Ep. 33 | Chris Harvey and Elizabeth Pittman, Mercer University School of Medicine Students

Transcript

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- Welcome to another episode of What Brings You in

- Today.

- I'm Erika Bennett. And I'm Taylor Fisher. And we just wanna thank all of our listeners for tuning in to SGMC Health's podcast and for liking, sharing, subscribing, all of those great things.

- And if you have any questions or topics you like to submit, you can do that sgmc.org/podcast.

- And today we are here with Dr. Elizabeth Pittman and soon to be Doc Chris Harvey and they are with our Mercer University School of Medicine program. And so we'll start with you Chris, what brings you in today?

- Yeah, we're here to talk about our experiences here at South Georgia Medical Center as medical students and furthering our medical education.

- Awesome. So just a little background information. SGMC Health entered into a partnership with Mercer University School of Medicine back in, I would say 2019. And that was really to launch our residency program. So we kind of partnered with them. They were able to help us start an internal medicine residency program, which now is, we're graduating our first class in July. And then we have several other residencies, family medicine and internal medicine that have since come. But then also we, most recently, I think last summer, was it last summer, we became a clinical campus for third and fourth year medical students. And so that's kind of how y'all got That's right to SGMC Health. And so maybe just start out first with, tell us what happens when you decide, hey, I wanna be a doctor. What does that look like?

- So I guess for me it looked a little different. I actually started my career in medicine here at SGMC. I was a candy striper. I did the canopy of care as a middle and high school student, just kind of volunteering, trying to get my volunteer service hours. And I didn't really know that I was interested in medicine, but once I got involved with patient care and really seeing that I could make a difference at such a young level, I was really interested and wanted, you know, to continue my service in that career. And then I actually chose Mercer for undergrad because they had a medical school. And I felt like that connection, you know, the medical school is so involved with the undergrad campus, with the master's programs at the medical school, that you really feel like a family early on and they can kind of help guide you in your career. So I guess that's kind of where my story started. What about you Chris?

- Yeah, mine looks, mine's all over the place. It seems like medicine is in my family. My father's a physician, so that kind of started a little fire a little bit, really didn't know what I wanted to do after graduating high school. So I spent a summer kind of watching what he did and that planted another seed. It, that wasn't really where I was sold. And it wouldn't be until about my third year of undergrad and I went to Georgia College where I just was miserable in my major and just, you know, peeled off the bandaid and said, I'm gonna change it. I'm gonna do it. I'm just gonna go for it. And yeah, and I never looked back and

- I, I feel like when someone think, think deciding what you wanna be as a career, and especially if you're not like just adamant like, Hey, I wanna be a doctor, it can seem, I feel like it would seem a little overwhelming because it is a career that requires a lot of education.

- Yeah. And that was one of the things for me that was the, the holding back part is I'd never really pushed myself in an academic setting per se. I didn't take the honors classes in high school, I didn't do all these other things. And so I kind of had this reluctancy and there just comes a time where when, you know, you know, and that was it for me. That's

- Awesome. And I think it's also a little bit different. Like I'm the first doctor in my family and like anyone in medicine really. So I think there's a lot of hurdles that you don't see going into it. Like you don't know about, you know, all the extracurricular activities that will look great on a medical school application. Whereas, you know, your dad might've told you, you know, like, Hey, this would look better than this, you know, service or these things that matter. But I feel like now on the other side of things, I've been able to use my career path to, you know, kind of inspire and talk to other students that say, Hey, I'm interested in gonna medical school. You know, they might be in high school and you know, college. And they've just been able to ask me, you know, what do you think is important? Do you think this opportunity is important? Do you think, you know, I should study for the MCAT right now, what do you think about these things? And I think that is an unspoken, you know, role that we play as medical students or you know, that you inspire the next generation, not just when you're a physician and when you're letting students shadow you. But now, I mean, people are looking to us and asking these important questions Yeah. In their career changing questions. You know, if you take the time to, you know, take the five minutes and say, Hey, you know, like I'd love to help you. Here's my number or here's my email. You know, ask any questions.

