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si les gusta esta colección, agradezcan a mi novia por que ella me las envió xD

- VIENDO COMO ESTUDIANTE DE MEDICINA -

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The blood vessels in the human heart. Photo credit: Rob Jones

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types of study breaks for every situation

if you realize you’ve been studying for hours: grab a snack to refuel your body and watch a sitcom to refuel your brain. then back to the books.

if you’re feeling stressed out: take some deep breaths, text your friends, maybe stare at a wall for a few minutes. gather yourself.

if you can’t seem to focus: get moving and get outside. take out the garbage, check your mail box, maybe walk your dog. just get moving and get fresh air. it’ll help bring you back.

if there’s something else going on in your life and you can’t get it off your mind: write down what’s going through your head, sort of like a diary entry. it’ll help you work things out.

if you’re just mentally and physically exhausted: set a timer for 25-30 minutes and take a nap. any longer and you’ll hit REM and you’ll wake up feeling just as tired. once you wake up, get some caffeine in you.

if the material is boring as hell: find another way to study. see if there’s a crash course video online about it or draw out what you’re trying to learn in diagrams and pictures to make it fun.

if people around you won’t shut up: listen to some music. soundtrack and classical music is always good because they won’t absorb you as much as music with lyrics. white noise (like ocean waves, rain sounds, etc.) also works.

if you only half understand a concept: call/message a friend who’s not in the class and try to teach the material to them. this will help you mentally work through the material and will help you remember it as well.

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Someone shared this in our ICU weight loss group and I’m dying lol.

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I will never understand people who promote anti-vaccination. It’s quite sad that there are some cases of diphtheria and pertussis, not to mention measles which had a recent outbreak in Romania because of this phenomenon. Varicella vaccine exists here too, I’m glad it’s going to be obligatory in my country to vaccinate children for that illness as well. We do have a messed up healthcare, but at least vaccination protocols are really strict here.

Is varicella suddenly some sort of new exotic infection bc I have seen like six patients so far today. Children and adults. Not sure which is more frustrating- the mothers who panic with eveey fever or the whinnying adults.

And not a single child was vaccinated

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I have a chance to study from some amazing doctors in the ER but I’m so shy. In everyday life I am loud, brave and a risk-taker but there I’m just like “wow, I’m so dumb”. I even forget the most trivial stuff when they ask me questions, it’s so frustrating because I know I’m not stupid and am usually good with people. Do you have any advice? (I’m a med student)

Hi there, anon!

We’ve all been there; especially as a med student. I remember coming home feeling completely ashamed and exhausted from all the negative self-talk I pummeled my mind with on a daily basis. So I would tell you what I wish someone told me:

1. The more time you spend on thinking about how “dumb” or “stupid” you were yesterday, the more time you waste in the present to learn and engage in your environment. One of the hardest things I had to learn during clerkships was to forgive myself for my mistakes. We’re all perfectionists, to some degree and we are our worst critics. But if you cannot forgive yourself, it doesn’t matter how much your resident or attending tells you it’s okay. You have to start with you. 

2. EVERY SINGLE PERSON feels like the biggest idiot on the rotation that means the most to them. Because you want to do well, you want to put your best foot forward. 

3. No one is looking for perfection. They are looking for tenacity and passion. That is literally all anyone is looking for. I never remember how smart or dumb are my med students’ questions. I remember if they are polite. If they are helpful. Did they try. Were they team players. Would they make an effort. Even if they got something wrong, were they trying? That’s what counts.

4. No one expects you to remember everything they say. I certainly don’t remember everything. That’s why my pens and notebooks and cellphone photo album called “medical stuff” exists. And I often say “I don’t know”. It’s part of medicine! 

5. And to re-emphasize: we all remember what it was like. And we want you to succeed. Anyone who is going to be unkind to a genuine, passionate med student who is doing their best is an asshole. 

I hope that helps a bit, let me know how it goes!

Best,

md-a

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10 big academic reminders

1. there is no shame in asking for help (academic, emotional, or mental) 

2. there is no shame in going to tutoring 

3. there is no shame in getting Bs, Cs, Ds, or Fs 

4. there is no shame in not knowing what you want to study 

5. there is no shame in having a job 

6. there is no shame in struggling in a so-called “easy course” 

7. there is no shame in withdrawing from a course you don’t feel comfortable in 

8. there is no shame in changing your major 

9. there is no shame in not taking a full load of classes in a semester 

10. there is no shame in realizing your school may not be for you

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January 11: What’s the hardest thing you’re dealing with?

Things are changing in my life right now, and it’s a good thing, actually. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s not. But it should be fine. I’m a little burned out, that doesn’t really help, but I’m working on it. I’m just sad to see how people can mess up their own life, how people stay in fucked up marriages, how they want to do good but don’t understand the person they want to help, etc-etc.

