Internal Medicine

We officially have a 3rd year Internal Medicine Half-Doctor in the house!!! Nick's orientation was on Wednesday August 14th and his first official day on the job was Monday, August 19th! He came home from his orientation SO EXCITED about his very doctor-esque beeper that he was given. AKA the hospital version of a handcuff to ensure students/employees are never too far out of reach! While it's exciting today... I say give it about a month and that thing will be his enemy (or maybe mostly mine)- when it goes off around 2am!

Nick has successfully completed his first full week of Internal Medicine rotations, and so far, so good! His first day he dove right in offering to take the less ideal jobs that the higher up residents did not want to do. This doesn't surprise me at all. Unlike some medical students, Nick worked in the hospital for 2 years before attending SGU. He is used to getting his hands dirty and being the low guy on the totem poll. There are very few tasks that phase him- and actually, he is eager and willing to do all and any that get thrown his way!

An added perk so far has been that Nick has a "noon conference" every day which includes a catered lunch! Some days it is better than others but either way, this wifey (and our bank account) enjoy not having to make to lunches every day!  

The first week involved a little bit of everything- from having his own patients to check in with/report on during rounds, attending lectures, shadowing on exciting cases, and overall just getting oriented to St. John's Hospital. Some days he comes home feeling like he is on top of his game and other days he comes home and quickly sticks his head in a medical book- eager to learn more to have a better understanding the next day.

His schedule for Internal Med has been pretty good with his hospital day starting roughly around 7:00AM and ending anywhere between 3:00- 6:00PM and he works some weekends, but not all. His day rarely is over when he walks in the door however, because there is usually something he wants to learn up on before bed... but all in all not a terrible schedule for his first rotation!

He is learning so much and comes home with interesting/exciting stories every day and it's crazy how much he has learned already in such a short period of time! They sure do work these med students hard! :)

3rd Year Clinical Schedule

It's been a couple of weeks since we got the official word that Nick would be remaining in Detroit at St. John's Hospital and since then we have been hard on the house hunt and preparing to move into our new (although still unknown) home.

Life post STEP continues to be awesome, but ONE week from today the hubs is back in medstudent mode- this time ready to conquer his 3rd year of medical school and the 6 hospital rotations that come with it!

We got his schedule today which was really exciting! In short, the overview of his year looks like this:

1. Internal Medicine (a 12 week rotation)
2. General Surgery  (a 12 weeks rotation)
3. Family Medicine (a 6 week rotation)
4. Pediatrics (a 6 week rotation)
5. OB/GYN (a 5 week rotation)
6. Psychiatry (and as of right now his schedule says this is a super short 2 week rotation- so we'll see if that is correct or changes.) 

3rd year is filled with all mandatory rotations that every medstudent must take, but in 4th year he will have a little flexibility to pick a few rotations that he is especially interested in (ie: Emergency Medicine)- so that will be fun! This schedule takes him from August 19, 2013 - June 30, 2014! As 3rd year comes to an end in June, Nick will then need to be preparing for his STEP 2 exams and getting ready to begin the residency application process (which from what we've read, heard, and been told- is rather lengthy.)

 His breaks in between each rotation are pretty short, but his schedule within each rotation will definitely vary dramatically- with some being more intense than others. We've heard a little of what to expect from those who have completed 3rd year ahead of us, but we'll see what our own personal impression of each one is!

Nick's definitely not ready to give up the relaxed life yet, but he loves (and thrives) in the hospital setting so I think once he's back in his scrubs and white coat he'll be lovin' all the hands on experience that comes with each clinical rotation!