Internal Medicine Patients

I am actually really enjoying my rotation in internal medicine. I like the challenge. It is kind of like the TV show House. I will get a new patient which is admitted to my service that I have complete responsibility for working up. So I have to come up with the diagnosis and the treatment plan. I certainly have a lot of more experienced residents and attending physicians that I can look to for help and they will also check my work to make sure that I am not missing anything. There is a great deal of satisfaction that comes from figuring out the diagnosis and then treating the patient and ultimately seeing the patient become healthy again.

I do not find it very stressful which may be one of the reasons why I like it. Currently I cover 2 - 4 patients at a time. I suppose if I had 10 - 15 patients it could be more hectic / stressful. I get to see a whole variety of patients. I have had MRSA cellulitis patients and patients with atrial fibrillation, pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, heart attacks, etc. Most of the patients are elderly. Some patients die due to their conditions which can be sad. This requires working with the family members of the patients. This can be very interesting because many times the family members are at odds with the situation or not prepared for the decisions that they need to make.