On this rotation I was able to work at Metropolitan Hospital in the General Surgery department. The first week I was able to shadow PAs in the clinic. They taught me how to properly evaluate patients in specific clinics, such as, ENT, wound, breast, and plastics. Each clinic had specific techniques on evaluating and interviewing the patient. I was able to perform many exams with the PA in the room. For the wound clinic I was able to debride many wounds and place proper packing and dressings for each patient. I learned the proper way to offer education to patients on their wounds. During the breast clinic I saw many women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. One such patient was diagnosed during one of our appointments. I was able to see how the provider sensitively addressed the patient and how he provided her with the necessary tools and education to begin her journey. After clinic I was able to join the general surgery residents. There I was able to see a variety of surgeries. I was able to see cholecystectomies, appendectomies, hernia repairs, excisions of fibroadenomas, FNA biopsies, lysis of adhesions and many more. During my time there I was able to place foleys, bovie during surgery, and place wound vacs. In a majority of the surgeries that I scrubbed in to I was able to suture the incisions and feel that I have significantly improved in my suture abilities. One case that stuck out in my mind was a woman who presented to the ED because of abdominal pain. She stated that she had presented to another ED in the area two hours prior where she discovered that she was pregnant. This was surprising to the patient as she had a previous tubal ligation. The patient’s Hgb and Hct were extremely low and the patient had a positive FAST exam. The patient was rushed directly to the OR, where it was found that she had an ectopic pregnancy. This case was interesting to me because I was able to use many of the tools from didactic coursework to help create a differential diagnosis and exclude and add as the history and presentation progressed. I also appreciated working with many medical students on this rotation. I found it interesting in the different styles of education that we each had and the way we were able to fuse this information together to build a greater foundation for both of us. In the afternoons, we also were able to have clinic. There we had to present each patient to the resident and attending. This really helped to strengthen my history taking abilities as well as my ability to present the patient in a concise and appropriate manner. The residents and attendings were each very vocal and helpful on how to perfect this task. Overall, I believe that this was a great site and a great location to learn about surgery. I was able to see a gamut of surgeries and work with many different surgeons who each provided a new way of teaching and performing. I believe that their desire and passion to help teach was incredibly beneficial to me.

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