medschoolpositive

[medschoolpositive]

Internal Med Ward Week 2

I spent the first two years of med school waiting for the third. This was definitely going to be my year! You know, more hospital action and less studying for exams. Well, I got the first part right, I'm in the hospital daily, but I underestimated the amount of studying that we need to get done *on top* of being in the hospital all day long. Let's see what this week brings! 

[medschoolpositive]

Seriously.

Prescribing in Pediatrics

[medschoolpositive]

All the wrong reasons

As I experience my first few months in clinic as a third year student, I am reminded of a recurring theme in medschool: we are not kind enough. We really aren't, and it is really disappointing. I am still a medical student striving to help people in need, people who are struggling with situations that I will most likely *never* have the misfortune of experimenting in my own skin. I will see and help treat people with every cancer in the book, but it is impossible that I get personally afflicted by all, yet I am being trained to help them in whatever way possible to get better and, if all else fails, at least to help them feel better for however long they remain in this world. Still, I see so much competition between my classmates, the culture is one of being ahead of everyone else and not one of lifting each other up. Medschool is so, so tough, and it only gets worse when people around you are more than capable to help, but they'd rather keep to themselves, so as to weed out possible competition. So I ask you this: If you are capable of recognizing the need in someone who's going through THE EXACT SAME THING you are and can't find it in your heart to help them, how do you possibly think you can see someone on their deathbeds and have the empathy, the kindness to care for them? I'll answer that one for you, you don't. You're just not kind enough and you're possibly in this field for all the wrong reasons.

[medschoolpositive]

Self Study?

Super quick post because, you know, medschool... But, do you guys get a lot of assigned material to study at home? As in, we will not be giving you this super complicated pharmacology lecture on anesthetics, here's a 90-slide powerpoint that hopefully sums up these 100 pages of the text for autostudy. We recently had hurricane Irma hitting PR (we were super lucky we had no major damages) but we got 1/3 of the exam material assigned to study on our own, while we had no power or internet and were preparing for a hurracane to hit. I'm beyond pissed at this...

Here's a little notability doodle that sums up my life right now.

Hope your school has a little more heart than mine.

✌🏼

[medschoolpositive]

Surviving First Year Medical School: Things I wish I knew

I’d like to begin with a disclaimer: I am not the student who “dreamt of being a Dr before I could even talk” (or even all the way through college)… It took me 7 years after I graduated to even consider studying medicine. So, when I started school I, (1) didn’t know anyone -all my friends who wanted to go to medical school were already doctors- (2) didn’t know anything or what to expect (3) I had just moved to another country to study after spending the last 7 years somewhere else. Maybe some of the things you find here are super obvious to you, but I honestly would’ve loved to know them before I started and not catch up little by little as time went by. So, in no particular order, here it is:

1- Medschool is SUPER hard and it’s OK to get scores that are far from perfect. Even if you were top of the class as an undergrad, trust me, if you’re not Acing medical school that DOES NOT BY ANY MEANS equate to you being stupid.

2. Whatever study habits you had as an undergrad are most likely not going to work here. There’s just not enough time to really digest all the information in the way that used to work before

3. USE REVIEW BOOKS I really wish someone would’ve told me that those Board Review Books are not just for boards, they are an excellent source of itemized information that will help you consolidate aspects that are really high yield. It’s not *all* the info you need to know, but they’re a great way to make sure you didn’t miss the important stuff. Books that I absolutely recommend and saved my butt:

- Anatomy lab-> Color Atlas of Anatomy by Rohen & Yokoshi

- Neuroscience-> High Yield Neuroanatomy  by Douglas J Gould ; USMLE Roadmap Neuroscience by James S White

- Anatomy, Embryology & Biochemistry-> Lippincott’s Q&A Review There are several books, one for each discipline and they’re great for practice questions

- Physiology-> Medical Physiology by Guyton & Hall (great for practice questions) and what everyone and their momma’s use (because it’s great) Linda S. Constanzo’s Physiology 

- Basically every class-> Board Review Series (BRS) great for reviewing, but questions are a bit too simple & First Aid (aka the bible)

4. DO PRACTICE QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU KNOW ALL THE MATERIAL!!!! I can’t stress this enough. Doing those questions even when you won’t know basically any answers will show you how you need to be approaching the material. Especially during anatomy, a least in my case, classes were very descriptive and exam questions took an entirely different approach, and I would’ve known this if I had bothered to do practice questions instead of drowning in a sea of Netter’s cards

5. Study EVERY DAY and don’t trick yourself into thinking that you can “catch up” during the weekend.

5. YOU CAN DO IT, there might be times when you think you made the wrong choice and you’re defnitely not going to make it. I created this blog because I used to be a very positive person, but medschool had the power of making me look at the worst side of everything, especially myself. I finished the first year after a lot of effort and I’m as proud as can be and, while the worst is most likely yet to come, I want to be able to look back and say “well, I didn’t think I was going to get through the first class (I’m talking about you, biochem!) let alone first year and I F*ing made it” and I firmly believe that if you put the effort in, you can make it too. 

