I started my first rotation with OBGYN and boy oh boy was I not prepared for that. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely got lucky in terms of having an awesome preceptor, but everything was so foreign to me.
I made so many silly little mistakes because I didn't know how to do things the proper way the first time. There was a time I inserted the speculum with a detachable light into a patient and then forgot to take out the light before I threw out the speculum (yep, I had to go fishing in the trash, and then de-sanitize the whole thing), another time I was trying to be helpful and I knocked over the open vial that we put the swab in (my preceptor wasn’t too comfortable for a few days to hand over the swab to me after that). But I gained back her trust and was careful when it came to opening the vial and not spilling its contents. Not knowing how to properly gown up during delivery sucked too. I always felt like I was in everyone’s way. Thankfully i was blessed with some amazing nurses who took their time to teach me how to gown up and glove up properly. Towards the end of the rotation, I was ready to go, all gowned up, without any help (it is the little things that matters). But overall I enjoyed my rotation. Apart from the slight clumsiness and awkwardness, I scraped through my ob-gyn rotation. I don’t think it's my kind of field due to the unholy hours, but what they do is pretty cool :)
I guess I am writing this for anyone out there who feel like they are clumsy or awkward during their rotations. Don’t let it get to you. it takes practices to get into the groove of things. I knew how everything worked by the end of my rotation and I was happy with my progress. Don’t think that its just you that can’t get a procedure right, or are knocking things over ..there are many more of us haha
If you guys went through any of these awkward or clumsy phases during your rotations, comment below