My family medicine rotation consisted of being in a primary care physician office every weekday for five weeks. I used to work for an Internal Medicine doctor, so I had an idea about what to expect. I was still a little nervous about what to expect. The Family Medicine provider, Dr. Devicka Persaud, was nothing short of wonderful. She was easy to talk to, taught medical concepts very well, and was very attentive with her patients. I saw many patients throughout the day and throughout my rotation. My responsibilities consisted of triaging patients including getting social, family, and past medical histories, list of current medications, and the patient’s current chief complaint with history of present illness (if applicable). Most of the time I took patient’s blood for routine bloodwork (including CBC, CMP, TSH and A1c levels) as well as urinalysis. Over time I also did the patients physical exam and would tell the doctor what pertinent positives and negatives I have found.
The patient population I saw was mostly West Indian from Guyana. The previous doctor I worked with had a mostly Russian population, and the overlap with how many patients were non-complaint with their medications and just did not want to go forward with medical treatments was very similar. Many patients I saw had very high hemoglobin A1c’s (sometimes in the double digits) who were prescribed insulin treatments and taking medications to lower their blood sugars. Other patients had blood pressures that were dangerously close to hypertensive emergencies that were on ACEs, ARBs, Calcium Channel Blockers, and diuretics. It was great to see those types of patients and seeing how the doctor would titrate up or down their medications depending on their clinical picture and how they were taking care of themselves.
The front office staff, coding specialist and medical assistants were very nice throughout the entire rotation and I really appreciated the help I got from them. If I had a patient that I could not find a palpable vein to do phlebotomy on, one of the MA’s were there to help me out.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time at my family medicine rotation. I really learned about many disease processes and interacted with many different types of patients. Since the doctor was a family medicine provider, I also got to see children and some OB/GYN cases. We did many EKGs for patients who had chest pain and other cardiovascular issues, as well as spirometry for other patients who had shortness of breath or wheezing on physical exam. This rotation was non-stop work with as many as 60 patients seen in an 8–9-hour day, but it was great to go through it. I feel like this rotation strengthened what I wrote and how I wrote my charts and I’ll always be grateful for that.
