White Coat Diary asks Doximity members to share how they spend their days or nights inside and outside of the hospital, clinic, or office.
Giulia Ippolito Lane graduated from Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine (’13) and is a current urology resident at the University of Minnesota (‘18). She is matriculating into a Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery fellowship in July 2018. She is also a 2018 Doximity Scholar. Follow her on twitter @GiuliaILane.
Name: Giulia Lane
Specialty: Urology
Institution: University of Minnesota
Age: 31
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Morning
5am: Alarm goes off at 4:45, but I wake up at 5:20.
6am: Leave for the hospital. I lead inpatient rounds at 6:20; our team consists of three junior residents in their PGY-2 and 3 years and a medical student.
7am: Tumor board conference — as chief resident I organize the conference, present the patients and follow-up on the consensus of the multidisciplinary team.
8am: OR starts. Today we have 4 endourology cases. The first patient has a large renal pelvis stone so my attending and I are going to perform ureteroscopy with holmium laser lithotripsy. We are also teaching an intern and 3rd year student about ureteroscopy today.
9am: It’s a big stone, so I am in the OR, but we have broken the stone up and are now removing the small fragments with an endoscopic basket.
10am: First case is complete and while the room is turning over for the next surgery, I write orders and dictate. I return phone calls to patients and follow-up on the inpatients. By 10:30, our second surgery — a diagnostic ureteroscopy and transurethral resection of bladder tumor in a patient with bladder cancer starts.
11am: We find recurrent bladder cancer and ureteral cancer, we resect the bladder cancer endoscopically.
Afternoon
12pm: After the surgery, again I arrange follow-up, dictate, check on the first patient, return patient phone calls, follow-up on the inpatients, and field questions from junior residents.
1pm: Third surgery: a patient with a kidney stone. We perform ureteroscopy and break up the stone with the holmium laser and remove the pieces.
2pm: We are able to get all the stones out! While the room is turning over, I eat lunch and check in with the junior residents.
3pm: 3 PM is shift change for nursing and usually there is a little bit of a gap between surgeries at this time. I try to do some practice board questions while we wait.
4pm: The Last surgery of the day is a patient with bladder cancer that requires endoscopic resection of the tumor. We are able to resect the tumors.
5pm: We are finished right around 5 in the operating room. The resident team has rounded on all the inpatients in the afternoon. I wrap up my post operative orders and dictation and chart check the inpatients. I sign out to the chief resident on call for the night.
5:30pm: I run home from the hospital; it’s only a couple of miles. I’ll run back in the morning and drive my car in home tomorrow evening. I try to think through a big surgery I have tomorrow and go over what I did today as I run. It distracts me from running and also helps me solidify my knowledge.
Evening
6pm: I make it home to have dinner with my husband and toddler! My wonderful, supportive husband has some dinner ready for us.
7pm: Bedtime routine — bath then stories and playtime. I try to put my phone away and unplug. While my toddler plays I sneak in 5 minutes of stretching, I’m working on Ashtanga Yoga.
8pm: Lights out for baby. My husband and I alternate nights putting him to sleep. It’s my husband’s turn so, I head to shower and prep for the morning.
9pm: I got a clothing “bento box” from M.M. Lafleur with some dresses for an upcoming professional trip, conference and graduation, so I try these out. Online shopping before I started shopping at this retailer really wasted a lot of my time. Now I just try on what arrives and send back what I don’t like, easy and fast.
I check emails and work on my presentation for the AUA, it’s not until May but I like to get a head start.
10pm: Bed time. I’ll need to be up by 5 in order to jog in and shower at the hospital in time for rounds.
