After I finished the surgery rotation, I began the psychiatry rotation. What a difference! They are literally night and day from each other, or at least in my opinion. Truth be told, I didn’t think I would love my psychiatry rotation as much as I did. Every attending and resident I came across was so incredibly kind and happy. They really cared about their patients and teaching medical students.
I spent two weeks on the wards, one week at the outpatient clinic for the underserved community, and one week on the child consults elective. My favorite out of all of them was my elective. Why? Because I enjoy working with children. It can be really sad, but child psychiatrists are so needed.
I believe that when you decide to pursue a career in medicine, you go in with the mindset of wanting to help those around you. That’s why I enjoyed psychiatry so much. You really have an opportunity to make a difference in an area of medicine that is so underserved.
Mental health is so key because it affects your day-to-day life. It affects your ability to keep a job, and it affects those around you. Mental health can also be really interesting to learn about. You get the opportunity to learn about human behavior and allow yourself the chance to remove the stigma around mental health.
All in all, this rotation has taught me two things: mental health is important, and child psychiatry is in my top 3 specialty choices.
Read more posts by Avani, or
learn more about Mental Health Disorders in Children.
