Reflecting on My Clerkship Experience: General Surgery

From the AAMC Careers in Medicine Clinical Evaluation

Photo Credit

1. Name and Location of Clinical Rotation: Pediatric Surgery, Riley Children's Hospital

2. What did I like most about this specialty?
- The pediatric patient population
- The variety of general surgery; they operate anywhere from the neck down just about...

3. What did I like least about this specialty?

- The hours. We were in at 4:30AM to round at 5:30 and usually stayed until 4:45PM. The residents usually would stay later than that because they had more work to do.

4. Did this clinical rotation give me a good sense of what practice in this specialty would be like?
Yes, I think I got a good feel of not only the variety of general surgery within the OR, but I also got to experience a number of clinics - both general surgery and multi-disciplinary. Surgery is involved in a lot more primary care than I previously imagined.

5. Did my interests, values, skills and/or personality "fit" with this specialty? If yes, in what way did they "fit"? If no, why might they not be compatible?
I think that this was a great experience for me because I realized that I do have an interest in doing something surgical, but I do not think I am interested in a career of majority surgery. I also felt like my personality wasn't really a good fit for the surgery life - where you have to be extremely assertive and very thick-skinned. Both of which I could be, but I think I am high-strung enough where an enviroment like that would not be a good one for me.

6. What are the possible practice settings for specialists in this field? Which of these settings interest me and do I know enough about them?
General surgeons practice in both community and academic settings. I think I would like an academic setting the best because I enjoy teaching and working with multidisciplinary teams.

7. What information do I still need to find out about this specialty? None

8. Has my perception of this specialty changed based on my clinical rotation experience?
Yes! I did not think I would enjoy my surgery rotation as much as I did. I learned so much!

9. Did my clinical rotation experience influence the likelihood of choosing a career in this specialty? If yes, how did it influence me?
I do not think I will be pursuing a career in general surgery, but I would like to have some surgical/procedural aspects to the field I choose to go in. Maybe OB?

10. Right now, on a scale of 1-10, how interested am I in this specialty as a career option? 5; even though I had a lot of fun on general surgery, I think that I would enjoy a field with more balance between OR and clinic with a longterm patient relationship focus... 

11. Other comments or reflections about this rotation or specialty:

• I really liked the procedures on general surgery more than ENT. I think mainly because it was a bigger working area and the anatomy is so clear
• Even though there was a ton of variety on pediatric surgery, I have heard that adult general surgery is mainly in the abdomen - think stomach, gall bladder, appendix, intestines, colon....
• Knowing when a patient had a bowel movement is VERY important...I might go as far as to say it's as important as the vital signs...haha
• During my last week on service, I was in two really big cases (a Wilms tumor and a neuroblastoma removal). Some parts of the case were really challenging, but it was so cool to see all of the OR staff working together to get things done - surgeons, pathologist, anesthesiologists, nurses, surgical techs, the blood bank... It was definitely the epitome of teamwork

I Made It!

Tuesday I took my general surgery exam which means I'm doooooone with gen surg!!! :-D I missed blogging so much...

Anyway, all-in-all it was not bad at all. Granted the hours were redic (I am NOT going to miss that 4:30AM start time), I absolutely loved my patients, our residents were cool, the attendings were all great teachers, and I saw some AH-MA-ZING things.

I really gained a new-found respect for Riley on this rotation. I already knew it was considered a tertiary care center for Indiana, but until you see how many families and physicians statewide bring/refer their kids to Riley so that they can have the best of the best care, you can't fully understand what that means. It is so impressive and I am honored to be able to learn from all the great doctors here.

Oh, and everything I was nervous about because I am preggers didn't happen. Like:
- I didn't pass out during long surgeries.
- I didn't need to eat every hour on the hour.
- Long days on my feet didn't induce contractions...just swollen feet lol
- The attendings/fellows/residents were all super understanding if I did need to sit down for a moment during the longer cases and didn't get upset about it.

