Ep. 171: A Flex and a Blessing (Part 1)

In this episode, Jazmin shares how she transitioned from her second year to her third year of medical school, including the beginning of her clinical rotations. She opens up about what she is learning and how much she is enjoying her current rotation in psychiatry.

Tune in now for your weekly Dose!!!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

You're now listening to a potent dose of three with your hosts Linda, Jasmine, and Kathy, and we're here to bring you your weekly dose. Welcome back to a potent dose of three. It's your girl Linda and the other two of a potential three. Anyways, enough about me. I am tired of talking. I don't like talking. I like to be the one that interviews other people. Uh so let's let's let's talk about Jasmine this week because I am done talking. I am tired. So, Jasmine, give the listeners a life update of what you've been what you've been going through through in life. Oh my god. Just give listen listeners an update.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

As you can tell, life is life. No, uh, first of all, Linda, I didn't like how you said the other two, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

I don't know. I felt some type of wave. Look, that's why people don't like me, huh?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

I don't know, Kathy. Did you feel it too, Kathy?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

I did, but I'm like, it's Linda. I'm just gonna side-eye.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

No, you guys. Um, yeah, life has been life in. Um, I don't even know really where to start. Um, I'm still gonna start at where I feel. And if you feel like I need to backtrack, I'll backtrack. But um, I'm currently on my first rotation, and it's very, yeah, I know. It's crazy. It's crazy. I feel like I still feel like I'm a baby medical student, but I guess I'm not anymore. So yeah, I'm a I'm a third-year medical student. First off, I never even thought I would get to medical school, and now to say, like, oh yeah, I'm a third-year medical student is insane. What a flex. That's a flex for sure. Flex and a blessing. Flex and a blessing. Um, yeah, it's it's a blessing for sure. I'm really excited to be exhausted studying something I choose. Um, I know a lot of people don't get to do that, and I'm really excited to to be here. Um so my rotation right now is psych, and I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but I've always kind of had an interest in psych, um, given obviously the way I grew up, you know. I had a lot of um stuff I grew up with revolving the psych department. Um, grew up with like a mental illness and substance use and etc. And so for me, these areas hold, I think, a different place in my heart. And right now, currently, I'm working in the psych ED, and it's interesting because I remember always saying I never wanted to work in the emergency department. And so when they placed me in the psych ED, I really didn't know what to expect. And so um I'm learning a lot even the first week. Um, I got to interact with patients, um, watch for the at least for the first week, um, I was able to watch the attending at the residence, interview patients with different psychiatric um illnesses. And that was a learning experience on just how to deal with like, you know, asking questions and not receiving maybe any answers at all, or kind of receiving answers that may not be so much linear, um, that may be kind of difficult to follow, and just how to go about that. So that's been really interesting. Um, obviously, as an EMT, I have dealt with patients in this field, right? In in this psychiatric field. Um, but I'm learning more in depth about it, and that's been really interesting. I have had the idea that I may want to pursue um psychiatry, and I think being on this rotation, I feel like I'm feeling that even more because I can tell um when I go into my rotation, I'm kind of excited. Like, and I wasn't expecting that. Um I was really expecting to one be nervous going in every day and maybe possibly dreading it. And I'm not, I'm actually really excited. Um I don't know if that has to do with one, it's something I'm interested in, or um, the environment that's been created thus far has been really comfortable. Um, or if it's just maturity, I can't really pinpoint it. It could be a combination of all factors, but I'm excited to see how I progress. And I'm excited to see if this feeling will translate across um different rotations as I'm experiencing like different specialties. Um but right now I am thankful for the environment that's created um because I do feel transitioning from my didactics, which is like all the just books, and then coming into rotations where now it's pretty much heavy clinical side. Um, it's very different. And it's a transition that I will say I'm still learning how to balance. Um, and so having, you know, the attendings of the residents create a welcoming environment where I'm free to ask questions and feel comfortable asking these questions has been really, really nice because you know, I'm I'm a shy person, um, which is funny because a lot of people may not always think I'm shy. It just depends, honestly. But the fact that they're creating this environment, I feel very confident in asking these questions. I feel very confident in taking initiative or doing things. And so I'm excited to see really like how I had progress and how I like build my skills.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

I know you're mentioning a lot about the environment, how the environment is is so comfortable. It makes you want to ask questions, and now you have an interest in in psych because of like the environment that you're in. What type of environment exactly is that? For people like me, I'm just kidding, I'm not gonna go there. Everything's not about you, Linda. But for some people out there who does not know what a safe and comfortable environment looks like, what makes what makes that environment stand out for you?

