Week 3

Me in one of the EOMA clinic rooms

Time flies when you're having fun! I can't believe it's already the end of Week Three. Technically, it's the end of Week 2.5 since I started my rotation here midweek. I have one and a half weeks left, and I'm already feeling nostalgic. Why must I always get so sentimental? ;)

It was a wonderful week. I learned a lot and saw such a variety of things. Dr. Schott was in Honduras on a medical mission trip, along with 10 other people (mostly from EOMA). I worked with Dr. Kelley, Dr. Mitzel, Dr. Lamb, and Dr. Irvine throughout the week. I delivered one baby and had a chance to watch another (first vacuum-assited delivery I've seen. Baby and mom are doing great). It's great how each doctor usually does the deliveries of his own patients. There's a doctor on OB call at all times, but more often then not, most deliver their own patients' babies. This continuity of care is quite impressive. The patients love it, and the doctors do too. The patients feel comfortable since they know the person delivering their baby, and I imagine that the doctors feel fortunate to be able to deliver the babies of their patients. It's wonderful, too, how after the delivery, both mom and baby will go back to EOMA for follow-up care. Does this epitomize continuity or what? :)

NST training session

This week, I also conducted my Non-stress Test training session for a few of the nurses at EOMA. Two days later, we had a mom come in for an NST--the timing couldn't have worked out better!

Performing our first NST (obtained pt's permission to take photo!)

I also joined Dr. Lamb in court where he spoke on behalf of one of his patients. It's amazing how much these doctors do in their communities. Dr. Lamb, I learned, is Deputy Medical Examiner, and Drs. Irvine and Kelley are also MEs.

This week also felt significant in that I saw several patients that I had already seen at previous visits. I appreciated this continuity and enjoyed seeing these patients again. I also saw one of the babies that I delivered last week. One of my most special patients has given me permission to include her in my blog. Her name is Joanne and she was the first patient that I admitted at the hospital. She was discharged after a few days and has returned to clinic twice. It has been so wonderful witnessing her steady improvement. I will have a chance to see her one more time before I return to Portland. People always talk about "patients you'll never forget," and she is one of those patients. And come to think of it, my time in Baker has been full of patients like this. I treasure the time I've been able to spend with them and am thankful for what they have taught me.

Joanne and me

I am also grateful for the time my preceptors take to teach me. All of them are incredibly busy, and yet they go out of their way to include me. I'm quite overwhelmed in a good way and feel I have learned so much from them. They've also been kind enough to advise me about the years ahead, in residency and in practice.

This week I also had a chance to attend a CHIP (Community Health Improvement Partnership) meeting. The CHIP program is a community-based decision-making program that empowers rural communities to improve health care and health systems at the local level. Paul McGinnis and Melinda Davis were there and shared a lot of insights about research at the community level. It's exciting to learn about Baker's projects and goals in this arena.

Overall, it was a great week with several interesting patients and learning opportunities. :) Tomorrow I will begin the day with a C-section at 7:30AM so I better get to bed. Goodnight and as always, thanks for reading!