First day of clinic

Ok, so I know I promised details, but it's already 10:30 and I'm exhausted. So here's the abbreviated version. The schedule for today said that I was supposed to start at noon. I had a hard time believing that, but I found nothing to the contrary. Still, I couldn't countenance waiting till noon to get to the hospital, so I got there around 10:15 and found Dr. Jaja's office, then went down to the library hoping for a miracle. God came through. The library had purchased -- and JUST received -- several new copies of the Hacker and Moore textbook that's the recommended reading for the clerkship. So I spent the time until noon reading and then went up to meet Dr. Jaja. The afternoon was pretty good. After Dr. Jaja laid out his expectations and the learning objectives, and after I explained what as a Catholic I was and was not willing to participate in (he not only didn't have a problem but was supportive of my following my conscience), we dove into the rather extensive patient list headfirst.

Today I was largely just shadowing. This was due in no small part to the fact that I have virtually no experience with obstetric / gynecologic histories and physicals. I know most of the theory, but my comfort level is low and my skills are still poor. One of the major goals of this part of the clerkship is to remedy those weaknesses, and it seems as if Dr. Jaja has a plan for how that can be accomplished. Today I watched (and semi-participated in) several obstetric antepartum visits (learned how to perform the Leopold maneuvers among other things) and a couple of gynecologic exams (learned proper use of the speculum and how to perform a Pap smear). Tomorrow I'll be back in L&D, where I have at least a little bit better background (one whole week's worth!), and I think that'll be fun.

The rest of the afternoon was ok. The ethics session was intellectually stimulating (sort of) but not especially helpful, and PBL was decent (relatively poor cases on prenatal counseling followed by better ones on STDs). Otherwise not much to tell.

Anyway, that's all for tonight...back tomorrow with a report on L&D. Till then, peace and God bless!