Archive for March, 2009

Life is Good

March 30th, 2009 * Comments(10)

Kendra at the end of her family medicine night call

I really can’t say enough how happy I am right now. I had perhaps the best day in med school thus far. I took the subway and walked to a health clinic a few miles away. I was set up with a resident and met four patients. The resident was so awesome! He let me do everything. I did the H&Ps, wrote the SOAP notes, and even wrote the orders for all the patients. I did good! My resident and attending both complimented me on my skills.

One of my patients presented with a simple complaint, but when I pressed further, she admitted to me that she’s been under a ton of stress lately. She ended up bursting into tears, and I ended up giving her a hug and consoling her. Is it okay to hug patients? Well maybe not in all cases. But I believe that I did the right thing. I think I’ll write more about that later. But she thanked me. She told me that I was a great doctor. I felt like I did something really, really good.

I am just enjoying family medicine so much. I also really liked my first out-patient experience. Up to this point in med school, and in my personal work experience, I’ve only dealt with patients in hospitals. It was so good to have some actual clinic experience.

I even diagnosed a dermatological condition that my resident had never heard of! Talk about impressed! Both my resident and attending gave me mad props for that one.

The weather was nice. I walked my doggies. I’m getting ready to eat some vegetarian chili. Life is good. Very, very good!

Note: Photo was taken at the end of a recent family medicine night-call. I was tired, but happy.

links for 2009-03-29

March 30th, 2009 * Comments(0)

All In The Family

March 29th, 2009 * Comments(0)

I just finished up my second week of my family medicine rotation. The first two weeks I was on night-call at the hospital. I have learned more in two weeks of rotating in family medicine than I did in twelve weeks of internal medicine. The residents give med students a lot of autonomy, and are also really into teaching. I performed my first pelvic exam, and I am now a pro at performing digital rectal exams. The patients I’ve seen presented with a variety of complaints. I’ve admitted both elderly folks, and a few children as well. I’m starting to actually feel like a real doctor. Not only that, but I think I might just be falling in love with family medicine.

If you asked me two weeks ago which speciality I planned on pursuing, I would have told you that there was a 90% chance that I was going into psychiatry. I have always loved psych, and I could easily imagine myself pursuing that specialty for the rest of my life. But now I’m starting to wonder if that’s true. I’m seriously considering what it would be like to pursue family medicine.

I think the coolest part about primary care, and family medicine in particular, is the variety of diseases and patients you treat. Instead of specializing, and focusing on just one aspect of the patient, you really have to consider the entire person. Not only that, but with family med, you treat all ages. You have to posses at least basic ob/gyn skills. You need to have a mastery of pediatrics. There is just so much more to consider, and the skill set seems larger than with other specialties.

Some people might liken the field of family medicine to being a “jack of all trades, but master of none.” But from what I’ve seen thus far, it’s more like “a master of a few trades, and a jack of many.”

The next two weeks of my rotation will be spent at a clinic close to the hospital. I am absolutely thrilled about experiencing all that the clinic has to offer. Thus far, I have only spent time as a medical student inside the hospital. This will be my first out-patient rotation, and I have a feeling that it’s really going to change my perspective and hopefully broaden my horizons.

I think another part of the appeal of family medicine for me is that I am distinctly aware of the importance of primary care medicine. I believe that the nation is in fact facing a shortage of primary care physicians, and I really like the idea of being a part of the solution to this problem.

The only issue is that I already scheduled two psych electives for this summer. If I’m not going into psych, it would be a better idea to pursue more electives outside of psychiatry. So now I have to decide how serious I am about this whole family medicine idea, and determine whether or not it’s in my best interest to change my schedule.

No matter how things turn out, I am so grateful to have had all the incredible learning experiences that I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy during this rotation. I guess only time will tell. But I’m excited to have a whole new world of possibilities opening up to me!

Click Here To View the Original Post on Medscape

Family Medicine is Calling

March 29th, 2009 * Comments(7)

Kendra at the hospital on night call

I just got home from family medicine night call. Wow, what a great night! So far, I am absolutely LOVING family medicine. I’ve learned SO much! And we are allowed and encouraged to pretty much do everything for our patients, including the H&Ps, procedures, writing orders, etc. There is a lot of autonomy, and that’s just what the Dr. ordered for Kendra.

I don’t know if it’s the fact that I haven’t slept all night, or something else, but I am really having some profound life-altering thoughts. Before starting family medicine, I was 95% sure that I wanted to go into psychiatry. But right now I am having second thoughts. I really like family medicine. It’s interesting and good and nice and well I don’t have enough functioning neurons right now to say much more than that. I really like it.

Maybe I will have to change some of my electives. Maybe I will have to change my life plan. I dunno, but I know that I’m really digging it.

Tonight was my last family medicine night call. The next two weeks I will spend in a clinic, and hopefully with a doctor who I admire deeply.

Life is good. Life is great. Life is wonderful. (Anyone get that reference?)

My bed is covered with dog urine, but I know I should go to sleep right now, as I have things I need to accomplish tomorrow.

So, good night world! I am thankful for awesome doctors. I’m thankful for kind and awesome residents. I am thankful for my wonderful patients.

Sweet dreams of large women!

The Blurry Weekend

March 28th, 2009 * Comments(0)

Kendra's battered knees

I don’t have much time to type right now. I have to leave in 3 minutes to go in for my family medicine night call. I’ll be tweeting the evening again, for all ye curious souls… Saturday nights tend to be busy in the ER, so I’ll likely be swamped all night.

On my one night off yesterday, I got to see my comfort face, Bindaloo, and my son Tom. I had a FAB night and got to dance at several different places. My dancing tends to involve a lot of knee skids and various acrobatic stunts, so I can judge how much fun I’ve had in a night by the number and intensity of bruises on my body the next day.

As you can see from the above photo, I had a blast last night!

Off to the hospital now!

But I Don’t Wanna Sleep!

March 27th, 2009 * Comments(0)

Post call, sketched out Kendra

So, I’m post-call right now. I walked home just after the sun had risen. When I got home, Molly (my doggy doo) peed on my bed. Nothing new. Now she’s jumping up and down on my bed while swatting at her bone. Nothing new. She just doesn’t get the fact that I’ve been up all night.

Funny thing is that I’m actually not sleepy. But I know that I “should” sleep, as I really want to hang out with some friends tonight (and tomorrow night I have to go back in for another call). But I kind of want to just stay up. But I know if I do, I’ll never make it until tonight. But I don’t wanna sleep!

Also, I’m hallucinating.

Note: Just took the above photo a few minutes after coming home from the hospital.

With Two Option The Meat

March 26th, 2009 * Comments(1)

I see this sign almost every day, and it never fails to crack me up.

with two option the meat - Melrose and Broadway

In other news, I’m getting ready to go in for another 12-hour family medicine night call. I’ve also decided to twitter my entire shift. You can follow my tweets here. Probably, no one really cares about my silly tweets! But honestly, it keeps me from being bored, so I’m gonna do it anyway!

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

links for 2009-03-24

March 25th, 2009 * Comments(0)

links for 2009-03-23

March 24th, 2009 * Comments(0)

Manipulating Doctors

March 23rd, 2009 * Comments(5)

This is EXACTLY the kind of stuff that I’ve seen go on in many different hospitals. It always saddens and sickens me. Yes, we have begun to address this problem, and laws, regulations, etc. are being passed. However, it’s still a nasty problem (and secret to many patients).

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