My rotation at Woodhull OBGYN was quite different from my previous rotation, but was still interesting and educational. I was pretty intimidated before starting this rotation. I had experience in many other fields, but none in OBGYN. It’s a new field in a new hospital with procedures that I only ever performed on a mannequin.

The first two weeks I had overnight shifts in Labor and Delivery and GYN-call, and the last two weeks I was in the clinic. All 3 environments were unique and had their own team members and procedures. Week 1 I was assigned with Labor and Delivery for 3 16 hour overnight shifts. The shifts were long and had long lolls between deliveries. I was able to take some histories and talk to patients, but the most interesting part was scrubbing into C-sections. I was able to scrub into 3 of these procedures and assist with whatever I was asked to do. Most commonly I was asked to hold retractors while the physician was retrieving the baby or closing the mother. It was amazing to witness how quickly the procedure can be done. During the last cesarean I saw, it felt like the physician made the opening incision then 1 minute later was retrieving the baby. It took a little longer to close everything compared to cutting open, nonetheless the entire procedure was surprisingly quick. It was an amazing experience to be scrubbed in and assist with the procedure.

Week 2 I was assigned with GYN-call which had the same hours as the previous week. There wasn’t a large quantity of GYN emergencies during the overnight period, but we were still able to see some patients. One in particular that stood out was the first patient seen that week. She presented to the ED with vaginal bleeding. Upon the speculum exam it became clear that she was having a miscarriage. After a long and difficult discussion about her condition and options the patient consented to D&C. This patient stood out because it was a stark contrast to all the patients I had seen the previous week working in L&D.

One of my goals before starting this rotation as to do more procedures, such as speculum exams and pap smears. I was able to do many of these exams during the 2 weeks I was working in the clinic. Some providers were very interested in explaining and teaching how to correctly and comfortably perform the exam. The PAs in particular allowed me to do almost this entire portion of the exam. Initially it was difficult to do the exam and visualize the os, but with practice and guidance I was able to visualize it more consistently. 

I hope that my preceptors and colleagues noticed how hard I was working to learn everything throughout the rotation. As mentioned earlier, this was a field that was unfamiliar to me other than what we learned during didactic year. Many parts of the pertinent history, physical exam, labs, monitoring, procedures were very specific and I needed to familiarize myself with all of it in a short amount of time. I tried to observe everything I can and when there was something that I did not understand I was not afraid to ask.

My next rotation is Pediatrics at QHC, with some time in the Peds ED and some time in the clinic. I am looking forward to this rotation. Before starting PA school I had a lot of experience in Pediatrics and have considered it a field I might want to work in. Now I have the opportunity to see the role of the PA in Pediatrics and determine whether this is still an interest for me.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.