Suzanne Franki, M.D.

My morning is routine:  I get to the inpatient psychiatric unit where I am working with a wonderful group of interns just before 8 so I can get up to date on each patient, chat with the nurses, interns, and students.  At 9 am we have treatment team where the staff meets to discuss the treatment plans of each patient.  After that I round with the attending and each intern on all of the patients—and the teaching begins in earnest.    I enjoy learning from the attending as she pauses to discuss the medical-legal aspect of a patient’s case or her medication choice.  I also enjoy the questions from curious medical students and interns as they relate the case at hand to their reading.  We typically finish seeing all of the patients on the unit just before 1pm and I can grab a quick bite to eat with the interns and students in the doctor’s lounge before my phone buzzes to let me know I need to be somewhere—supervision, psychotherapy, didactics, or clinic. 

Now that I’m a fourth year my afternoons are always different: early in the week I have the luxury of staying on the unit and discussing psychiatric diagnoses and medications with the students or talking with my attending about life after residency.  The latter part of the week has me driving to the campus health center for a medication clinic.  On Fridays I see my long term psychotherapy patients—one of whom I started seeing as a PGY2.  In a few months I will no longer be assigned to the inpatient unit and I will have elective time which I plan to use to explore women’s psychiatric health, substance abuse, ECT, and treatment of patients with traumatic brain injury as well as study for my boards.   Most nights I beat my husband home to the house we bought about 20 minutes from University Hospital.  After feeding our cats I read until we decide to make dinner (now that I have a bit more time I can actually cook a dinner using something other than the microwave).  Not only has this residency prepared me to take care of my patients it has also allowed me to learn more about myself and the doctor I want to be.