finally in about february i started my first clerkship of the year “at home” in beer sheva! i really loved obstetrics and gynecology. long nights of adrenaline. our soroka hospital in beer sheva has more births than any other hospital in israel, about 13 000 /year. the boss of the clerkship is one of the more iconic physicians in beer sheva and an extremely humorous individual -a type of person i’d like to become more like. except jokes like his would never fly from physician in the u.s. or there would be lots of lawsuits. but in israel the doctors have a lot more latitude for levity. after pediatrics ob-gyn was my favorite specialty.
the next clerkship was psychiatry. this was at a mental health center on the outskirts of the beer sheva. i must say the state of israel does phenomenally well when it comes to taking care of the mentally ill. i was fortunate enough to be placed in the inpatient adolescent ward. one day we watched the film “silver lining playbook” with all the kids; they already knew what bipolar disorder is all about. holocaust memorial day also happened to be while we were there and they had a very touching little ceremony, only with some of the interruptions one would expect in a mental hospital. the clerkship was dominated by a teen who was convinced she was demi lovato and could fly (off furniture and stuff). death threats. ethical discussions on forcible confinement. electroconvulsive therapy supervised by a guy with a big, greasy mustache. good times.
the final required clerkship of my third year of medical school was surgery, at soroka hospital in beer sheva. i am not a huge fan. i was also studying very intensively for the clinical knowledge portion of step 2 of the united states licensing medical licensing exam (usmle), which i took at the end of the clerkship, so admittedly that was more of a focus for me than the stuff going on in the operating room. then, all of a sudden, third year was over, and i headed back to the glorious united states for fourth year electives!
