Happy April Fool's!

I am proud to say that I have officially completed all my sixth-year rotations, and no, this is not an Aprils’ Fools.

Today, I finished my last rotation in Family Medicine.

For the past two weeks, I have been working at a clinic with a Paediatrician. When I wasn't at the clinic, I was studying or sleeping. I realise I didn't share my experiences of this practice with you all daily, but I am juggling a lot at the moment and my academics come first. Anyways, keep reading as I am going to give you a quick summary of this rotation in one single post. 

During my rotation, we saw patients aged five days old to 17 years old. The reasons for their visits varied from regular check-ups and vaccinations to medicals for driver's licenses. There were of course your typical paediatric cases of fever, cough, runny nose, vomiting, and diarrhoea. I saw obese children. I saw anorexic children. I even saw hypertensive children. Seems crazy right? 

But it's not so hard to understand. Diseases like hypertension and type 2 diabetes, typically found in adults, are now being commonly found in children because of our behaviours and sedentary lifestyle. We live in a time where children are most often found behind a computer, phone, or game console screen. Kids don't enjoy the outdoors or participate in as many physical activities as we did when we grew up without iPhones. Social media and the internet portray unrealistic views of other people's lives strongly influencing ideas of body image and self-esteem. These sites are also linked with increased depression and anxiety for several reasons including a lack of sleep, cyberbullying, and the lack of physical activity. 

Paediatricians have a difficult job. In Hungary, Paediatricians treat patients aged 0-19. With this wide range, comes great variability in the types of symptoms and illnesses patients present with. 

This rotation showed me the type of relationships you can build with your patients when you have more time and are working out in the community. Family Medicine allows for more personalised medicine and as a family doctor, you get to see the patient's care all the way through. Yes, sometimes the need will arise for referrals and care by specialists, but after the appointments with those doctors, the patient will return for you to continue their treatment. After all, you are their primary care physician, which means you are always going to be their first point of care, unless, there is an emergency in which case they will go to the Emergency Department. 

Yippee! I have checked one more thing off my list of things to accomplish before graduation, back to studying I go.