Internal Medicine

Ah yes, I have arrived at the most fundamental of rotations, internal medicine. I've really been looking forward to this clerkship, focusing on the care of the hospitalized adult patient. It is at Parnassus (Moffitt-Long hospital, home of the Moffitteers), a tertiary care center with complex, sick, and intense patients. Internal medicine is a foray into a vast collection of diseases, both common and eclectic, with a particular focus in the differential diagnosis and management of diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, endocrine system, gastrointestinal system, and the blood, including cancers and infections. It draws upon all the knowledge we gained (supposedly) in the first two years of medical school and has the reputation of being a solid, time-consuming, learning-heavy rotation.

Here, we do two weeks of cardiology (which I have started with) and six weeks of general internal medicine. Call is every fourth night and students admit 1-2 patients each call night and do not stay overnight. The teaching is abundant with noon conferences, attending rounds, resident report, and medical student lectures. I've found that so far the hours are quite manageable coming off of surgery; I walk to the hospital (a welcome change) at 6:30 and I get out at a reasonable hour. We work 6 days a week, and I have become accustomed to just needing 4 days off a month. My current cardiology team consists of a senior resident and an intern (who I knew previously from lab) and it's fantastic; the team dynamic is smooth, respectful, and efficient, and the resident takes time out of her schedule to teach. This is really what I wanted and expected in a third year clinical rotation.