Being a nurse is an exercise in dealing with unending streams of urgent situations and near crises while having to make just as many snap decisions. Helpful and humorous, this guide breaks down the various specialist personalities to help you determine which doc to turn to (or avoid) when you’re in the next big jam.
Internal Medicine
Fit, well-dressed, with a cholesterol of 130 and the oddest prescribing habits you’ve ever seen. If you need electrolytes repleted or your INR brought to its proper level (that’s a measure of clotting time that’s influenced by Coumadin), the internal med specialist is your gal. Or guy. If you’re a nurse, having an internal med consult means that you’ll be cutting tablets into quarters and giving 7.5 mg of something that comes in a 25 mg dosage, but only on alternate Thursdays during the dark of the moon.
Neurologists, neurosurgeons and orthopods –>