For my family medicine rotation I was privileged to be able to work at CitiMed JFK. I was able to see a very unique practice. I really enjoyed working with all the medical assistants, physician assistants and doctors, who each taught me about the different ways that they provide for the patient. The first day I was able to do many procedures such as a venipuncture and an administration of a vaccine. I loved being able to immediately jump into the medicine and feeling confident in my ability to complete these tasks. The medical assistants were really kind and helped teach me ways to make each of these procedures easier to perform and easier for the patient. For example, the MA showed me how to remove all of the solution from the vile by leaving the bevel of the needle as close to the top of the vile as possible. It was a great tip and tool that I used throughout the rotation. The next thing that I learned was how to do a Department of Transportation Physical. Being that the practice is associated with JFK we were able to see sometimes up to seven DOT physicals a day! While performing the physical I was able to learn about all different parts of medicine such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hernias. This is because each patient would have to report any conditions that the have or previously had. We would then have to walk through their management and how they were treating their condition. Through these conversations I was able to learn about different medications, procedures and potential complications. An interesting DOT that I was able to complete was for a woman who had glaucoma and was taking Vyzulta eye drops. After learning that she took this medication I researched, together with my preceptor, Vyzulta eye drops to learn about the potential side effects that the medication poses. One example is that the patient’s iris could become increasingly dark colored brown permanently. The next thing that I was able to do was regular physicals for people who were injured on duty. I enjoyed that I was able to see a whole gamut of injuries; they ranged from their head all the way down to their toes. There is an X-ray machine on site and so I was able to learn, via the guidance of my preceptor, how to read an X-ray and look for potential fractures or abnormal images. I learned a lot about medication such as cyclobenzaprine. Cyclobenzaprine was taken by many patients to relax their muscles when they had back or neck pain. However, it was important to relay to the patient that this medication causes drowsiness and that they should only take it either at night or when they know that they will not be driving. Something that I really appreciated about this patient is that many patients follow up each week and so I was able to see how they were progressing and improving as they continued their treatment. For example, the first week I was there I saw a women who had fallen on a school bus and came to the office complaining of lower back pain. At the first visit her pain score was a 8/10, but throughout the subsequent visits, physical therapy appointments, and medication the last time I saw her (almost three weeks later), her pain score was at a 4/10. While the pain did not subside completely I view this as a huge improvement. There are patients that have chronic pain and have been a patient at the practice for over 5 years because of that pain. That part is quite distressing because you see these patients who want to return to a life of normalcy without pain. Many of them have received multiple arthroscopies, cortisone injections, steroid injections and physical therapy to try to relieve the pain, yet nothing has worked. I worked with a patient who was returning for a follow up appointment for a right shoulder injury that occurred in 2018. For three years the patient stated that the pain has persisted and never once decreased. The patient was on many different medications and I was upset that they weren’t able to progress in a positive direction for so long. When I presented the patient to the preceptor she taught me how important it was to try to make sure you are able to truly assess if the patient’s pain score is consistent with their general appearance, their physical stance and their daily activities. Overall, it was a really incredible experience and I feel that the lessons that I learned from my first rotation helped me in my second. As I continue to move through the rotations I feel more knowledgeable as I begin to amass as much information about different conditions. I felt more confident to ask questions and speak up when I felt that I didn’t truly understand the disease process or the reasoning for specific treatments. A significant part of this rotation was performing physicals, so I feel that I have improved in that aspect but I am excited to work on other aspects of my clinical skills as the rotations continue to progress. Lastly, this rotation and my preceptor has really helped me develop how I write notes. She would sit with me after each patient that I saw and review how we wrote the note and where we could improve. I hope that as I move onto my next rotation,. which is in a hospital I will be better skilled and competent for this task.