RVUCOM Hosts 6th Annual Hospital Day The RVUCOM Office of Clinical Affairs hosted its sixth annual Hospital Day on March 11th with representatives from 15 residency programs nationwide. The highlight of this year’s event included two RVUCOM alumni from the inaugural class: Danielle Wurtz, DO ’12, represented the Wesley Family Medicine Program in Wichita, Kansas, and Elizabeth (Tang-Polk) Sauvage, DO ’12, represented the Verde Valley Medical Center in Cottonwood, Arizona. It was a joy for faculty, staff, and students to talk with and see the successes of our alumni. Third-year medical students talked with reps, gathering information about residency programs. Caitlin Miller, OMS-III, remarked, "I found this event extremely helpful and informative. It was a great opportunity to talk with family medicine residency program directors along with residents from all over Colorado and neighboring states. In addition, there were many programs with a large rural emphasis, which I think is extremely important in a state such as Colorado." The event concluded with a presentation by the Colorado Family Medicine Residency Program, giving students an additional opportunity to learn about the residency program and to have their questions answered.
Preceptor Spotlight: Dr. Andrew Tucker Andrew Tucker, MD, is a preceptor at Southeast Denver Pediatrics and has practiced for nearly 30 years. He completed his medical degree at University of Colorado and his residency at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a pediatric physician, he has heaps of funny stories about his patients, such as when a 6-year-old was brought to the emergency room because of bad breath. "Turns out, he had stuck a grapefruit seed up his nose weeks earlier. When I removed it, it sounded like a champagne cork coming out of the bottle." Sometimes, though, the memories are more poignant: "[While examining a patient] I heard a very quiet murmur. He was about to be discharged but I decided to get an Echo. He had a hypoplastic left heart syndrome and was transplanted four weeks later. Now, he is 20 years old and doing very well, but he would have passed away at home, had I not been fortunate enough to recognize this." "The unique opportunity afforded to us as physicians," he says, "is that, over time, there will be many instances where we will impact another life in substantial ways. If you can, write down those stories [of rewarding or interesting patients]." For students going on rotation, he has more advice: be professional and respectful, do your research (such as having knowledge of common procedures for the field in which you'll be studying), and be open to the experience. "Every specialty can enhance your skill [regardless of the field you choose]." In his spare time, Dr. Tucker likes to ski, hike, play softball, do high intensity training at the gym, and spend time with his grown children. Having grown up in Colorado, he says he's spoiled by the weather: "I have been snow skiing one day and water skiing the next." Aside from great weather, Colorado also has great people: "[They] are more relaxed and friendly than most. This makes practicing medicine here a joy; they don't have unrealistic expectations and understand your role in their wellbeing."
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