Here are some lessons I learned during my family medicine rotation:
We need more family medicine physicians, especially in rural counties and areas of low socioeconomic status.
We need the brightest students to pursue residency training in primary care specialties. Family medicine physicians have to rapidly adapt to new situations and always be on heightened alert to rare or life-threatening pathologies. They also have to pay attention to the social determinants of health to take optimal care of their patients.
It is vital to keep an open mind about your specialty of choice. It is never too late to change your mind. You do not need to know what you want to do before you start rotations.
In the rotation, I encountered the learning curve of forming differential diagnoses. Medical students are used to questions on shelf exams and COMATs that teach us that there is one correct answer to a patient presentation. There are 4 or 5 choices, and there is one proper answer. However, questions never ask medical students to list differential diagnoses, as expected during clinical rotations. We have to learn to go back and think of multiple possibilities.
Family medicine is interesting because of the ability to focus on prevention and wellness for patients in addition to seeing patients for a specific concern they have. Screening and health maintenance are crucial components of what family medicine physicians spend time on during visits.
It humbles me to know that I do not know everything yet and am not supposed to. It is a day wasted if I do not learn something. I have learned the importance of asking questions and fully immersing myself in learning everything I can while at the same time making sure that I am taking time to talk to and learn from patients as well.
In the related episode of First Line, I reflect more on this rotation of my clinical clerkships in medical school.
Other posts about my clinical rotations: