Internal Medicine. Where all those long nights of cramming incessant amounts of information into my head during the first 2 years of medical school would finally pay off! That’s what I thought going into this rotation at least, but would that turn out to be the reality?
My experience during my internal medicine rotation was different from other medical students in my class. Most medical students were on resident teams for all 6 weeks. And while I would eventually join a resident team, my first 3 weeks were spent working with hospitalists.
You might be wondering, what exactly does a hospitalist do? I too had this same question going into my rotation. The simple answer is that hospitalists take care of hospitalized patients. This is an extremely broad definition however, and it does not do justice to the complexities of their job in treating patients with many medical issues. They truly put into practice the book knowledge of medical school, and their ultimate goal is to get patients well enough for discharge from the hospital. Additionally, for those students who value lifestyle, becoming a hospitalist may be a great option! Hospitalists typically work 7-days on followed by 7-days off.
During my last 3 weeks of the rotation, I got the typical experience of working on a resident team. I was paired with a couple of my fellow medical students, and a mix of interns, senior residents, and an attending. This set-up really lent itself to an environment of collaboration and teamwork, which allowed me to learn something new and important every day. And while we were seeing the same types of patients as hospitalists, with their complex and multi-factorial medical problems, I felt like an important contributor to the resident team as I was able to present patients and give my initial thoughts on their management. Of course, my presentations were never perfect, but I personally feel that my skills of presenting important information about patients in an efficient and coherent manner greatly improved in a short period of time.
For me, Internal Medicine has a lot to offer in terms of what I want to accomplish in my career as a physician. Personally, if I did pursue Internal Medicine for residency, I would ultimately want to subspecialize. Internal Medicine gives you this option, with opportunities to specialize in a variety of fields such as cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, hematology, infectious disease, nephrology, oncology, pulmonology, and rheumatology. The list goes on and on, and currently as I write this post I am on my gastroenterology and endocrinology elective. Getting this experience in different subspecialties of Internal Medicine and what they have to offer will give me a better picture of what my potential career in Internal Medicine could look like. I am excited to continue to explore these fields during my fourth year of medical school, and I hope to narrow in on the specialty that I may ultimately want to pursue.
