Going into my first IM evaluation I was really nervous, since I didn’t know what to expect. When I first arrived at the session my evaluator asked me a few questions about my ambitions and goals. This was different from my other evaluations, but I started answering his question as if I was at an interview. After some more conversation I felt much more at ease and I noticed I was not nervous anymore. By then I realized what had just happened, he had engaged me in conversation until he felt I was more relaxed, and then went on with the evaluation. I really appreciated what he did and think it really helped me perform well. The fact that he used this strategy, just so my nerves wouldn’t influence my performance, was very thoughtful of him.

During the rest of the evaluation I was very calm and collected. We didn’t dive into the H &P too much, but I did share my rotation experience, and explained what I expected to do during the upcoming weeks. Before I left, he collected my H&P and pharm cards and he explained what was expected of me at the next evaluation.

For the second evaluation, I came prepared with my two H&P’s, pharm cards, and journal article. The second I sat down he asked me to hand over everything I had for him. I had to present my patient’s case and explain how I would manage the patient without looking at my H&P. It seemed like a real challenge to present without the patient’s information in front of me, but I took a deep breath and just started presenting. After some time, I realized I knew much more about the patient than I thought. After I was done he asked a few follow up questions, which I was able to answer without difficulty. He then asked about the article I chose, and so I went on to present the article to the best of my understanding, and once again he asked some follow up questions. Lastly, we went through the pharm cards and we had a casual conversation about the patient in the second H&P.

After I presented he explained he was very pleased with my presentations and my H&Ps. He then asked if I had any concerns or questions about my rotation, and since I had a few I shared them with him. He kindly addressed some of my questions and concerns, and for others he explained there were no solid answers. He went on to tell me that in such situations I should use my best judgement. Overall, I was very pleased with my evaluation and grateful to my evaluator for making it such a comfortable process.

From this evaluation I learned how to present the most important information from an H&P about a patient without holding the paper in front of my face. Usually when I have the paper in front of me I get lost in all the writing, and sometimes mention things that are not very important for the presentation. I found that it was actually easier, when you set aside the writing and try to explain the case in your own words. Presenting a patient’s case, the proper way is essential to our practice, we should practice this skill every time we get a chance during our rotation.

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