It's a quiet Brooklyn night, and I spent much of today chilling at home. My mom and I cooked and went grocery shopping. I also finished up The Handmaid's Tale, which I highly recommend reading if you're into dystopian fiction and questions about gender equality.
I've spent 4 days in the last two weeks shadowing a physician in a clinic, and I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing how she interacts with all of her patients. Before each visit, she asks if it's alright for me to sit in on the visit, and every one of the patients has said yes so far. I love how supportive they are of aspiring doctors.
Shadowing a physician in a clinic is entirely different than shadowing a medical team on the hospital floor, which is what I was doing the first two weeks of my internship. When shadowing a team, I'm observing multiple people: medical students, residents, social workers, and the attending physician. But in the clinic, I'm just shadowing one physician. In this way, I get to know one doctor's particular style well. Also, the patients on the hospital floors are usually initially unfamiliar with the people on the team. In clinic, virtually all of the patients have known the physician for several years because she is their primary care doctor. I also get to know the physician in clinic much more closely because I spend several hours with her, and we talk about each of the patients before and after the visit. I like shadowing the team on the hospital floors because I get to see how they deal with new patients and how they go about diagnosing different issues. I get to hear the discussion and see the proper thought process. I also like shadowing a single doctor in the clinic because I get to know her well, and I get to see how great long-term doctor-patient relationships can be built.
This past Wednesday, I took a trip to SUNY Downstate Medical Center to check out their open house. I was impressed with everything I saw. I like that it's a community-oriented medical school in the sense that all of the med students seem friendly towards each other and genuinely want to help each other succeed. The medical school is also passionate about helping the community of people who live near it.
The medical students took us on a tour of the different parts of the school, including the gross anatomy lab. It is here that I was in a room with cadavers for the first time. It wasn't as creepy as you would think because they were covered up, and we weren't touching them or anything.
One of my friends from Hunter was there, and he introduced me to one of his friends so now I have a new friend. Meeting new people is always awesome. I also saw one of my friends from Macaulay Brooklyn. I hadn't seen him in more than a year!
Half of summer break is over. Ahhh!
Let's make the best of the rest of our time.
S.
In honor of Frida's birthday on July 6th:
Quote of the Week
“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you.”
~ Frida Kahlo
No comments:
Post a Comment