This was now my fifth rotation and it was spent at Woodhull hospital in Brooklyn. This rotation was specifically on women’s health and was split into two departments. This involved spending time in the women’s health clinic, GYN call and labor/delivery floors. Each day was able to provide me with a new and different preceptor and I was able to work with a variety of different professionals ranging from attending OBGYN physicians, Midwifes, PAs and nurses.
I felt that this was a very unique rotation in the sense that you do a bit of everything in OBGYN. When we had our women’s health class during the didactic year, our professor would tell us that he loved this specific field because you are able to do so much as a PA. This meant following up on women’s health physicals, performing various procedures and scrubbing into surgeries. Being able to attend surgical procedures like cesarean sections and first assist on a cervical cerclage was one of my first exposures to surgery. It was an incredible learning opportunity to be able to scrub in, assist the surgeon and learn as much as I could have.
During this time, I was also able to perform various procedures that consisted of pelvic exams, breast exams, bimanual exams and assisted the provider in procedures like Nexplanon implants, IUD insertions/removals and colonoscopies. I will mention that in this hospital, many of these patients that I would see were primarily Spanish speaking. This is where I was able to help bridge the gaps in communication. I felt that I was able to instill trust into these patients as they were able to fully understand the situation they were in and the treatment plans. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience at Woodhull hospital and felt that I was able to refine my skills/knowledge of women’s health that will help become a better PA in the future.