There is one more week until I finish my clinical training. I am unbelievably happy about this. The excitement is barely containable. I have struggled with "short-timer's" syndrome a lot, but I think that I can finish strong.
Unfortunately, I don't have any in-depth insights on this upcoming week. It feels as if I have learned all the clinical year had to offer me. I know that the forty or so patients I will see in this upcoming week will teach me something, though. Let me just look back at what the patients in the past week have taught me:
1. When someone complains of a fever and shaking chills, ALWAYS check their ears. I knew this already, but got slapped and humiliated this week for an instant of complacency. Just because the patient doesn't complain of ear problems does not mean they don't have ear problems.
2. Hepatitis C is a nasty virus, but it is very treatable and our patients don't have to die of cirrhosis and horrible liver failure just because they've got this bug. Apparently, genotypes II and III are cureable at a rate of 70% and new medications on the market have brought genotype I up to a cure rate of at least 50%.
3. I will get yelled at occasionally by my patients no matter how much I know or how good my bedside manner is. There is always one out there that cannot be pleased.
4. 11 patients in one day is a lot for me, but I can do it, even if some of them are very sick or complex.
These are but a few of the lessons I've learned in the past week, but it shows that each week there is a list of lessons that can be gleaned. So hopefully as I enter the last week of my clinical training and as all those who come after me reach the same milestone, we will avoid complacency, we will always be ready to learn something, and hopefully this last week goes off without a hitch.
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