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Dr. Susanna Goheen: Pockets Full of Knowledge
Goheen was going to meet her husband in Virginia to buy a home - a home she hadn't yet laid eyes on because of her demanding schedule. She was 35 when she started medical school and wouldn't have wanted it any other way. "I am at the hospital all night on call because I love what I do," Goheen said. "You have to love it because it does mean lots of long hours." Which also means lots of caffeine for Goheen and the rest of the residents. Before her Grand Rounds lecture, she grabs another cup of strong coffee - her third for the day. A choice between decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee at a Grand Rounds lecture? Absolutely unheard of outside a crowded auditorium of scrubs and white coats. About twenty minutes late to the lecture, Goheen couldn't find an empty seat in the freezing auditorium. She did find her pager, though, and checked it when any of the hundred or so pagers or phones rang during the hour-long lecture. "It's time to head back to look in on the patients I couldn't get to before lecture," Goheen said, as she was quickstepping back to the fourteenth floor of the West Tower at Texas Children's Hospital, where this month she is the Acting Chief for the Pulmonary Service. Goheen's responsibilities on the floor include overseeing the medical students and interns. "Most of the teaching we do with the interns and medical students is by the bedside," said Goheen, as she examined a patient's chart with a medical student. "They get plenty of formal teaching as students so it is our job to make sure they learn what they need to know on the floor." Under her breath Goheen points out her inability to multitask, but in almost one fluid motion, she answers a medical student's question, checks her beeping pager and squirts QuikCare antimicrobial hand foam soap on her hand before entering a patient's room smiling and introducing herself to the parents. By 10 a.m., Goheen already had seen ten patients, been to Grand Rounds and was heading to a lecture by Dr. Okan Elidemir, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and the attending physician on the pulmonary floor that day. Eight learners were at the more informal lecture - four third-year medical students, three interns and Goheen. "Patient care comes first," Goheen said when she answered her pager during the middle of the lecture. It wasn't urgent, but needed to be answered. Pagers went off throughout the lecture but the professor never missed a beat - until his own pager went off. Elidemir, a member of the TCH lung transplant team, returned a few minutes later. It was news that there was a lung available but it did not match any of the hospital's candidates. After the lecture, Goheen made rounds, answered more questions from medical students and interns, and ensured that the previous night's on-call interns had left the hospital on time. Residents are only allowed to work 80 hours per week and no more than 30 hours in a row. Goheen finally found a little bit of downtime in the early afternoon. It was not downtime for the medical students however. A natural teacher and leader, she grilled the students one by one. "Each day is a test with new patients, new problems that we may not have seen," Goheen said. "And going from pediatric patients to treating adults, it keeps me on my toes." She chose the medicine-pediatrics residency program because she couldn't decide which specialty she wanted to enter. Med-Peds residents rotate every few months from adult specialties to pediatric specialties. In her weighed-down, not-so-white coat, she carries an abundance of books and cheat sheets. She swears she regularly cleans out her pockets and throws away things she doesn't need anymore, but her pockets are always full, she said. A pharmacopoeia, transfusion card, cell phone, Spectra phone, The Sanford Guide to Microbial Therapy, alcohol swabs and much more occupy the pockets currently. Although she didn't always use everything in her pockets, she says it is comforting to know that the many items are all there. Her day winding down, after her shift at the hospital, Goheen did what any resident would do. She flew to Virginia and bought a house. |
Patient CareWhen Executives Become 'Ill-Suited' ResearchEducationThe Responsibilities of Residents Coat Pockets Full of Knowledge Community ServiceAlumni & DevelopmentCollege News
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Volume 1, Issue 2, Summer 2005 |
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| Last modified: October 10, 2008 |
Getting to the hospital at just a little after seven on Friday morning, fourth-year medicine-pediatrics resident Dr. Susanna Goheen hoped she would be out of the hospital to catch a flight by early Saturday afternoon.