Today was my first day working at the North Carolina Heart & Vascular center with Dr. Ashley Lewis and her team. I was fortunate to already have a connection to Dr. Lewis (her being my next door neighbor), and was able to set up my apprenticeship on my own terms. I was able to join Dr. Lewis for clinical outreach, which she does in Lillington, a little town shy of an hour from our homes. During the drive, I was able to bond with her, and ask her my pressing questions about her backstory as a doctor and my own potential pathway towards becoming an MD. She gave me plenty of great recommendations and had lots of great insights.
In the morning, we met with 10 patients, many of which were patients who Dr. Lewis already knew, and had treated before. These were follow up appointments to check in on their vascular health. A rare few of the patients were new, and Dr. Lewis and I were able to meet them for the first time. Before we went into each patient’s room, we went over their patient history, medications, EKG charts, and the patient’s heart rate taken by the nurse upon their arrival. We visited patients with an array of cardiovascular issues, including irregular blood pressures, valve diseases, heart murmurs of aortic stenosis. After each patient we regrouped by debriefing, updating the patient’s charts, sending in prescriptions to pharmacies, and getting ready for the next patient.