Starting with Psych

[penguinophile]

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So, my very first rotation is psych. Since this is a bit different than the other patient centered rotations, I'm a little worried (just a little) that when I get to medicine (my next rotation) that I'm going to look like a fool who can't do a PE or take a proper Hx compared to the students who had peds or family medicine or surgery as their first rotation. Any advice? It just seems like a weird rotation to have first and I'm a little baffled about how to prepare for it since I don't have a strong psych/human behavior background.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[diosa428]

For Psych, I'd recommend checking out First Aid for Psych and Case Files for Psych. Before you start, I'd scan through First Aid, and pay particular attention to the mental status exam, which you will probably be asked to present at some point.

For Medicine, I wouldn't worry too much. If you have a Maxwell's, you should be able to take an appropriate history. As for the physical exam, I'm assuming you had a physical diagnosis class at some point, right? I wouldn't assume that your classmates will be leagues ahead of you, and honestly, most clinicians don't pay attention to the physican exam that much (sad but true). They take the symptoms and use those to order labs to make their diagnosis. Also, even at the very end of your year, residents will not expect you to be able to pick everything up on PE. No one ever yells at you for not noticing something, unless you didn't notice it because you didn't do it. So again, you can go through Maxwell's to make sure you do a complete physical on everyone, and just do your best. I think you'll be ok.

 

[BigRedBeta]

At my school, you still had to do a full H&P on any new admissions while on the inpatient services...so you still got the practice (in a rather relaxed setting mind you) to go through some of that stuff. Unless you're really busy or on a Consult/Liaison service, take advantage of how slow psych is.

 

[McSnappy]

So, my very first rotation is psych. Since this is a bit different than the other patient centered rotations, I'm a little worried (just a little) that when I get to medicine (my next rotation) that I'm going to look like a fool who can't do a PE or take a proper Hx compared to the students who had peds or family medicine or surgery as their first rotation. Any advice? It just seems like a weird rotation to have first and I'm a little baffled about how to prepare for it since I don't have a strong psych/human behavior background.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

They all know you are a dumb*^&* when you start IM early in the year, middle of the year, late in the year, whenever in the year