Clinics: day two.

In pre-clinics on St. Kitts, we were always told that Ross students did very well in clinics and that Ross grads had great reputations. And you really don't know how much of it is true and how much is bragging. Well now I know, it's absolutely true.

I was terrified about starting clinics. Scared I wouldn't know anyone, and all of the UofI students would already know and have relationships with the clinicians, and that I'd look stupid or incompetent. My first day was yesterday and I jumped right in with being assigned seven pigs for blood draws for pseudorabies testing and ear tattoos. Later that day I correctly diagnosed cecal dilation that most of the other students on the rotation were calling abomasal dilation. (Very, very close to one another, and it can be ambiguous, but the cecum extends farther back. I nailed it.) I also correctly identified lung consolidation on ultrasound.

Today I performed my first band castration, administered my first epidural, and manually reduced a rectal prolapse and put in my first purse string suture.

A lot of these things I'm doing for the first time. It makes me nervous, so I break out my notes before each appointment and do a really quick cram session. Each time I've done that I've been able to go into the appointment knowing enough to answer questions the clinician asks me, and have a general idea of what's going on. I won't know until I get my mid-rotation evaluation on Friday, but so far I feel like things are going really, really well.

And I've had one UofI student specifically approach me and ask for my help with a case because she feels I know what I'm doing. Two people have told me that Ross students on their rotations always appear to be the brightest in the group.

Ross did an amazing job preparing us for clinics. If you paid attention and worked hard in semesters 1-7, clinics will be an amazing, fun, and rewarding experience. You'll be exhausted, your feet will hurt, your back will hurt, and you'll feel like you're paying rent on an apartment for occasional naps (if you're lucky). But it's so worth it for that feeling of, "I know this! I actually KNOW THIS!"