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January 12: I wish I had more…

Self-confidence? Smartness? Patience? Quality time with the people I love? Motivation? Quality time with my family and self-confidence, mostly.

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January 13: When you were 16, what did you think your life would look like? Does it look like that? Is that a good thing?

I didn’t really imagine my life at all when I was 16. I only knew that I wanted to be a doctor. I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it. I started to imagine my future more when I turned 19, my life is sooooo totally not like that l, but it’s not a bad thing. At all. I have some basic ideas about my future and I hope some of them will become reality one day, but I still want to keep my options open. Appearently I won’t be the LGBTQ+ right bisexual activist with the cutest girlfriend ever who becomes a geneticist and has her own biological child with the cute girlfriend. I don’t really like genetics and I don’t have a cute girlfriend, I rather wish I’d have a normal boyfriend right now who is resonsible and is adventurous like me and would go hiking with me and would like to travel the world and adopt some stray kids with me beside having one biological kid with me. But still, LGBTQ+ rights are still super important, I just don’t really think that I want to be involved that much anymore. Though after trying polyamory, I can never kbow when I end up in a poly relationship the next time, and that way, I will be again the minority in a not so accepting country. Oh well. I don’t care. I’m quite flexible about my future partner, I just want him/her/them to be a good communicator and a good person with at least an average intelligence and with some common hobbies with me. 😅

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January 14: What are you looking for in life?

I’m looking for something which could help me make the world a better place? I’m looking for love? Something heroic to do? Having a family with my love/loves with our own and adopted future kids? I’m looking for time and partners to travel the world? These are all true.

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January 15: Who are the last people to tell you they loved you?

Maybe my mother. My ex-boy/girlfriends did say it too, but not all of them meant it. I’m really unlucky with relationships. 🙃

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January 16: If you could read a book containing all that has happened and will ever happen in your life, would you? If you choose to read it, you must read it cover to cover.

It would be nice to read the past part of the book, maybe I would see things differently, and after feeling the pain again, it would help me to heal. I’m almost healed though, but that would be the last and most efficient step, I think. About the future... I’m not sure. It would be interesting, but maybe it would drive me crazy. If there were bad stuff coming, I’d try to prevent them maybe and that would make things even worse, I think. But maybe challange accepted? If there was a book like this, I’m 95% sure that I couldn’t resist the temptation anyway...

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January 17: What’s the last thing you apologized for?

For not being able to stay friends with him, not wanting to be part of his life. That’s really sad, but necessary. I’m really sorry for him, but he does me no good and yeah, I really can’t save everyone. Castiel was right. “You can’t save everyone, my friend. You try.” But it’s always worth trying, I just think sometimes otherwise when I’m depressed and burned out. But I’m gettong better and better.

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January 18: On a scale of 1-10, how is your health?

I have some health issues, but I’m fine, I’d give my health a 7.5 score. Maybe 7.8. My mental health is fluctuating, it can be like 3-4 and then 9, mostly it’s 7.5 nowadays.

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January 19: What mood were you in today?

That was a good day! I was unlucky on my exam, but passed it anyway. Met my grandma and she was nice. Training went well, even though my leg’s still not the best, and during the night, we had some funny drinking-gaming-chitchatting session with my childhood friends. Though I don’t like alcohol, sometimes it’s still OK, to drink a little bit, especially if the guys buy some tasty wine and not just the cheap beer they usually drink. I’m a little bit worried about their future though...

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January 20: Write your own eulogy.

I don’t really want to write a eulogy about myself, that’s usually for dead people and hell, my life shouldn’t be over yet! 😉It would be nice if someone wrote a eulogy for me one day in the diszamt future, and my spirit would still be around to witness it. Having a cool funeral would be awesome. I’d be cremated, part of my ashes would be mixed with soil and a walnut tree’s seed would be planted there. The rest of my ashes could be blown by the wind next to a river. People would tell stories about my adventures and life, there would be colorful decorations and clothes, a big and bittersweet, but fun party with my favourite punk/rock/metal music to dance to! One must played song would be Life is Beautiful by Sixx AM, hah! 😎

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how to avoid education burnout

have 3 achievable goals a day: having a laundry list of things to do everyday is super unrealistic, and you just end up feeling bad about yourself because you didn’t accomplish your goals for the day.

leave your sundays open: i love sundays because they’re my day to chill out and catch up on school work that i wasn’t able to finish during the week.

recognize when you’re at your emotional limits: forcing yourself to get work done when you are unable to comprehend your study material does not benefit anyone.

learn how to say no: people will ask you for your time and it will stretch you to the limit, whether it be at your job, in your extracurriculars, or in your personal life. know when to step back and say no.