- It's, it's kind of that thing like if you can, you can see it, you can be it like what you're around growing up. So we often hear of physicians that become physicians because they're family. They had some physicians in their family and they saw it. So it was more, you know, they, it was more realistic to them because they could see it as an end goal. Whereas people that don't have access to any physicians maybe in their childhood or that you just don't really think about that as much because you don't see it. So I do think that's one of the benefits of having students here at our organization is it certainly can be a launch to inspire other people to go into medical education. So That's cool.

- Definitely. So what was your experience as far as, I don't know how it works. Do you pick to do your clinical rotations at SGMC Health or do you have other options? Or if so, why did you pick to come?

- So from the beginning, I guess my experience is a little bit different than Chris's. Yeah. 'cause we were kind of in the shift of everything happening. So from my experience when I got in, depending on when you get accepted to Mercer, you pick your campus. So you can pick Savannah, Columbus, Macon. I mean, my class was the first class to have a full four years in Columbus before it was like bada was just two clinical years. So you could pick any campus and then there wasn't, I mean we had talk about bada, but there wasn't anything, you know, substantial here as far as us like coming and staying. You could, the class above me could opt, like I know Dr. Riker's daughter came and she did a couple weeks to be with her family and you could do things like that, but there wasn't really like, oh you're going for this rotation and you're getting these credits. It was kind of like a, you know, offshoot a fourth year if you wanted to do an elective or not. So they told us that we would be going for at least two weeks. We didn't know what rotation we would be going on. And later we found out in the scheduling and then it just kind of became like this wildfire that like you couldn't put out like the students that were, you know, wanting to go into OB GYN and there was no residents here. They were so excited. I mean, we love our residents, but coming here and getting that, be able to be the first assistant a C-section where we didn't get that kind of, you know, hands-on treatment and make it, and if you did, it was, you know, there are residents that are learning the specific field and you might just be a student passing through and you might not be going into that field. You might be going in into internal medicine where you're not gonna ever deliver a baby. So it kind of, you know, and ignited that fire for some students that they really got that, you know, first experience or like the pediatric experience was great. I've heard so many good things and I didn't get to experience all of them. Yeah. But I did come for internal medicine, which I loved seeing a different residency program than the one that we were a part of. And making, seeing how, you know, the program works if you only have two years of residency, seeing how a program really starts and what was important, you know, in the values of starting here at the SGMC program. And then for me specifically, they offered if you would like to go for more electives because they've heard, you know, such great things. If you would like to go for more weeks, you can do that. We will happily, you know, fund you to go back to Mount ota. So I actually wanted to come back for surgery and I came for two weeks and worked with Dr. Brown and Dr. Johnson. And then fourth year came around and we were allowed to do, you know, sub eyes here, sub internships, which is a huge like four week elective that you're required to do for graduation. So you could do that here. You could, you know, if you wanna go into rural medicine and you know that you wanna go into primary care and you wanted to see that setting and get experience now before residency starts, you could come here and do that. And it was just an awesome kind of extension of the mission for the school.

- Yeah. Yeah. Mine was, mine was a little different when my class, I'm just one year behind Dr. Pittman and when my class came you, Valdosta was now officially a two year of this picking of the campuses when you first get in. And I got in off the wait list with about a week to start medical school.

- Wow. - And so I was told I was gonna do the first two years in Macon and that the last two years would, 'cause they were still in the midst of really trying to figure out what they could and couldn't do fully as far as a full requirement for third year rotations here. But that third year would look a lot like just being abouta for most of the time. And so I knew from the get go that I was gonna come down here. And anytime that you're gonna move in the middle of medical school or move in the midst of anything really, there's a lot of animosity and a lot of unknown. And a lot of the students that you know that are here now that came with me, were a group of us from Macon, Columbus and Savannah. So, and it's a pretty homogenous bunch. You know, there's, there's a lot of reluctancy and a lot of fear in that. And so I, I felt in my position it was, whenever there is this reluctancy, there's also an opportunity for growth. And so it was one of those things where I, I dove straight in, wanted to make this the best thing that it possibly could be and signed up, you know, all in just about from the get go. And yeah, that's, that's how my experience getting to SGMC was and a little different. But

- Yeah, I'm sure that can be very scary. And I have s often thought, you know, we announce our match every time we have a residency program that matches. And it's always like, wow, they're just figuring out where they're gonna spend the next three years of their life often. And it's such a big decision and you don't really even get a choice oftentimes with that. I mean, you get a, you have a little say, but you don't know until that paper comes back. So it's exciting that y'all were able to come here. And I like what you said about just like going all in and making it the best experience you can. I feel like we have to do that every day in our lives, you know, that change is a given. That's the one thing that doesn't change is that change is there. So I like that attitude and just embracing the unknown and going forward and making it the best you can. So I think that will make you a successful physician. But tell us a little bit about your specialties and what you're looking at specializing in. So you go to medical school, then you decide or what you're gonna do for your specialty and then that leads to the match day, which I kind of just referenced and you just matched this past March. So tell us about where you matched and kind of what your next step looks like.

