You Are an Attending Physician Supervising a New Resident

Multiple Choice

You are an attending physician supervising a new resident.Together,you decide to treat a patient with a steroid drug.The resident administers the drug and watches the patient anxiously."It's not working," he mutters.How do you respond?

A) "You're right,it doesn't seem to be working.Let's increase the dose,since we need to achieve high steroid levels in the blood."
B) "Why don't you go on your rounds and come back? Steroid hormones need several hours to work,since they regulate gene expression.Transcription and translation take time."
C) "We forgot to administer the carrier protein to get the drug across the cell membrane.We can add that now."
D) "Let's grab a cup of coffee and then check again.Activating the G-protein coupled receptor and its downstream kinase cascade can take several minutes."