Concerned about not growing enough in clinicals.

[xrayben]

Hello,

 

I am embarrassed to post this but I am having a growing concern that I made a mistake by going to PA school. I am currently in my seventh week of clinical rotations in a busy Internal Med outpatient clinic. I am worried because I keep making simple mistakes. By simple mistakes I mean I jump to conclusions about the patient condition. Or I forget to ask questions when my supervising physician asks me "Did you ask X or Y?" I have to tell her no. My main concern is that I am not getting it in clinicals and I am worried that I will eventually hurt someone in the future. This fear has become paralyzing to me. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Or perhaps I am the only one. I am being told by both of the physicians that have supervised me that for my level of training I am very good. I don't know if they are being to nice or if that is true.

 

Sorry to ramble, but any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[DizzyJ]

What you are feeling is completely normal. If you didn't have some fear and didn't forget to ask some questions, you would be abnormal. It will likely take a few clinicals before things start making sense. Maybe IM just isn't your specialty. You should expect to have some amount of fear and doubt until you've been in practice a few years and even after that it doesn't always go away.

[MikeyBoy]

Your only in your 7th week of rotations. Take a deep breath. Write down what you want to improve on, be that aspects of your physical exam, interviewing a patient, or differential diagnosis. Now is the time to learn.

[Hemegroup]

Now is the time to learn.

 

Yup ...

 

be·come

 

   [bih-kuhm] Show IPA verb, be·came, be·come, be·com·ing.

verb (used without object)

 

1. to come, change, or grow to be (as specified): He became a Seahawk.

 

2. to come into being.

[Jason09]

Deep breaths. Relax and take a minute to understand everyone will make mistakes. You will make less and less as time goes on. Just remember you can always do a residency if you do not feel comfortable in your area of specialty or want to become even more trained. The biggest mistake you can make is putting too much pressure on yourself which can often lead to more mistakes and careless errors. Good luck and remember everyone crawls before they walk.

[swooshie1]

I would also add that I wouldn't think the physicians are just being "nice." Their butts are on the line precepting you also, so, I wouldn't think they would have any interest in letting you float through a clinical with potential to screw something up or hurt someone. Hang in there !

[Just Steve]

Slow down, don't rush. Develop a pattern of physical exam that is comprehensive and do it a million times over. Do it on your spouse, your kids, your lover, your lover's kids. Offer your neighbors free medical exams (in a non creepy way). Make a flow chart. Stop and put a check mark at each point of the exam. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Do not worry about a diagnoses until your exam is over. It may take you an hour to see a patient but it'll be a very thorough hour. Do the drill until you dream about it in a foreign language (to the point of being so familiar with it, you can do it under challenging conditions). You will get faster and faster, while being just as comprehensive. Again...don't worry about a diagnoses until your exam is over. The moment you jump to a conclusion is the moment you jump right over a key symptom.

[katief262]

I am in my 3rd month of rotations and I feel the same way. I think it's normal. I've been really anxious and felt really imcompetent from time to time, but I have received good evaluations thus far. I think the most important thing is showing that you are willing to learn and willing to be a part of the team. One of my EM preceptors said "we don't expect you to have all the answers or know it all, we expect you to be teachable."

[HopefulPA]

Perfectly normal especially when starting clinicals. I remember my stint in the ER for the life of me I could not remember to ask pt about the status of the tenatus when they had a laceration. It was like some kind of mental block but I can tell you I remember now!