicne "a medical student is key personell." Thats me! I'm considered "key." I feel special. Warm and fuzzy. I gave him a copy of everything and will meet with him next Wednesday. I am meeting with Dr. Khine tomorrow, so hopefully there will be another update tomorrow.

I interveiwed at Jacobi today. Beautiful NEW hospital. Everyone is friendly. Interviews went great (spent half an hour talking about sports and fantasy football with one guy b/c he had "no questions for me"). I like it a lot more than I thought I would. Impressed.

I have been studying for the boards, and I have got a LOT done the past 2 days, which is really nice.

Sammy is cute.

The End