Pokey and the AHC

The decision has been made and we are starting to pack up our house (slowly though) to move to sunny Pokey which will soon become snowy Pokey. We are excited about our decision and feel it will give us the opportunity for autonomy in owning our own practice but have a mentor and guide to help in beginning this awesome experience. We will also be moving in mid November after I finish Part IV boards to begin a preceptorship with the same doctor I will be sub leasing/independent contracting after graduation.


So I bet you're wondering what school is like at Palmer? I guess I'll finally give you an idea of what it is like in my eyes. I am currently a student intern in the Academic Health Center (AHC); this is where 8th through 10th tri students treat outpatients with the guidance of an assigned Dr leading the way. As for me, I am assigned under the esteemed Dr Candyman (this is just a nickname, now I bet your wondering where did that name come from, well we had to pick a name of intrigue to you know add a little bit of mystery and this is what the doc and other interns conjured up). I'll just call him Dr C for short. While in the AHC, we have the opportunity to see and treat many different patients and ailments. I'll tell you what we do is not what I expected in coming to chiropractic school. My original thoughts were we would be adjusting people when their neck or back hurt and come to find out it's so much more then just that. I have had the privilege to work on patients with Parkinson's, DISH, dystonia, vertigo, Multiple Sclerosis, colic and many many more conditions.

My typical week in the AHC is coming in Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday to work assigned shifts that run around 5-6 hours. We have about 4-6 interns working an assigned shift and teamwork is a key ingredient with Dr Candyman...errr Dr C. Interns in 8th tri will generally scribe and observe while the 9th tris work with patients. The 10th tri students are either precepting or assisting in mentoring 8th and 9th tri students. I have to say it's a good/logical system. To begin our days assignment, we interns show up 15 minutes before shift and discuss the days patients and what should be anticipated in their treatment. With the conclusion of our daily meeting, we begin seeing patients. We generally take turns seeing patients allowing each of us to see a broad spectrum of different conditions and gaining valuable patient interaction skills. If we have down time we'll usually head into Dr C's office and quiz each other on anatomy or discuss different patients and what we have learned from those particular experiences. After seeing the last patient of the day we have an end of shift meeting and here we discuss what we learned from that day and ask any perplexing questions (and if we can stump Dr C with any query he promised to give each intern $2,000,000......in monopoly money of course).

So this in a simple way is how my internship generally goes in the AHC. I would also like to clarify that this is how Dr C runs things for his interns. There are several other Drs in the AHC that have their own set of interns and own system in running things.

I hope to have more detailed experiences of Palmer, clinic and odds and ends of family life in Davenport, beautiful Iowa in the summer so keep a reading in the future.