Beginning of the Clinic

I started my clinical rotations at the start of the month and it's been quite the change. I took my boards, and then two days later I was moving from Erie to Youngstown to start rotations. I've lived in Newark (Ohio), Erie (PA), and now Youngstown. They are all blue collar towns and I've enjoyed seeing a different side of life.

The most valuable thing I've taken away from the first couple weeks is that I'm incredibly fortunate to have had a supportive family growing up. Youngstown currently has a heroin problem and it's sad to see lives that are ruined by a drug. It's a difficult thing seeing drug abusers in the hospital because once we get them stable they typically return to the same lifestyle and repeat the process. Their family's have to separate themselves from the addicts because the addicts tend to steal everything that they have and use their own families to support their habit. My attending has been practicing medicine in the area for 35 years, and he said "Drug addiction is the hardest thing to treat in medicine. I'd rather treat cancer or Alzheimer's than drug addiction."

Another experience which has been interesting is the residents we've followed around. There are only two American residents in the program. The rest are foreign medical graduates. It's been fun learning about their cultures and watching how they interact with patients. The foreign medical education places a greater emphasis on the history and physical exam than the American medical system. In the United States we rely on labs significantly more than our foreign colleagues.

I'm enjoying the town and experience so far. The town is hard, the people are friendly, and many of them have a sense of pride in being from the area. The lifters are strong. Everything I missed about the state is here and I'm hoping I can continue to learn about the city while I'm here.