5 weeks completed of 3rd year--it has flown by! I am on Track B, which started me out with Internal Medicine. I really wanted to do it this way (tackle the longest clerkship first), and I am definitely glad that I did. I was on Med Wilson II for my first rotation, which was inpatient Cardiology.  Talk about jumping in feet first! My team was really incredible though, and it felt so good to actually be part of a health care team, making some sort of difference in patient's lives. Cards was definitely a fast-paced month--on call every 4th night (I have learned to function moderately well on little sleep), responding to codes in the hospital, and taking care of really sick patients with lots of problems. It was pretty interesting trying to balance patients' needs--sure, they had heart troubles, but that's not the only thing we had to be concerned about.  For the patient with kidney failure, we had to find medications that weren't renally excreted, and help another patient find a subacure rehab facility because he couldn't go straight home from the hospital. Thankfully, the U has so many great resources--social workers and other dedicated stuff that are so integral to taking great care of patients.  Am I going to be a cardiologist? Who knows--but I certainly loved my month of cards. I had really great attendings as well, and they taught me so much.  I feel like I picked up some great pearls about how to treat patients, how to think about problems, how to be a good manager of time and resources. Definitely an unforgettable month!

So what am I doing now?  Outpatient medicine! It's definitely a different experience--I miss the continuity of a team that I had on cards, but I like seeing new stuff everyday.  I'm in a Med/Peds clinic, allergy, pulmonary hypertension, etc.  More stories to come from those experiences soon!

Welcome to Michigan, the new M1 class! We just got the final list of all the incoming students, and it looks like it's an incredible class yet again. It's really cool to watch the seasons of change at UMMS--the M4s all just matched (and quite well, I should add), and now a new crop of students is about to begin. Hard to believe than in less than 2 years, I will be walking across Hill Auditorium's stage as an MD--whoa! Lots to learn before then!

Wherever you are, enjoy the summer--it's beautiful in A2 these days!

-matt