- Yeah, so I actually matched in Birmingham at UAB, I'm gonna be going into emergency medicine and then after, I'll be coming back to the Valdosta area to work. Very good. And you said emergency medicine? Yes. Yeah.

- Okay. So, and we'll have a nice building. Yes. We'll have a new brand new shiny er that will be waiting for you when you get back if you wanna come here. I know we also have rural community ERs as well. What about you Chris?

- Yeah, I'd like to end up in surgery. What specific realm? So far I'm, you know, not a hundred percent certain, but go through the general surgery route and that's, that's been a great part of being here is I have really gotten to explore surgery to its fullness, really getting to iron out why I would like a certain realm of surgery. You know, it's, it's hard to say whether you would or would not if you're standing in the corner, but when you're scrubbed in and you're right there in it and you get to really understand what the specialty is in the surgical world, you, you get to explore that in a much deeper way than most people really get to by the time that they've gotta, you know, solidify and do the match. And so I'm very thankful to have been able to do that here. And it's made me realize that starting in general surgery, there's just such an open realm of possibilities and such a greater continuity of care. Even some of the guys like Dr. Johnson that's here when he does cardiac surgery also will do different surgical care for his patients. Ones that he's worked on before. And that's because he went through a realm of general surgery. And so yeah, that, that's the trajectory for me at this point.

- Okay. Are there any specific moments about your time here at SGMC Health that have stuck out? Like any cool procedures or cases you got to be a part of?

- Yeah, so like Chris was saying in the different, I guess clinical areas that we can go into, you know, Columbus, Savannah, Macon, they all do have surgical residencies. And so that was part of the reason why I came for surgery is everybody said, oh, you know, surgery in Valdosta is so much fun. You get to do hands-on stuff, you get to do more of the procedures, you get to do more of the aftercare. Just felt like you were, you know, you had a place, you had a role to play in the operating room, which we often don't, you know, get to feel like Chris was saying, we kind

- Of, yeah,

- Sometimes they'll, you'll stand in the corner. There's so many people at the table. It's really hard, you know, to learn in that aspect. And, but here, I remember when I was here for internal medicine, it was great. I was just starting out. I had so much fun with the residents. I had so much fun in the outpatient clinic, like the way it works, some of the residents taught me how to do IVs. It's just a cool thing. You don't think about, you know, when does a doctor learn to do an iv? So that was really special to learn it here and just have a lot of time for them to help me practice. But one of the coolest experiences that I'll never forget was I was in my first surgery open heart, like bypass surgery with Dr. Brown. And he was like, Hey, come here for a minute. And I was like, oh gosh, what is he about to ask me? What was he about to say? And he was like, I want you to feel this. And he, I actually was scrubbed in and I got to like hold the beating heart in my hand. Yeah. Like that's just a moment you'll never forget. So,

- Yeah. Yeah. Going off of that, so Dr. Brown and Dr. Johnson were in practice with my dad for years in Macon before they came

- Here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So just an overall amazing experience is getting to work with Dr. Johnson.

- Yeah. - Someone who I've known essentially my whole life.

- Right.

- And has known me from the beginning and getting to really experience that and where he's even accidentally called me in my dad's name before. Yeah.

- Because

- It's just like, you know, this just really brings it back.

- Yeah.

- That's, and so it's, it's really funny to have gotten to experience this, you know, someone who, and my, him and my dad trained together as well. So getting to, you know, get this whole full circle experience for me that's just, you can't put a price tag on that.

