Ob-Gyn Week 1 - Clinic Week and Physical Exams

We spend one week in the clinic at our hospital during the Ob-Gyn rotation. I was glad I had this week first. It would allow me to ease into my first clinical rotation. During our first 2 years of medical school, we learned how to obtain a full history and perform a full physical exam on our patients in our doctoring course. If anyone disliked this course during the first 2 years, I am sure that they quickly gained a whole lot of appreciation for the doctoring course.

I worked with an intern during my first morning in clinic. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Interns are closest to being a medical student, and mine remembered her first day "on the wards" very well! This meant that she did a great job of easing me into this rotation. We went over some of the specific questions to ask when obtaining histories from a pregnant lady. This was good as we had not previously learned this.

We had also learned how to do breast and pelvic exams in doctoring. I am really glad we got a refresher during our first evening as it made me a little bit more comfortable doing them. We are trained using standardized patients. These are people who get paid to act as patients, and we get to practice performing exams on them. A (fantastic) nurse practitioner guided us through the steps and the standardized patient was an excellent teacher too. By coincidence, my standardized patient was the same one I had trained with about 6 months ago, and we both recognized each other and gave each other a courteous shake of the head to acknowledge that we both remembered each other. I didn't expect to have the same patient - at all.

During the clinic week, I got to perform a lot of physical exams, and each and every single time, I was extremely careful to be very professional while doing the exams. This both helped calm my nerves and calm the patient as well. Most patients were ok with having me as the medical student perform the exam under the guidance of the nurse practitioner. A few were uncomfortable and I happily agreed to their request of letting the nurse practitioner perform the exam. As a male medical student, I can see why some females would be uncomfortable in letting me perform a pelvic exam. I am very grateful to those patients that let me perform the exams. They have been a part of some of my most nervous moments in my medical education.

Back after a long hiatus...

It's been a while since I have posted on this blog and a whole lot has happened since May! Not only have I finished my Ob-Gyn rotation, but I also went home to Tanzania for 6+ weeks where I gained 13 lbs from fantastic home-made Indian food (I will lose it very quickly so I am not too worried), did a 4 week rotation in Dermatology in Tanzania, and am now done with 4 weeks of Internal Medicine!

I plan on writing more frequently and will have a few posts over the next couple of days regarding my experiences over the past few months.

I haven't had a day off for the last 2 weeks, and have thus attained a whole new appreciation for my 3 day weekend. Thank God to Labor Day Weekend!

Ob-Gyn Orientation

I woke up at 6am all excited (and a little bit nervous) about the first day of rotations. It was our first day on the wards!

It was basically a full day of Ob-Gyn orientation (we already had 4 days of basic orientation last week which covered ACLS stuff and us learning procedures such as inserting IVs, taking Arterial Blood Gases, learning how to suture...). The clerkship directors seem to be fantastic and very supportive - which is always a good start!

There was an overwhelming flow of information especially with regards to scheduling and locations in the hospital. Basically almost every day is a different schedule with pre-rounds, rounds, lectures, clinic etc etc and we need to stay on top of our schedules else it'll all be a big mess! Figuring out the hospital will definitely take a few days but my motto is - as soon as you don't know where you are, ask someone instead of spending half an hour trying to figure it out. At least we get lockers to put all our stuff in :)

We had a long intro on how to use the Electronic Medical Records system, after which a resident came and talked to us about expectations (a lot of common sense such as show up on time, don't whine about the long hours, be enthusiastic etc) and then gave us a very useful intro on knot-tying. She also took us to the Operating Room (my first time in one!) and after putting on the surgery cap and gown, she showed us how to scrub in for surgery - which was a neat experience - I am definitely excited about seeing my first surgery at some point soon!

We also had a nice intro lecture on pregnancy and different positioning of the baby in the mother's abdomen - refresher's are definitely needed at this point!

I am on Clinic Service this week, which basically means I get to go in and work with either a resident, nurse practitioner or in a specialty clinic, and have the opportunity to talk to patients, do physical exams and learn a plethora of different skills - which should be a really nice intro to Ob-Gyn I hope!\

So, morning clinic with a 2nd year resident and afternoon clinic at the Colposcopy Clinic tomorrow - Definitely looking forward to those!

3rd year clinical rotations start!

It is a weird feeling. Once you decide you want to go into medicine, you picture yourself in a hospital saving lives. You picture yourself helping someone and trying to heal sick patients.

But, before you get there, you have to get through Undergrad, get through the first 2 years of medical school learning all the basic science information, get through the Boards (Step 1) and finally some day, you will actually start going to the hospitals. (I will write about my step 1 experience in a future post)

Well, that day is here.

Tomorrow is the first day of my clinical years of medical school. 3rd year is finally here. This is where all the learning is done in the hospitals. Everyone says that the clinical years are better than the first 2 years. There is no doubt that I am extremely excited about this new beginning. Yet, there is no doubt that nervousness has also surrounded me.

People will expect me to know stuff. Patients will see me in my white coat and think that I will be able to help them. (Little to they know about how little I know at this point). What if I make a mistake? What if I don't know what to do?

The good news is that we are at the bottom of the medical hierarchy and so it is ok to not know stuff. (of course, as long as we find out about it).

I start with Ob-Gyn, and after surgery, this 6-week rotation is the 2nd most time-intensive. Ahh, sleep will be extremely valuable!

I am thrilled to be starting tomorrow. 3rd year will be a fantastic opportunity to learn a lot of different medical skills. I am excited. I am honored to have this opportunity.

And with that...

Here's to hoping for an enjoyable clinical career!