Dr. Kasia Wieckowski
Southern Medical Program Class of 2015
Rural Family Practice Resident PGY2, Lethbridge, Alberta
Tell us about your current training
As a rural family practice resident, my day typically includes a little bit of everything. When not on a specialty rotation, I start my day rounding on my inpatients and performing small day procedures (e.g., biopsies, Vandenbos procedure, and other excisions). I then spend the rest of the day in clinic seeing patients. Every fourth day, I am on call and manage the rural emergency department of the hospital I am working at. When not in clinic I do obstetrics, surgical assist, or work with the GP anesthetist.
Today in healthcare it’s important to…
Listen to your patients, particularly when you’ve had a long complicated day and are exhausted.
The best professional advice I ever received
Is to be present. When you’re at work – work hard and focus. But when you go home, put work aside and be present with your family and friends. The latter is sometimes hard to do.
Favourite memory of the Faculty of Medicine
Looking at the smiling faces of my SMP classmates on graduation day. Every one of us was there and we were all just a little bit smarter and wiser for the past four years of training.
Advice for current medical students
If I were to give one piece of advice to incoming students it would be to not forget who you are at your core. Medicine challenges you in ways that you would not anticipate and it’s important to not loose sight of who you are.
Bucket list item
If I were to have one bucket list item, it is to never have a bucket list. I hope to do everything as soon as the opportunity presents itself because who knows what the future holds.