It was my first day in the outpatient pediatrics clinic at the county hospital. The day started off with some Zoom grand rounds about spinal muscular atrophy and muscular dystrophies. The morning was a bit of a struggle because I realized I really had no idea what to expect or what exactly was going to be expected of me when I got to the clinic. Plus, I was having some issues accessing the county electronic medical record and I also realized I didn’t quite know where I was going. Luckily, I remembered that the pediatrics clinic was in the same place as the pediatric cardiology clinic which I shadowed in earlier this year. I found the clinic and made my way to the provider lounge. Therre was only one other person in there at the time. I introduced myself and he introduced himself as an intern. He told me a little bit about his role and the set-up of the clinic. Eventually one of the attendings came in and gave me a bit more info.
I soon went with the attending to see our first patient of the morning, a baby here for his 6-month well child check. He was this very cute, chunky baby who was just waiting for us sitting upright on the exam table, cloaked in a blankies, his mom sitting in a chair next to the exam table. We went through all the normally questioning, did some physical exam then went on our way. The intern presented the case to the attending. The attending asked some questions, both genuine and pimping-type, and then with some that that the intern went back to relay some of what we discussed to the mom. That was really it for the morning as far as patients. All the rest were tele-med or converted to tele-med.
I was told to take a long lunch and had a chance to catch up with classmates who were also stationed at county but in different parts or on different rotations. When I go back things were still kind of quiet in the provider lounge. Slowly the residents who would be working in the afternoon started trickling in, as well as two different attendings (one of whom I was already decently well acquainted with as the head of the Intro to Clinical Medicine course). Things really picked up in the afternoon. People were running around everywhere. I shadowed one of the residents with 2 patients and then I got sent out to see my own patient. I was nervous, but also looking forward to finally being sent to see a patient on my own during a rotation. The patient was a 9-month-old being brought in for a well child check and some skin concerns. She was also very cute, though a bit more fussy (probably cause of some of her health stuff). I felt like I had a decent handle on asking appropriate questions for the patient’s age and I also did some physical exam, which I’ve never done on a baby before.
When I was finished I went to present the patient to the resident who she was scheduled to see, we went over some stuff, I wrote up a note, and then I presented to one of the attendings and we went over my note. From today I think I got a good feel for how things are supposed to go during these shifts. By the time I finished with that patient and got my note signed off, it was already time to leave, so I only got to see one patient on my own today, but overall it was a really good and informative experience. I also answered a pimping question correctly which always feels good. Tomorrow I hope to get to see more patients on my own, and hopefully streamline my note writing.
nANIMOv 