safms3journal

[safms3journal]

Wound Care

Overall: 9/10

pros

• loved rounding on patients in the hospital - saw unique cases almost every day

• loved problem solving and working with pathology and decoding labs

• lots of hands on experience like ABG, punch biopsy, wound debridement

• got to see how wound care relates to all other aspects of medicine, good review, loved infectious disease and oncology

• super chill, lots of days off and early days - fell in love with medicine all over again

• got to follow up with the same patient multiple times and noticed their progress

cons

• not super passionate about the patient population - mostly diabetics, overweight pts

• some of the more routine wound care stuff felt repetitive

• felt a little sad with all the paraplegic patients and pts with leg amputations

[safms3journal]

Surgery

Overall: 7/10

pros

• there’s literally nothing like having your hands inside someones body and fixing their problems with your own eyeballs and hands

• loved prerounding and following my patients throughout the course of a month

• almost considered doing breast surgery as a career

cons

• no time for sleep, food, social life, even keeping up with family and gym

• culture is just really high expectations and toxic and youre always proving yourself

• was miserable from exhaustion and not having basic needs met, felt super isolated and lonely

[safms3journal]

Psych

Overall: 8/10

Pros

• learned a LOT about mental health and what pushes people to the edge, how to manage care, the system of psychiatry

• felt super empathetic for every patient and just wanted to find solutions

• every single patient was so interesting and unique and I was truly excited every day to interview and learn more about them

Cons

• didnt feel like we were actually fixing anyone’s problems - just stabilizing them in the short term

• was pretty sad and felt kinda hopeless

• does anyone really recover from mental illness?

[safms3journal]

Peds

Overall: 2/10

Pros

• my week in the nursery was just free seratonin the entire day - 10/10, loved talking to new moms

• inpatient peds was also cool

Cons

• didnt feel like we were doing much - just telling parents to give their kids tyelenol, etc

• super monotonous and felt like the days were dragging

• a lot of refering patients out to other specialists

[safms3journal]

Ob/Gyn

Overall: 9/10

Pros

delivering a baby out of an actual womb was one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life

talking to woman about post partum depression, sexual health, prenatal health lights a fire inside of me

i want to do woman's health 10000%

helping minority woman have access to basic healthcare is like my #1 passion in life

Cons

didn't love being in the OR for laparoscopic surgeries esp

really hard to keep a routine because every day's schedule is so different

call/post call days can be very lonely because all your friends and family are awake at different times than you are

I can see why people say the culture can be toxic

[safms3journal]

Oncology

Overall: 10/10

Pros

absolutely loved working with cancer patients, loved the energy and pace, love the lifestyle

from my diary: I feel so content with life. I feel balanced. Everyone warned me that oncology is “so depressing” but I really have not felt that way. There’s just nothing like being part of a patient’s cancer care team and knowing you did all you could possibly do to give them their best shot. They are so invested in their disease state. They want to know everything and they’re so trusting. If you’re ever going to quit smoking, it’s when you get a diagnosis of cancer. I love how much of an impact you can have. I love how nerdy and excited you can get. I love how you don’t have to give up your whole self to do it. I love the room for growth and collaboration. I cant even think of one thing I dislike about it.

Cons

truly nothing