Bloopers from my 1st year of Outpatient Clinic

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About one year ago I received my embroidered white coat and moved up to "Hospital Hill". The White Coat ceremony marks the achievement of making it through some of our most difficult medical school classes. This is also when we are allowed to start seeing patients in our outpatient clinics every week.

This is an exciting time, but also comes with a lot of unknowns! Since we have a batch of "newbies" coming in a few weeks, I just wanted to reflect on my goof-ups, confusion, and things that I have learned over the past year! I plan on showing the new students this article to help ease their anxiety during their first few months of clinic.
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We have a Junior/Senior Partner training program at UMKC. This system is designed to have older students help train the younger ones. So the first day that I met my Senior Partner (SP), she asked if I wanted to know where the cafeteria was in the hospital. We walk down there and then she offers to buy me coffee. I do NOT drink coffee, the bitter taste just does not do anything for me. However, she took my "no" as just being timid and bought me a cup of coffee that I forced down the rest of the morning because I didn't want to seem unappreciative. It is not an ongoing joke in our clinic, and people always ask if I would like a cup of coffee. Life lesson: just ask for tea instead, or your hands will be shaky the rest of the day and people look at you like you are a freak.
A few weeks into clinic, I felt like I was starting to get the hang of things. I walked up to the board that had our meeting room assignment posted for the day to figure out where to go. The rooms I was familiar with were rooms 1 and 10. I was looking at the board and I was so confused because I saw that we were supposed to be in room "1g". I went around asking a few of the nurses where room 1g was and they just looked at me like I was crazy. I continued to roam around and eventually found an older student to ask what 1g meant. He walked me over to the board to see what in the world I was talking about, and then just looked at me and said "Are you serious? That isn't room 1g, it is the Lg (Large) conference room! I felt SO stupid, but now I know....
All nurses are true life-savers! This is not only to patients, but also to the medical team! They know their stuff and you should always try to be on their good side!
Every doctor has different ways of doing things! Usually we are with our assigned doctor, but occasionally when he is out of town we will get placed with another team. This is really where things can throw you for a loop! Normally our doctor would print out the depart which is what allows the patient to leave and move on with their lives. One day I saw a patient and was working on writing their medical note. Then one of the nurses asked to talk to me out in the hall. She asked if I know why a particular patient was still waiting in the waiting room. It had been FOURTY MINUTES since I had last saw them. I was totally oblivious to the fact that this different doctor wanted us to print out the depart. I went out to apologize for the hold up, and thankfully they were very forgiving. So now this is something I always am sure to check-up on! Shout-out to the nurses once again for preventing me from getting chewed out by the attending!
If patients bring their kids with them to their appointment, INCLUDE THEM! By just listening to their heart and lungs you will be their superhero!
The patients we care for mainly come from an underserved urban population. You can see a lot of different personalities and hear many interesting stories. One thing I have learned from being in clinic is to try and understand where the patient is coming from. Sometimes patients have been on 3 different buses just to get to their appointment. Sometimes they cannot afford to buy gauze, bandaids, or even food. THIS IS THE CHANCE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Still see the patient even if they are a few minutes later than allowed (maybe the buses were running behind), go to the back room and give them some extra supplies (that's what they are there for!), we have tons of peanut butter and graham crackers (give them a few for the road). Our job is to take care of patients, why not take the extra minute or two in order to make their life a little easier!
Ask questions!! Even if they are seemingly silly questions. You have to be willing to make mistakes to get better.
Remember what your mama taught you: SAY NO TO DRUGS AND DATES! You will likely be offered, but this is when you need to work on some denial lines like "Sorry, you're too late, I am already taken" or "Sorry, I do not use drugs and do not want cocaine". Be upfront, but at the time try not to be judgement or rude. Then try to encourage them to stop using drugs!