Pediatrics – Day 2

I had a bit of a rushed morning today, but luckily made it in time to catch the morning teaching session which we already went over the day before (different attending and different residents). In the morning I got to see 2 of my own patients, a 10-year-old and a 6-week-old. I think the variety of peds is something I could really get into. Not sure if I’ll get tired of seeing babies and the 10-year-old kept subtly roasting her mom which was pretty funny. I really liked working with the morning attending, she just had a very compassionate and wise aura. During one of the morning lulls, she said something that I liked when she asked about what I wanted to go into: “It’s good to try to be a leader, but when it comes to happiness, be a follower.” Follow happiness; such a simple concept, but so easy to forget or just ignore. Wasn’t like a revelatory moment, I just appreciated hearing it.

In the afternoon, the clinic was pretty busy again and one of the residents when home sick, so the others had to pick-up patients. I didn’t end up getting a chance to see any on my own in the afternoon, but I shadowed a couple. After a shadowed visit with an 18-year-old, I stuck around a bit after the resident left to probe a bit more about some of his issues. It was honestly really interesting and enjoyable to talk to him. There was definitely a subtle mentorship itch that was getting scratched during the conversation with some motivational interviewing. Whether he got anything out of it, I can’t say. What I can say is that I definitely am looking forward to working with more patients on my own in this rotation.