Being that I am very interested in ER, the ability to do GYN consults to the ER will prove to be very helpful for me in my career. Knowing the right questions and measures to pay attention to will help me manage my GYN patients better in the ER, as well as help, prepare everything for my colleagues in OB/GYN. This rotation will also be helpful to me on other rotations as it was my first exposure to surgery. I learned the mistakes of scrubbing and many of the basic methods and tools in the OR. This will help me to not go into my surgery rotation blind and be helpful to the team rather than a hindrance. 

I feel that I was able to implement many of the aspects of my last action plan from ER into this rotation, specifically maximizing time and doing work whenever I can. On this rotation, I managed to find pockets of time, especially based on the traffic schedule, to do PICOs or clinical online component assignments. For example, if I had clinic at 9, I would come at 6:30 to avoid traffic and thus be able to get work done before the day starts. For my next rotation, I want to continue to come early and do my work before the day. I also would like to try to start studying within the first week and start doing review questions by week 3, in order to ensure I am well-prepared for the EOR exam. 

One patient experience that stuck with me was a woman who had an incomplete abortion. She had been losing large amounts of blood and had an episode of syncope. The resident decided to perform a manual vacuum aspiration to evacuate the uterine contents. I held the patient’s hand as she screamed in excruciating pain throughout this procedure. I was getting emotional just seeing how much pain this poor woman had to be in. At the end of the procedure, she mentioned that her husband had decided not to come, as he knew “she was strong enough to deal with these kinds of situations alone.” Many of our patients do not have a strong support system and even those that do have family, may still be alone in many situations. Thus, it is important to address the patient’s emotional needs as well as their medical needs. By being there for her, she was at least able to have someone to comfort her, even if it was a complete stranger.