On the Wards

I'm sorry that I have not posted in a few days; it's taken me a while to get my thoughts together about my first days on the ward as a med student. I got the pediatric rotation in general peds, meaning we have kids with all kinds of problems, some that are quite critical. The first day was more orientation, not very fun, pretty boring, and basically we were told the same thing as the other days of orientation except in summary form. The second day was better, we actually were on the wards but we didn't see any patients because we spent the whole morning doing rounds, which we did in a small conference room and not in the patients rooms. So that was a bit of a bummer because I was really looking forward to seeing some kids, maybe even holding a baby. The second day, yesterday, we did rounds outside of the rooms, but still did not see any kids at this time. However, I stayed until 9:00 pm in order to see some more stuff. I got to hear 3 bad heart murmurs (the sound the heart makes when it has a defect and is not pushing blood through efficiently). I also saw a goiter (overgrown thyroid) and a kid with cerebral palsy. It was really interesting and fun to play with the kids, even if they were really sick. I basically followed a third year around and she took time to explain things to me and show me how to listen to the heart of an infant. I went home last night exhausted, but energized and excited to start learning. One thing that I learned was I will have to do on-call (all night) shifts as a med student in my third and fourth years. I thought I wouldn't have to endure that torture until I was a resident but I guess I was wrong!!! Oh well, I know I will learn a lot. For now I am glad I get to see what I will be doing in a few years.