Day two of my clinical rotation in “rural” New Mexico. My drive to clinical is always my me time. I think about things I have learned, review goals, but in the end I just stare out my windows and see the town I left behind. It’s hard to believe that I “grew up” in this small rural town. And even odd still is that it has brown since I was here. I don’t remember a grocery store, or street lights, of street lamps for that matter. The road was two lanes, and now it is four. Even the highway has reflection lights and new signs for stores. So is it a New Rural New Mexico town?
My living room is larger than the clinic, and warmer, but I am starting to enjoy my white lab coat and the long sleeve shirts I use to use for my scrubs. As I walk in the door the quite air makes me feel a sense of peace. My clinical instructor, ever the whirlwind of energy gives me the first chart of the day and as I read a diagnosis of Hypertension and “Medication Refill” I think to myself, what a nice slow start.
I walk into the room and introduce myself and start to ask some questions and realize a simple medication refill is more than this man needs, and then I jump feet first into a 35 min assessment. Then another patient, another assessment and questions on health insurance, and billing. Can you afford these medications? What two things can we work on today? For the next month? What goals do you have? How can I help you with those goals? What is normal to you? How many do you take in one day? How bad is your pain?
Every room and every encounter is a stark contrast to my busy ED second life. In the ED I recommend patients follow up with their Primary Care Provider, here I am that person, I make those plans, I suggest those medications, I see what they can afford. It all feels so surreal, but yet so fulfilling.
I stopped by the grocery store that didn’t exist when I lived here; I wondered the endless isle and looked at everything. It brought back memories of riding my bike to the gas station to pick up candy and bread. “Are you Missy or Dani?” I heard from behind me. I turned “Missy” I said in reply. I didn’t recognize the man standing before me. “It’s me Jason, we grew up at Mountain View together” and instantly I saw the little boy I use to hang out with. We played war and shoot our BB guns the whole gang of us that lived there.
“I remember how are you?”
“Fine, fine just picking up some things for my family, we live just east of here. I have two boys”
“That’s awesome”
“I heard you joined the Navy”
“Army”
“Oh and are you home now?”
“Yeah, going to school and doing clinical out here at the clinic once a week”
It’s a small rural world and people might not change. Every day it feels strange to be back, as though I have seen rural, gone to big cities, gone to even smaller villages, and now my life is full circle. Giving back felt great today and I learned more tools for my bag of knowledge.
It’s time to go read now, have a test next week….until then, maybe I will see you around…..
I really love working in a rural health care arena. The patients will appreciate your help more than a city. The vegetable perks are great too! I hope that you decide to remain in a rural setting as it is a great place to really figure out how to help people with limited resources. It makes you think harder and dig for alternatives.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed this rotation. We need more people who will stay in primary care. I and many of my colleagues have left primary care practice due to lack of respect for our profession and non-concern for patients from nursing staff (who all too often are not licensed nurses, they are pulled off the street and "trained" to work in offices). Maybe I'll blog about that soon, as I have a lot to say on the topic. Find a place to work that will value your efforts.
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