Coming full circle

Yesterday was a relatively short day. I had a half-day of clinics and spent noon teaching the GIM core CC3’s about TB. Teaching those only a year more junior in their training helped me reflect on my own path and how far I’ve come.

I remember starting my clerkship on Internal Medicine more than a year ago. It was an anxiety-provoking time knowing I was about to make the transition from a full-time learner in the classroom to health care provider on the wards. It didn’t help that every patient seemed impossibly complex and that everyone else on the team seemed to know infinitely more than I did. I remember feeling dejected and helpless at times. To compound matters, there was always the nagging reminder that I had to study for an exam at the end of the rotation. I painstakingly chipped away at the multitude of topics from various specialties within Internal Medicine. Overall, it was a difficult but highly rewarding period of my training.

When I look back on this experience, I’m grateful for the countless colleagues who spent time out of their day to ensure they passed on some small trove of knowledge. Whether it was an hour in the Simulation Lab with Harvey learning about diastolic cardiac murmurs or a 5-minute lesson about cardio-selective beta-blockers on the fly, everything helped. Today was the first time in my training where I’ve had the opportunity to pay it forward. I hope what I’ve learned about TB during this brief elective will prove helpful to others. As I’ve been encouraged by my seniors during this trying period on Internal Medicine, I told the CC3’s today that everything would be fine as long as they studied appropriately.

How strange that I’ve come full-circle just a year into my training. It makes me excited for what’s ahead!

- AX