Internal Medicine was kind of a doozy to take on as a first elective! It’s pretty much learn by fire, but it’s also a great way to see medicine from a general perspective and gain exposure to a wide variety of medical conditions as you’re just starting to enter the clinical world.

About this Rotation:

I worked in an outpatient Internal Medicine clinic with a group of Internal Medicine and Family Practice physicians, midlevel providers, and nurses. Since our clinic was attached to the main hospital, we also did inpatient rounds if any of our patient’s were admitted. Every single patient had a combination of chronic conditions and a laundry list of medications. The most common conditions that I saw were pretty much what you would expect to see in Internal Medicine: Hypertension, Diabetes, COPD, Coronary Artery Disease, CHF, GERD, Hypothyroidism, Osteoarthritis, and Dementia. I found that I had to become more efficient and stay focused during appointments because IM patient’s typically have many chief complaints and medications to review in a limited period of time.

I also lived in a hospital room during this rotation which was surprisingly much better than I thought it was going to be! I had my own room and bathroom, and there was a common area with a kitchen and laundry. The only disappointment was that someone stole my spice rack on the first day. (HAHA I am fully aware that I am probably the only person in the history of all Medical/PA/Nursing/etc students to bring a spice rack to a rotation site!)

Highlights:

One thing that I really enjoyed during this rotation was the hospital and clinic that I worked at. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming that I instantly felt at home. I was in a smaller town so I was able to see the same faces throughout the hospital and floors, and people remembered who I was despite me being just a student. I also saw many patient’s more than once and was able to develop some patient relationships since they often required frequent follow up.

I also loved being able to see both inpatient and outpatient. I would often round on my patient’s in the morning before my preceptor so that I could be more hands-on and assess them on my own.

My preceptor also performed all of his own colonoscopies and stress tests, so I was also able to shadow him while he performed these tests.

Resources:

Here are the resources that I used to prepare for the End of Rotation (EOR) Exam:

• Book: A Comprehensive Review for the Certification and Recertification Examinations for Physician Assistants
• Websites and Apps: UptoDate, Medscape
• Videos: OnlineMedEd
• Podcasts: Physician Assistant Exam Review, PA Boards
• Practice Tests: The Point, Exam Master
• PAEA Internal Medicine Blueprint
• PAEA Internal Medicine EOC Topic List