Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Call me "Doctor..."

Well, I'm back in the swing of things after a long Labor Day weekend. Being on an outpatient rotation this month, I was able to actually take the three day weekend off! Several fun activities included a one-year old's birthday party, going back to PCPC, Sunday brunch with friends, a trip home, and playing with my nephew at a nearby park.

My pulmonary clinic experience is a fairly passive learning environment. I shadow from 9:00 to 4:30, which makes the time go slowly; then again, these are established patient that would be difficult to sort through for the first time.

Today, a well-respected doctor from my medical school came into clinic with his wife, who was the patient. He looked puzzled when he saw me, until I reminded him of how he was my attending for a while. In the midst of the patient encounter when an unrelated concern arose, the pulmonologist turned to me and said, "Well, what do you think we should do next in working up this issue?" Here I was, giving diagnostic recommendations to the pulmonologist (who was rather out-of-practice on some general medicine issues) in front of my old attending! I suggested an ultrasound and held my breadth, waiting for the other physician to correct me! Fortunately, I'd guessed right for once!

At the end of the encounter, I said farewell and "nice to see you." "Nice to see you too, Jonathan," came the reply.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw the interview list for the first group this weekend. David is on it. Congratulations to him!
-Joe F

Anonymous said...

You've come a far ways!