Hello and welcome to Medical Mondays! Second to my sports medicine rotation, this has been my favorite rotation since the start of 2nd year.
My first rotation of 2nd year was also outpatient peds, but I really wish that I’d gotten to spend 4 weeks here and 2 weeks there instead. (This seems to be the sentiment across all my fellow second-years, haha.) I had a ton of fun on this rotation, and my attending was all sorts of awesome and an absolute joy to work with (truth be told, she’s the main reason I loved this rotation so much).
Day In The Life: Outpatient Pediatrics
(From our department holiday party!)
9am – 5 pm
My attending works at a community clinic that accepts all patients, regardless of whether or not they have insurance. We had a good variety, including everything from birth control counseling to well child checks and newborn baby visits. I’m definitely a fan of the fact that you get to work with under-served populations (aka the reason why I went into medicine in the first place), but bonuses to working in community clinics also include getting to set your own hours and loan repayment options. *-*
I got a lot of autonomy here, and since my attending was kindasorta new there, she was still working on building her patient panel, so her schedule was super manageable, meaning that I got to spend more time with patients counseling them on healthy dietary/lifestyle habits.
^ Food from a French/Thai restaurant in Somerville! *-*
My attending was really big on resident wellness, so she always made sure I wasn’t feeling overwhelmed and gave me plenty of free time for lunch, breaks, etc. I actually feel somewhat cheated that my rotation with her was only a grand total of 4 days. (I had Thanksgiving/Black Friday off since both count as university holidays.)
If my future plans included staying in New Jersey, I think I’d really like working there–awesome staff + clinic in a super cute (albeit somewhat expensive) town with lots of food/fitness options. :]!
I got to chill with the Muffin a lot during this rotation! <3
- What are things that are important to you that you look for in a work setting?
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Interesting question. Probably some control over my schedule and easy access to Starbucks on the way in. ;-)
Control over the schedule would definitely be a biggie! :P Easy access to somewhere with tasty food/drinks is always a plus too! ;P
Farrah recently posted…Day in the Life: Outpatient Pediatrics
Your attending sounds awesome, and this does seem like a great place to work. Sorry it was only four days, but yay for spending time with your cat. :)
-Lauren
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haha, definitely agreed on that! :] She was really awesome to work with! <3
Farrah recently posted…Day in the Life: Outpatient Pediatrics
that sounds like the perfect place to work! Work/life balance is so very important. After grad school, I was working 80 hours a week and it nearly killed me!
I feel ya! That’s kinda how life has been in residency, and I’m still trying to maintain a balance–it’s definitely harder during some of the weeks though!
I look for signs of actual teamwork. Seriously, if no one is having any fun with each other, then it doesn’t seem worth it to me. Like, those who can actually have a balance of working hard and playing a bit helps the overall morale of the office. If it’s a super professional, no joking at all environment, I’ll pretty much just be there to collect a paycheck and not invest any of my personality into the workspace. And if I’m ever talked down to for trying to liven up a situation, I’ll pretty much start looking elsewhere since I would rather not dread to go to work on a regular basis.
The interview is both essential to the company/department as it is for you. And if you can’t even see yourself there with the interviewing managers, then it wouldn’t make any sense to invest time in a place neither of you would want to be at.
Definitely agreed! I tried to look for that when I was on my residency search too–if I didn’t feel like I could hang out with the residents and have fun, I definitely ranked the place lower, haha. I’m kinda not that thrilled about the prospect of having to prep for more interviews in the near future. ._. I don’t feel ready yet! (But at least there’s still some time…)
So I’m a weird one because I’ve never worked for anyone but myself, but when I’m choosing what clients to take on I always look for clients who I get along with (and are friendly) and who are in an industry that interests me!
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heheh, that’s a good “problem” to have though! I’d ideally like to always have patients who are friendly/easy to get along with too! Sadly not always the case, but it does make me appreciate the nice ones even more! :P
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