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Dr. Patricia Little was tired, hungry, and happy. It was, in other words, a normal day during her residency at Wesley Medical Center. "It is exhausting," Little, a 2012 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Medicine, said. "It's wonderful. You're just busy the whole time. It doesn't even feel like work." The previous few minutes were typical of the demands of her day. As she filled her plate at the salad bar in Wesley's cafeteria, her cell phone twice rang with questions regarding patients she was seeing in the hospital. "This is Little," she answered each time, quickly shifting from her lunch to life-and-death matters. "I am so hungry," she admitted when she was finally able to sit down. Family tradition of family medicine Little, 28, is in the second year of her three-year family medicine residency. In October, during her four-week rotation as a hospitalist, or in-patient specialist, she let a writer and a photographer follow her around the hospital and the Wesley Family Care clinic for parts of three days. Little joked that the medical school's public affairs department probably suggested her for a profile because of her talkative nature. Indeed, she seemed at ease with everybody she encountered in the hospital, from patients and their loved ones to her fellow medical professionals. "Talking to the patient is the easiest," she said. "I just love it." She appears to come by it naturally. Her father, Dr. Steve Barker, practiced family medicine in her hometown of Minneapolis, Kan., for 20 years, until he showed symptoms of Huntington's disease. "He's the best person I've ever met, hands down," his daughter said. "My entire town idolized him. He never talked down to patients." Neither does Little – when the patients can talk at all. Life and death … and Doritos The previous day, she'd made rounds with attending physician and super- visor Dr. Christopher Klouzek, along with a first-year resident (usually known as an intern), Dr. Josh Froese, who she in turn supervises. One of the first patients they saw had been brought in after being found unresponsive in a vehicle. The man showed little or no brain activity – the prognosis was not good. Between discussing treatment options with Klouzek and Froese, Little spotted a friend of the patient who was obviously distraught, and went over to her. "How are you?" she asked. A few minutes later the trio of doctors was up a flight of stairs. "Could be kind of a crazy day," Little said. "We've got a lot of patients." The next stop was to a man suffering heart and respira- tory failure as a consequence of uncontrolled diabetes. "How're you feeling?" she asked. "Rotten," he replied. After describing his course of treatment and asking if he had questions, Little added a little encour- agement before moving on. "You look good sitting up, which is great," she said. "The more you can do that, the better it is for your lungs. Take care." Another patient, an elderly man suffering from the West Nile virus, was showing signs of improvement. His son had driven from Georgia to be with him. After giving the son her phone number, Little said, "I'm here all day if you have any concerns." To us, she added, "I'm excited to be here when he wakes up. He's an interesting guy." Then it was over to the general medicine floor of the hospital, where Little and her colleagues checked in on a young man suspected of inflict- ing damage on his own skin, and a woman being treated for COPD. A "stop smoking" brochure lay on her table, and an open bag of Doritos sat on her bed. "Yummm …" Little said as she spotted the latter. After talking to the woman and her daughter about the use of her oxygen tank, Little asked, "How do you feel about staying one more night?" "I don't mind," the woman said. Then she offered Little some Doritos. "I'm kind of hungry but I'll wait," Little said. Long days, many lives "Rounding" – as the trips to patients' rooms are called – is just part of the FINDING REWARD WITHIN CHALLENGES 14 15