The Ob/Gyn Center at Bethesda North Hospital

Ridhima Vemula, Summer 2017

Working at the Bethesda North Ob/Gyn Center this summer has been an amazing experience! In addition to working with the residents and further honing my history-taking and physical exam skills, I was also able to shadow all of the other departments at the clinic. I had a chance to work with the social worker, dietitian, nurses, financial counselors, and front office staff and get a really good idea of how patients go through the entire system of care at the clinic. I’ve learned so much about Ob/Gyn and about patient care in general through this experience, and I absolutely would not trade it for any other summer experience.

My favorite part of this experience was the ability to work with patients on a daily basis as their care provider. With most patients, I would go in first to get a history and PE and then present the patient to the resident I was working with, and we would then go in together to speak with the patient. All of the residents I worked with were fantastic and made an effort to teach me about each patient and how to perform various procedures, such as breast exams, belly checks, and pap smears. In addition, I was also often in charge of taking fetal heart tones, fundal height measurements, and ultrasounds where indicated for our obstetric patients, and hone my gynecologic history taking skills. Over the course of my eight weeks at the clinic, I saw several patients multiple times, which was extremely rewarding to see how they were progressing in their pregnancy and whether our plan for them alleviated the problems that they presented with.

I was interested in Ob/Gyn before going into this experience, and working at the clinic helped me confirm my interest, but I believe it is a very interesting educational experience even if one isn’t necessarily interested in Ob/Gyn. Working with patients every day helped me become a lot more comfortable within the role of a care provider, which will, I believe, be valuable for me in clinical skills, LPCC, and future rotations. Additionally, working directly with residents at a teaching clinic was very helpful for my education, and helped me understand a lot more about what it is like to be a doctor on a day-to-day basis in the real world. Working in all of the other departments helped me understand the importance of a team-based approach to health care, and helped me develop relationships to provide the best patient care experience.

Overall, I’ve greatly enjoyed my summer internship experience at the Bethesda North Ob/Gyn Center. It’s prepared me well for future interactions with patients throughout medical school and beyond, and I would highly recommend this program to other students!