On my way to my assigned pavilion

My rotation in Psychiatry for the whole month of February just ended! I started not knowing bunch of what this rotation had to offer but as I ran through different scenarios in the out-patient department, ward, and emergency room setting, I was able to broaden my understanding of psychiatric cases.

Breakfast on from-duty

Usual from-duty breakfast!

What it’s like in psychiatry rotation

The first two weeks were alloted in the outpatient department of our base hospital (inside rotation). Interviewing psychiatric patients was quite different from the usual medical history of present illness in Internal Medicine, Surgery, OB-Gyne, etc. I was not accustomed doing psychiatric histories which made me a bit anxious at start… but I guess that little drop of anxiety pushed me hard to really understand what I was doing! It might have been a rough start, but along the way I was able to gauge the scope of what I know and the things I still don’t know; from there I studied the latter, reinforced the former.

The trail we pass through everyday of our outside rotation

After two weeks of inside rotation, we were sent out to rotate in a mental health center. Facilities and exposure varied as we go along and visit designated pavilions, assigned wards and as we make turns inside the emergency room on duty days. All cases seemed to be of interest as it was really my first time to gain insight on psychiatric disorders. It’s like once you see a certain patient and concurrent management, you’ll automatically get to reserve a slot in your brain to store in that mental image of that certain case! Thereon, things written on the guidelines, i.e. DSM-5, instantly gets absorbed in the brain just like how diffusion works!

Midnight break

Who would deny double cheeseburgers by Burger Machine at 12 midnight??? While doing admission histories this is.

Overall

In general, a lot of history-taking, mental status examinations, patient and relatives interviews were done… discerning the signs and symptoms as we see them daily, checking their progression and remissions and a lot more! It was fun learning all these together with my co-clerks! Grateful to have spent a month in the world of psychiatry!