My ambulatory care rotation consisted of being in an urgent care setting doing 11-hour shifts three days during the week and one 8-hour weekend shift for five weeks. My shifts during the week were 9am-8pm and 9am-5pm on the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed my five weeks working in the urgent care seeing many different patients with many different pathologies. Some days were a bit slower were we saw 8-10 patients, and other days were saw roughly 3-4 patients an hour for the whole day.

Patients would come in and talk to the front desk. The front desk would get the information from the patient and would then bring them to a room. The medical assistant would get the necessary information and vitals from the patient and then the provider and I would go see the patient. My rotation was during the beginning of the school year, so we saw many students from across all ages and grades. The number one medical issue I saw was upper respiratory infections/common cold. Different patients came in with gastritis, sore throats, asthma exacerbations, musculoskeletal pain, urinary tract infections, ear pain, and STD testing.

I saw many different types of patients from all different types of backgrounds. The urgent care I was in was in the heart of a metropolitan area with a lot of walking traffic. Many patients wanted to know if they had COVID-19 or the flu, and others wanted to get strep tests. I really enjoyed interacting with patients and teaching them about certain disease states and what might have been going on with them. Many patients came in without their albuterol for the asthma and were having an asthma exacerbation. Setting up the Duoneb for the patient and watching them feel better after 10 minutes of being on the nebulizer was a treat to see. Seeing patients smile after administering a Toradol shot when the patient was in 10/10 back pain and could not sleep all night was a joy to experience. I also really enjoyed working with the provider I was with and the MAs and PCAs. Everyone was nice and very helpful during my first week there.

I really enjoyed my time at my ambulatory care rotation. I learned to really hone in on my differential diagnosis, even if the primary diagnosis is staring you in the face. Even though the type of patients that came in had lower acuity issues, I really enjoyed helping everyone. From giving vaccines, to giving Toradol injections, COVID/Flu/Strep swabs, and doing pelvic exams, I enjoyed the different procedures I got to do at my ambulatory care rotation and the support system that was there for me.