The main focus of clinical rotations is to learn to practice medicine and explore different specialties. However, sometimes trainees find an attending physician who becomes an inspiration for the type of physician those trainees want to become.
Such was Daniela’s experience during her internal medicine rotation in Tampa, Florida. Read more about Daniela’s clinical experience below!
An Attending Physician to Strive to Be
I am more than grateful for this amazing opportunity. Dr. L. is one of the most compassionate, sweet, and experienced medical physicians I have had the honor to work with. She let us (my intern partner and I) do physicals, history taking, patient notes, and contribute to diagnosis, management, and procedures. Her whole office was a dream! She had a lab, diagnostic center, physical therapy, and pharmacy all in one place. This made it so easy and comfortable for patients.
Dr. L. was definitely goals.
We visited more than 4 hospitals throughout Tampa, a skilled nursing facility, and another office she has in another city called Wesley Chapel. Her clinics were filled with friendly staff.
We sincerely got all the hands-on experience we could get, I got to know my intern partner, Shiva, who was from India, and I learned a lot about his research experience, enthusiasm, and culture. This allowed me to compare and contrast both healthcare systems.
I studied in the Dominican Republic, so things here are done completely differently, and it’s something I got to learn during this rotation. The doctor showed us how to manage more than four Electronic Medical Records, which was a plus in my experience because it is something that is going to help me throughout residency. We helped the doctor take notes and work on interesting cases. We practiced bedside manners, especially when we visited skilled nursing facilities and hospitals.
In the dermatology rotation, we rotated with Dr. B., who is a super smart doctor with a great eye for dermatology. She let us assist and perform various dermatology procedures. She had a passion to teach and we had a passion to learn and enhance our clinical eye for dermatology (which are things we see in the IM practice). We had the idea to create flyers for kidney awareness week in which we put every relevant information for the prevention of kidney disease. We did the art and the information and the office printed them out. Our goal was to send our flyers to every email from the office targeting patients to practice healthy kidney living. They also decided to put up flyers in the clinic for patients to read and take home.
I loved experiencing Tampa. The lovely riverwalk, the parks, the friendliness of everybody. There was hot weather for sure–way too hot to be wearing a white coat–but certainly perfect for a day at the beach. I went to Clearwater Beach during the rotation, saw the beautiful sunset, and spent time with family. It was a very beautiful experience, where the doctor had everything to give us, and was always so nice and interested in knowing we were learning and taking advantage of it.
The medical group was created from the very ground by Dr. L. and her husband. They created something so great and so impressive. It should be the goal for every aspiring physician to create a space to grow and have a team by your side to help you grow while having the best ambiance for the patients. An experience I cannot wait to repeat in a near future. A month was not enough.