- Yeah. That's awesome. There's so many, I say it's a, it's a big world, but it's actually very small, you know, all the different connections. And that's what I love about being a part of Valdosta is it's, it's not too big, but it's still big enough where there's things to do. A lot of amazing things happening, specifically in our healthcare arena. Advancements that are being done at bigger facilities are being done here. But yeah, you still have that kind of small town feel to where having a culture that's collaborative and supportive. And I think that's one thing, even before y'all got here and even before our residents got here, that our leadership was very adamant about was that we want a culture that is very accepting of students and of education because it's important. I mean, that's our next generation of care and that's gonna be our next, you know, workforce. But making sure that y'all have good experiences here. Because ultimately we'd love for you to come back here and continue to serve our patients. But it's, but you're part of the team. You're not just like someone that's sitting in the corner watching something that's a fact know that's what we certainly aim to strive to do. So, and I'm not clinical so I that I don't know that that happens, but I'm hopeful that that though. So it's good to hear that

- From y'all. I can personally say that, you know, and I've done the full breadth of the rotations here. I'm currently on my last core rotation. And I can say that there's a single rotation that I've been in thus far where I did not feel like I was involved, truly involved in the process. And, you know, you can only speak to what you've experienced and I don't know exactly what the experience has been of my other classmates right. At the other campuses, I don't know how I would, you know, have been in those positions. But I can say for a fact that, you know, I felt like I truly was making differences as a third year medical student, which I, I will say, I do think is not commonplace.

- Yeah. And I'd love to give Mercer a plug because I mean they, their whole mission is to develop physicians to serve Georgia and they have been a huge partner in the development of our medical education. But what made y'all decide to choose Mercer University School of Medicine?

- Well, for me being from Macon, wow. You know, it was right there in the back. I mean, I grew up going to camps at Mercer and you know, you kind of get to rank where you want to be, but it'd be pretty cool to go to medical school where you grew up. Yeah. And not have to worry about a whole lot. And that worked out very well for me. And yeah, Mercer's just always been a staple, especially when you grow up, born and raised in Macon, you know, that's, that's second nature to you. So that, that was one of the big driving forces for me in picking Mercer.

- Yeah. I'm actually a triple bear. So I have graduated from Mercer three times. So Mercer was kind of the theme. This is my 10th year actually in Macon. Wow. So it's kind of hard to break the mold after you've been there so long. But Mercer is the reason that I chose Mercer. The medical school is the reason why I chose Mercer for undergrad. Because I was here, you know, for my whole life. And I remember my principal one day said, you know, Mercer is the only school that's on your list of colleges you wanna go to that actually has a medical school on campus. Why would you not use that resource? And then I remember I did a little work with telehealth and interned with them in high school. And that really got me in the door, like through Mercer because I was, you know, they're, they prioritize it so much. We actually have, you know, classes and we collaborate with the telehealth team to use the facilities. But Mercer ultimately stood out to me because they are one of two universities for medicine in the nation that actually take your zip code into account. So being from Nashville, Georgia, my whole life, that really was another number on my application that played a huge role. Instead of just my MCAT score and my grades. They also cared about my experience, my roots in rural Georgia. And that was really important to me to, you know, add to my career.

- Yeah. 'cause it's hard to, in my experience here at the health system, I've been here 13 years. So the first, the first part of my career, it was hard, it seemed hard like challenging to get physicians to come to our area. It's just nearly impossible when they do residency, it's other places that are bigger and they get involved in that health system and they connected and they build those connections and they wanna stay kind of close to where they've done that. So that was difficult. Now obviously with having all the residency programs here and just having a better culture and we have a great medical staff who many are graduates of Mercer University. Yeah. The huge Mercer graduate base for Mercer, which is why we wanted to partner with them to do the residency programs in the medical school. But now we're starting to already just, you know, five years into the relationship, we're just seeing so many physicians join our team because of that connection. So it's interesting to see how it plays a bigger picture in the whole access to care in Georgia by having these partnerships. So

- Definitely. Do y'all have any advice for other Mercer or medical students Yeah. That are heading into picking their clinical rotations or, you know, deciding on where they would like to go for a residency or anything like that?

