My Surgery rotation was completed at the Metropolitan Hospital and involved rotating through various specialty clinics and the general surgery floor. I spent my first two weeks at the hospital, rotating through the ENT clinic, wound clinic, vascular clinic, plastics, and breast clinic. During the two weeks I had the opportunity to see patients independently and present them afterwards to the supervising PA or attending. I especially enjoyed the ENT clinic, vascular and breast clinics. My time in those clinics was educational and beneficial. My first two weeks in clinic helped provide a refresher on some of the frequent condition’s patients may present with such as TM rupture, Varicosities, PAD, breast abscesses, breast cancer etc.

I also had the opportunity to be involved in procedures such as suture removals, wound care, foreign body removal etc. Being able to independently see patients gave me the opportunity to develop my own plan and assessments before presenting to the PAs or attending. My time in the specialty clinics concluded, and I continued to complete another two weeks working in general surgery. I was lucky to be with a large group of PA students and medical students. We all were able to function together as a team to assist the residents. I spent the two weeks in the OR seeing procedures such as laparoscopic cholecystectomies, ductal carcinoma in situ resection, tonsillectomy, esophagogastroduodenoscopy etc. I had a great time in the operating room assisting with procedures and being able to observe and learn the intricacies of each surgery.

Lastly, my final week of rotation at the hospital was spent in the urology clinic. During this week, I had the opportunity to perform procedures such as foley catheter removals or placement. I also had the opportunity to watch my supervising PA perform cystoscopies on patients which was very impressive. Overall, I think my surgery rotation was a great rotation that allowed me to be challenged intellectually.