My 7th rotation, family medicine was very busy. I was seeing about forty patients a day with my preceptor. During this rotation, I got to see newborns all the way to geriatric patients. I found similarities between my family medicine rotation and my internal medicine rotation. This reinforced that I enjoy seeing a broad spectrum of patients, and illnesses.  During this rotation my preceptor allowed me to see patients on my own, perform full physicals, and present my differential diagnosis as well as treatment for them as well. She also let me write my own notes and gave constructive feedback throughout my five weeks, my preceptor recommended that when writing an HPI focus on the current illness within the first line of the HPI, it’s not necessary that I need to write about their back pain or injury from several years ago when it doesn’t pertain to their current illness instead you can add it towards the end of the HPI.  The main highlight of this rotation was that I got to see how my preceptor knew her patients very well, and she was seeing how her patients progress, helping them get their A1c levels down, their cholesterol down, and helping patients manage their blood pressure. My preceptor was part of her patient’s health journey as well.

Most of the patients I saw during my rotation had either one or multiple comorbidities, and this helped me better understand how collegial medicine is. My preceptor was talking to the patient’s cardiologist, nephrologist, and endocrinologist and making sure the patient was getting adequate treatment, and the necessary test were being performed. Additionally, in family medicine, I got to educate patients as well on the importance of taking their medication, smoking cessation, dietary changes, and importance of monitoring their blood sugar at home, and blood pressure. During this rotation not only was I treating patients, but also educating them on how to better maintain their health as well.

Two of the biggest takeaways from this rotation that I will be carrying to my next two rotations are that HPI needs to be succinct, and the first two lines should focus on the current illness that brought them in today. Additionally, during this rotation, I had the opportunity to break unfortunate diagnoses such as cancer to patients, learned to make sure they are seated down, try to get an understanding of what they know about cancer, provide knowledge, and respect their emotions, and summarize everything that just happened so the patient also understands so they make the proper follow-ups.