Hi!!! Bye!!!

Posted by Shannon Hough at Saturday, September 12, 2009

My second rotation is at the C.S.Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan, in pediatric infectious diseases. I really like kids, so I was unsure of how I would feel about seeing sick kids. The first day of rotation we rounded in the afternoon. Our team of eight had a small patient load for the day and was able to spend a long time discussing each patient before we went up to see them. After making a plan for each patient, the eight of us piled into an elevator. I was a little bit nervous, as it was my first time actually rounding and being part of the team. As the elevator doors opened on the seventh floor, we were greeted by a three year-old girl, dressed in a maize and blue cheer costume, complete with very cute pigtails. She waved "HI!!" and "BYE!!" to each person getting in and out of the elevator. As the whole team smiled, and waved "hi!" and "bye!" in return, and I couldn't help but think that this was going to be a fun rotation.

Pediatrics really does have fun moments. Even while delivering a sad plan to a patient and family about a prolonged hospital stay, the team still took the time to talk to the child about whatever seemed to interest them. We've heard about Webkins, Dora the Explorer, dinosaurs you name it.

Besides all of the fun, so far this month I have also really taken a dive into anti-infective therapy. Most of the patients we have seen have unidentified infections, and are quite complicated. It has been a challenge to appropriately select and follow the medications on these patients and contribute to the team.