End of my first rotation.... Psychiatry

My first rotation ended today. I was sad to say goodbye to the staff and patients that I have gotten to know during the past 4 weeks. I was at a local alcohol and drug outpatient rehab center, and spent most of my time at the women's center, and one or two days a week at the men's recovery center. Technically, this probably wasn't the "best" psychiatric rotation in terms of seeing a broad spectrum of psychiatric illnesses, but I think there's an advantage to spending time in a specialized setting - you get to know at least one piece of the puzzle really well. Alcohol and drug addiction will be a pervasive issue regardless of where I end up working, so I'm glad I had this experience. One thing I learned from watching psych interviews - a really good interview doesn't seem so much like an interview, but a conversation. And another skill is writing a good HPI after what seems like a rambling conversation. I had the opportunity to attempt both a few times and it was a good learning experience. :-)

Spring semester.... bring on the pain

Ah, the "downhill slide" one may say to completion of the didactic year of PA school.... I mean, it's the year 2010 now, so we're basically done, right? WRONG. My first pharmacology exam this semester supremely humbled my adventurous spirit and has turned my focus back to the books. Now I'm playing catch-up with the grades, and I'm having to work harder than ever to focus on making it through this semester day by day. Don't get me wrong, I've had a little fun. Our class split into 8 groups, and we performed skits this past Friday for our cardiology section. We were able to poke a little fun at all our professors and have a few belly laughs. I was happy to see Dr. Maner got a jab in every skit. Yeah, that's what you get for that awful Pharm test!! *evil laugh* I will post a skit video soon if I can get a hold of the file.

Classes so far.... ACLS, cardiology, GI physiology, pharmacology, surgery

Classes to come.... uh, a lot more? surgery, a lot more pharm and lot more clinical medicine.