Yeesh

Boy, I'm managing to make a great impression so far on peds neuro (<-- sarcasm).  Part of it isn't my fault (although I still feel bad about it) and part of it is completely and totally my fault.  The part that's not my fault: I've been on the rotation for 3 days so far but have yet to spend a single complete day with the neuro team at CHP because of all the lectures and other things that are scheduled into the clerkship.  On the other hand, however, it's a pretty good bet that when you start to panic because you think you've lost the team's video camera only to realize 10 minutes later that oh yeah, you must've plugged it in on 8a, not 7a like you could have sworn you did, the team is going to be openly laughing at you for the rest of the week.  Also, the neuro rotation is a bad time to realize that you must have left your oto-ophthalmoscope somewhere in Magee because you can't find it anywhere.  *Sigh* oh well.

In terms of the rotation, this one could hardly be more different from the Peds EM rotation I just finished.  The emphasis is on direct teaching by the fellow and attending, and I really don't see my own patients, nor do I write notes.  It's a very different feel, but given the nature of the specialty, I'm more ok with that than I might be otherwise.  Neuro is not a strength of mine.  I've been surprised about how much I've known / remembered, but it still seems like a totally insignificant amount compared to the necessary knowledge base for a practicing neurologist.  I've been awash in EEGs, mental status exams, neurologic evaluations, blood work results, target genes, and an enormous variety of other medical information.  It's a bit overwhelming, really, and for that reason I'm kind of glad I don't have a huge amount of responsibility...I don't have the ability to gather and synthesize the information properly as yet in this particular discipline.  Fortunately, my fellow and attending are tremendous and I've thoroughly enjoyed working with them so far.  I'm starting to think that the neuro section of this clerkship will be altogether too short.

Anyway, that's all from me for now.  Back later this week with further updates.  Till then, peace and God bless!