Long-term care at Metropolitan Hospital was a great rotation for me as it provided a ton of learning opportunities for me and allowed me to see a different pace of medicine compared to my first rotation of Emergency medicine at NYPQ. This was a lot slower paced and each patient visit was at least 30 minutes and up to an hour for new patients. I was able to learn through the attending physicians. They took time out of their day to make sure that I learned something new every day and that I was able to follow their way of thinking. This outpatient setting allowed me to see patients along with the attending physicians for a longer period and conduct a thorough history and physical exam. There was an emphasis on medication reconciliation for every patient which is extremely important to address for the elderly.

Along with past medical history and current complaints, I learned that social and living factors play a crucial role in the treatment of geriatric patients. The profession and current living situation of the patient play a huge factor in guiding towards treatment because patient adherence to treatment is important to consider.

While continuing my journey through rotations, I want to continue learning overall but I also want to learn more specifically about medication interactions and dosages for a specific patient. Geriatric patients are usually on a long list of medications and it is important to be able to recognize drug-to-drug interactions or increased dosages of certain drugs which may cause side effects such as dizziness and eventually falls. Overall, this rotation was a great learning experience and I look forward to learning much more throughout my rotations.