I had the pleasure of doing my Family Medicine rotation with Dr. Diaro as my preceptor. The facility was called Amazing Medical Clinic (AMZ), and it was nothing short of amazing. The clinic really lived up to its name. This office has an excellent team which consisted of the kindest and most lovable human beings you will ever meet. This wonderful team was made up of  5 individuals named Tola, Sandy, Joanne, Bookie, and Dr. Diaro. They easily welcomed me into their team and provided me with both emotional and technical support needed to practice competently. One thing I really admired about the people at the rotation was that they started off each day with a prayer. They prayed for the health of their patients, and for strength to provide proper care to anyone who walked into their office. This showed me that people at this office were very dedicated to caring for their patient’s heath. As a temporary member of the team I allowed to be a part of this prayer each morning, which I am so very grateful for.

Family Medicine was different from my other rotations, in the sense that it allowed me to spend a longer amount of time with the patient during each encounter. This was something I really enjoyed, because it gave me time to get to know my patient very well, something that was not as prevalent at other rotations. I enhanced my skills at performing focused exams, diabetic foot exams, and procedures (ex: blood draws, EKG’s, spirometry, injections, and PPD placements). I really liked that Dr. Diaro was very up to date with new guidelines and recommendations for the common conditions we would encounter. She was very good at practicing Evidence based Medicine, and made frequent references to new research. This taught me that no matter how much experience you may have you should always stay up to date with changing guidelines.

Something else that I really appreciated about this rotation was that, Dr. Diaro took the time each day to stop and thank the staff and myself. She would acknowledge my hard work, and complement me on my HPI’s, assessment/ treatment plans, and procedural skills. She agreed with my plans most of the time, but when she didn’t she never made me feel as if I was wrong. Instead she would explain why she would do something different for the patient, and then she would have me look it up, and come back to let her know if I agreed. This made me feel as if we were working as a team to treat the patient and I was a part of the decision making. I also appreciated that she referred to the patients that I saw as “your patient”, this allowed me to feel more autonomous and help build my confidence as a provider. She never had an issue sharing the credit with me or any other member of the staff, which I feel is an important factor in forming a healthy relationship with the individuals we work with. We at the office all knew she was far more intelligent than we were, but she never allowed us to feel it. This made everyone want to work their hardest and provided a healthy environment for both staff members and patients. From this I learned that when a Physician, PAs, and staff members have a strong relationship, it in turn reflects on the care provided to patients of that practice.

This rotation taught me how to formulate plans for patients with a large variety of complaints, provide preventative care, manage chronic care patients, perform employment/ immigration/DOT physicals, but more importantly it taught me how to work in a team, interact with patients, build rapport, and personalized my encounters with my patients. These are skill that I can take with me to any practice I choose, whether it be a specialty, emergency medicine, or primary care.

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