Lessons Learned: Rotation #5

Now that Aaron and I received word that we passed our Pediatrics Shelf exam (whew!), we can officially mark the rotation as complete. As much as I enjoyed the month, it posed a problem - I am now even more confused regarding which career path I want to take.

I've always had a passion for children and was thus expecting a nice November. However, after spending several weeks in the clinic and a week at Saint Francis Children's Hospital, I can realistically envision myself working with kids for a living.

Lesson #1: Information is key. Refusing the influenza vaccination because they (parents) believe it can cause the flu. Failure to thrive (dangerous lack of growth) because they don't know how much to feed a child, how often, and/or even that they must wake an infant during the night to feed. Demanding antibiotics for a viral infection because they desperately want their child to improve immediately. A great majority of the frustrations between caregivers and pediatricians is due to a lack of, or misinformation. It's important to take this into consideration, and even more important to attempt to educate the patient/caregiver for the good of the child.

Lesson #2: My husband is superhuman. I was ecstatic that I'd made it past my third week of Pediatrics without getting sick...until I caught a stomach bug that had been circulating in the hospital. Looking back, I'm still patting my immune system on the back for only one sick day. Aaron, however, didn't have so much as a sniffle the entire month. I'm not sure that has ever happened in the history of medical school. Well done, sir. Well done.