Acknowledgements
The handbook began as a QI project under the thoughtful guidance of Dr. Jennifer K. Green, whose generosity allowed the project to grow and ultimately become successful. Many other people contributed along the way. The editors would like to thank Dr. John McPherson for his support of the project. Maria Kasel in the residency office was instrumental in working through the logistics of the project, in addition to providing much needed moral support. Tim Jones in Vanderbilt’s printing office was all too available for many questions related to the printing process. Kristy Braden helped to ensure the project was effectively financed. Among the chiefs, JP Arroyo provided early encouragement and advice on the project; Brad Christensen likewise supported the project and authored a section, while Lauren Hartman and William Sullivan provided material that was adapted for various sections. The many residents who authored sections volunteered their time despite the many demands on it already, as did the many faculty who responded with such care and attention to drafts of the handbook. Among faculty authors, Sean Kelly contributed a section on PrEP, Shayne Sebold Taylor on LGBTQ health, Rebecca Bruccoleri on several toxidromes, Amanda Bailey on wound care, and Carol Nestler on guidance for imminently dying patients. Jessica Wallace, PharmD and Haley Leach, PharmD contributed significantly around many essential VA-specific questions. Thanks also to Drs. Kathleene Wooldridge and Tyson Heller, whose procedure service guidelines were reproduced here.
Rationale for the Handbook
The goal of the handbook is to provide specific, systems-based guidance on our practice at Vanderbilt and the VA. The editors have aimed to go beyond pathophysiology, giving concrete instructions on a variety of commonly encountered problems. Our hope is to give our readers
(particularly new interns) direct and actionable guidance that fits right in their pocket, with a range of topics bound together in a single, standardized, and faculty-reviewed handbook.
The handbook takes its name seriously, aiming to put specific and helpful advice right in the palm of the hand, small enough to fit at hand’s reach in the pocket of a white coat. There are many resources already available to residents, but we hoped also to distill the most essential topics into a single user-friendly book, rather than have disparate resources spread over the web, or Box, or other repositories. Put another way, the material goal of the handbook was to make our practice tangible to the housestaff, a guide literally at our fingertips, rather than a few clicks or a helpful (if fortuitous) personal encounter away.
The goal was also to bring together many of the housestaff in a coordinated effort to disseminate details of our practice in a more standardized format, such that guidance was rooted not just in the oral tradition of a resident guiding an intern—or an attending a resident—but made legible to all who might wish to consult the handbook. We hope that this document will inspire confidence and learning, whether the reader is an intern on July 1 or a senior resident who wishes to refresh their memory of a topic.