- Yeah, I feel like I would say, you know, a lot of, I, you know, 80% of my class just matched into primary care. So I think primary care is a huge lure for Mercer. That's what, you know, the students are attracted to that they prioritize primary care physicians. And I think that if you were, you know, at Mercer and you were looking to go into primary care, if you're looking to go to medical school at all, I would say, you know, come to Mercer, come, you know, take a rotation in Mount Asa because I really think that, like Chris was saying, you get so much hands-on care here of the patients and you can really make a difference. And you know, being from here, I know how great the community is and how much they love working with students. Like I've never been, you know, shut outta a room or told no, you know, they've always wanted to talk to me and hear about my experience. And I think that is such empowering thing as a student, you know, you feel important, you feel like you're needed. But I think this gives a really great picture of what you're looking at. Going into a true primary care office, not just a residency program that has a huge hospital that has all this access to resources, but understanding that you're in an area that doesn't have as many resources and you have patients that also can't get access to things and you become so creative and you find Yeah. You know, different ways to achieve the same goal for them and you really, you know, become a part of their family. Our keynote speaker at graduation last weekend, Senator John Kennedy said that his dad was a primary care physician in a rural area and he said that he was invited to weddings, birthdays, you know, to speak at funerals. You know, the primary care doctor just becomes a part of the family. And yeah, I think I really, really saw that when I was hearing about Austin. I think if students really want, you know, a taste of what that looks like or want to be immersed in a community to come here and do a rotation and they'll really see, you know, how much they are needed.

- Yeah. I, I can't second that more I've, I worked in a, in a, or during summers once I decided in undergrad that this is what I wanted to do and worked in an or in Gwinnett County in greater Atlanta area and you know, and macon's a, it's like fourth, fourth or fifth largest town in Georgia. Columbus is a big town, Savannah's top three. And so some of these other places you, you get to see a different patient population, but rarely are you going to get an opportunity to be at a place like this where you truly get to see what serving rural Georgia can look in a full hospital system. And so it's very unique in that aspect where this hospital system feels big but it serves small and, but it serves a huge need. And so I think being able to experience that, having seen what greater Atlanta medicine also kind of looks like you just really develop a different type of relationship with the people you work with, with the families that you serve. Because when you serve a patient, you serve their family too, whether they're directly in the room or not. And that, that cannot be more true about the patients that you serve here in rural Georgia and South Georgia Medical Center.

- It's the culture, it's the, it's the, I love what you said about like the community and stuff and being welcoming. We get, we hear that all the time when we're recruit. Once we get physicians here they're like, oh we love it. You know, we love the, the culture of the system. But even the communities and stuff, everyone's, it's just a special place I think. And I don't know how to describe it, but it just is what it is. And you don't know until you've gone to other places I

- Guess and

- See

- Yeah, exactly.

- And like you'll have an exper an opportunity this year to do away rotations. Yeah. And kinda see different hospital systems. And that's how I kind of chose my place for residency was last year I was looking for something that felt like home the way Nashville about ASAs felt like home the way everyone is so happy to see you and catch up. I mean I saw so many of my neighbors in the lobby this morning, but I was looking for that and I think Mercer does a great job of mirroring that community. You know, like Macon is bigger, but I feel like the school itself feels like a small community. Right. And you just feel so welcomed and you know, that's what makes it so hard to leave. But I was looking and I didn't really realize how special that was and how unique it was until I did away rotations. And I saw there were other communities that, you know, you weren't as prioritized and you weren't as, you know, cared for. And it was very standoffish and you know, people didn't get to know each other and you know, it was just a harder community to get involved with if you really didn't already have roots there. I think that's, you know, what also makes this special here. I agree. Alright.

- Here's the tough question. What's been the most challenging thing about medical school in general?

- Well you've got the full four years, so Yeah,

- I really think, I think the adjustment from second year, first and second year, the preclinical years to the clinical years is very hard. A lot of people say that it's, you know, residency is 10 times that Much of a learning curve. But I think it's hard to go from sitting and studying for eight hours a day in a library. Yeah. With your small knit group of friends where it's so quiet and peaceful and you can really get through so many practice questions and you know, learn so much. I think it's hard going from there to learning in a fast based clinical setting and you're learning from patients and you're, you know, putting in orders and you're writing notes and you're trying to soak up every ounce of education you get every day where you might not be sitting opening a book. Really it all laid out for you in a chapter based setting. You're having to, you know, put bits and pieces together and mold it into your whole, I guess rotation and then take a test and say okay first, you know, I feel like for surgery for example, I felt like I learned backwards forwards in that rotation. Yeah. And then like pediatrics, I feel like I learned front to back and it's just a lot harder to, you know, learn the most complex stuff first and then miss the basics and have to go back and kind of, but I think that's what makes third year so exciting because you never know what's gonna happen and you never know what you're gonna learn. And you have to go into every day and kind of dive in. Like Chris said, you have to dive in and take what you can get and you know, realize that you might only have an hour when you get home at night 'cause you're exhausted and have had, you know, a 12 hour day and he might just have time for just five practice questions, you know? Yeah. Like while you're eating dinner, while you're trying to fall asleep, you know, and it's person taking or you have kind of unlimited time, we have free range of our schedule kinda

