My ambulatory medicine rotation was at Statcare Urgent Care. Overall, this was a great rotation and I learned a lot being in a small clinic with one provider. Each day, the doctor or PA would allow me to triage, take medical histories and conduct physical exams on all patients. Afterwards, I would discuss the exam findings with the doctor or PA and create a plan. My prior rotations were in hospital settings, so I found it challenging presenting patients in a primary care setting during my first few shifts. Although this location saw many urgent cases, the majority of patients came for annual physicals, pre-employment physicals, medication refills, and COVID-19 testing.

This rotation taught me how to conduct quick and efficient physical exams and engage more in patient education. This included education on smoking cessation, obesity, and safe sexual practices. In addition, I was able to work on my phlebotomy skills, suturing techniques, and learned how to collect different cultures (wounds, throat, etc).

My rotation site was one of the only locations in the area conducting rapid COVID-19 tests. These tests were able to give results in 15 minutes and had high sensitivity/specificity. This kept the office very busy and we were able to test over 70 patients per day. Luckily, a majority of those tests came back negative, but we still discussed the importance of social distancing and masks with every patient.

In my future rotations, I will continue practicing procedures, presenting patients, and ask questions when I need clarity.