Five members of Hamilton’s class of 2013 spent a week shadowing resident physicians at the St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica, from Jan. 14-18. Tiffany Andrade, Emma Geduldig, Robert Hawkins, Megan Lander and Akritee Shrestha all received real-life experience in medical careers. The program, “A Week in the Life of a Family Medicine Resident,” is in its eight consecutive year.
During this week-long program the students followed the vigorous schedule of a resident physician. They began each day at 7 a.m. with a meeting of students and physicians to discuss a variety of medical conditions and case studies. Then from 8 a.m. until late afternoon they saw this knowledge put into practice as they shadowed resident physicians.
Residency is a critical period in the training of physicians in which recent medical school graduates officially practice medicine on their own. Residents work in a wide range of fields, including family medicine, internal medicine, surgery and pediatrics.
The students shadowing in the St. Elizabeth’s Residency program thus received an unfiltered view of medical care. They have gained a unique insight into the practice of medicine much earlier than most of their peers.