Here are some of the past 5 week's highlights:
- My first full day on service, I had an 8 hour procedure: choledochal cyst excision
- My second week I had a 5 hour Whipple procedure
- I spent some time in the NICU
- I did some routine things like hernia repairs, circumcisions, port placements and removals.
- I had my first overnight calls - i.e. 5PM-7AM in the hospital (basically 5AM-7AM on a week day)

It was all very cool :-)

Yesterday I had my OB orientation and tonight is my first day on night float (i.e. 5pm-8am shifts)!! And not a moment too soon, look at all this BELLY!

My attire for the last 5 weeks: Scrubs + Bump 

Headed to church for Resurrection Sunday (24 weeks)

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In other news....

Pumpkin was on spring break for the last two weeks of my surgery rotation, and I missed him so much. It's like he got bigger and more mature while he was gone... I can't take it! Now all three musketeers are back in the mix of things...

In other, other news... last week we got the assignments for our three required clerkships for fourth year. I'm so geeked! My preliminary outline of my year will look like this:

June: Elective - SubI in what I want to go into
July: Elective/Give Birth - Something low key would be good here...lol
August: Vacation month with baby
September: Radiology
October: Medicine SubI
November: Elective/Interviews/Maybe Vacation Month
December: Elective/Interviews/Maybe Vacation Month
January: Elective/Interviews
February: Emergency Medicine
March: Elective
April: Elective
May: Graduation!!!!

Okay, hope that wasn't too many updates. I am so happy to be back! Hope you all have a great day! I need to get back in bed so I can be fully functional to deliver babies all night ;-)

P.S. GO BLUE!!! So proud of how our boys did this year!!!

Reflecting on My Clerkship Experience: Outpatient Pediatrics

Another rotation down as of this morning! We are already one third of the way through third year!!

From the AAMC Careers in Medicine Clinical Evaluation 

1. Name and Location of Clinical Rotation: I got a chance to work around the city in a number of general pediatrics offices: 

• Blackburn Health Complex - through the county hospital Wishard
• Wishard Primary Care Center Pediatrics Scheduled Clinic
• Wishard Primary Care Center Pediatrics Urgent Care Clinic
• Wishard Primary Care Center Adolescent Clinic
• Riley Children's Hospital Developmental Clinic
• Riley Children's Hospital Emergency Room 

I really enjoyed working with all of the pediatricians I met the past two months. They were all so friendly, willing to teach, and encouraging. I feel like I learned so much!

2. What did I like most about this specialty? 
Working with children was a lot of fun. It was also great to feel like I really helped parents get through everyday illnesses/injuries confident that their child would pull through and be back to normal in no time.

I also really enjoyed working in the teenage clinic and helping young adults become more knowledgable of and accountable for their own health and well being. I also loved encouraging them as they shared their plans for the future/adulthood. 

3. What did I like least about this specialty? 
Just like with inpatient pediatrics, it was hard for me to see kids that were not doing so well - whether it was health or social issues - I hurt for the kids that I could not do more for. 

4. Did this clinical rotation give me a good sense of what practice in this specialty would be like?
I think I got a broad snapshot of what practicing outpatient community pediatrics would be like. 

5. Did my interests, values, skills and/or personality "fit" with this specialty? If yes, in what way did they "fit"? If no, why might they not be compatible? 
I think that I have great communication and interpersonal skills that would help tremendously as a pediatrician. I also think that being a parent really helped me to be effective in answering questions that other parents had about their child's health/development. I was also very comfortable relating to the teens and able to build rapport in order to talk about some of the more "sensitive" topics like sex, alcohol, and drug use. 

6. What are the possible practice settings for specialists in this field? Which of these settings interest me and do I know enough about them?

• Community Clinic - Scheduled or Urgent Care
• Emergency Room 
• Educational Setting

7. What information do I still need to find out about this specialty? 
I am more interested in learning about the combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics program. 

8. Has my perception of this specialty changed based on my clinical rotation experience?
Not really, I always knew I would like working with children :-) 

9. Did my clinical rotation experience influence the likelihood of choosing a career in this specialty? If yes, how did it influence me?
Although I do not think I would like to solely practice pediatrics, I know that I would miss having children and teens as patients if I was to just focus on adult medicine. 

