Yesterday I spent another hour and a half shadowing the ortho PA. We saw three torn rotator cuffs, since the shoulder doc was the only one in at the time. In a moment of feeling good about oneself, we were back in the office talking about the rotator cuff, and I was thinking in my head "Hmmm....rotator cuff...supraspinatus, I know that's the top one....SITS? Is that the acronym? Teres minor! Something scapularis...?" I actually remembered all that from class three years ago. That makes you feel good about yourself, knowing that all those hours you put in studying actually sticks.

What did we talk about....the Drop Arm test. The deltoids only lift the arm up to 90 degrees, everything above that is the rotator cuff. We talked about the lift-off test as well, to check the subscapularis. I also learned that the surgeon will go in and shave down the coracoid process (the bump on your collar bone), because it can irritate the rotator cuff sometimes. They will also go in and clean up some of the arthritis.

Those of you who know me know I enjoy learning about technology, and I know this isn't a new thing at all, but dang! The PA can dictate all her notes by voice into a head set, and the computer types it out for her. She can go pretty fast too, and the computer is pretty accurate.

The office has Electronic Medical Records, and I like the way the system works. Streamlines things and makes things a lot easier.

Lastly, she's gonna let me practice taking blood pressures on the patients. She is doing so much to help me learn, I am just so lucky!

oh, PS, Abby, I think you are definitely on target with your analysis of that cartoon. I couldn't agree more.

oh, and PSS...this is not medical related, but rather a possible movie recommendation. I don't normally like comedies because they tend to be very crude, but this one looks pretty funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTNBwIAY9Zo