Amigos Medicos with Wayne State University

Pratik's Diary
3/1/10 Mon I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon today. Most of his patients came in with pain in some part of their body like in the back, in fingers and toes. He treated most of patient by giving NSAIDs and ordering X-rays when appropriate. A patient, who worked as a canoe guide came in with a Sciatic nerve irritation in right thigh which I thought was pretty cool. I admired the doctor for taking time to show this patient location of the nerve on a picture and explaining to patient how his job partly contributed to irriation of nerve by sitting in canoe for long periods of time. 3/2/10 Tuesday I shadowed an Internist today. One of the patient came in with multiple health problems like HPN, DM and hypothyroidism. She was also under a lot of emotional stress due to specific events in her life and began crying. The visit ended with a positive note when doctor complimented her for looking very younger than her age which was 55 years. the patient's face ligthened up as soon as doctor said this. What I learned from this is to find something positive to say to comfort such patients. In the afternoon, I shadowed a Gastroenterologist. I got to see very interesting case where a woman came in with sharp abdominal pain and diarrhea . She had lost a lot of weight recently. Being unable to identify cause of pain at that time, the doctor ordered a blood test to figure out source of problem. He had to send her home without giving her anything for her pain. The patient became very sad by this and almost cried. 3/3/10 Wed I shadowed a nurse practitioner today. She really took time to educate her patients about their health problems. We saw a patient who just recently found out that she had a pineal tumor. 3/4/10 Thursday I shadowed a surgeon today. I watched him do skin biopsy on two different patients. I didn't think that this was very exciting. Also, surgeon showed me an article about a study that was done in a setting with limited medical resources which showed that banana leaves and honey healed post-operative wounds faster than standard dressings, which I thought was pretty cool. I shadowed a nephrologist in the afternoon. We did an EKG on a patient which suggested left ventricular hypertrophy. Doctor ordered a stress test to confirm diagnosis. This was pretty cool, I thought. 3/5/10 Friday. I shadowed a cardiologist in the morning. We only saw one patient who came in with shortness of breath. Doctor diagnosed bronchitis based on x-ray of patient's lungs. I shadowed a radiologist in the afternoon. I got to observe her doing an ultrasound of patient’s breasts whose mammogram had showed some calcifications in breasts.

Pratik's Diary

3/1/10 Mon

I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon today. Most of his patients came in with pain in some part of their body like in the back, in fingers and toes. He treated most of patient by giving NSAIDs and ordering X-rays when appropriate. A patient, who worked as a canoe guide came in with a Sciatic nerve irritation in right thigh which I thought was pretty cool. I admired the doctor for taking time to show this patient location of the nerve on a picture and explaining to patient how his job partly contributed to irriation of nerve by sitting in canoe for long periods of time.

3/2/10 Tuesday

I shadowed an Internist today. One of the patient came in with multiple health problems like HPN, DM and hypothyroidism. She was also under a lot of emotional stress due to specific events in her life and began crying. The visit ended with a positive note when doctor complimented her for looking very younger than her age which was 55 years. the patient's face ligthened up as soon as doctor said this. What I learned from this is to find something positive to say to comfort such patients. In the afternoon, I shadowed a Gastroenterologist. I got to see very interesting case where a woman came in with sharp abdominal pain and diarrhea . She had lost a lot of weight recently. Being unable to identify cause of pain at that time, the doctor ordered a blood test to figure out source of problem. He had to send her home without giving her anything for her pain. The patient became very sad by this and almost cried.

3/3/10 Wed

I shadowed a nurse practitioner today. She really took time to educate her patients about their health problems. We saw a patient who just recently found out that she had a pineal tumor.

3/4/10 Thursday

I shadowed a surgeon today. I watched him do skin biopsy on two different patients. I didn't think that this was very exciting. Also, surgeon showed me an article about a study that was done in a setting with limited medical resources which showed that banana leaves and honey healed post-operative wounds faster than standard dressings, which I thought was pretty cool.
I shadowed a nephrologist in the afternoon. We did an EKG on a patient which suggested left ventricular hypertrophy. Doctor ordered a stress test to confirm diagnosis. This was pretty cool, I thought.

3/5/10 Friday.

I shadowed a cardiologist in the morning. We only saw one patient who came in with shortness of breath. Doctor diagnosed bronchitis based on x-ray of patient's lungs.
I shadowed a radiologist in the afternoon. I got to observe her doing an ultrasound of patient’s breasts whose mammogram had showed some calcifications in breasts.