Got to See My First Patients!

[I normally eschew using exclamation points, so when I actually do utilize them, you know there's something exciting going on (or that I've already used up my smiley allotment).]

I got to see patients.  By myself.  Without a physician.  Not in a shadowing or standardized situation.  I got to ask the questions. And I got to poke and prod them.  And no, no one died.

I wanted to post this on Friday, since it happened on Friday, but a good friend from college came into town, and I hung out with her and her schoolmates.  When it's someone from your freshman floor, with whom you talked a lot, and whom you have known for almost a decade (yes, we calculated...we both feel really old.  We started comparing white hairs too), then of course you want to see her, even if there are other people around, as cool as they are.  Plus, it allowed me to go bar-hopping: to a restaurant/bar, a piano bar, and then a club.  (As an aside, clubs are sweaty, packed, loud, and full of drunk people banging into you.  But then, I guess I wasn't expecting anything else.)

Yesterday, my internet was out for a majority of the day.  At least Mediacom has decent customer service.

Anyway, I was assigned to a family care physician this block for my Ambulatory Care Experience, and my first session with him was Friday.  He mentioned that usually students will just shadow him the first time, but the more gung-ho students may jump in and start seeing patients too, taking histories and performing physical exams.  "Well, perfect," I thought, "what better way to jump right in and practice being confident?  And let's see how much I remember from the first two blocks of Introduction to Patient Care."

Thank goodness for IPC.  At least there seemed to be some semblance of me knowing what I was doing.

Honestly though, going through standardized patient exams, or even simulated practices, was more nerve-wracking than actually seeing patients...by myself...with no physician in the room to shadow.  Perhaps it's because my attending said that this experience was designed to be low-pressure, and if there was a time to make mistakes, it would be then, when I could report back to him and he can catch anything that I missed.  And it's definitely because I wasn't being graded, whether by a proctor or a fellow student.  Regardless, it was less stress and more of a rush.  I sincerely hope that feeling stays with me for a while.  I don't want to get jaded too soon.

I do need to work on my differential diagnosing skills though.  And knowing where equipment is before I go into a room.  Thankfully my patients were patient with me (feel free to commence your groans).