- Yeah. You don't appreciate that time until it's taken from you. I, I would agree that that transition from second to third year at least, because I think the vast majority of people would say the first two years are medical school or kind of the ones that really grind your gears. 'cause you aren't getting to be with patients as much as, you know, some you do in third and fourth year. And even if at all Mercer does a great job of giving us standardized patients and incorporating that into the first year so that when we get to third year we can really kind of move along quickly and progress fast. But still nonetheless there is a different level of time that is taken from you. Yeah. And so, and it's a totally different way of studying, you know, reading from the textbook, doing this, doing that, sitting in a, you know, calm area. Whereas you might have to pull your laptop out next to a C-section like I did last night, you know, and just sit there and hurry up and get a few things in. Yeah. And then go into the C-section. You get it in where you can, but that being said, you learn from all the people around you.

- Yeah.

- You'd be surprised how many times what you see it's like shows up on the

- Test you're absorbing like so much from all different areas, all the different people and all the experiences and having to catalog that and real time

- Profile.

- Yeah.

- Yeah. But I think it's so underrated who we're learning from. Yeah. Like I, I feel like I've been reflecting a lot on that in the last couple of months leading up to graduation and I've been reflecting on who, you know, the residents and the physician. You know, attendings obviously teach you a lot, but I feel like it is nurses week. But I feel like we do learn so much Yeah. From our nurses. Oh yeah. And from our techs and from other clinical staff, like practice managers and we learn so much from them, you know, that we might not know how to put on, you know, like the wind back correctly and then the OR nurse is teaching you how to do it. And those are just things that, you know, you don't realize that are so important but until you don't have someone doing it for you and I think that's really, you know, underrated part of third year too. Yeah. Yeah. You're learning from not just your attendings and you know, the people that are, you know, the doctors of biochemistry that really know every outlast detail of what you're learning. You're learning it from someone who's done it for, you know, 20, 30 years and

- Yeah.

- That's a, I

- Love that

- Because the

- Health system is so much more dynamic than like, everyone always thinks doctors and nurses obviously that's like the key careers in the health system, but there's so many supporting elements that are in that that make the health system

- Run. Yeah. So we

- Couldn't do it without

- 'em. Yeah. And like we learn how to intubate a procedure that like I'll be doing quite frequently in the emergency room. I learned how to do that from respiratory therapist. You know, you learn how to, you know, hone your craft from people that you know are specific to this area. And I think it's just so important.

- Yeah, that's very cool. Thanks for sharing that. 'cause I hadn't even

- Yeah.

- Thought about that, but it's a huge role. So thank you to our team members who all play a part in this.

- Thank you to everyone and

- To this educational program. Get through. Yes.

- Well we have to wrap up, but I have one last question and it all depends on how much time you spend here I guess. But what is your favorite meal to eat here? Ooh, in our cafeteria or in our allspice cafe.

- I'm a big fan of the Taco Bowl days. Yeah it is. It's real easy, real simple. You can run through and you can take the bowl and just you sit down and eat and yeah, that, that's probably my favorite.

- I'll say the breakfast in the allspice is second to none. I mean it is just absolutely fabulous. But if I had to pick another meal it would be the cheeseburger wrap. Mm. Yeah. Delicious. The cheeseburger wrap feels good. I haven't had

- That in a long time. You just reminded me about that. Alright, well and we're getting close to lunch, so

- Yeah, I, we definitely haven't had that answer. I think somebody has said tacos or Taco Bowl before, but Interesting. Well thank you guys so much for being here today. Thanks for having

- Us. Having us For sure.

- And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in and just remember to like and subscribe and you can submit your questions or topics at sgmc.org/podcast.