I believe that my differential diagnosis, presentation, researching, and collaborative skills have really continued to improve during this session. When we started clinical correlations 1, I was so lost and did not even know where to start with differential diagnoses, but I feel like I have gotten a lot better at knowing which questions to ask to the patient and using the information given to form accurate and directed differential diagnoses. I also have learned more about “thinking outside the box” and considering a lot of various differentials, since patient presentation does not always match the textbook and might be different than what we would typically expect for that diagnosis.  As for collaborative skills, I believe that my group and I all got better at working together to come up with differential diagnoses, and we got more cohesive as we worked together more. Personally, I feel that I was able to collaborate well with others and use the information I gained from others to help me in my thoughts and ideas. My presentation and research skills have also continued to improve- I think back to the first session when it took me so long to research my topic and I was so nervous about presenting- now, the researching comes a lot more smoothly, as well as the presenting. I also believe that I have become better at making powerpoints that clearly and simply explain my topic, while making it interesting and exciting!

Some things that I still find difficult and hope to work on during the clinical year include the tests to order, treatment and plan. In general, I am more comfortable with which tests to order in terms of imaging, but have a hard time figuring out which labs to order and why. I am hoping to improve on lab skills throughout the clinical year. I also do not feel like we adequately practiced treatment and plan throughout the 2 semesters of clinical correlations, so I hope to work on practicing that as well throughout my clinical year.