Kids kids kids

First let me apologize for not updating this for a week and a half. A lot has happened since I last posted, I moved back home and started my next rotation. I am now doing pediatrics in my hometown with my uncle at his office. It has been an interesting transition. I haven't lived at home for this long in 9 years. I'm still getting used to the daily phone calls asking what time I'm coming home and the occasional visit from our golden retriever in the middle of the night but overall it's going well. I especially like coming home to home cooked meals everyday and parking in a garage!

Going from a level one trauma center to outpatient pediatrics is quite the adjustment as well. In fact I don't think you can compare them in any way. It's a welcome change of pace though. Working with my uncle is very different too. For once I'm not intimidated out of my mind. That may sound bad but I mean it in a positive kind of way. I am still learning something everyday and being challenged. Examining children is completely different from examining an adult. We take things for granted with adults. Adults aren't terrified of a simple thing like a stethescope, well the "normal" ones aren't anyways. With an adult you just jump right in and do the exam, end of story. With little kids you have to explain everything you're going to do and let them touch everything first to prove to them it doesn't hurt. You have to earn their trust. You also have to earn the parents trust. All this has to be done in under 25 minutes! Talk about a challenge. I've only been doing peds for two weeks but I have found that these 5 things are necessary to successfully exam a kid:

5. A friendly face
4. A knowledge of current cartoons
3. A plethora of different noises and voices
2. A love for children
1. PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE

I'm sure this list will grow weekly and I am looking forward to figuring out all of the secret little tricks of pediatrics.