Island Med Student

During my family medicine clinical rotation, I treated a 7-year old girl for an ear infection. That might sound (pun intended) like a very mundane and simple thing to do, but technically it’s taken me over three years of medical school to get to this point. And during the past three years, I have accumulated a massive amount of medical knowledge and skills, but I have also accumulated a massive amount of wonderful experiences. Do let me explain.

In order to understand the anatomy of the ear, I was required to take a gross anatomy class during my first year of med school. I can still remember the first sight of my cadaver. I had never even seen a dead body before. I can recall the mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety when making the first cut into human flesh. What a thrilling experience, indeed.

Learning the normal anatomy of the ear is one thing. But to be a doctor, you must understand all the things that can go wrong. During my second year of med school, I learned about the huge numbers of pathologies that can happen to the human body. I was taught on topics like genetic malformations, cancer, and infectious processes. An ear infection results in increased numbers of white blood cells and mediators of inflammation. Pathology class instilled in me a (healthy?) fear of diseases and I developed my first case of medical student syndrome.

The first two years of med school gave me a firm basic science foundation. But it wasn’t until my third-year of school that I could really put these skills to good use. I’ll never forget my very first patient encounter (as a med student). I was a nervous wreck. The history took me over an hour to gather, and I missed tons of salient details. The physical exam basically involved me going through all the motions that I had been taught, but I didn’t have the slightest idea if any of my findings were pathologic. My hand trembled as I inserted the otoscope into my my patient’s ear canal. Everything looked fine to me. But what did I know? I had never seen an erythemic or bulging tympanic membrane.

Over the course of my third-year, my skills improved exponentially. I learned phlebotomy, intubation, line placements, suturing, and many other vital skills. My differential diagnoses became more dead on, and I knew which diseases were more likely. But then came learning about treatments. I had to figure out how much fluid to administer, and which antibiotics were appropriate. I distinctly remember writing my first prescription (signed by my attending, of course). It probably took me about 20 minutes to write a simple script for amoxicillin because I had to be sure of the dose and length of treatment.

And now, here I am. I have started my fourth and final year of medical school. When my patient walked into the examining room, I was able to examine him, diagnose his ear infection (properly called otitis media), and provide him with treatment in a matter of minutes. I still have many more years of learning to go. But so far, what a long, wonderful, challenging, intense, rewarding, and strange trip it’s been.

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