My 6throtation – Psychiatry, definitely surprised me. I initially had little to no interest in psychiatry, however I went into it with an open mind. I was the first to participate at this brilliant new site called Mindful Urgent Care. The site as it states is an psychiatric urgent care designed for those who are not in acute distress and therefore do not fit criteria of going to the emergency department. Many patients come in for medication management or just a guide on where to go as they’ve exhausted all other options. The site makes it clear that they do not prescribe any controlled substances so it usually filters out malingerers. My preceptor Nick Obertis is a former York graduate and one of the best teachers I have had the privilege of learning from. He had me interview patients on my own by the second day, then I’d present the case to him and he’d ask me what I thought the diagnosis was and what the treatment plan would be. He was patient when I got things wrong and made the experience so comfortable that I didn’t feel the pressure I did at other rotations. I do have to work on redirecting patients as sometimes the interview process would end up taking an hour and then the whole day gets backed up. I have a better sense on how to redirect patients to obtain the most pertinent information in order to form a better diagnosis and management plan. I was also having a hard time with dosages but I believe that would come with even more practice. The best part of my experience is watching the positive difference in patients from their first visit to their follow ups. It was such an amazing experience that I am considering going into psychiatry when I graduate.
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
