Today, I was able to spend some time with an Internist, and, by chance, essentially got to spend time in all the other departments that I hadn't had a chance to spend time in before. This was because Dr. Khan was covering for two other Internists and was in ER-backup call. So, I ended up spending time in the ICU, and Med/Surg floors while also seeing a code blue down in the ER.
I had a fantastic time partly because Dr. Khan was an excellent teacher and he took the initiative to go over history taking and pointing important things along the way. It turns out that he just joined the volunteer faculty for Peoria for 3rd years, which means that should I want to come back to Dixon, I could request him as a preceptor. Dr. Khan did his US residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago (Now Stroger) in 1991 and so he probably falls into the old-school breed of physicians. I think patients like him because he is very clear, very direct and assertive, and explains everything thoroughly (as evidence to his complete med-student like histories which usually take up at least three pages when transcribed). He has a remarkable mind and doesn't need to write any of his patient's data down when he takes histories. I spent time with Dr. Khan both in the clinic and in the hospital, and if I hadn't checked out at 9 pm, I would have also ended up in psychiatry with him. We even went to a physicians meeting that lasted all of 30 seconds when we finally got there (they needed a quarum to vote on some issue).
Regarding one patient Dr. Khan made an interesting point. "This patient is so thankful and says that I have saved her life five or six times. That's nice, but I don't think I am saving her life. I am just doing my job." Even though it sounded kind of strange at first, I realized then just how much the man loved what he did.
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