SPEAKER_02 6:34

That's a really good question. Um, I think one, like acknowledging me, I think that's so simple, right? But just being like, hi guys, this is Jasmine. She's a medical student, she's gonna be working with us instead of just having me stand there and they're all talking and I don't even know people's names. Like, I think that's one of the biggest things is acknowledging me because I am in the room and making me feel like I belong there. I think that's one of the biggest things um that that they did first. And two, just being like, if you have questions, ask them. Like, don't, you know, like don't feel like you can't ask anything. And and even like contributing. So the way my rotation works is um so I'm working in the psych ED. I will be with the psych resident and we round on the patients. And um they like even though I was supposed to be observing, they allowed me to ask questions the first week. I wasn't restricted to just being, you know, you know, just watching. They allowed me to ask. They allowed me to go in and out of of you know, asking questions as I felt, um, as I felt like I or as I thought of them. Um so after we do the, you know, the rounding, we meet up at um, we meet up like, I don't know, in a in a room, all the doctors, all the residents, well, I guess residents are doctors, but all the attendings, the, the, the residents, um, and the rest of the care team, we meet up and then we start discussing the patients. Even though like I didn't have patience, right, the first week, where I wasn't supposed to have patients, um, uh, they allowed me to ask questions about the care, the care, the care plan that they made, or they allowed me to just uh uh add my input. And so for me, I felt like, oh wow, I do bel like I do have some say, I do know something. So I think, yeah, acknowledging me, allowing me to ask questions, allowing me to provide input, I think has allowed me to feel comfortable because I I feel like I belong there and I don't feel like I'm just a I mean, I am a student, but I I think it's inclusive, right? It's inclusive. And even them telling me, um, if there's something you feel like we're not doing well, please let us know. And please don't wait till, you know, the end of the rotation because we're not able to make these changes. We want, you know, you to, we want to be able to make these changes for you. And I I mean for me that's I appreciate that because a lot of times you'll ask though you'll you'll hear them ask for feedback, but they won't care to do that till the end and change it for someone else. So I appreciate them taking me into consideration in in pretty much everything they do. Um, additionally, the attending, you know, met with us privately even after meeting with everyone else, and you know, um told us that he was really invested in our education and you know, he was there for us if we needed him in any way. So yeah, these are just some of the simple little things that, you know, um the residents and attendings have been doing that have made me feel comfortable in my learning environment.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Okay, I have like multiple questions.

unknown 9:33

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 9:34

No, say sorry. We need to we need all the questions.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Okay, so my first question, because I know nursing and medical school are like probably yeah, they're different. So, for example, for us, we'll go as a group of students. So, what about for you guys? Do you guys go as a group of students, or is it just you, Jasmine, the only student in that group of like residents and um doctors and yes, like with that with that precept.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

I don't know if you forgot resident. Like, is it just you one to one to one or one to like four other students? Five other students, yeah. Good question.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Good question. Um, so when we're first rounding, it'll be the resident and me and my and one classmate. So it's two MS3s. Um although the first week it was the resident, my me and my and my classmate, and then there was also an MS4, but they're not there anymore. So now it's just the resident and two of us. But then after um after we round and we go talk about the patients, um, sometimes we may follow up with the patient after with the actual attending. So yeah, it's just basically me, the resident, and or the attending and my classmate.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

I I like that it's such a small, like a small group. It's like basically like you and your attending. That way that focus can be placed on you instead of you having to share that, you know, share your time with maybe six other students.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Yeah, no, I would say it is pretty individualized because even when I got there, I saw another one of my um peers and uh they're on a different rotation, but I saw um because I think they were being consulted or something um from a different department, and then I saw that peer, just that one peer and with a resident. So yeah, it is tends to be pretty much one-to-one or one to maybe two at max, I think, from what I'm seeing.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Okay, and then that's good because that way I feel like you learn better that way, that's honestly. And then my next question when you get there, like you see all the pay patients that your resident is seeing, how many patients are they per resident, or does it go with the attending? How how does that work?

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Um, it's kind of hard to tell right now because I think they're I don't think they are um transitioning. So the resident I was first working with, he was a PGY four, so he was in his 44th, fourth year, his last year of residency. And now I'm working with um a first year resident. And so she just transitioned. Um so it was really cool because I kind of got to see it was her first and second year residency. So I was able to, you know, be there while she experienced that. So um right now I think they gave her a lighter load, but I'm assuming she's gonna have more. But I think from what I was seeing was greater than four patients, I believe. I think it's more than four patients, but I don't know, I don't know the exact number. I I um I can get back to you on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Okay. You may, oh, sorry. I'm just gonna add on to what you what she said because I don't know if you're gonna change it to another story. Um, or a question. Uh and you may, Jasmine, you may not know because I feel like based off what you said, you may not know. But do you know what your max amount of patients you will have, like maybe like later on within your your rotation? Or is it like a um like a cap on how many patients you as a student uh will see?

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Uh for me myself.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Oh yeah. Um, I believe they told me they'll start me off with one patient. I think we'll go up to three. So the max you'll see is three. Yeah, yeah. Okay. That's not bad. And I and I appreciate that because I'm still learning. So and then especially because psych is different, it's not I it's just a different way of like taking care of the patient, right? It's it's different. You like the the exams you might do are different. Yeah, and the things you will do are different. So it the way you write your notes are different. And so um there wasn't a heavy emphasis on psych, um, you know, when I was in my didactic. So for me, it's still a learning process. So I'm kind of glad that they're not just gonna throw me in there because I'm still kind of um getting adjusted to the way the psych world works, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Okay, and also for these your first rotation, do you pick what your first rotation is going to be or the school puts you in like it's gonna be psyched? Or how how does that work?

