Yesterday was just a half-day and there were no scheduled procedures for the GYN team. So instead of leaving us to wallow in our boredom for the afternoon, the residents invited us over to the hospital's gyn clinic to shadow them. This is what I'll be doing every day next week, so I was excited for the preview.
Turns out gyn clinic (at least at this hospital) is not really my thing. A lot, but not all, of the problem is the language barrier. Normally, the best part of a clinic setting is getting to talk and connect with the patient. That connection is pretty tenuous through a phone interpreter. And as a shadowing medical student, I'm not even on the interpreter phone, but watching the resident and patient talk on a phone to each other after long pauses for translation. It's like doing a video chat with a terrible internet connection; some communication is happening, but most of your energy is being put towards the technical difficulties and no one is having a pleasant time.
I also just find it boring focussing on one area of the body. This is good to find out! A big part of third year is finding out which side of several dichotomies to fall on. Surgery or medicine? General or specialty? One body part or many? Young or old? Hospital or outpatient? Big city or little? So, my question right now is, do I dislike all specialized fields or just this one?
Today, I had my first OB experience. A nurse turned around as we were waiting for the GYN team and asked, "Can one of you med students do something for me?" I then comically looked around to see if any of the OB students were somehow hiding in the cabinet behind me.
"Sure?!" I said, with nervous enthusiasm.
"Go back into Room 1 and get the birth time, placenta time and birth weight."
"Uh... ok!" I said, having no clue where Room 1 was or who I was supposed to ask for this information.
It all worked out; I found the room and the nurse gave me the only information that she had (the birth time). It still amazes me how often med students are thrown into situations they are totally unprepared for. Nearly every week you are in a new place with new people treating patients with new problems. I think the whole process must be just trying to get us comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.
ThursdayIL: The best emergency contraceptive, commonly known as the "morning after pill," isn't actually a pill. There are pills that would work, but the most effective form is actually a copper IUD (intrauterine device).
FridayIL: If a woman is producing milk but doesn't want to, for instance her baby died shortly after birth, then wearing a tight bra, using ice packs, and controlling pain with NSAIDs will help stop the milk production. The worst thing she could do is empty the breast by pumping milk. This would alleviate the pain and fullness, but it completes the body's feedback loop and will continue milk production as long as you keep emptying.
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