Internal Medicine

I'm done with Internal Medicine which means another 12 weeks of rotations completed! I am still in Atlanta at DeKalb Hospital. The first 6 weeks of the rotation was outpatient and myself and 5 other students saw a lot of patients! The second 6 weeks was inpatient and I learned a ton! I wish the entire 12 weeks was inpatient. The attendings challenged us constantly to think outside the box and also make connections. It was a great experience. Every morning we had morning report led by an IM resident in which we would present a case and the group would have to work through it, asking the right questions, coming up with differential diagnosis' and a plan of action. It really made me think about how to approach a patient in an inpatient setting. I have nothing but good things to say about the residents we worked with. I learned sooo much from them! We worked with IM residents as well as podiatry residents that are required to rotate through IM. The attendings would then let us see patients on our own, take a history, do a physical exam and then present the patient to them on rounds. We were required to know up-to-date labs and other information about our patients and it helped us understand management better. We also had weekly lectures over common topics by attendings to solidify our knowledge. Of the 6 weeks inpatient, 1 week of that was spent in the ICU. I really enjoyed my time, learning about end of life care and critical care in general.

I took the shelf, a few days after I finished the rotation. I thought it was challenging. To prepare, I uses Case Files: Internal Medicine and UWorld questions. I tried to read Step Up to Medicine at the beginning because everyone said it is a great resource but I never got through the whole thing due to time but plan to use it more as I prepare for Step 2.

Going forward: I am set to take Step 2 CS in 1 week! I have been crazily studying because I have a few weeks off before I leave for Puerto Rico to start some electives. I always heard that the best time to take CS is right after your Internal Medicine Core or after an ER elective because you have a lot of experience taking full histories and doing physical exams so it's natural at that point. I do feel morning report as I mentioned above helped prepare me for CS. I will post about my experience afterwards in a week!