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Home My WebLink AboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-07-20, Page 3A family doctor's daily schedule ;4_0011000•0, - never don.. Each day brings a fresh challenge, a new focus -for yearS of training, experience., and continual upgrading to try to keep abreast of some of the remarkable advances in modem medicine. Dr. Linda Steele thrives on the daily demands of a family practi- tioner. Her schedule is regular, but never routine. "I like emergency. It is stimu- lating and interesting. - Treating sore throats and colds all day would be boring", Steele said candidly. • She is.thc only Exctcr doctor so far to complete the three-day advanced trauma life support course at Vic- . toria Hospital. This course teaches such life-saving techniques for ac- cident victims as vein cut-downs, 1Vs, injecting saline into the abdo- men to detect internal bleeding, tracheotomies and tracheostomies, removing. fluid build-up from around the heart, and treating a rup- tured aorta. "We can do all this here if we HOSPITAL ROUNDS - Dr. Steele visits old friend and former Palient Emetie Finlay, who now lives at the Ailsa Craig nursing home EXETER - A doctor's work is is have to", she noted. The ring of the phone at 1:30 a.m. signals the beginning of a busy day for Dr. Steele. It is nei- ther startling nor unexpected. An - 10 doctors affiliated with South Huron Hospital take their turn on call, and this is her day. Sheds wanted in emergency; one of the Exeter police constables has been kicked in the eye and needs medical attention. The doctor is roused from sleep twice more, at 130 and 5:30. Hus- band Bill, a neurophysiologist who works in agricultural research in London, gets the- children up and prepares their breakfast, letting his wife sleep in until a late 7:45. Steele is immediately on the phone. "The kids think its part of my car", she laughs. First -call is to the hospital, to check on a patient admitted the night before. Next is a run- through of the day's patients with receptionist Diane Hartman whom Stcelc refers to as "computer_ Times -Advocate, July 20, 1988 Page 3 filled with variety.. brain", because her memory banks contain every patient's phone and ,O111P number. . • - • - The day begins to speed up. - Mix-up. Babysitter fails to ar- rive. Hurried calls to find another. 9: 15. Children dropped off for special program at'rcc centre, then on to rounds at Exctcr Villa. . .10:00 a.m.- South Huron Hos- pital cmcrgcncy department. Ex- amine constable's injured eye. Sew -up finger crushed in indus- Each day brings a fresh challenge trial accident. Explain that Workers Compensation pink slip must - be filled in at place of.employment: "It's not for our sake, but for yours". Give polio -tetanus shot. "Lasts 10 years." •. Order cardiogram and, blood work for patient being affected by ex- tremely hot weather. (Very hot and very cold weather increases admis- sions in the 44 -bed hospital.)• Child who caught foot in •bicycle spokes is back. Couldn't put on cast because of bad cut. Shows. mother on xray where new bone is forming. 10:30. Short coffee break. 10:45. Back in emergency. Burn off warts with liquid nitrogen kept at -196 C. Read electrocardiogram. Explain to patient. Call nurse to assist with removal of cyst on patient's forehead- Nurse rela,rfs emergency has been busy - since 7:00 a.m. All three treatment rooms full and line-ups waiting. "Make me pretty, now", patient - jokes:. As the operaticin proceeds, -fie adds; "Make sure .you get it all. I'd rather. not go through this - 'again." - Thc .cysi is popped into a bottle to be sent away and tested.. - Order x-ray, for woman- in wheel- • chair who slid into third base. -Hospital rounds.. Usually 10 to 12 patients.'Variety-Of diagnoses. Noon. - Special farewell lunch in restaurant for office staff_to say fare- -- -well to- Dr. Debby Waters, moving. to Saskatoon. Lunch usually eaten - at hospital. • 1:30 to 5:00. Office hours. See at (east 30 patients. (Practice lists .1,000 famitics in four bulging fil- ing cabinets.) Baby clinic on Tues- days. No needles given to babie .on Fridays .in case of reaction over weekend. • 5:00 until 6:00. head to town swimming pool to watch daughter Sandra practice for swim, team: Home for dinner. - - For relaxation, the busy doctor heads for the golf course, the swiinming pool,or a shopping cen— tre. With the rotation system among the Association's doctors, - 'the family has been able to -get away to their cottage for entire weekends: ' The phone announces a new day. Dr. Steele doesn't know what it - will bring. She just knows it won't be- ' boxing. FOUR HANDS NEEDED - Emergency room nurse Norma Lindenfield assists Dr. Steele in removing a Sebaceous cyst from the forehead of Jim Allison. A minor surgery clinic is held each Thursday morning at the Exeter hospital. Photo feature by Yvonne Reynolds i -1 !N THE PICTURE • Dr. tee of her son Kyle's injured foot. e shows Janet Smith the most recent x-ray • INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT - Stitching up a finger injured on the job is part of the day's work. READY TO GO AGAIN - Dr. . Steele rebandages Kyle Smith's foot: The child had caught it in the spokes of a bicycle. 14600011k. • ....1011111111. EYE TO EYE - Dr. Steele examines Constable Brad Powell's eye, injured earlier that day. FAREWELL IrUNCH - Dr. Steele took tima out to attend a farewell staff lunch for partner Dr. Debby Waters.before the chief of medical -staff left for OFFICE HOURS - Dr, Steele checks over five -month-old Courtney Hrud- Saskatoon ka, South Huron Hospital's New Year's baby, while mother Lorie looks on. 1 ON THE PHONE - A phone plays an important part in the daily life of a doctor.