The end of Doctoring I

Today was the last session of Doctoring I, which marks the end of my official time with an amazing group.  I wanted to take this moment to be thankful for the incredible people that I have met in the past year.

This great experience would not be possible without my Doctoring tutors, Dr. Hess and Dr. Fischer, who were an outstanding team.  They facilitated our discussions and our group dynamic and always gave detailed feedback.  My peers in the Doctoring group, through their interviews, the group feedback, and discussions, give me great hopes and expectations for the physicians of the future.  They are thoughtful, respectful but willing to give critic, and greatly focused on improving the lives of patients.

My preceptor's patience with my questions and interest in teaching me has further cemented my desire to make sure that clinical contact remains part of my career.

My study group is a great cluster of intelligence and good work-ethic.  With them, I know that no material is too hard to get through (and that whining is great therapy).

I love the fact that as I continue in my career path, I never stop meeting people who inspire me to be better than I am.

CNS innervation of proximal and peripheral muscles

So, we recently had our winter formal.  It was a night of classy and not-so-classy dancing and socializing.  To make my night more fun, I decided that I should mix a little pain with my pleasure.  Cooking and heels are clearly dangerous enough on their own, so I promise to never never mix them.  Good news is that I remembered to test my finger for response to touch, pain, and temperature: No permanent damage noted.  As for my leg, damage did not extend deeper than the upper subepithelium, so yay!

Apparently, chestnuts wiggle when you try to cut them.

Third time is the charm: two harmless episodes of tripping down the stairs while running off to the formal, one not-so-harmless.

Block 2 Exams

The lead up to these exams were much smoother than Block 1.  I have been studying using flashcards throughout the block.  However, the block exam is, as foretold, much more case-based than Block 1 exams.  I didn't discover this wonder until a week prior to exams, so that was a bit unfortunate.  I think next block, as opposed to reviewing lectures and key physiology in our weekly Friday afternoon group session, taking cases from this book will be more useful.

So much lost time...

MSTP Applicant Recruitment

It's hard to believe, but more than a year has passed since I was in the throes of putting together my applications to MD/PhD programs.  Now, I am experiencing the interview process from the perspective of a first-year student.  In fact, I am helping to organize all of our pre-interview casual get-togethers between the applicants and first years. 

After having successfully hosted three of the five sessions, I have learned a few things about myself.

Block 1 Exams

Leading up the exams, this is how it ran:

Week 1 - 3: La la la, we have block exams?
Week 4: Oh CRAP, we have block exams!  How do I study for this thing that I don't know anything about?  
Week 5: Maybe I will just reread my notes...
Week 6: Nothing is staying in my brain!  I'm going to quit med school!
Week 7: Some flashcards and a five-hour group review later, survival is now a possibility.
Week 8: FLASHCARDS of doom and a second five-hour group review.

And now, it is over. 

Wellness Dinner

Tonight, we had our first wellness meeting.  We began with a large group meeting with roughly half of the class before splitting into our individual teams.  In teams of roughly 8 people and one advisor, we discusses how we wanted to participate in the 7 Cs.  Our advisor is a physician who just finished her peds residency and enjoys hiking.  She seems really open to participating in our events and giving out advice.

The 7 Cs are:
Career
Conciousness (this refers to meditation and introspection, not the state of not being passed out)
Community
Culture
Cuisine
Collaboration (hanging out with people not in our Wellness team)
Cardio

We hope to hit Culture/Collaboration/Cuisine in November or December by watching Wicked.  :)

Go Team Papaya!

Politics

The beginning of the first year of medical school is not just about finding your place in a new social group or figuring how much studying is necessary.  It is politics.  Now that we have completed elections for the MD class, which was a decent enough balance between a popularity contest (do I even know and like this person?) and competency (do I trust them to do their job and promote our agenda), the MSTP class is in government mode.

first MSTP speaker

Dr. Radu was the first MSTP speaker for our mandatory research series.  The afternoon was well spent drinking boba tea while reading his papers, allowing for active participation during the talk.  The talk itself not only dealt with new unpublished data following the published materials, but also focused on the path that Dr. Radu took in getting to the current stage of being part of a translational lab.  It was part scientific and part career development.  If all of the talks are going to be like this, I am happy to give up most of my Monday evenings.

Doctoring I

Today, I was the very first student in our Doctoring (how to make patients comfortable while getting information) class to interview a standarized patient.

My patient was a 20 year old male with complaints of sore throat and mild fever.  The interview started out with him giving one word answers and leaning back in a disengaged manner.  It was a process which ended with covering most of the medical history and also history of present illness with some hopping around to fill in the blanks (need more practice!).  I was most proud of how we were actually have a conversation at the end, with a little bit of laughter and chatting.  I was happy to see that he was sitting forward, volunteering information, and making his visit easier for the both of us.  Patient review mentioned that he felt comfortable and that I was very invested in his care (super proud!).

Picking a speciality

So, there is this Careers in Medicine website that we are suppose to find useful.  It was.  First of all, I learned that Geriatric Medicine falls under Family Practice.  Uh...so no research, so no.

Then, I did all these personality/skills/values/etc tests.  It turns out that maybe I won't go into Neurology after all...

Medical School Week 0

Introductory week is over.  The results are:

1) Problem Based Learning is a beautiful thing.
2) More than a thousand dollars poorer.
3) Can now carry around fancy medical equipment.

Diagnostic, blood pressure, and neurology...what's missing?

4) Can now not know how to use said fancy medical equipment.