Warren Village orientation

Now that the Human Body block is over, the clinical fun begins! The orientation for Warren Village was yesterday. The elective has space for only six of us MS1's, so I feel lucky that I have this opportunity to participate.

MS4's are the leadership behind this elective, and they will serve as my managers and mentors. They first demonstrated how to do a pediatric exam. One of the mothers of Warren Village brought in her two little kids, one 6 months and the other a year and a half. I can only believe that most children who I'll be seeing in the coming weeks won't be nearly as well behaved as these two. We went through the exam from head to toe, quiet parts first and noisy parts last... except the little guy didn't even cry when a big scary something was stuck in his ears.

I have to admit that I'm more than a little nervous about beginning clinical work - and with babies and kids, no less. "Don't worry, you won't break them," one of my MS4 mentors joked, probably remembering how she felt when she started working at Warren Village three years ago. The anxiety will pass quickly after the first few patients.

The MS4's also taught us MS1's how to administer vaccination shots. We learned both intramuscular and subcutaneous, first watching a demonstration, and second practicing on an orange. Then, we practiced on each other! It wasn't difficult at all, surprisingly, and my classmate even gave me the thumbs up after I administered his IM and SQ saline injections.

I will be volunteering four Wednesday evenings this semester, one of which will be a vaccination night. I'll probably see about 2-3 patients per night on the other three evenings, while working together with one other MS1. My first day is tomorrow - how exciting!