And that’s a wrap - some unfinished thoughts on third year

Third year... there’s so much to say, and there’s no way I can say it all now.

For friends who aren’t in med school, our clerkship year, traditionally completed in the third chronological year of medical school, is big - we spend a whole year experiencing a little bit of each speciality, learning their language and approach to patients, their physical exam skills and clinical pearls, how to manage their most common conditions, to consider if we see ourselves dedicating ourselves to this speciality and if not, to understand their way of thinking so we  know how to work best with them when the news comes up. I started my year on pediatrics where we saw sick kiddos in the outpatient urgent care clinic, cared for babes in the newborn nursery and NICU, and managed hospitalized kids on the inpatient wards. Then I did eight weeks of internal medicine which is one of the hardest rotations of the year, there’s SO many conditions and diagnostic tests and treatments, plus we work six days each week but you work closely with the same team and patients for weeks which leads to some beautiful relationships. I had surgery next which was eight weeks of learning how to be as helpful and efficient as possible in the OR, trauma activations, and managing hospitalized patients; the five 24-hour calls we spent in the hospital ended up being a real highlight. I spent four weeks in Fresno learning about psychiatry, where I was challenged to look deep and listen carefully to my patients, to be okay with our assessments and plans conflicting with a patient’s wishes because we were trying to keep them safe. I had a glorious six weeks of OB/GYN, three weeks immersed in gynecology where I assisted in the OR, saw a range of women’s health concerns in the clinic, and managed women who came in with real emergencies; on my three weeks of obstetrics, I attended births (and got to catch some babies!), cheering on new mommas through their pushing. My two weeks of anesthesia had some mixed experiences but I got to piece together what happens behind the curtain to keep a patient alive during surgery while getting some hands on practice on important procedures. I spent four weeks at the VA learning neurology in the inpatient hospital, ICU, and clinic settings. And I finished off the year with a two week emergency medicine elective where I got to bring together everything I learned all year and practice on some hands on skills as we triaged which patients were safe to go home and who needed to be brought in for higher level care. 

The year was marked by constantly starting over with new roles, new patients, new teams - but that constant movement  made the magic of third year possible; getting to see a little bit of everything for just long enough to start getting the hang of it all. There were plenty of lows but each one taught me something important and helped me grow - plus the joys and the wonder haven’t lost their magic for me yet. I have so much to say about third year, so much that I’ll be writing creatively about it for my capstone scholarly project in the coming year. I’ve always loved writing but haven’t ever carved out space for it like this, I feel like I know so little about how to write but I have so much fun doing it... so we’ll see how this turns out. 

I’m so excited about what’s next and couldn’t be more grateful that I get to spend my career honing a craft where I learn something new everyday and have meaningful relationships with all kinds of wonderful people. 

xoxo

Juhi