Today I began my work experience at Carolina Kids Pediatrics. The day started at 8:30 AM when I arrived at the office. Dr. Emmet introduced me to the nurses and a few of the other doctors, and she also took me through the office to look at the conference room where we eat lunch and where I can put my lunch beforehand. The office features a carefully designed layout where patients naturally walk through a hallway that leads them to a curved room with the 15 doors leading to various exam rooms and bathrooms. A large, semi-circular desk stands in the middle of the curved room. The area consists of desks for each nurse and doctor, an island to prepare vaccines, and a fridge that holds the vaccines. The layout of the office proved conducive to effective work.
Throughout the day, I saw patients from all walks of life. I think it’s safe to say that pediatricians take care of children from their time in the womb until they are 21 years of age. I learned that due to the wide array of patients, pediatricians need to know a lot about kids! It seems obvious, but the most important information I took from today was that knowledge of children includes not only medical information, but also behavioral and emotional tendencies. Spending time with an 18-month-old boy makes for a completely different visit than one with an eight-year-old girl. Also, a pediatrician tailors the visit to the number of family members in the exam room and the child’s typical behaviors. For the rambunctious, four child check-up group, Dr. Willey moves right into physical examinations. After examining one child, she talks with the general group of kids for a few moments before moving on to the next patient. Throughout the visit, however, she will converse with the child about their life at home while fielding questions from parents. Then, once the patients are all checked out, she will sit down and speak with the parent. However, for the visits with younger, shyer kids, Dr. Willey will begin in a seated position while she speaks to the parents and the patient about life at home, their eating habits, their favorite activities, recent illnesses, and, everyone’s favorite, their bowel movements. After connecting with her patients for a few minutes, Dr. Willey will perform her examination. The visit usually lasts about 20 minutes, seeing as Dr. Willey likes to converse with her patients and spend time getting to know them. I learned throughout the day that she connects with her patients while working efficiently, ensuring that she maximizes her time with each patient. She exercises immense care and empathy with each patient, making it obvious why so many families in the area choose to see her.
Overall, we saw a lot of younger children today. Some frequent conversations included rashes, (most commonly the hand, foot, and mouth virus), car-seats, persistent coughs, fevers, and again, bowel movements. Dr. Willey also painted some fluoride onto the teeth of younger patients since children don’t see their dentist until they are two or three years old. On the whole, today was the best first day I could’ve had. I learned numerous fun facts about kids and got to witness a wonderful doctor at work. I can’t wait for the next few days with Dr. Willey!
Fun Facts:
- You can lose a nail without it every growing back. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, seeing as many people have survived without a nail on their nailbed!
- Your red blood cell count is typically higher than your white blood cell count.
- Pink eye drainage consists of white blood cells, bacteria, and “sleep”
- An adult takes an average of 18 breaths per minute while newborns can take more than 40 breaths per minute.
- The inside of an infected ear appears peach colored with puss.
- Two week old babies sometimes sleep with their eyes open.