Panama Planning Trip

During my family practice rotation I went to Panama for a couple of days to plan the future of VIDA in that country. We met with the chiefs of a community, Irgandi, where they have no access to doctors for 3 months of the year. They have problems with infant and maternal mortality rates during this time, diarrheal illnesses, malaria, dengue, and a list of other diseases. We are working with the health department to help teach the people simple things that they can do to help prevent illness along with building gardens to help with their nutrition. While there, we marched in the island breast cancer awareness campaign. It was a great trip and we got a lot of things planned. I also read A thousand years of Solitude, something not medical.

Cardiothoracic Surgery Rotation

What an awesome two weeks! Not only did I get to see and do some pretty cool things in heart surgeries, but the docs were so great to take the time to teach. I would have never have thought that surgeons would be more laid back than internists! I had such a great time with this group. I was able to help out with valve replacements and bypass grafts and removing tumors. I was able to learn how to cut and how to sow on patients with supervision. I pulled drains and chest tubes. One chest tube I didn't have the patient hold his breath and I heard air go back in, which could collapse his lung and prolong his hospital stay 3 more days...luckily he was fine on xray and not symptomatic. I had a hard time sleeping that night because I was worried about him. But now on to family medicine.

Internal Medicine rotation

Internal Medicine rotation was rough. During most of the rotation, my stomach was so tense that I would have diarrhea and want to vomit. Mostly because I felt that the attending physicians were going to attack me for something I didn't know. On my third day of the rotation, my attending asked me a question about diabetes management that he had mentioned in a noon lecture series that I couldn't remember what he said because I was eating lunch and it was the first time I heard about diabetes management. When I asked him what the answer was, he wouldn't tell me and told me to find it out for myself. I looked for four hours for the paper he was talking about and asked other students, residents and interns and couldn't find the answer. I finally found the answer and he never asked me the question again. I finally felt that I got the hang of internal medicine after two weeks and then I switched to cardiology where the whole game of learning what the attending wanted started again. This time it was more complicated because my attending didn't like guidelines. It was a pretty traumatic two weeks and then I got the hang of it. It was interesting when my attending told me that patients feel that doctors are like gods. I thought that the god complex was just a myth....