10. Right now, on a scale of 1-10, how interested am I in this specialty as a career option?
I would say a 5 because I know that I would like to have pediatrics as a part of my practice but just not completely. 

11. Other comments or reflections about this rotation or specialty: 
Here are some of my favorite memories from this specialty/baby doc milestones...

• I gave someone a flu shot!
• I did a few strep throat swabs!
• I diagnosed things correctly!
• I spoke (although very rusty) Spanish to some patients and they complimented my speech!
• I got teenagers to open up to me about their personal lives, and parents to take me seriously as a even though they initially rolled their eyes when I introduced myself as "Jasmine the medical student". 
• When my own child was feeling under the weather this month, I knew exactly what to do and impressed his pediatrician with my astute clinical skills ;-) 

Reflecting on My Clerkship Experience: Family Medicine

Before I get too far into Peds, I want to make sure I record everything I thought about Family Medicine (and all other rotations in the future): 

From the AAMC Careers in Medicine Clinical Evaluation 

1. Name and Location of Clinical Rotation:
Family Medicine, Saint Francis Hospital, Greenwood, Indiana

2. What did I like most about this specialty? 

• The diversity of the patient population: infants, children, middle age, geriatrics, male, female...etc. 
• The hours: mainly 9AM-5PM - my preceptor is a wife and mother of 3 and she made balancing it all look easy!
• The OB component - got to observe two deliveries and lots of exciting pre-natal visits
• The variety of diagnoses - with each unique patient population comes different common complaints
• The amount of procedures performed and hands on requirement - biopsies, cryotherapy, varicose vein removal, etc. 
• The long-term patient relationship and familial dynamic of the patient-doctor interaction
• Being the coordinator of care for a patient with multiple specialist and being concerned with preventative care/total wellness

3. What did I like least about this specialty?
.........

4. Did this clinical rotation give me a good sense of what practice in this specialty would be like? 

Yes, I think that I got a great sense of the variety within Family Medicine.

5. Did my interests, values, skills and/or personality "fit" with this specialty? If yes, in what way did they "fit"? If no, why might they not be compatible? 
YES, not only is family medicine a way to allow me to pursue a variety of my MANY interests, but it would give me the time with my family that I definitely want, a lot of avenues to pursue interests like my desire to serve local youth outreach, medical/wellness writing, and public health. 

6. What are the possible practice settings for specialists in this field? Which of these settings interest me(*) and do I know enough about them? 

• Clinic*
• Community Hospital - Inpatient, OB*, ER shifts
• Academic* 

To gain more exposure to more clinical settings, I can do a Family Medicine externship or an away rotation during fourth year. 

7. What information do I still need to find out about this specialty? 

• How one's practice may vary between a more urban or rural setting. 
• Loan forgiveness programs available for family medicine residents.

8. Has my perception of this specialty changed based on my clinical rotation experience? 
Definitely, I was very intimidated by the idea of having to be well trained in handling so many different conditions, but family medicine is very big on the patient-doctor partnership and finding the best treatment for the patient's lifestyle. I also, respect the fact that when my preceptor felt that a condition may be out of her scope of expertise, she had no problem referring out to a particular specialist. 

9. Did my clinical rotation experience influence the likelihood of choosing a career in this specialty? If yes, how did it influence me? YES!!! I really had not considered Family Medicine at all prior to my rotation and now it is definitely a BIG possibility. 

10. Right now, on a scale of 1-10, how interested am I in this specialty as a career option? 9!!!

11. Other comments or reflections about this rotation or specialty: 
I enjoyed every day of this rotation :-) 

Wordless Wednesday: CLERKSHIPS!!!

Ok, there are some words because I have to explain. Yesterday they sent us our third year clerkship assignments!!! WOOT! So now I know what I will be doing and when for the next year. Drum rolllllll please:

At first I wasn't sure about whether or not having my vacation month first was a good thing, and if I would rather it be later in the year...but I think it will be right on time. I'll get a good month of summer time vacation for relaxing, traveling, etc. And I'll be all charged up for Family Medicine in July. Plus, I don't know why, but I have a good feeling about having my Peds clerkship during the time Natey starts Pre-School :-D                  

I'm so excited!