Rotation #7: Family Practice Again!

Yep, that's right . . . another family practice rotation! And, for some reason, my hubby was assigned to a location that required lots of travel time. Okay, not a lot . . . maybe 20-35 minutes one way depending on weather or traffic. Whatever the case, on a limited budget and high gas prices, it was a lot to me!! :)

For me, as the spouse, I really didn't think this rotation was that bad. Though my hubby was home a few evenings around 6:00 or 6:30, it was definitely a nice change from the previous month! However, I can see that my hubby definitely does not want to work as a family practice doc! I do not think that it is the best fit for him for a multitude of reasons! All these rotations make me so thankful!! He has really had the opportunity to discover where his strengths and weaknesses lie within the practice of medicine and without them, would not have chosen a field that would have fit him as appropriately!

To digress slightly . . . When people hear that my hubby has decided on Anesthesia, I think that they immediately think the money is the whole reason that he has made this choice. Honestly, this frustrates me to no end!! He has not chosen this area because of the money. Though money is a nice perk, it also does not happen to rule our every thought and action like we have seen it done in others. He has chosen this specialty for a variety of reasons . . . the science involved, its connection to other areas that interest him, the way it seems to be the perfect fit for him and his personality, and yes, even the schedule! But, just to make it clear . . . it was NOT because of the money!! Okay, enough ranting and raving . . . back to the family practice rotation and my hubby's thoughts . . .

My second family medicine rotation was with a physician about 25 minutes away from my base site. I have to say that this rotation was not as good as my first family medicine rotation in several ways. It may sound bad but the days were longer than I would have expected for family medicine. This physician didn’t start until late in the morning and it was the norm to not be finished until 6:00 or later. Part of this has to do with the current environment in medicine today. Family medicine docs (as well as IM, Peds docs, etc.) have to see more patients than they ever had before just to continue their current income level. The days did go by quickly though. However, I didn’t feel that the teaching was quite to where it was with my first FM rotation. It usually involved me seeing all of my own patients and then he would follow me in later. We rarely discussed patients before we went in unless I found something to be extremely unusual, but at the same time he would review my notes with the patient and agree or disagree with them as he went. He has been known to be a little bit of a tougher doctor to deal with as a student but I didn’t feel that it was an issue at all as he was very professional during my rotation and provided good tips at times.

As a side note, it is nice to see how you develop throughout the course of your third year. With my first family medicine rotation I didn’t know much as far as when to initiate treatments for common medical conditions (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.), but by the time I had this rotation I had a general idea of what to do with a number of common illnesses. Overall, this wasn’t one of my better rotations but it could have been a lot worse.