Our country is blessed to have medical regulatory boards that serve to protect patients and their providers. Some other parts of the world do not require a license or special privileges. Those countries just want help from anyone willing, and it does not always end well. So, the United States has a blessing and a curse. Since ...

Today just so happened to be my final day on rotations, and while it was depressing to say goodbye to the outstanding team I’ve worked with here on my elective, I have been so thankful for the invaluable experience I’ve gained. This entire week has been unreal, and there has been hardly enough time to digest that next week is the last week of my ...

This week I've been scheduled on nights, and it's been a completely different ER experience. While many of the chief complaints are the same as what I've seen during the day in the ER, the pace has been different. There is no doubt that things can get just as hectic at night as they do during the day, but for the most part, things usually tend to ...

It’s been almost 9 months since I was in the emergency room on rotation, and I am loving every moment of being back. I’m easily putting in 40 hours a week at my elective, and while many students are using their elective as an opportunity to relax a little before graduation, I am soaking up every last minute. It’s not that I’m not looking forward ...

Monday began the final rotation of my PA school career. It's certainly hard to believe how much has happened over the past 2 years, especially since the start of rotations. All of last week's testing went smoothly, and it was exciting to see how much easier the questions were, considering I've had the chance to learn hands-on in so many areas of ...

I recently started my geriatric/long-term care rotation, and with it I jumped back into hands-on patient care. So far, my time on this rotation has been extremely useful in that every patient I’ve seen has an extensive medical history. In one short week, I’ve already learned so much again in regards to physical exam. While my time in psych was ...

It's nearly the end of my final week here on my psychiatry rotation, and as I say my goodbyes to the patients I've grown close to over the last month, I'm feeling much differently than I'm used to. My preceptor made it clear on my first day to give my patients enough notice before my final day. She explained that students frequently come and go, ...

With 1 more week to go in psychiatry, and the start of summer just a few days away, I've been gearing up for a busy couple of months. In 3 weeks, once I've completed my psych rotation, as well as my 2 weeks in long-term care/geriatrics that are to follow, my class and I will have to face a week of comprehensive testing before setting out on our ...

Today I had the opportunity to sit down with one of the many patients I have gotten to know over the last 2 weeks. On my first day, I learned that prior to being hospitalized for schizoaffective and bipolar disorder, this patient was a brilliant student, eventually becoming the valedictorian of her high school. I came to find out that she was also ...

This week I began my psych rotation at a psychiatric hospital in Maryland. The hospital I’ll be working at is strictly an inpatient facility on an expansive private campus, with several buildings and wards. At the beginning of this week, after my orientation and tour of the impressive hospital grounds, my new preceptor introduced me not only to my ...