.The day started well. I met Dr. Thomas and I accompanied him to his appointments that he had that morning. One word: LOUD. Today we had several kids who were in for check ups and shots and they weren't happy to see Dr. Thomas at all. Interestingly, this "fear of doctors" more specifically fear of strangers is actually a good sign. Apparently this is a sign that the child is developing normally. I wish God (or evolution, whichever you believe) had created a quieter sign of normal development but I guess you can't always get what you want. Dr. Thomas checked these children's vital signs, growth and weight making sure that they were developing at a good rate ( in order to prevent childhood obesity) and asked these parent's if they had any questions or concerns for their children. One program that St. Vincent does ( as well as Riley Hospital) is that they give books to children who came for check ups and had good results as a way to encourage literacy among children.
Well that's it. I don't have much more to say about pediatrics. Told you. I've shadowed other pediatricians and what I can tell you is that one of things I learned quickly is that you have to be able to relate to both the child and the parents. "Our patients can't speak for themselves or give us all of the information we need, so we have to be detectives and try to put all the pieces together to help our patients".and at the end of the day remember that you are the child's advocate and your job (really your passion) should be to help the child have all the resources it needs in order to develop mentally, emotionally as well as physically.One pediatrician said something I'll never forget (I hope): Plus quickly adapting to a less than quiet environment is also beneficial.
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| They grow up so fast!!! |
If you want to learn a bit on D.O. schools, continue reading, otherwise read the next page.
Dr. Thomas graduated from UCLA with a degree in neuroscience before attending a D.O. school and currently a first-year resident. Being from Indiana (with it's one med school, sometimes I wonder about this "corny state") I was interested in what Osteopathic schools and how they differed from Allopathic Schools (MD) schools. Basically he told me that the difference is more in the belief system than anything else. D.O. physicians are further trained in helping with holistic health of patients particularly looking at muscle and joint movement and how that relates the the patient's health. In all honesty, it's still a bit hard to distinguish especially since the change in what's taught in medical schools to include a more holistic onlook on patient care, but hey that's the history of D.O. schools. If you have any more (or more accurate) information please DO NOT be afraid to post it and inform me. I can use some knowledge on this subject. Today, DO degree graduates tend to practice in primary care medicine although all field of medicine accepts DOs. One interesting disadvantage is that some countries, especially in Europe, don't recognize D. O. degrees so if you plan to trade your American citizenship for a European one, you may want to put that into consideration.