[medschoolpositive]

Summer break is here (Finally) and I was able to do some medical inspired designs and dust off the right side of my brain. Check the designs at my RedBubble! Check out the Tee's, stickers, laptop skins, hoodies and all the other cool stuff Also, write Rad20 at checkout and get 20% off

[medschoolpositive]

MS1 is *almost* over T-5 days

And I can't wait!!!!! End of first year reflection coming soon. For now, I need to try to give whatever I have left for my 3 exams + 2 quizzes + 1 oral presentation + 2 essays next week. Let's do this Sh*t

[medschoolpositive]

4.16.2017

Neuro has me like…. But First year is ALMOST OVER 🙌🏼🎉 Countdown to a little over a month to some very well deserved vacation time 😎☀️🌊🍹

[medschoolpositive]

Unhealthy Health Professionals

MD: How can I help you today?

Me: Shooting pain down my coccyx, sleep deprived, heart palpitations at rest, mood swings, no social life

MD: I see, when did this start?

Me: Medschool...

MD: *saggy-eyed, granola bar in pocket of coffe-stained white coat yawns* It will get better..

Will it though?......

[medschoolpositive]

So, Anato-Histo-Embryo-Physio block is FINALLY OVER 🙌🏼🎉 this was without a doubt, the most challenging block that I've ever had the misfortune of stumbling upon, but hey, I've learned TONS about the subjects, about myself, about heartbreak (hello to all the effort I put into studying only to get passing grades), about being dramatically negative and tachycardic, but still MAKING IT. I made it to the other side! And now, after a VERY BRIEF weekend, it's on to a new block: Neuroscience. Let's do this Sh*t!! MS1 is almost over :D

[medschoolpositive]

On Adaptations

Medical school might well be the toughest experience of my life and I believe many medical students can relate to that statement. In my particular case, I graduated college and worked full-time for quite some years before deciding on going to medical school. Adapting to studying again and with this level of intensity is what I can only describe as “insane”. I have had the blessing of being very healthy and I am starting to get symptoms associated with the lack of sleep, constant stress and feeling of hopelessness. While I rank this experience as a 10 out of 10 in the most horrible things that ever happened to me, I remember that I have felt sort of this way once before. I felt the stress and helplessness during my latest job, my first few months there were just painful. Fast forward to two years after I started that job and I didn’t want to leave. I made incredible friends and connections and it was that job that made me want to pursue medical school. I worked at a cancer center, the job was fast-paced, the responsibility was incredible and all the health care providers were extremely busy (often bitchy) and you just had to learn to fend for yourself in a pretty hostile environment. Obviously, not everyone was a horrible human, I met incredibly inspiring people and I also got a glimpse on the situations that wold drive just about anyone insane: difficult patients, endless paperwork and difficult bureaucracy, ridiculous working hours… and the list goes on. So, while I could’ve focused on all the negative aspects that I got to witness in the healthcare industry (and this was in a top hospital in the US), this experience made me want to become a physician. Sounds crazy given the description I just gave, but the amount of satisfaction I got whenever I was helpful to my cancer patients was unmeasurable. I am going to keep doing my best, I’ll do it for them, for the people I want to help, I will remember that adaptations are not always easy and that something that might start as a huge headache can end up being a huge blessing. I’ll trust the path I’ve chosen and I’ll accept whatever comes. Throw those exams and endless nights at me. I’ve got this.

[medschoolpositive]

Just kiddng, I’m a medical student 😞I study

[medschoolpositive]

Monday Motivation

Summer is coming 😎👙☀️🍹 Almost done with the current Anato-Histo-Embryo-Physio block, then there's Neuro and Behavioral on the way, but who's counting?

[medschoolpositive]

The feelings are mutual, histo! Who's not ready for tomorrow's shelf? 🙋🏻

🖕 The Bird 🖕

That moment when you realize your duodenal biopsy is flipping you off.

i♡histo

The image shows the submucosa of the duodenum. This region of the small intestine is characterized by the presence of large Brunner’s glands (the arm and hand). These glands produce an alkaline secretion whose purpose it is to neutralize the acidic material that is released from the stomach into the duodenum when the pyloric sphincter relaxes. Without these secretions, the stomach acid is much more likely to damage the duodenal wall forming a duodenal ulcer.

[medschoolpositive]

3.4.2017

It's head and neck block for me! Equal parts interesting and way too much! Let's do this 💪🏼💪🏼

[medschoolpositive]

If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.

Words getting me through dedicated study for Step 2 (via mdintraining)

Preach!

[medschoolpositive]

Maybe it’s just a bunch of pens and sleepless nights now, but we will be able to directly impact the lives of so many people in need. Let’s focus on what really matters and what brought us all here.