What I Really Learned in Med School

Internal Medicine has been filled with interesting patients and diverse pathology. It has been our longest rotation yet - 12 weeks instead of 6. I've definitely enjoyed it, but we weren't given as much independence as I've had in other rotations. Many people (including me, like 3 months ago) don't know much about what Internal Medicine is, so I will preface this post with that. Basically, the Internist and his/her team are the physicians (and students) that takes care of you when you get admitted to the hospital. That is, if you are an adult and you are there for a reason besides surgery or psychiatric care. Our patients are the people who come into the ER or to clinic who are sick enough to need to stay in the hospital overnight or longer. The admissions can include heart attacks, heart failure, strokes, pneumonia, cirrhosis, pancreatitis, kidney failure, and serious infections of the skin or heart or brain. Sometimes we work in partnership with the surgery team if, f