Rotation 6 OBGYN reflection
Types of patients you found challenging in this rotation and what you learned about dealing with them
I found OB patients to be challenging in this rotation. Their management can be completely different based on their gestational age. They don’t just present for delivery, but also prenatal care and routine checkup during pregnancy. There are also different tests that needed to be order based on trimester. I found that there are no short cuts to learn this. I have learned that the more OB patients I get to see in clinic, in labor and delivery, and during postpartum rounds, the more I will learn to manage based on different stages of the pregnancy. There are also a lot of “numbers” to remember for OBGYN, such as the gestational week for ordering a certain test, the gestational week for different trimester, the blood pressure cut off for confirming different severity of pre-eclampsia, etc. Seeing more OB patients in this rotation is helpful in learning the management based on different gestational age.
How your perspective may have changed as a result of this rotation (e.g. elderly patients, kids, IV drug users, etc).
My perspective on diversity has changed as a result of this rotation. I have noticed a lot of Spanish-speaking patients in the hospital where I am doing my rotation. Personally, I do not speak Spanish and I would have to call the interpreter for translation every time I have to interview a Spanish speaking patient. Even though phone interpreter is very convenient and we can have access to it anywhere in the hospital, bad connections can often prevent the interpreters from listening the complete message and they are limited to only what they hear. After seeing a lot of Spanish speaking patients, they motivate me to learn to speak Spanish. I think taking a medical Spanish course in the near future will be beneficial in the hope of serving a larger and diverse community.
How could the knowledge I’ve gained here be applicable in other rotations/disciplines?
In this rotation, I have a lot of opportunity to perform pelvic exam including pap smear and vaginal cultural swab. I think it is important to have the proper skill of performing a female genital exam because gyn complaints are very common. Doing a proper gyn exam will aid in the guidance of diagnosis and treatment. Doing pap smear is helpful in screening cervical cancer by identifying abnormal cervical cells, which will lead to early treatment before symptoms even occur. Additionally, endocervical culture will help to identify STDs before it gets complicated into pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility in women. I have also had chances to learn and perform pelvic and transvaginal ultrasounds. These tools are essential in diagnosing life threatening cases like ectopic pregnancy, or to provide care for pregnant patients.
What do you want to improve on for the following rotations? What is your action plan to accomplish that?
In the future rotations, I would like to continue seeking opportunities to complete more hands-on procedures. In order to do this, it will be important for me to stay proactive in this rotation. I will also want to be more prepared prior to the start of the rotation. I will start reading and reviewing the topics before the start of the rotation. This will help me to better adjust and familiarize with different disease.
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