33-40%

11:20 PM

Author | Andrea Knittel

I don't often think about my life in terms of percentages, particularly as a way of judging success, but there are times when it is hard to avoid. For example, as sub-interns (the fancy word for fourth year medical students on more intensive rotations, such as in the ICU), we are expected to have off one day in every seven, or a total of four for the rotation. If a normal workweek, one in which the weekend is free, is 5/7, or 71.4%, then my workweek is 6/7, or 85.7%. This leaves only 14.3% of my time as free, which is small. Smaller even than the proportion of arterial lines that I have successfully placed, which is what prompted the writing of this post. An arterial line, or art line, or a-line as you may hear, dear readers, is a special IV that goes into an artery, most often the radial artery in the wrist. It allows for the easy drawing of arterial blood for labs, for continuous blood pressure monitoring, and for the humiliation of every medical student who ever did an ICU rotation. I have attempted the placement of five arterial lines, six if you count the one that I missed the first time but then got later after the one my resident placed failed, and that I subsequently got, as two separate lines. I have successfully placed two. That's right, two. That gives me a resounding 33% or 40% success rate, depending on the counting I mentioned above. This is not reassuring. It is, however, profoundly humbling, which is probably not a bad thing. Maybe humility is what the ICU teaches most effectively of all?

Media Contact Public Relations

Department of Communication at Michigan Medicine

[email protected]

734-764-2220

Stay Informed

Want top health & research news weekly? Sign up for Health Lab’s newsletters today!

Subscribe
Featured News & Stories Dr. David Stewart
Points of Blue
David Stewart, MD: Shaping the Next Generation of Pediatricians
David Stewart, MD, is a leader in pediatric medical education, guiding future physicians through hands-on hospital training and advancing competency-based education in pediatric residency programs.
man recovering on left in hospital gown in hospital room and on right with friends taking selfie in michigan gear
Health Lab
Michigan fan saved after wife recognizes stroke at football game
After a man suffered a stroke at a University of Michigan football game, his wife’s recognition of his symptoms helped him receive lifesaving treatment and make a full recovery.
Desmond Howard visits a patient at Mott. He is smiling and wearing a U-M alumni t-shirt and jeans. The patient is lying on a hospital bed and is covered with a white blanket.
Philanthropy News
“The Game” Could Pay Off Big for Little Victors: Join the Competition and Make a Difference
Join C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Game Gives Back to turn the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry into crucial support for pediatric care and research.
Ian in a dark laboratory looking at a computer screen that is displaying cells under a microscope
Points of Blue
Ian McCue, PhD candidate: Embracing collaboration in and out of the lab
Ian McCue is a PhD Candidate in the Cell & Developmental Biology Program.
Artificlal inelligence graphic
Medical School News
AI, AI, Oh! — Task force prepping Medical School community to adapt to new tools
How tools like U-M GPT, U-M Maizey, and many others, are being used, and how AI can be transformative in enhancing research, teaching & learning, reducing administrative burden, and preparing learners for future challenges in healthcare, centers the work of a new Medical School Generative AI (GenAI) Task Force.
close up of orange and purple squiggle-looking cells merging and a little green in the middle
Health Lab
Researchers find metabolic mechanism that blocks immune response, immunotherapy in cancer
New research has discovered why some cancers don’t respond to immunotherapy treatment: A metabolite transporter within the tumor microenvironment blocks a key type of tumor cell death integral to immune response.