Finally! STEP 1 was behind me, and the long-awaited end to my second year of medical school was here. As any medical student can attest to, the first two years of medical school are grueling; they challenge every fiber of your mind and body on a daily basis. But with the added component of a global pandemic looming over our heads, I feel confident in saying that my entire class was ready to move out of the isolation of our bedrooms and step into the other side of medicine. The side of medicine outside of burying our heads in textbooks for hours on end. The side of medicine that we all dreamed of when we chose this field as our future profession. It was finally right in front of us.
Fast forward to Tuesday, April 6th 2021. The first day of my first rotation: Pediatrics. With each rotation being 6 weeks, I would spend the first 3 weeks in an outpatient setting followed by 3 weeks in the hospital. Arriving to the outpatient office at 7:45 am the first day, I was feeling a mix of emotions. I was feeling nervous; would the attendings I would be working with be friendly? What would their expectations of me be as a 3rd year medical student? How much of the knowledge I acquired over the first 2 years of medical school would I be able to apply to the clinical setting. I was also feeling excited; the chance to apply my medical knowledge to the clinical setting and contribute to patient care was exactly what I was waiting for.
As I walked into the office and introduced myself, I was met with smiling faces from the entire staff. During my 3 weeks at the office, I noticed that these smiling faces were the norm; the environment of an outpatient pediatrics office just seemed to lend itself to almost everyone, parents, kids, and the entire medical team included, being genuinely happy. This aspect of pediatrics really made me consider it as a future career path; through their interactions with parents and patients, I could tell that Dr. E and Dr. C truly enjoyed their jobs as pediatricians. Dr. E would show this in the room with patients, flying 6 month olds towards their parents like an airplane or joking with pre-teens about their “significant others.” On the other hand, Dr. C would show this outside the room in his level-headed approach to providing the best care to his patients.
In terms of the expectations of me as a 3rd year medical student, I was pleasantly surprised by the trust that Dr. E and Dr. C showed towards me. Beginning on that first day, both of them allowed me to go into patient rooms by myself to collect a history and do a physical exam. After seeing the patients, both Dr. E and Dr. C would ask me for my assessment and plan, really making me feel like a contributor to the medical decision-making team. In essence, they allowed me the freedom to hone my skills as a medical student in the clinical setting while also guiding me through the higher level thinking involved in patient care.
