On Pediatrics

A most wondrous Monday morning to you all. I hope your weekend was relaxing. I hope you had fun. I hope you had something delicious to eat/drink at least twice. Ok whatever....


I'm in somewhat of a foul mood... not sure why. It may have something to do with waking up at 5am. I forgot to change my alarm for this morning (I don't have to be in the hospital til 8:30am) and was rudely awakened. Anyway, I just had my Honey Bunches of Oats (tropical flavors :D) and I'm ok now. I might have to pop a starbucks double shot energy though.... and I really want applewood smoked bacon right now... mmmmmm.....

So I'm gonna write a small spiel about pediatrics. Let me start by saying I love kids. They are hilarious and the funnest little buggers ever. They whine and cry and puke and pee yet if you know how to turn on their brains, they are the best learners out there. They pick up on things you don't even realize. Anyway, I did my peds rotation through Sisters Hospital in NY. It's an outpatient clinic so no cool hospitalizations for me. But the hours aren't bad: essentially 8am-5pm every day on average. I think my Mondays were longer and I had Thursdays off. Which was awesome. The doc was super chill, very old school pediatrician. We saw kids from 2 days old to 22 year olds. He would have you observe the H&P the first week, then after that you do everything, including writing the note. He would watch in the room but essentially let you do it all. Come to the physical, he might listen to the heart and lungs, but again, you do it all. Which I think is the best way to learn. I had a lot of fun on this rotation. We kept busy most of the time but sometimes you get cancellations and you have like a 45 min block of downtime. I used those opportunities to study for the shelf exam. We didn't see anything super crazy. Your typical viral URI's, viral gastroenteritis (we put a lot of people on the BRAT diet), otitis media, scabies, head lice, mono, vaccines, warts, strep throat, and standard checkups/sports physicals. Not bad.

I was surprised I didn't get sick at all during the rotation. I got sick during Ob/gyn though... ugh that's a whole different experience that I don't know if I'll be posting about because my choice of words may cause this blog to become R rated.... anyway, Peds... when kids get sick, treat the parents because a lot of times, kids are sick because they are stressed. Parents: don't stress out your kids to the point where they get sick. Or you may deserve a hearty flogging.