take care of yourself physically: take breaks, go for walks, shower regularly, get enough sleep, eat healthy, see your friends

celebrate your accomplishments: go out to eat with friends after a big exam, indulge in a night off after a busy week with some netflix and wine

make a study plan beforehand: it can be daunting to see how much work you need to put in to a class or task beforehand, but this allows you to spread your work evenly so you don’t become overwhelmed.

learn how to ask for help: it is very rare that people make it through school, whether it be high school or university or any graduate program, without needing the advice of others or just a kind soul to vent to. find that person.

never forget your hobbies: you will need things that keep you sane. if you love to play music, write, play volleyball, or cook, make you sure you don’t lose these things. they will become your escape when times get tough.

log off from time to time: it is exhausting to be constantly connected to social media and your email. just physically disconnecting from these for a night to take care of yourself can really help you clear your mind.

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Study methods, (sorted and organised af)

We all find ourselves in a pinch when studying for a particular subject, or some concepts or just studying in general. And then we play the blame game - I’m stupid, I suck at studying, I dumb, yadda yadda yadda.

But sometimes, the fault isn’t ours. Our study skills are largely influenced by external factors that have nothing to do with our brain (because well all humans have the same brain to begin with, yeah? It’s just some know how to use that thing, and some are still learning how to). So here’s so ways that might help you make the most of all sorts of things that are thrown your way:

1. Teachers

Teachers influence our academics deeply and therefore it is important to know how to adjust our methods according to the types of teachers that teach us!

“The best teacher ever”

You love them, and are generally doing well in their class.

They know how to balance the amount of speech and writing part in class just perfectly and their explanations are heavenly.

For their subjects, practice papers are the best because they’ll help you lock all the info in your mind for eternities.

Solve as many tests as you can find, and get all your doubts solved by them at the end and I promise you will never have difficulty with that particular chapter again!

“The I’m-gonna-fill-the-board-with-my-marker teacher”

Doesn’t even bother speaking, just enters the class and starts writing up stuff in the board.

Class is generally noisy because their backs are turned towards you 90% of the time.

Just copy down everything form the board. Don’t leave out a single word.

Review whatever you’ve written once you get home and find out what is it that you don’t understand.

You’re lucky if they teach you math /physics /numericals based topics, because you have an entire guide on how to solve each type of sum with steps and formulas!

Once you’ve marked your doubts, take them to the teacher, or to any other teacher who teaches the same topics and get it cleared. Pretty sure you’ll rock their subject!

“The speaker”

Babbles on and on all the time, doesn’t know that the board exists.

Won’t even breathe in between the doesn’t care if nobody is listening - they’ll finish their part at all costs.

Try recording their lectures, you don’t necessarily have to take notes in class.

Once you get home, play the entire lecture and take notes now - you’re most likely to cover all important points.

If there’s something you don’t understand /think you missed, get your doubts solved by them or maybe online. This way you can do some time pass in class while not missing out at the same time!

“The quiz master”

Asks hella lot of questions, engages the class as much as possible.

Best thing to do in their class is to sit in front (it won’t make you a loser really) and listen to their questions carefully, note them down and participate.

Participating will get you noticed and also help build your confidence - and you get to impress the teacher so it’s a win win!

Prepare some questions for them in advance and keep asking, this will create a sense of ‘I’m a good student’ kinda thing in you (trust me I feel like a heavenly potato) and get your queries solved!

2. Subjects

There are subjects that you’re so good at you could practically teach them, and then there’s math (no offence, math lovers). And physics. And chemistry. And everything that you don’t know.

Problem solving subjects

Math and physics can be a real pain, but referring to solved examples in your textbook, or your teacher’s solutions makes then 37363x easier.

A list of formulas is a must, I prefer sorting my formulas chapter wise in sticky notes but you can totally make a 'formula + solving methods cheatsheet’ to help for finals!

Practice problems are life savers!! Keep solving until you’re pretty sure you’ll crack these types of questions.

Mostly there is a certain way of solving certain problems, figure out that common way for a bunch of problems and nite the method down. All you need to do during the exam is figure out what type of problem you are dealing with and how to solve it will be known to you automatically!

Find a good teacher - maybe a school teacher, a tutor, a classmate or maybe your dad who happens to be a math expert. You need one person to guide you through the “numerical labyrinth”. There are many awesome people on the Internet (studyblrs I’m looking at y'all) who can help.

“Theory based subjects”

History and essay writing type of subjects can be difficult to tackle, since there’s no logic you need to apply here - they only test your memory half the time.

Bullet points are so helpful when taking notes for such subjects idk I just fall in love with words that are bullet pointed.

Aesthetic note making, embellishments and all that jazz totally works here because the more time you spend with the information, the better you remember it and are able to retain it.