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Uh sorry, I think it cut out, but I think your question was how did we kind of decide that it was psyched or something like that? Yeah, so um they before you go into your rotation, they will send you out a list of different psych departments. So they have um child child psychiatry, they have um calls consult psych, they have uh inpatient, outpatient psych, they had um, they they even had psychiatry in pr like I think at a at a prison facility. Um so these were all different, like they give you a bunch of different um positions and you get to rank them. And then after that, after you rank them, um they'll send you an email with your placement. And so that's kind of how uh that's done. And um, for me, I didn't actually rank mine because I was a long story, I think I mentioned it in a previous episode, but I wasn't actually gonna be in this rotation because I was gonna step out um to study for SEP because my wallet got stolen, didn't have my ID, and I wasn't able to actually take the test. Um, but turns out I was finally able to take the test and um I didn't actually rank this. So this was just given to me. But I'm really happy uh they did because I had never, like I mentioned, I didn't I I always said I wasn't I didn't want to work in the emergency department, so I had never considered psych eating, and it's pretty chill. I think I like it. Well, I'm not gonna say it's chill, but I I like it, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

It's funny because I remember my first psych rotation and I loved it. I feel like just psych is just so it's always so interesting. Life was like a box of chocolates. You don't know what you're gonna get. And I feel like that's what I loved about psych. Um, and it's more so because uh you don't know what you're gonna get. You know, I had a patient talk about she was married to Obama. I was like, oh girl, really? It's it's interesting, and it's it keeps things entertaining. So I'm happy to hear that you're liking it so far.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Yeah, I agree. I think like you said, you don't know what you're gonna get. And um, yeah, you're just it's always something new, it's always something different. Um, so I do like that. Um I forgot what I was gonna say. Oh, I was mentioning.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Oh, I do want to ask, sorry, before you change your um change the subject. When you started your psych rotation, did they give you like a breakdown of like rules, do do's and don'ts? Because I know with us, so our school uniform, we have to have like a white um, I think it was like a white polo shirt and then like I don't know, some pants. So when on the psych floor, we were not um, we could not wear anything white. You couldn't have white scrubs, you couldn't have white, uh, white top because that gives like the like allusion to some patient that that's like, you know, you know, you know how they put them in white, like a vest. Um, and then they we also couldn't wear fenny packs, or you couldn't wear your septoscope around your neck, you couldn't carry pins with you and things like that because those are hazardous things that patients can use against you. So did they go over anything like that where the do's and do's and don'ts?

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Uh, that's a good question. Um, so we had two separate orientations. We had uh over general psych orientation, and then we had our psych psych orientation. And so at my general I general psych orientation, one of the girls was talking about how, man, I can't wear white. All I have is white. So they did meant they did tell her, now that she was saying that, they did tell her she couldn't wear white. They didn't tell me, because um, I don't know why they didn't tell me, but I pretty we pretty much wear scrubs, but they did tell us to not wear a stethoscope because you can get choked out. That can be that can be a um a weapon or you know, it could be used against you. Uh they didn't mention anything about pens, but they did definitely mention like um staying like hands or arm's length away from patients and things like that. Um, not having your back, um, you know, it's standing not having your back towards a patient, um, standing, I guess, closer to like the door, um, making sure to keep the door open a little bit just in case necessary. So you can get out need need to be. Um, funny story, definitely rookie mistake, definitely rookie mistake. I'm gonna share it because it it's a learn it's a learning lesson. Um so the I don't know what day this was. Yeah, I don't know what day this was. But if you've ever been to an ED, you know that EDs are loud. It's really hard to hear, right? And so uh the the resident was uh interviewing one of the patients, and the patient was agitated, and I wasn't even in the room, okay? The the resident was in the room and I was outside of the room. And because I was outside, I'm hearing all the noise from the ED. So you hear the beeps, you hear like the staff talking, you hear other patients yelling. Um, so there's like a lot of noise that you know you have to filter out. And so the first week is an opportunity for us to learn. And so one of the things that like I took seriously was making sure that I was really listening to the residents, ask their questions, see their flow, kind of see how they ask questions and even seeing how they respond to agitated patients. But you know, um, I personally feel like I do have a really good way of staying calm and keeping patients calm. But you know, you can always learn something from someone, especially a resident in their fourth year. They've they've learned a lot, they know a lot, they've seen a lot. So I just wanted to make sure that I was paying attention to his questions, uh his flow, and and you know, maybe some questions I may not have thought about. And so because it was really loud and I wasn't even in the room because the patient was agitated, um, the the resident was in the room and I decided to turn my head away from them and and have my ear closer to them so I could actually hear. Because I wasn't able to hear. So I'm trying to hear, so I turn my head so that I'm able to hear, so that my ear is basically in line of kind of like the communication. And within a second, that's why it was a rookie mistake. Because I know that this happened. I know this.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Hold that thought and stay tuned for next week's episode.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Thanks for listening to this episode of PD3 with your hosts Linda, Jasmine, and Katherine. Make sure you like, comment, and subscribe at a putting dose of three so that you never miss an episode and your weekly dose.