R4 Rotation Reflection

My five-week pediatrics rotation revealed the specialty to be a bit less varied in case-type than I had anticipated. Working in an outpatient office, I primarily saw routine well-child visits and mild acute illnesses such as allergic respiratory and gastrointestinal issues. I found that many of the topics I had learned about in the classroom were not apparent in this setting, but I’m not surprised by that given the office was not equipped to handle more acute cases. Comparing experiences with my classmates, it was interesting to realize as well how seasonally affected an office such as the one I worked in can be. For example, while I saw so many patients with allergy symptoms during the spring, my classmates who worked in the winter saw primarily respiratory infections. Perhaps the variety exists more within the seasonal changes that shift trends in chief complaint. Regardless, the repetition certainly enhanced my understanding of the pediatric primary care PA and allowed me to build confidence in my pediatric patient assessment.