3rd year!

Excitement and disappointment filled the air this afternoon as we were given our cohorts for next year. A cohort is the order in which we will do our rotations for 3rd year. There are a total of 16 cohorts and you rank these 16 in the order that you would like the rotations. We are required to do 8 rotations and 1 or 2 selectives. A selective can be a vacation month, because this will be the first year that even though I am in school - I won't have a summer :(
I'm happy with my cohort. It was probably my 5th or 6th choice. The reason it matters what order your rotations are in, is because next year we are supposed to narrow down what field within medicine we think we want to work. The general rule of thumb is what you think you want to do - don't do it first or last. If you do it first you don't know anything and if you do it last - well then they expect you to know more.

Right now I'm not sure what field of medicine I want to go into. I am leaning in the direction of Family Practice or OB/GYN (yes, I know when I cam into medical school I said I would never do it) and there's the possibility of internal medicine (but thats #3 on the list).
Family Practice and primary care in general is so important. I view it as prevention a person from getting diabetes or having a heart attack is 10 times better than treating the problem once it has happened. I realize that I am very idealistic and that getting people to make lifestyle changes is one of the hardest things to do, but I think it would be so rewarding. I have big plans that could be implemented into a primary care practice that would help people make some of these changes, but I will save that for another blog entry. I also like the idea with family practice that you can see a variety of patients throughout the day. It's not just one patient population - even though I do worry with the baby boomers that the possibility for nearly all elderly people does exist. Family doctors can do so much if they have the training - they can perform colonoscopies, assist in surgery, deliver babies, etc. It's just a matter of getting the training, having the drive, and being in the right place that will allow you to do all these things.

As for OB/GYN - I find it appealing because I do really enjoy women's health. I know some of you are wondering how could I stand to look at women's hoo hoo's all day. But it becomes part of the job. Right now I'm looking forward to delivering my first baby next year - I just think it will be soooooo cool. Watch a few months from now I'll write and comment on how disgusting it is and that I never want to do it. Who knows? The other big appeal for OB/GYN for me is that it is a surgical residency -I would get to do surgery. I really enjoyed anatomy when I was in it and that's used in surgery. Doing actual surgery as a residency isn't for me - I think it's too specialized and I don't want to be in school FOREVER.

Returning to my schedule for next year I have listed below the order of my rotations:

July-August: Primary Care (this is a rotation I can do in a rural area of PA)
Aug - Sept: Elective
Sept- Oct: Family Medicine
October - Nov: Pediatrics
Nov - Dec: Ob/Gyn
winter break

Jan-March: Internal Medicine
March-April: Elective/ Vacation
April - May: Psychiatry
May-July: Surgery

I'm so excited for 3rd year. I can't wait to actually be working with patient's everyday!