Friday, July 10, 2015

Perinatology Elective

Life gets a little busy when you're doing rotations and I completely forgot to write about my first elective that I completed back in May in Augusta for 4 weeks in Perinatology. Perinatology is a subspecialty of obstetrics that focuses on high-risk pregnancies. I really enjoyed my time. We did a ultrasound on every patient mostly because they were usually new patients and being referred to us by their regular OBGYN. I got really good at reading ultrasounds and even scanned some patients myself. I have a new appreciation for sonographers, you wouldn't think but that really hurts your arm after awhile or maybe I'm just a weakling and need to work out a little more...

We had a genetic counselor who worked in our office as well and I got to work with her, counseling patients on genetic conditions etc. Two of my favorite things, genetics and OB! Ever since taking my first genetics course in college, I've been fascinated by it. Maybe because it has math involved which has always been a strong point of mine. The interest in genetic diseases grew when my cousin was born was a severe genetic metabolic disease discovered after he went home but before the newborn screening results came back. I know how important genetic counselors are for families!

I really enjoyed the rotation especially because I'm interested in OBGYN and got to see the more challenging cases that I didn't get to see in my OBGYN core rotation. I would highly recommend this rotation! Not only did my OBGYN clinical skills improve but so did my counseling skills. 


Pediatrics

I just finished Pediatrics. Can't believe I've finished half of my cores already! Everything is flying by. I arrived in Atlanta in June and I am loving being here. I've made it to The World of Coca-Cola, the Georgia Aquarium, walked around Centennial Park, practiced my golf at TopGolf, watched the laser show and fireworks at Stone Mountain and visited Six Flags over Georgia. I still want to catch a Braves game and maybe even a pre-season game of the Falcons. Atlanta Botanical gardens, the zoo, and the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site are also on my list to do.

My schedule for pediatrics has been 4 days a week and only 1/2 days so it has given me a lot of time to study as well as get out and explore ATL. I worked with 5 other students which was kinda a bummer because it just didn't allow me the exposure I wanted and it was all outpatient so the rotation lacked the inpatient experience. While I loved seeing the adorable children, I don't think pediatrics is for me. It's been a fun time though.

Some of the students from UMHS I worked with as well as our preceptor.

As far as studying for the shelf, I read Case Files, started Kaplan videos but I'm just not a video person so never finished and completed uWorld and Pretest questions. I think uWorld was almost a little too easy so I chose to also do Pretest which is another 500 questions. I love the explanations that Pretest offers so I honestly learned a ton just from reading those. Highly suggest it and they are a little more difficult and ask more about those rare conditions that somehow always sneak their way onto the shelves. Oh and I usef\d First Aid for the Wards for all the core rotations because it gives a general review of the high yield info. Test day is July 18th!

Next up is: Internal Medicine, getting into the nitty gritty of medicine!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Electives offered for UMHS

Want to know some places you can do electives and what is offered? If you log into CAMS, on the left column it says "Official Documents" under "Administrative Services". The last document is called "UMHS Clinical Elective Guide". While this is not a complete list, it is a start!