What's Your Average Census? (Residency)

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# of patients per day

  • Less than 5

    Votes: 3 12.0%
  • 6-10

    Votes: 10 40.0%
  • 11-15

    Votes: 7 28.0%
  • > 15 (you spend most of your day typing notes)

    Votes: 5 20.0%

  • Total voters
    25

Postictal Raiden

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I'm just trying to have an idea how my program compares.

On average, what's your daily patient load?

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Do you mean your personal census or the team census?
 
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Was recently in residency/fellowship and currently a neuro-hospitalist so I'll bite.

Residency: 6-10
Working: >15 on most days.
 
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Was recently in residency/fellowship and currently a neuro-hospitalist so I'll bite.

Residency: 6-10
Working: >15 on most days.
Do feel 6-10 is adequate for learning?
 
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If you have your own primary/admitting service with decent turnover I'd say 6-10 is adequate to at times quite busy, especially since sometimes when other residents are off you'll see more people.

<5 I'd expect more didactics or I'd really be trying to learn from my co-resident's patients.
 
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There was no such thing as a personal census for us because we were Q4 overnight call. 20-30 patients among 2-3 residents was the norm.
 
There was no such thing as a personal census for us because we were Q4 overnight call. 20-30 patients among 2-3 residents was the norm.
Q4 throughout the entire year or only when you’re on inpatient service?
 
When on inpatient service, which was virtually the whole year as a junior resident.
 
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When on inpatient service, which was virtually the whole year as a junior resident.
We may start doing that at my institution. Currently the call load is spread out evenly over the entire residency regardless of rotation. Not sure which system is better
 
We had a Q4 system, we averaged 6-11 patients per resident, depending on the flow. Honestly after the first 24-48hrs, the learning drops off significantly (on average). I'd think about it more as admissions. We averaged 8 admissions a night (plus the cross-coverage), that was where the bulk of the learning was for me. I'd point out that as a senior, you'll have everyone on the list, and you'll learn 10x more because you won't be bogged down in the nonsense of junior life.
 
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