PA Ronald Coombs was my site evaluator for my internal medicine rotation. During the site evaluation I presented a patient and reviewed pharm cards. What made this site evaluation different than my previous evaluations, was everything else we talked about during the evaluation. Professor Coombs inquired about my interest in the medical field, the specialties I see myself entering and the reasoning behind it all. As I’m finishing up PA school, I found this conversation just as helpful as the critique on my H&Ps. It was very humbling to take a step back from the daily chaos that is PA school and think about why I am doing this and what I want to accomplish through this career path. My previous rotations were all outpatient, this rotation was the first time I needed to write H&Ps for patients in an inpatient setting. I noticed that my HPI for patients in an inpatient setting isn’t limited to what took place while inpatient, but also has to cover the details regarding their initial symptoms that lead them to the ED. That is something that I had to adjust to when writing the H&Ps throughout this rotation. I had to take a step back from the patient I knew several days post admission and get the story from the very beginning, making sure that my H&P was thorough and accurate. Throughout both evaluations, Professor Coombs provided me with constructive criticism that I will keep in mind as I continue on this career path.

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