Primary Clinicals

This blog was started to document both my last year in my Nurse Midwifery program as well as the ups and downs of infertility and trying to conceive and I have yet to post anything regarding the midwifery portion of my life.

Currently I am in my primary care rotation, but my preceptor (also a Certified Nurse Midwife - CNM) sees only OB and the occasional GYN patients, but no primary care and not very many GYNs. So, I have been farmed out to a inner city clinic where I am working with 3 Nurse Practitioners and 1 CNM and am seeing about 20 family planning, pre-conception counseling and GYN patients a day. This clinic also predominantly sees Spanish only speaking clients, so it has been good to not only be able to meet all my GYN patient goals but also to be able to speak Spanish all day and help an underserved, mostly uninsured, population.

Most of my day this past week was spent doing annual well woman exams, i.e., pap smears, and doing heaps of family planning and education. I learnt some new pelvic exam techniques that have been really helpful and useful to both me and my patients, and I also learnt how to identify yeast and bacterial vaginosis infections under the microscope. I also am becoming highly proficient in my speculum exams - I am aiming to do them gently and with as little discomfort for the patient as possible. I will be returning to this same clinic for 2 more weeks, 2 days a week, and then winter quarter will end and the spring term will begin bringing on a full 10 weeks of GYN focus. Luckily, since I am knocking out my primary, family planning and GYN now, I will not have to worry about my numbers for next term.

I have an exam and a research article to finish by Sunday whilst I also have to work Sunday and Monday nights. I will be dreaming of spring break tonight, that is for sure!