Pediatrics
About a week ago, I participated in a mandatory activity known as "PCOV" which stands for "Primary Care Office Visit." Essentially, every student is assigned a date (once each semester) to visit and shadow a primary care physician from around the area. Depending on how nice the doctor is, and how comfortable you are, sometimes they let you interact with the patients a little, like taking patient histories or vital signs or whatever.
Anyway, so last week for my PCOV, I had to drive about 25 minutes to a neighboring town called Adjuntas. When I arrived, I was excited to discover that the doctor assigned to me was a pediatrician, since that is the specialty I am most interested in.
Additionally, this particular PCOV was especially cool for me, because the doctor was also training some of the third-year students who were doing their rotations in pediatrics. So I was able to work with them and see the types of things I am going to be doing next year. The doctor was really helpful, I learned a ton, and it was definitely one of the best shadowing experiences I have had yet.
Sometime during that afternoon, I was suddenly struck with an epiphany. I realized exactly why I like little kids so much: it is because I honestly relate to them a hell of a lot better than I do to people my own age. Little kids don't need to make small talk about the weather or detect sarcasm or worry about finding the right thing to say. Instead, they just outright STARE AT YOU until they decide whether or not they like you (a decision that is mostly based on whether or not you give them what they want). Usually little kids and I form a sort of symbiotic relationship because (1) I don't like to talk much either and (2) I like to give people what they want. So it works out; they stare, I stare back, we don't talk, I give them candy, and they decide to like me.
If only dating were that simple...
There was this one particular three-year-old girl who literally would NOT stop staring at me the entire time she was in the office. Even while the doctor was doing her physical exam on the stretcher, she did not take her eyes off me. It was a little bit unnerving, kind of like she was looking deep into my soul and telepathically communicating with me ("I sense that you are one of us!"). But mostly, I think it was because she could relate to me too; when I think about it, I was the only other person in the room who really didn't know what was going on either.
In fact, the ability to stare at people like that is probably one of the things I miss the most about being little. Nowadays, I find myself looking at the floor a lot, or avoiding eye contact with people because sometimes I'm not all that certain where it is I'm supposed to be looking. It would be a lot easier if we could just communicate by staring at each other. Talking just seems so overrated sometimes.
Anyway, so last week for my PCOV, I had to drive about 25 minutes to a neighboring town called Adjuntas. When I arrived, I was excited to discover that the doctor assigned to me was a pediatrician, since that is the specialty I am most interested in.
Additionally, this particular PCOV was especially cool for me, because the doctor was also training some of the third-year students who were doing their rotations in pediatrics. So I was able to work with them and see the types of things I am going to be doing next year. The doctor was really helpful, I learned a ton, and it was definitely one of the best shadowing experiences I have had yet.
Sometime during that afternoon, I was suddenly struck with an epiphany. I realized exactly why I like little kids so much: it is because I honestly relate to them a hell of a lot better than I do to people my own age. Little kids don't need to make small talk about the weather or detect sarcasm or worry about finding the right thing to say. Instead, they just outright STARE AT YOU until they decide whether or not they like you (a decision that is mostly based on whether or not you give them what they want). Usually little kids and I form a sort of symbiotic relationship because (1) I don't like to talk much either and (2) I like to give people what they want. So it works out; they stare, I stare back, we don't talk, I give them candy, and they decide to like me.
If only dating were that simple...
There was this one particular three-year-old girl who literally would NOT stop staring at me the entire time she was in the office. Even while the doctor was doing her physical exam on the stretcher, she did not take her eyes off me. It was a little bit unnerving, kind of like she was looking deep into my soul and telepathically communicating with me ("I sense that you are one of us!"). But mostly, I think it was because she could relate to me too; when I think about it, I was the only other person in the room who really didn't know what was going on either.
In fact, the ability to stare at people like that is probably one of the things I miss the most about being little. Nowadays, I find myself looking at the floor a lot, or avoiding eye contact with people because sometimes I'm not all that certain where it is I'm supposed to be looking. It would be a lot easier if we could just communicate by staring at each other. Talking just seems so overrated sometimes.