I started my new orthopedic rotation a week and a half ago. On this rotation we spend 2 days a week at one office in the city, 2 days in the OR in the city, and half a day in the office in the country and half the day in the OR at a country hospital. I have found that I really enjoy the mornings that we spend at the country office. While the office itself is very nice, I think it is the patients at this location that I am drawn to. I blame it on my upbringing. These people are similar to those that I have grown up around.

Before I go any further let me first say that just because you are from "the country" that doesn't mean that you are stupid. A lot of the patients up there may be less educated but they still want to understand their injury or disability just as well as someone with a graduate degree. These people tend to put more trust in you than those in highly populated areas do. Whenever I am in a room with these patients I have instant compassion and a strong desire to help them. I genuinely want to help them, it's almost a feeling of needing to help them. Helping them comes in many forms for me. It may be casting a broken arm, taking sutures out, or answering their many questions. It makes them feel important. Growing up in the sticks I can appreciate how valuable a specialists' opinion can be. I also know what it's like to see a doctor who clearly would rather be at his usual location with his usual clientele. It is very important to me that my patients never feel as if I would rather be treating another type of person.

I'm not really sure what all this means in the grand scheme of things. I do not think I would be content in a very small town right out of school. However, I cannot deny the compassion I carry for the rural underserved patients. Perhaps someday I will find myself back in the country. It's kind of ironic that I have spent my entire post high school life avoiding the country and now I find that that is what I am most drawn to.