This is the first rotation where I gave multiple vaccines, I really appreciated Maida’s feedback so I can do it the right way, which was fast and painless. This helped with my confidence on providing vaccinations to infants. At first, I was afraid to hurt the patients, but Maida taught me the best way to give vaccines.
The best part of this rotation was the patient population, they were the most fun patients, probably because it is summer. There were not many sick visits but 90% of them were well visits. When they came for a sick visit, the complains were straight forward, not very complicated. Now in the summer, due to swimming and camping, we would have a lot of swimmer’s ear, or bug bites.
I loved hanging out with kids for the whole day. I was always excited to see the patients, specially the very young ones. Through this experience I learned that I can see myself working in pediatrics.
Most of the chief complains are related to EENT, and this is the first rotation where I got to use my otoscope and ophthalmoscope on every patient. I would do the complete head to toe examination even when the patient has a specific complain, and this was great practice for me.
The most useful technique I learned for Peds was calculating medication dose based on the patient’s weight. At first this was one of the hardest tasks, but with daily practice, I was able to learn it. It is very important to know how to calculate dosages since infants and kids have different responses to drugs and they can easily get overdosed.
One of the biggest challenges was dealing with parents. The patients were great, but the parents can sometimes be frustrating. But we should understand that every parent cares for their child and they show their concern by asking multiple questions, some could be more silly than others, and sometimes they may question your knowledge. Answering all their questions and showing reassurance is always the best way to help them.
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