How I spend my days

There are a great many things I love about this rotation, but I think the top 2 have to be my freedom at the hospital and the Native American culture I've been immersed in.

1. I have, at my disposal, every department in the hospital, virtually no student competition (Hugh, the medical student spends all his time in the ER) and everyone has been extremely willing to have me come by and hangout for a few days, take their time and teach me. I'm taking this new found freedom for all it's worth and trying to spend my time where I think I would not otherwise have the chance to see at all. For example I got to hang with the podiatrist last week and next week I'm going to spend 2 days with the amazing ENT NP and the Optometrist as well as some OR time with the OB/GYN Doc's. We have rotations in major/general fields of medicine but not much time to spend with the specialties and I'm trying to get as much of that as I can while I'm here.

I have spent most of time with OB/GYN outpatient doing ultrasounds, prenatal checks, pap's and some IUD insertions and removals and I know what your thinking... yes going out onto rotations when asked what area I would like to focus on and practice in I stated with confidence "anything but OB/GYN or Pediatrics" and yet as you can see I have spent quite a bit of my time in the very department I so adamantly denied interest in. Well to ease your suspense, the answer is NO I have not changed my mind about this. I do think it's an important area to understand and so I am forcing myself to spend some time there. What I have learned is a great deal because the Doc's are wonderful and also it's not as bad as I thought... but I still don't want to do it :)

2. Last night I went to my first Pow Wow! It was really a very moving experience actually. Hugh and a friend from the pharmacy went down to the local high school where people were all dressed up in elaborate traditional/not so traditional Indian garb singing and dancing. Another friend I've made from the pharmacy was actually dancing later on but he sat with us and explained the history of the dances and some of the outfits, about the singing and Pow Wow's in general. It was fascinating and really enjoyable to watch. It's so heart warming to see some of the younger kids embracing their roots and learning some of the traditions of their culture. One of the nurses is going to bead my stethoscope as a memento of my time here and I have enjoyed every second of it.