By Benji Ho - December 29th, 2015 | Updated December 29th, 2015
Risk Classifications Schemes
Caprini Risk Assessment – estimates venous thromboembolism risk for non-orthopedic surgeries. Low risk use SCDs. Mod risk use meds or SCDs. High risk use meds+SCDs. If risk of bleeding, use SCDs only.
CHADS2 – estimates stroke risk in Afib patients. Easiest one to use. Recommends aspirin, anticoagulant, or both, depending on risk.
By Benji Ho - December 20th, 2015 | Updated February 17th, 2016
Botanical (Herbal) medicine has been used all over the world, and in different ways. In a 2005 CDC survey, 19% of adult Americans take dietary supplements and most use them without medical advice. Because many of your patients may be taking botanicals at home, as a medical practitioner, it is important to at least be familiar with them, and even…
By Benji Ho - December 13th, 2015 | Updated January 16th, 2016
When treating allergic rhinitis, you should take into account the severity of symptoms, patient’s age, whether they are pregnant or not, price, and other factors. For asthmatics, allergic rhinitis is especially important to be treated as it can lead to asthma exacerbation. And of course, one should try to avoid known allergens as well.
For Mild Intermittent Symptoms:
By Benji Ho - December 9th, 2015 | Updated December 10th, 2015
Skeletal Muscle Relaxants can be prescribed for musculoskeletal pain only if you find no relief with acetaminophen or NSAIDs. Skeletal muscle relaxants have not been proved to be more effective than acetaminophen or NSAIDS, and because of the side effects and lack of evidence for long-term efficacy, they should only be prescribed if Acetaminophen or NSAIDs have failed, and should…
By Benji Ho - November 19th, 2015 | Updated March 18th, 2016
Why Family Medicine?
It is a very satisfying field, particularly if you love building relationships with patients and their families. I’ve gotten to treat both parents and their kids. I’ve even got to take care of a pregnant woman, deliver her baby, then take care of both her newborn and herself post-partum. The range of practice is wide, and the…
By Benji Ho - July 1st, 2015 | Updated July 14th, 2015
So it’s come to this day, the end of internship year. There’s no doubt that there were some rough days and sleepless nights during the past 365 days, but there were also many days when I came home with a smile knowing I did something significant for someone else.
As for my co-residents, I have really enjoyed working with them…
By Benji Ho - June 14th, 2015 | Updated July 12th, 2015
The last time I saw the Caribbean was the day I hauled my bags to the airport and flew away from St. Maarten where I had been living for two years for Basic Sciences, to move back to the states to start my clinical rotations. That was in the fall of 2011. It wasn’t until nearly four years later, this…
By Benji Ho - April 29th, 2015 | Updated May 19th, 2015
ERYSIPELAS – caused by strep
1. Penicillin, Amoxicillin, Ampicillin (covers strep specificallly)
CELLULITIS – caused by strep and staph
No Abscess or pustular drainage – likely MSSA, MSSE
1. Cephalexin, Dicloxacillin – PO, for minor infxn
2. Oxacillin, Nafcillin, Cefazolin – IV, for more severe infxn
Abscess or purulent drainage present – likely MRSA, MRSE
3. TMP/SMX (Septra), Clindamycin, Doxycycline…
By Benji Ho - April 29th, 2015 | Updated August 6th, 2015
Anatomy
Zeis gland = sebaceous gland of eyelash (external)
Moll gland = apocrine gland of external eyelid
Meibomian gland = sebaceous gland of internal eyelid
Pathology
Infxn of Meibomian = internal hordeolum (internal stye)
Infxn of Zeis or Moll = external hordeolum (external stye)
Blocked Meibomian that is not infected (no pain, no erythema) = Chalazion
Internal hordeolums can resolve…
By Benji Ho - November 26th, 2014 | Updated December 21st, 2014
It’s that time of the year again… interview season. It didn’t seem that long ago that I was interviewing here and meeting my current colleagues for the first time. Today, I find myself on the other side of the dinner table, interviewing candidates who I will potentially work with next year. I’ve gotten to read many applications, and met many…
By Benji Ho - November 25th, 2014 | Updated November 25th, 2014
Hey folks,
I know I haven’t blogged in a while, but I am still here, surviving my intern year.
Residency has been pretty busy thus far, but there hasn’t been a day gone by where I haven’t come home feeling I’ve had a productive day. My intern experience thus far has been pretty inpatient-heavy. I’ve had two months of internal…
By Benji Ho - September 30th, 2014 | Updated October 4th, 2014
It’s that time of year again, when all medical students who are transitioning into doctors go through a rite of passage called the Match season. I can’t believe it’s been a year already since I went through mine. It hasn’t been that long since I’ve been on this side of the Match, and already, I will be interviewing applicants like…
By Benji Ho - September 22nd, 2014 | Updated November 26th, 2014
During the residency interview, it’s important to dress to impress. While you can act and speak professionally, wearing jeans or a mini skirt to an interview can ruin the program’s impression of you. For every interview you go to, it’s important to bring two types of outfits:
Business Casual – to wear to the dinner with residents the night before interview.
By Benji Ho - August 23rd, 2014 | Updated August 23rd, 2014
With rounds, daily progress notes, grand rounds, afternoon clinics, day calls, night calls, morning reports, presentations, and teaching sessions, there are several things that had to be put on the back burner these past two months into residency, and blogging happened to be one of them, as you’ve probably noticed from my hiatus.
The other is working out and eating…
By Benji Ho - July 12th, 2014 | Updated July 9th, 2016
There’s so much I wanted to write about, like my experience during orientation, my first day of residency, Lyra’s 3rd month “birthday,” my first overnight on-call shift as a resident physician, my first paracentesis, and my struggles finding my way around the hospital system. However, it’s been 4 weeks since I started orientation and 2 weeks since I starting seeing…
My name is Dr. Benji Ho and I am a family physician and 2013 graduate of the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC), located on the Dutch side of the beautiful island of St. Maarten. My time at AUC has been quite a worldwide adventure, studying two years of Basic Sciences on the island, then completing my clinical rotations in the US as well as the UK. I completed my family medicine residency at Mercer University School of Medicine / Navicent Health in Macon, Georgia. Today, I am a board-certified family physician practicing outpatient family medicine in Macon, Georgia. I hope you enjoy my site as I share with you my journey. Thanks for visiting Diary of a Caribbean Med Student!