Today marks the halfway point of my first clinical rotation: Family Medicine.  I am currently working at University Family Physicians, a family medicine practice affiliated with the University of Tennessee Medical Center.  So far so great!  I have had a tremendous experience overall.  I am really enjoying family medicine, even more so than I had anticipated.  In fact, I am strongly considering this field for a career possibility at some point.  As for now, I am still planning to go into trauma/critical care directly after graduation, but I do not plan to make this a lifetime career.  Ideally, I will go into a more structured career as my career and life progress, possibly family medicine or maybe even cardiology.  I am thoroughly enjoying my exposure to geriatrics so whichever field I choose, there will definitely be a self requirement of a large geriatric patient population.  I am working 8AM-5PM most days, Monday through Friday.  I am working with one physician/medical resident in the morning and one in the afternoon.  There are about 20 physicians in this practice so I have been rotating with all of them, working with some quite often and some just for one shift.  Everyone in the office has been super friendly, extremely helpful, and SO willing to teach.  I have been very thankful for a great first experience!

We see all kinds of patients, from expecting mothers to snotty-nosed children to adults with high blood pressure and diabetes (just about every other person in East TN) to the elderly unable to pinpoint their complaint, usually coming in just to visit with us.  I also spent one morning at Brakebill Nursing Home; a very dismal experience to say the least.  The excitement for the morning ended when a woman began to have a heart attack while we were in the room.  I spent this past week on the In Patient Services team, meaning I did rounds on patients in the hospital that had been admitted either through our clinic or the ED (for those of you who are unaware, this is the new version of "ER", now more appropriately referred to as the emergency department = ED).  This wasn't the most exciting experience being in my position as a student, but we followed several patients throughout the week, diagnosing their issues, and then treating their issues with hopes of getting them discharged from the hospital as soon as possible.  The highlight of this experience was "the crazy kid".  Our 23 year old patient was nicknamed "the crazy kid" after choosing to play with and eat his feces on numerous occasions, being outrageously combative to the point of needing restraints, and throwing his food trays around the room.  The nurses referred to him as Houdini as he managed to escape his restraints within 20 minutes of lockdown.  It was my first time seeing major depression with psychosis, a diagnosis I am guaranteed not to forget.  Thank you Crazy Kid!