A great day in IM!

This rotation is great. Not only are the hours incredibly sparse (this whole week, I will only be there for about 23 hours...), but my preceptor is really nice and a great teacher, and the patients are (mostly) nice and come in for relatively easy appointments. I think my favorite part, though, is just taking a few minutes to talk to people and help them beyond just refilling their medications.

Today, for example, we had a new patient come in who hadn't been to a doctor in over six years, because he "never felt bad." So, when I was asking him the typical questions that you ask a new patient, I inquired about his diet and found that it was awful (fast food, highly processed foods, no fruits/vegetables, lots of carbs, sugary drinks all day every day). He thought he was doing pretty well, and told me he never even thinks about eating more healthily. So...kindly and patiently, I suggested adding more fruits and vegetables in, and also suggested drinking something like a V8 Fusion that tastes pretty good but offers some of the benefits of fruits and vegetables. He said he hates fruits/veggies, so that sounded like a good option, and he was definitely excited to try it. Also, he was already trying to quit smoking, so I encouraged him with that and gave him some tips. We also set up a couple of referrals for problems that would require a specialist. It just felt really good to listen to the problems this patient was presenting with and help him to come up with a plan of action that he was really, truly going to follow. I felt good leaving that room because I knew that a person who had previously hated doctors and was only coming in for an acute complaint had been converted and would start getting preventive screenings and care. So, I was pretty proud of myself!

The rest of our patients today were pretty uneventful. This rotation is pretty relaxed, and we get free food a lot. Even though it's not as exciting as, say, the ER or surgery, I could see myself working in an office setting like this!