Sunday, July 20, 2008

1st week as "Student Dr.Grob"

One week done! It went by so fast! I am doing the next 4 months of rotations at an inner city hospital. It's really inner city... someone got shot in our hospital's parking lot during orientation; someone else got shot outside my family medicine clinic so we aren't allowed to go outside during lunch. I am doing a 4 week rotation through family medicine (Obsterics included!) in a Spanish-speaking clinic, rheumatology, pediatric orthopedics, and urology. So far, I LOVE IT!!!!

I especially like my family medicine clinic where I feel I have the most time to get to know my patients and decide on how to treat them. I have had a hard time learning how to balance listening to patients, writing notes in the computer, doing a physical exam, and figuring out what is the cause of their chief complaint and then how to treat it. It's a big jump from practicing talking to patients and doing a physical exam! I recognize that I have a lot of work to do but everyday I feel like I'm learning something and everyday I feel more comfortable tackling my daily responsibilities than the day before. That said, I know that some days will be harder than others. It's going to be hard not to take hard days personally.

This week I want to challenge myself to act like a real doctor and figure out the treatment for my patients (including drug doses!) before talking to my attendings. I also want to start studying more after coming home from the clinics. Overall, I hope to continue to have my daily focus on being positive and excited about this awesome experience.

In the meantime, it's really awesome to walk around with a pager... even though I haven't gotten any pages. :)

My major gripe so far: how heavy my white coat is stuffed with medical instruments, books, pocket books, cell phone, and PDA.

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