back to work, sort of

Tomorrow, I"m starting volunteer work with my primary care doc, to get some experience before I begin clinicals. He told me a while back that I should get in touch with him after I took the step, so the other day, I took him up on it. For the next month or so, I'll be working with him two or three days a week. I haven't talked to him too much about it, but it looks like I'll be seeing his patients, taking a history, doing an exam, and reporting to him what I find and what I'd do. Then, I'll see the patient with him, and see how close I was. I'm hoping this will give me some good practice before I have to do it for a grade. I suppose that tomorrow, I'll find out how useful ICM was or was not.

I've done thousands of patient interviews as a paramedic, but I think it's going to be a lot different as a medical student. For one, I actually know what I'm looking for now. And probably most importantly, I'm now expected to know what to do with the patients for current and future treatment....not just how to keep them alive for the 10 minutes they're in the back of my ambulance. I think I'm going to like it.