Friday, July 10, 2015

Step 1 Score and my first week of Block III!

First of all, I'm writing this from the first floor of my 3 story rental house in Flint - that's right, I am all moved in and (mostly) settled into my clinical setting. My student ID card doesn't even work in GR anymore!

I got my Step 1 score this past Wednesday. I passed!!!! My score is much lower than I wanted it to be, and lower even than my practice exam, but I passed. It's a relief to have it over with, and to know that I can just beef up my medical CV with clinical skills, honors grades, research, volunteering, and a better Step 2 score, which I was planning on anyway :)

I have already survived 2 weeks of Block III, although one week was orientation so I'm not sure that counts. My first rotation is pediatrics, and the rest of my schedule is as follows:

Pediatrics
Jr. Surgery
Internal Medicine
Elective (Neurology)
Psychology
Family Medicine
Ob/Gyn

I'm pretty excited. My year is definitely front loaded, which I'm a little nervous about in terms of burnout, but so far it's going well, and that means I will have a pretty easy spring semester. 

So far, pediatrics is amazing. I'm liking it a lot more than I thought that I would. I mean, I like kids, but after my stint as a camp counselor I haven't always been 100% comfortable around small screaming people. However, I have been having a blast and learning a TON. I've mostly worked with the two extreme of pediatrics - small, small babies, and older adolescents. I love working with babies and their parents - the parents are very tired, and definitely appreciate my ability to reduce what the attending/residents are saying into non-medical jargon. And babies: OMG tiny fat babies with their little grasping hands and their kicking legs and their sucking reflex - LOVE. I also like working with teens: they are definitely challenging patients, but I like being able to talk to them about depression and sexual activity, and being able to treat them like adults, especially when they are sensitive to their parents helicoptering a bit. 

It's not all perfection - I got to admit a not quite so fun case today. The kid will be absolutely fine, but they were in quite a bit of pain, so getting a physical exam was rough on everyone involved. There's just no explaining to an under-5-year-old that you HAVE to poke and prod at the things that hurt, and a crying child tugs on everyone's heartstrings. 

I also have great residents and a great attending to work with this week. Dr R is a fantastic teacher, asking questions that are appropriate for my level of training and never making anyone feel dumb for not knowing something - just encouraging them to look it up in an article, and then share with the group. I also really like my residents. The 1st years are just starting too, so it helps to not feel as out of place. 

My favorite things so far (in list form):
1. BAABBIES
2. Listening to heartbeats
3. Feeling a sucking reflex
4. Getting to work as a true team with a resident - them teaching me, and me even sometimes teaching and helping them

My goals for this rotation:
1. Never lose my compassion for my patients - this includes staying behind to explain things a bit more, being an advocate for the more challenging patients and parents, and always introducing myself by name before I perform a physical on a patient. 
2. Honors the non-exam portion of this domain. I would like to honors the entire thing, but I am trying to be realistic, since I am not sure about the extent of the shelf exam. 
3. Get extremely comfortable doing full physical exams on all age groups. 

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