2015 North Carolina Family Medicine Day

Happy Monday, and welcome to Medical Mondays! I’m taking a tiny break from health topics to talk about an event my friend and I went to the weekend before this past one–the 2015 North Carolina Family Medicine Day! (I’m linking this up with Her Heartland Soul for Weekend Snapshots!

NCFM Day took place over in Raleigh, North Carolina, which was a good 6 hours away from us…but the event was free to 3rd- and 4th-year medical students, and included clinical skills workshops, a residency fair with almost all the residency programs in the state of North Carolina, so it was definitely worth it! :]

We signed up for workshops online (there were 4 time slots that we could fill up!) about two(ish?) weeks beforehand. These were the available workshops (taught by various faculty:

• Basic Suturing
• IUD Insertion/Endometrial Biopsy
• Lumbar Puncture
• Ultrasound in OB & Sports Medicine
• Knee Examinations & Injections
• Circumcisions
• Splinting/Bracing & Casting
• Outpatient Radiology Film Review
• Osteopathic Manipulation

Sean volunteered to drive because I may or may not be partially narcoleptic and he’s really good with driving long distances, so I got to be a passenger in my own car! Since he’s from North Carolina, he was all sorts of overjoyed the second we crossed the state border into NC. I haven’t had a chance to schedule any rotations in North Carolina, and have only been there 3 times in my life:

• Twice to visit my cousin +  his family while he was at Wake Forest doing his cardiothoracic surgery fellowship (right before med school started and also for my first med school Thanksgiving)
• …And one other time to set a state record in deadlifts at my first and only national powerlifting competition

Our server at Subway likely thought we were going out, so she labeled our sandwiches “His” & “Hers.” I guess it beats trying to spell our names! :O

Although we’re still not sure why (concert…?), there were fireworks along the way!

Sean and I had to have a discussion beforehand on whether or not it would look bad to the residency programs if we requested the same hotel room since we are of opposite genders. Ultimately, we reasoned that it really shouldn’t make a difference and we [hopefully] wouldn’t be judged for wanting to stick together as friends.

We got to the hotel at around 9-ish p.m., so they checked us in and gave us freshly-baked chocolate chip walnut cookies (perfect for National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! :O ) We deposited our stuff and got settled in, and since we couldn’t get the internet to cooperate with us, we decided to get to sleep early, since there was a longggg day ahead of us.

(The event included complimentary hotel accomodations, so we didn’t have to pay for anything! :)

Thankfully, neither of us take more than half an hour to get ready in the morning (+ I’m a night shower-er and he’s a morning shower-er), so there were no bathroom battles. The day started off with breakfast and mingling with other med students. (We were fed very well all day. <3 R’member how I mentioned those free food opportunities? This is one such example.)

Breakfast was followed up by a talk on the Health Is Primary campaign (more info on that next week, hopefully) and different health-related governmental affairs in North Carolina.

Photo from NCAFP. Can you find me!? :O

Over lunch, we listened to a panel discussion on different/new health practice models that were being utilized in NC:

• Dr. Breen talked about DPC (Direct Primary Care) and how making a direct financial relationship between patients + primary practices could help to restore the primacy of the doctor-patient relationship + strengthen the practice of Family Medicine.
• Dr. DeVries talked about practicing in FQHC’s (Federally Qualified Health Centers) to provide health care to under-served populations. (Also known as what I’d like to do with my life and future practice.)
• Dr. McNeill talked about his practice, Trillium Family Medicine (Using A Web-Based Patient Portal To Deliver Quality Care).

The Clinical Skills course at my school had already semi-taught us basic suturing (+ I just finished my surgery rotation last month), lumbar puncture, and OMT. I also did an IUD Insertion/Endometrial Biopsy + more OMT at the Family Medicine conference in Philly last year, so here’s what I went with!

They printed out individualized schedules for us and everything!

• Splinting, Bracing & Casting (I’ve technically done a casting/splinting lab already, but since I’m interested in sports medicine, I figured a refresher wouldn’t hurt!)
  I let another med student I’d just met put a cast on my arm! I did a splint on him with the cast still on because we were pressed for time. No pictures of my handiwork, unfortunately, but I do have a video of my cast being cut off!
• Knee Exams & Injections
• EKG reading (because I felt like I was terrible at them again and in need a refresher)
  

  Photo from MyNCAFP. In case you’re wondering, my hands were really cold.

• Ultrasound for OB & Sports Medicine (since I’m currently on my OB rotation, this was a 2-in-1 deal)! One of the students in my group was 27 weeks pregnant, so she got to do an ultrasound of her own belly! :]

There was apparently also a residency interview workshop, but I think that filled up since we signed up a little late (we weren’t sure about whether or not we’d be free, since this month is somewhat of a goner in terms of tests and exams in every which way). I would’ve loved to get in on that one though!

We waited til after we’d talked to all the residency programs we were interested in before getting dinner, so there wasn’t too much left by 8 p.m., but it was a-okay, because getting a food coma before commencing our 6-hour drive back to Kentucky wouldn’t have been a good plan anyway. We should’ve given our drink tickets to other people too, but oh well.

The residency recruiting fair was what Sean and I were most excited for. :] Having the chance to talk to different programs was definitely an amazing opportunity. Conferences and talking with different programs always manages to revitalize and re-motivate me in the midst of being bogged down by exams, so I’m really glad we got to come to this. North Carolina happens to be one of the states that qualifies as a place I think I’d like living in, and after having spoken to them, there are several programs I really want to apply to there! :] (Plus, how cool would it be for half the band to get to stay together through residency?!

A big, huge thanks to the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians (NCAFP) + the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program (AHEC) for making this event possible! <3

We had a great time and learned a wealth of information! :] If you’re a medical student anywhere near North Carolina, definitely try to make it out to their Family Medicine Day next year!

Disclaimer: As a medical student, I was given the opportunity to attend this event free of charge. I was not compensated for this post, and as usual, all thoughts + opinions are mine and mine alone!