"Know Your Personality"

I have to start by saying that I love Dr. Marisa McNeal. First of all I didn’t realize that I had inpatient wards today, I thought it was next week. I was told to reach out to Dr. McNeal a week ahead of this rotation to get the rest of the details. I reached out at 4:30pm the day before and she still responded and was so nice about it. I quickly learned that she is super busy and has a lot to manage at all times. To make my rotation more active she got to the hospital before me to review the cases she saw today so that by the time I would show up we could be on our feet. We saw 20 patients back to back from 9am to 1pm. Needless to say, today was the wrong day to wear un-cushioned shoes; MY FEET WERE KILLING ME!

I did notice something that I am quite uncomfortable to talk about. I couldn’t help but notice that the patients we saw today are predominantly black. I can count on one hand the patients who are white while the rest were a part of the black community. Why is that? Is it the Greenville population or is it deeper than that? Well, even I can tell you that it's not the population. Only about 16k/70k people in Greenville are black. When I saw 10 black patients back to back, I knew this was no coincidence. At this point I started to see a pattern, until we stepped into the 11th patient’s room. Can you guess what the 12th room was? Yea, this is no coincidence. Unfortunately, redlining is an example of something that is still relevant for the black community today. Of course that is not the sole reason why patients were at the inpatient wards, but I believe that it still plays a huge role in contributing to a lot of chronic diseases. Where someone ends up living, things like access to healthcare, filtered water, healthy food options, and many more get decided for people based on their location.

18 out of the 20 patients were elderly which I expected to see in inpatient wards. The other two patients were in their thirties. One had sickle cell anemia and was going through a pain crisis and the other was recovering from a heart attack while waiting on bypass surgery for next week. Obviously anyone under 18 would be seen on the pediatric side.

There were two things I learned today. One of them being the difficult interactions healthcare undergo during their daily shift. Especially in inpatient wards, the patients are going through a lot themselves like pain, hunger, annoyance, etc, so it might be really easy for them to get irritated. One patient wasn’t brought any food because of a procedure that was done. I saw the way the patient interacted with the nurses and even the doctor. He didn’t trust the doctor and seemed to be really irritated. Dr. McNeal asked him if he needs anything and he responded with, “You tell me if I need anything I don’t even know what I need, I don’t know who you are.” Dr. McNeal patiently reintroduced herself and explained everything once again. She understood that he was hangry and just in a bad circumstance, no one wants to be closed up in a room for a week. When we walked out she told me that as a future healthcare worker, I would encounter a lot of upset patients; a hospital is a place no one wants to be in. So that I am not discouraged, Dr. McNeal said that only about 25% of the patients give the workers a hard time. She advised me not to let the “25%” fog up my view of healthcare because there are tough encounters everywhere; no matter where I choose to work.

Dr. McNeal was full of wisdom. When choosing a career, we are always encouraged to think about our skills and qualities, Dr. McNeal told me to think of my personality instead. She says that in order to successfully choose a field to work, I must know myself well. I have to figure out what I enjoy and what I despise. Being an internal medicine doctor (and an introvert), she did not enjoy the long hours of socializing she had with her patients all day long. However, now that she is an internal medicine hospitalist, she gets the luxury of alone time more frequently. She is very intentional about completing her rotations by lunchtime so that she gets the afternoon to recharge on her own while charting on her computer. This seems like a dream! I 100% think being a hospitalist gives you the best of both worlds, however, I did not enjoy shadowing in the hospital. Something about being in that setting is so overwhelming to me. The amount of nurses, other physicians, administrators, custodial staff, floating around at all times is anxiety-inducing to me. I did enjoy the busy aspect of inpatient wards, however I did not enjoy the hospital setting. So far I would prefer working in a clinical setting but I will certainly keep an open mind in future rotations.

In the midst of all the chais, being in Dr. McNeal’s presence was so calming. She truly made me feel like I should be there and that I am not in the way. She offered so much advice and even gave me her number so that we can talk more in the future when it comes time to making a decision of a field to work in. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and can’t wait to keep expanding my network through the amazing MedEx.

Can’t wait for tomorrow!!