A French Proverb...

"To cure -- sometimes,

To relieve -- often,

To comfort -- always."

- Unknown

This little proverb was given to me by my pediatrics professor near the end of last semester and it has crossed my mind several times since.  The words are so brief, yet they carry such a powerful message.  As a busy medical student and a novice clinician, it is incredibly easy to get caught up in the overwhelming amounts of data that we are constantly taking in and trying so hard to remember, that we often forget the single most important part of our job... truly caring for our patients.  Vast medical knowledge is nice, and often helpful, but not essential in most cases.  There are no magic pills that will fix every ailment, and the wonders of modern medicine, however great, cannot heal all wounds or cure every illness.  Often, the best "treatments" we can give, are not actually treatments at all.  It has been my experience, that those providers who can consistently "comfort" their patients, are they who are the most successful.  The practice of medicine is much more of an art, than a science, and the better we remember that as clinicians, the better we will be, and the happier our patient's will be in the end.

Friday Clinic, Day Three

On this day, I spent the day in the busy family practice clinic and found myself hanging on for dear life.  As family practice will most likely be my immediate home after completing school, I was really excited to see what goes on in a normal, general family medicine clinic... the answer is.... EVERYTHING!  I was blown away at not only the breakneck speed of the clinic in general, but the completely random nature of the patient complaints that rolled in.  Medical roulette is a good way to describe how it felt.  The fun, but ultimately scary thing about the day was the fact that there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to what was next on the schedule.  Here is a brief snapshot of some of the complaints that I can remember: back pain, diabetes, "weird bump on my nose", shoulder pain, bipolar disorder, high blood pressure, new onset stutter, cough, skin rash, depression, "can't loose my baby weight", neck pain, etc... and that was all before lunch!  Needless to say, there is never a boring day in family practice (to a student at least!).  Despite the fact that feelings of crushing inadequacy accompanied me for the majority of the day, I was able to see most of my patients on my own, which was a great experience.  I took four-times longer than my preceptor to do anything, and often had to have him recheck most of what I did, but I was doing it!  However, slow, sloppy, or uncoordinated it was... I was doing it, and it felt GREAT!  Every time I put on that white coat and get to work with patients, I am reminded of the fact that I am doing exactly what I have wanted to do for so many years.  The road has been long and fraught with innumerable challenges, but I am finally getting to do what I love... treat patients.  At the end of the day, I got in to my car dead tired, hungry, and without many functioning brain cells, but I did have a big smile on my face, and that was the best feeling of all...

Friday Clinic, Day Two

The weeks are really flying now that we are only in class four days and then in clinic on Fridays.  My second clinic day started with me following an ophthalmologist (eye doctor).  One of the great parts about my clinical site, is that there are a bunch of different specialties all in close proximity which allows me the opportunity to get exposed to a ton of new things all in the same place.  Although my time with the ophthalmologist this day, was largely relegated to observing him adjust various eyeglass prescriptions, I was able to learn a lot about eye exams, anatomy, and pathology. (Doing a microscope/slit lamp  exam is much HARDER than it looks!)  I probably learned the most about glaucoma, and what a terrible disease it can be.  The Glaucoma Research Foundation estimates that approximately 4 million Americans are afflicted but shockingly, only around half that are aware they even have it.  One more good reason to have your eyes checked regularly.  The rest of the day went by really fast as I got back to my regular clinic and saw the remaining patients of the day with my preceptor.  The highlight of the day was that I got to take my first "solo" history and physical on a patient.  Up until this point, I have been mostly shadowing and doing minimal things here and there under direct supervision.  It was great to feel that little bit of nervousness as I walked into the room alone, and to feel like I was really "doing" something.  I am surprised how much I crave just jumping in and getting my hands dirty with the work.  The nerves only lasted a few moments, and I was surprised by the end of the encounter at how smoothly it all went overall.  I am definitely not afraid to make mistakes, and feel like I am comfortable enough with my preceptor, and my own skills, to know when I am in over my head and need help.  I definitely learned a lot, and am getting more comfortable as each week goes by... I love this stuff!