During my OB GYN rotation I was able to experience multiple things that have helped me better my portfolio of skills as a PA student. My rotation included 2 weeks in OB, 1 week with GYN-call and 2 weeks in the clinic.In this rotation I learned a lot of new skills such as doing pap smears, checking fetal heart rate and even assisting in a few incisions and drainages. These new techniques are very specific to this rotation as in my previous rotations were not as focused on women’s medicine.

  There were specific patients that were a bit challenging throughout this rotation and these would usually be post partum patients. The reason would mostly be that the mothers would be very tired and would rather spend time with their families and not a student. But to overcome this, I would discuss the importance of checkups postpartum and how important it is to do physical exams in women postpartum especially to rule out diagnosis such as endometritis and Uterine atony. 

A memorable experience I would say that I carried from this rotation would be rotating with one of the preceptors I had for GYN call. Throughout the day the preceptor would allow me to do all the procedures needed for the patients and even suggested I try to hold every baby in postpartum as holding newborn babies could be nerve wracking. She also made sure I was learning throughout the day and consistently took the time out to teach me anything I may have questions about.

Lastly, something I can improve on and take on to my next rotations would be the knowledge I gained from taking H&P from women who may come in certain types of pain. My ddx for RLQ pain has expanded as the majority of women coming in with a GYN complaint always complained of abdominal pain and without correct physical GU examination my ddx would lack the necessary detail to diagnose the patients.  My next rotation is AM, and at an urgent care I may run into similar GYN cases as well