My Internal Medicine Rotation
My only exposure to internal medicine (IM) prior to this rotation was a 1-week “burst”, and it was my very first week in hospital rotations. It was extremely intimidating and went by in a fast and anxiety provoking blur. I went into my second IM rotation very nervous that the conversations about patients would still go way over my head and I wouldn’t be able to be a helpful part of the team. I’m really happy to say that I had an absolutely amazing time on my IM rotation, mostly due to the residents and attendings I had the opportunity to work with.
My attendings love their jobs.
Both of the attendings that lead my team were so enthusiastic about every aspect of their job, from teaching us medical students and residents, to detail-oriented patient care, and it was really inspiring to see. I’m always intimidated meeting attendings for the first time, but both of them very quickly made me feel at ease, and I’m so grateful for that. They also took time to set expectations at the beginning of their time on service, and give feedback at the end that included clear advice on how I can improve, and that is so valuable to my education as I know I have endless room to grow. My ultimate goal in life is to wake up and be excited to go to work, and it was so great to work with attendings who have clearly achieved that goal!
The residents were extremely supportive and taught me constantly.
As a medical student, the resident doctors we report to are the people we spend the most time with, and therefore they almost completely determine how our experience will be on the rotation. The group I was with for internal medicine was absolutely amazing, both individually, and they had a really great genuine team dynamic. I worked with 2 medicine interns, 2 psychiatry interns on their IM rotation, 1 sub-intern (4th year medical student) from Puerto Rico, and 1 senior resident. They all taught me so much, always welcomed questions, and helped guide me as I followed my patients’ progress each day. I think our senior really set the tone for the entire team, and him being so approachable and kind, yet also organized and decisive allowed us to work really well together. He was also really respectful of other specialties, and instead of saying anything negative, he just expressed his own love for his internal medicine. I’m currently planning on going into emergency medicine, and even as the team light-heartedly tried to convince me to switch to internal medicine, I really appreciated their positive way of doing so. The residents were also ready to share advice on maneuvering medical school in general, and since we don’t have upperclassmen at my school it is always greatly appreciated.
It was also my first time working with a sub-intern, and it was inspiring to see the next level of medical student knowledge and functionality that I’ll continue to work towards. Since he was here from out of the country, it was also an important reminder that I should never take the opportunity to learn at a teaching hospital for granted.
The team allowed me to take full ownership of my patients.
Even though the intern, senior resident, and attending have the true responsibility for the patients’ care, I really loved the experience of taking ownership for all of my patients on the rotation. Since I only followed 2-3 patients each day, it allowed me to know everything about their presentation and hospital course, and also allowed me to spend a lot of time with my patients. One of the attendings asked me to update my patients on their results and the plan each day on rounds, and though at first I was nervous I would misspeak or the patients would want to hear from the doctors instead of the student, it instantly became one of my favorite parts of each day.
It is still surreal sometimes to think that someday every patient I see will be “my patient”. I won’t be “just a medical student” forever, and getting to be in such a supportive environment is exactly what I’d hope for to allow me to prepare for each new step as it comes.