Ups and Downs and global warming "theories"

Until today, I was having a fantastic week at work. There was the giant sebaceous cyst, the new-onset atrial fibrillation, some positive feedback from patients and I was actually staying busy enough to ignore my preceptor.

Then there was this morning (its only lunchtime now). I was so excited when the first appointment of the day was a mole removal....turns out it wasn't. It was an irritated, pigmented skin tag that the patient wanted a DERMATOLOGY referral for. I could have cut that thing off with a pair of kitchen scissors and my eyes closed!!! But no....no fun for the PA student.
Then there was the "lump on finger" that was a cyst of some sort. It was so small and ready to pop that I was able to drain it out of the needle hole I'd made to anesthetize the area (ps - the pt literally screamed and MOVED HER HAND when I was injecting her with a 30-gauge (tiny tiny tiny) needle). DO NOT MOVE YOUR HAND WHEN I'M STICKING NEEDLES IN IT! Are you five years old? Are you retarded? No, you're 61. I know you've had worse....
Then there was the "palpitations." Now, yesterday when I saw this same chief complaint it was a 91 year old lady with new onset A. Fib. Today, just a 31 year old male with a boring old run of PVC's that wasn't even happening anymore. Some patient education and a hand-out on "palpitations" later, he was gone.

BOOOOOOOOORING.

Then there is my preceptor.....
Chief complaint: sore throat. Doesn't look like strep. Strep screen is negative. What does he do? He prescribes an antibiotic. I believe this man may single-handedly be responsible for drug resistant organisms everywhere. It is unbearable to watch. Why does he do it? Because the patient came in for antibiotics and they won't be happy until they get them. Apparently this isn't medicine, it's customer service and the patient is always right.

Time to go back for some afternoon fun...will try to check my attitude at the door.

Jen

PS - today my preceptor was talking to a drug rep and called global warming a theory, which, were he a child of science at ALL he would know that
1) a "theory" is a hypothesis that is generally regarded as true, though cannot be proven
2) global warming is REAL