Rotation 5: Beyond the Comfort Zone

Posted by Unknown at Sunday, November 08, 2015

My fifth rotation (where is the time going?) was on the pediatrics generalist service.  Emily did an excellent job of summarizing a typical day in her post, which can be found here.  But this rotation was a giant leap outside my comfort zone

I have said from the first day I walked into the College of Pharmacy that I did not want to work with kids.  First, it was that I didn't want to see sick kids, that I didn't think I could emotionally handle it.  Once we had our pediatrics section in therapeutics, I was worried about dosing and the complexity of their medications.  When I was ranking rotations, I purposely ranked all the inpatient adult rotations in a desperate attempt to avoid pediatrics.  However, once I started on rotations and I was trying new things almost daily, I softened up to the idea of trying pediatrics on my generalist.  By the time rotation three rolled around, I desperately wanted a change of pace from the adult world and to diversify my experiences as much as possible.  Luckily, I was assigned to the pediatrics generalist service.

My first day of rotation I was incredibly nervous, because I hardly knew anything about peds.  However, my preceptor and the residents, interns, attendings, and med students were very supportive and helpful, and with their assistance I was able to quickly learn the ropes and learn medication dosing and protocols.  The parents were so grateful that we were there to help, and the kids were usually happy to see us and eager to show us the picture they had painted or tell us about their day.  The hospital was a place where we could help kids feel better and put a smile back on their faces, and it wasn't as hard to handle as I thought it might be.  

While I learned a lot about pediatric medicine, especially unusual conditions like short gut syndrome as well as nutrition, I also learned a lot about appreciating opportunities I may never get again.  For those of you who are ranking rotations, don't close any doors until you've tried something.  While I don't want to specialize in pediatric medicine, I am grateful for this opportunity and I am so glad I elected to do peds rather than another adult rotation because it exposed me to a whole other world of diseases and medications.  I feel I have a more well-rounded education now because of this experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.