Footnotes - Winter 2024 - 8

Transitioning to Clinical
Rotations: A Third Year
Perspective
By: Zachery Goguen, Austin Nichols, and Daniel Sanchez, AZCPM
Class of 2025
" Lecture after lecture, exam after exam, innumerable hours
of studying, sometimes into the early hours of the morning.
This is the routine of all medical students in the didactic
years of their education. I vividly remember a time in the
middle of a Pathology exam, longing for the days when I
would be out on rotations applying the knowledge I was
being tested on. " This is how my classmate, Austin Nichols,
of AZCPM describes his first two years of podiatric
medical school. Transitioning from an undergraduate,
graduate, or career into podiatry school is a challenging,
sometimes exhausting, endeavor. Now that we are third year
students, we face another transition that comes with its own
set of challenges mixed with some new hopes and moments
of deep encouragement.
At the end of second year, we all take our first board exam,
the APMLE Part 1. This is a culmination of everything we
have worked so hard to learn during our first two years and
a seemingly light at the end of the tunnel moment. Passing
this exam is a requirement to move on to clinical rotations,
and the importance of all the preparation during didactics
cannot be understated. However, during that time, it can
become difficult to apply what you're learning to what you
will be doing for the rest of your career. Another classmate
of mine, Daniel Sanchez puts it this way: " I would get
lectured on various surgical techniques, pathologies,
medications, organisms, you name it, and it was difficult to
solidify these concepts without seeing them in person. "
8
Now that we are on our clinical rotations, we are finally
able to make connections, apply our knowledge, and recall
things we had long forgotten during the didactic years. As
Daniel relays, " This is where 3rd year clinical rotations
really come in. I mean this when I say it, I have learned
and remembered more in these first 3 months of clinical
rotations than I did in my first two years of medical school.
Having the opportunity to see concepts we learned in
school with my own two eyes has made everything click in
a way. " Finally getting to see surgical procedures and learn
basic skills like nail care -patient interaction alone- are a
huge leap from understanding the basics learned during
lecture. I admit that I have been humbled by what I thought
I knew prior to clinical rotations when I was first asked a
question in clinic that I was unable to recall in the moment.
It can be intimidating to be put on the spot and asked to
recall some vague memory you may have that stretches
all the way back to first year podiatry classes, but do not
let this hinder you. Daniel continues, " You're not going to
remember every detail you read in lectures or books, I know
I didn't, but you will have the foundation of knowledge
that you can continue to build upon. Don't be afraid to
get questions wrong but be eager to learn from them. " I
encourage future third year students by pointing out that
the questions you answer incorrectly when being asked in
clinic are ones that you will always remember and never
get wrong again. So, take your licks and move forward with
your head held high.
While the transition into clinical requires a set amount
of knowledge, there is also an emotional toll that can be
WINTER 2024
Footnotes - Winter 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Footnotes - Winter 2024
