Third Year Re-Cap

First of all, since I am doing a 3rd year re-cap, that must mean I am finally a 4th year medical student! Which also means that I have less than 1 year until graduation (May 14, 2011 to be exact!) and Dr. Syring!!! I am so incredibly lucky to have such an understanding and supportive husband, son, and extended family and friends. Thank you all!!!

Here is a quick run down of my clinical rotations this past year as well as my thoughts on each rotation:

Core required rotations:

• Family Medicine: 8 weeks, 2 rotations. My first 4 weeks were at an urgent care/family practice clinic, being there really opened my eyes to how many people abuse prescription drugs. I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of trying to determine if the patient was really in pain, just wanted the meds to sell, or was addicted and needed the meds. My second rotation was with a residency program that focused on teaching and it was AWESOME! I had a great time and learned a lot while being allowed to do as much as I was willing, which was pretty much anything:)
• Psychiatry: 4 weeks, well, not a whole lot to say about this one. I didn't enjoy it at all, but I had a pretty good idea that I wouldn't from working in the hospitals before. I did get to see a lot by going to the adult/adolescent jails, a juvenile delinquent facility, inpatient psych ward, and outpatient psych. Plenty of interesting stories...Overall, I just reaffirmed that this is NOT the patient population for me!
• Internal Medicine: 8 weeks, 2 rotations. First 4 weeks I was with a hospitalist who went to a few different hospitals and took care of patients that didn't have a family physician to see them while they were in-patient, usually for surgery. I got pretty good at doing a quick, but thorough history and physical. The second 4 weeks I was with another residency program at the local VA. They were very focused on teaching which was awesome! I got to do a lot and they had daily lectures on relevant topics in medicine. Great learning environment, but no kids:(
• Pediatrics: 4 weeks, LOVED IT! This rotation was inpatient and I got to see a wide variety of patients. I saw a ton of babies with respiratory illnesses, quite a few failure to thrive, numerous asthma patients and few with serious medical illnesses that were there for my whole rotation. Let's just say I am even more excited for this next year and nearly ALL pediatric rotations.
• Anesthesiology: 2 weeks. I learned a lot of medicine in this rotation and got to be VERY involved in a really interesting case with a surgeon. Ask me if you want to know more:) I had been seriously considering going in to Anesthesiology but quickly realized I can not sit still all day and have no patients to "talk" to, sleeping patients don't count:)
• Radiology: 2 weeks. I really liked this rotation since they assigned me to a preceptor that did mostly pediatric patients. I got pretty confident with looking at chest x-rays in kids (& adults) and even got to diagnose Rohan with bronchiolitis (he went to the ER that the radiologist works with while I was on the rotation) and had confirmation from them that Rohan most likely has tracheomalacia as evidenced by his CXR. Mike & I pretty much new that already. It's nothing too serious just means that he wheezes and has stridor (squeaks) easier than other kids when he gets a respiratory infection. Most kids grow out of it by age 3. Chest x-rays weren't the only thing we saw but they were definitely seen most frequently! We also read CT's, MRI's, Ultrasounds, and numerous diagnostic tests that go along with them. Overall a great rotation to help with reading pediatric radiology tests but not what I would want to do all the time.
• Obstetrics & Gynecology: 4 weeks, 2 rotations. I had a really great experience with my second preceptor, first one didn't see enough deliveries. I delivered a few babies, including the first of a set of twins! I loved the deliveries but was definitely drawn to the babies more than the moms...:)
• Surgery: 4 weeks. I had a fairly light rotation which is more than okay with me. I would love to do surgery, reminded me of my research days and the rats! BUT, there is no way I would want to do a surgery residency, brutal!

Elective rotations: The last 2 rotations of 3rd year could be of our choosing, and of course I chose 2 in pediatrics:)

• Pediatric Hematology & Oncology: 4 weeks. Cute little bald kids! Okay, all kidding aside, this was an awesome rotation! I loved working with all the kids during and after their cancer treatments as well as kids with bleeding or clotting disorders. The kids were fantastic, such great attitudes and determination, loved it! Heme/Onc is still in the running for a pediatric fellowship (after residency).
• Pediatric Cardiology: 4 weeks. Wow, did I ever learn a ton this month! Prior to this time, I will admit, I hadn't really heard a murmur but by my last day I could hear and even diagnose most murmurs. They quizzed me on my last day and wouldn't let me see the patient's chart or history, definitely makes diagnosis more challenging but I got them all right! I really enjoyed learning the EKG's and echocardiograms (U/S of the heart), even got to see a few prenatal echo's that diagnosed congenital heart defects before birth, way cool! Cardio is also still in the running :)

Throw in exams after each core rotation, a cumulative core rotation exam, MS III testing in Kirksville, Performance Evaluation (PE) boards in Philadelphia, and Cognitive Evaluation (CE) Step II Boards here in Phoenix and you can see what I have been and continue to be busy with besides having fun with my boys, climbing, and running:)

This next and FINAL year will be focused on Pediatric rotations including general out patient, in patient, NICU, PICU, ER, Allergy/Immunology, Heme/Onc again, and Pulmonology. I will also be doing another family medicine rotation and adult orthopedics.
We are really excited to work on applications, etc for residency and to finally find out where we'll be for the next 3 years but that isn't until March 2011...patience!

Feel free to ask any questions about the rotations/residency/whatever.