Try recording the lectures and playing them in your free time (as podcasts and all), maybe when cleaning your room or making yourself breakfast or doing mundane chores.

I once slept with my earphones on and was playing 'the French revolution’ and the next day I topped our test on that topic. Now this may not be a legit tip but hey - you’re sleeping. Come on.

“Diagram and sciency subjects”

Most of us consider biology to be our favourite, but fail to do well in it sometimes. This is because we’re studying the whole thing wrongly.

Biology can be a very visual subject so all you artists bring out your creativity!

Imagining the structures of your body, an animal’s body, plant’s body, cell’s body heck any body will help you clarify the concepts in your mind.

Try breaking up large words to understand what they mean. I began learning Latin (and abandoned the effort) to grasp the biological terms better and it helps! Your language is strong - your biology is strong.

Aesthetic notes all the way down!

Chemistry can be made pretty looking with colourful reactions on paper, and there’s always mnemonics to make it fun.

I always try to form mnemonics which reference my favourite songs/dialogue /fandom stuff to spice stuff up. For example, to remember the preference order of functional groups during nomenclature I came up with “PS Sam Winchester Loves Eileen And they go on A date Next friday” (hey spn peeps how’s this?). Write down the first initial of every word you need to remember and come up with combinations, you’ll love it!

“Easy af subjects”

Personality Development and Social Science were these type of subjects for me.

All I did was read through the textbook the night before exams and I’d get a pretty good score.

Tree diagrams and tables often help with these.

Explaining the stuff to someone does the job too!

“Languages”

Three things - Duolingo /memrise /any app, flashcards, YouTube.

Your textbook is likely to have lots of practice activities, solve each one of them.

YouTube will help you with the pronouncing part - check out songs in your target language to improve!

Grammar is important, so you understand your grammar in the beginning and your base is strong.

Come up with terms in your head in your target language, although they’re wrong - there will be a point where you’ll be thinking in that language as a habit.

Don’t be afraid to mispronounce, vomit words as much as possible.

If you don’t have a vocabulary book, make one right away!

Langblrs are so amazing don’t let that resource slip out of your hands!

3. Random tips

Change of environment usually motivate you so keep changing your study space from time to time.

Ana Mascara, study with jess, @studyquill @revisign @tbhstudying @studywithinspo have some fabulous YouTube channels and they make 'study with me’ vids too which are just too motivating so check them out!

Khanacademy, CrashCourse, ASAP science are there to clear your doubts - use the resources!

Keep two notebooks - one for class which has messy notes and scribbles and another for home with the neat and aesthetic ish.

Keep track of your portion and note your syllabus.

Highly recommended - study journal. Want me make a long ass post about it? Lemme know!

Playing teacher is a promised way to engrave the info in your mind. So go teach your friends or mom or dog or teddy! Teach me if you want to!

Make sure you have a no study day at least once 2 weeks? Because it’s important. We don’t want to get burned out!

Ted talks can be motivating!

Writing mock exams is so helpful you should totally do it!

Sleep is more important than you think it is, so sleep. Go dream the hell out!

That’s all for now folks, hope this helps a bit! My inbox is always open if you guys have any questions!

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January 6: You’re locked in a room with your greatest fear. Describe what’s in the room.

I’m afraid that I’ll never be OK again, that I stay this way. I know that I can do it though, I can do anything, but still, the fear of my dark!self remains.

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January 7: If you could do anything professionally, what would it be?

I’d still wanna be a doctor. Maybe beside that a firefighter? That’s not possible though, so I stick with becoming a doc. Becoming a writer would be nice too, though, but just as a hobby, let’s call it a part-time job! 😅

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January 8: Can people change?

Of course, they do! I mean, everyone has the possibility to change, but carrying out that change is not easy, and that’s where some people fail. You can’t really change your basic personality, though. But you can realize that some of it is toxic, and be aware of it. You have to live your darkness too, just you have to be careful not to hurt anyone by doing so, accepting it helps you to grow.

Generally I think people can change if they:

1) realize the problem.

2) make the decision to change.

3) are strong enough to do it.

(This book is one of my favorites, it’s about a really bad guy, changing his biased look on the world. It’s easy to read, and it’s for kids. But give it a try!)

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January 9: What never fails to make you smile?

Inside jokes with my friends, they are old, stupid, sometimes don’t even male sense, but they are the funniest things ever!

Talking to my childhood friends about the war games we had as kids at the countryside.

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January 10: What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

I like my determination, my bravery and my honesty. These are things why some people really like me, and these are the same things why some hate me a lot! But I don’t really care, you know. ;-)

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Abandoned almost bi-coloured house. 😎

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Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

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i’ve spent the better part of today on this. hopefully i’ve retained everything i’ve written 😅

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>> Even more landscape photos

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