1/Today I diagnosed an ear infection on the transplant Nephrology consult service. An immunosuppressed patient who came in with fevers with what we thought was a slam dunk UTI was complaining of ear pain along with a host of nonspecific symptoms. My attending said we should get

2/an otoscope and look in her ears. I am ashamed to say I kind of rolled my eyes internally - why is the Nephrology consult service the ones having to do an ear exam on a patient we were consulted on for tacrolimus management? But she said "the good doctor would do it." How can

3/you argue with that? You might not believe this but I don't carry an otoscope on the nephrology service, so I went to go find one. Let me tell you it's embarrassingly difficult - I had to go to three different nursing stations in two buildings and take two sets of elevators to

4/get there on a one way trip. But when I did, she had a bulging purulent TM that was textbook AOM. And you know what? Based on my exam infectious disease cancelled some obscure labs since we had a confirmed source and didn't broaden antibiotics. The management changed. So today

5/I'm going to eat some humble pie - the next time I start to think that something's not my problem, I'll step back for a moment and ask "what would the good doctor do?" #MedTwitter