Standardized Patient Assessment Lab Exam

I stood outside the exam room with pen and clip board in hand with my short white coat's pockets filled with various things like reflex hammer, vibrating tuning fork, and a stethoscope around my neck. I knocked and entered and, to my left, was a doctor sitting with a clip board and a patient on the exam table. My heart started pounding and sweat started accumulating on my forehead. Somebody must have turned up the thermostat!

I introduced myself as a first year medical student, confirmed the patient's name and date of birth and then washed my hands. I then proceeded to perform a physical exam. I started out with the heart exam. I was really hoping to get a male patient because in order to do a proper exam on a woman you need to go right under the left breast. Alas I had to ask the patient to lift up her left breast as I listened (TWICE!!!) and felt for her maximum heart impulse. It isn't the easiest thing to ask somebody you've never seen before to help out in this manner.

Regardless, the rest of the exam went smoothly. I did a full neurological exam, musculoskeletal exam, reflex exam, and abdominal exam without a hitch. Near the end of the exam I had the patient lying down on the table with the foot rest out so she had a place to put her feet. The patient had a drape over her lower body to keep her covered, and her blue booties were beside her feet (since I had to take them off for examination of the foot). Well, I was in a rush to conclude because I had only a couple of minutes left before I ran out of time. And I was trying to put the foot rest back....the booties were getting in the way, flying everywhere, the drape kept getting stuck in the foot rest as I tried to jam it into the bed. Finally I freed up the drape and then......SQUISH.....I decided to put the foot rest and my finger into the table. Normally this would have made my eyes sweat, but I had no time, I still had to do more tests, so I just kept on going; despite lacking all feeling in my left index finger and having the overwhelming urge to yelp.

It ended up I finished everything on time and remembered to do all of the tests required for the exam. So it, overall, went well (finger and foot rest issues aside!)