#medstudyblr

[teamedstud]

29.07.2023

Spent most of the day in the library, felt so cozy in such a rainy day. 🍃🌧️

[practicingmagicandmedicine]

perfect day for some patio studying

[marvelousbenz]

Tuesday, 28 November 2023

I went put and studied with my friends today. I also found an amazing way to actually retain info in residency; it’s doing what i did in med school but with a twist (wow shocker). I’m going to be making anki decks. No surprise there.

[medimagination]

Day 5

Made notes in new handwriting!!! 😇

[aliciavstudies]

psychiatry week 2/6: inpatient

officially have finished my first week of inpatient psychiatry!! tbh i wasn’t super looking forward to psych, because it’s encapsulates everything i am bad at - long and detailed notes, difficult conversations with patients, and working with staff 1 on 1, but it was better than i expected! it’s nice to get the chance to truly sit down with patients and talk to them to figure out what’s going on. especially after surgery where you can only spend 10-15 minutes with a patient, spending 45 min to an hour feels very luxurious. my staff has always been very patient and kind which always makes a huge difference in terms of how much i learn/enjoy a specialty :-) 

i also had my first call psych shift which was a very interesting experience. i learned how psych is really a service where you have to advocate for patients , even when they aren’t necessarily capable to make that decision. it’s also interesting because at the hospital where i work, the psych emerg department is separate from the rest of the emerg. 

those are my preliminary thoughts hehe <33

[usmlestar]

Study like there’s no tomorrow

[that-med-girl]

Hey tumblr!!

I’m starting a 100 day productivity challenge; starting today i.e. 12 SEP 2022.

I’ll be posting a daily update on my feed.

Be sure to follow along and use #thatmedgirl to tag me in your post.

Let’s get started.

Happy studying

[anatomyandcappuccini]

Studying from home, a new lifestyle during #Covid19 plague

Every library is closed, so are universities and you may be desperate because the library was the only place where you were able to focus.. I totally get you! But as someone who’ve spent most of its school years studying at home.. I can assure you that it’s totally fine! You just need a few techniques and organization skills and you’ll see that everything will be ok ! So here we go : 

Clean and declutter your study space. Store the books you don’t need anymore and only keep the essentials on your desk. I’ll share with you an old article I wrote on Tumblr about how to upgrade your workspace!

Block distractions : give your phone to your mom, use the Forest app, the Flipd app or just put it in airplane mode !

Cut the outside noise : a good playlist (my Lofi playlist for example :P), earplugs and the door shut can help you be in the « library » mood…

Make a study plan and try to stick to a routine.. It’s easy to lose track of time when you spend all of your days at home! This is why keeping a healthy routine and set hours for meals and breaks is really important!

Since it’s easier to get distracted at home, make sure to take more breaks than the usual (for example a 45min study session and a 10 min break).

If you have online lectures and a #studybuddy that you trust, why not split the work (for example you follow half of the lectures and your colleague the other half) and then sharing your notes? Also, why not creating a Google Drive with your colleagues so everyone shares their notes? The quarantine will be long so a little support from each other is more than welcomed!!

You can also have skype sessions with your colleagues to debate about a subject, or quiz each other so you don’t feel too alone and you keep track of your progress :)

You can also take the time to go deeper into the subjects you have to study and not only scratching the surface like you may be used to do ! This is also a great way to discover if you’re more interested in some subjects than others and who knows, maybe you’ll find a new passion !

If you feel like you can’t focus anymore then.. stop. It’s totally fine to not being able to study all day, especially when you have nothing else to do and when the deadlines are still far and unsure. So Take this time to enjoy your family, work on yourself, read a book, or start a new hobby.

Studygram

[night-owl-medstudies]

June is here!!!!!

And one of my exams is also here because, reasons 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️

[margaritamd]

How to structure a personal statement

Oh, personal statements. The amount of time I have spent staring at the flashing cursor on my computer is...a lot. In fact, I am (still) working on my personal statement for residency right now. 

How does one condense their entire existence into one page, make it flow seamlessly, keep to the point, and not bore their reader? I do not purport to be an expert at writing in any way, but this is currently the simplified anatomy of a PS I have come up with in order to make my, and hopefully your, life easier: 

1) Interesting hook to grab the readers attention: I tend to draw from experiences in my own life. 

2) Why do you want to do this thing/something?

3) Why would you be good at this? For this question, you must have your own understanding of what would make someone, anyone, good at said thing. 

4) Future plans in said thing 

5) Summary statement that ties all of your points together, maybe even loop back to your intro statement 

- Margarita, MD

P.S. Remember not to talk about any negatives in your personal statement!

[aspiringmedstudentconfessions]

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN

I was recently diagnosed with ADHD: Inattentive Type at the age of 22. I didn’t really see an issue with my learning strategies until I enrolled in my University as a transfer student. 

Throughout high school, I was extremely busy and school came easy to me. At my community college, I worked 30 hours a week and took on extra responsibilities, but overall my load was smaller and my GPA suffered because I wasn’t prepared to be alone with my mind. Then when I started my junior year, I had no idea how to study, I worked 20 hours a week, and I felt like my life was falling apart. 

Flash forward to now: I am a recent graduate (B.A. in Psychology) and I was diagnosed with ADHD. I’m realizing now everything I’ve done wrong to prepare myself to be a successful student. As you know, student success is an extremely important part of the medical school application. So after some research, I believe I’ve learned the secret of how to learn: 

1) Don’t overwhelm yourself: Make a list of what you need to do, then make a smaller list of about 5 things to do from there and CROSS OFF WHAT YOU ACCOMPLISHED. Then, when those 5 are finished, choose another 5 things to do. 

2) Pomodoro method: I love this method and I have an app on my MacBook Air that rewards me with little tomatoes and it’s literally the highlight of my day. You set a timer for 20-30 minutes (no more than 30), then take a 5 minute break. You continue this for about 4 rounds then take a longer break, like 15 minutes. My time is divided as such: 20 minutes/5 minutes (x4), then I take a 15 minute break. Once I complete four hours, my longer breaks equal 1 hour. I do this twice a day and get 10 hours of productivity out of the way.

3) Annotate: I can read literally anything and get a general grasp of the information, but if someone asks me to tell them what I read, I blank. Write down a summary or important information about the chapter you just read. 

4) Sticky notes are your friend: I love receiving little messages and notes from my friends, so why wouldn’t I leave some for myself? Maybe make a game out of it. Say I write 5 notes of chores I need to do, I would put them near what needs to happen (”dishes” next to sink, “clean mirror” on bathroom mirror, “take out trash” on the wall above the trash can) and once I complete all 5 notes, I reward myself, in moderation, of course. 

5) Use a calendar: Literally nothing competes with the feeling of crossing off something on a calendar, whether it be lunch with the BFF or that Physics chapter you’ve been avoiding. Be sure to CROSS IT OFF. But looking back at your previous days of productivity really puts your mind in a happy place. 

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know! And this may or may not work for you, it’s just a few little tips that help me get through my day when I’m studying for both the GRE and MCAT while trying to put together my medical school applications. 

[teamedstud]

25.07.2023

No library today, felt kinda lazy to go out.

[practicingmagicandmedicine]

I got an A on my third exam of the semester! This one was definitely more of a challenge than the previous test, but it feels good to know that even the completely new material is sticking in my brain well. Now getting ready for the lab midterm - the histology is the most intimidating but I feel good about it.

- [ x ] Chapter 6 Video Lectures 🎥

- [ ] 💀 Finish Chapter 6 Notes

- [ x ] Chapter 6 Connect Assignment 🫀

- [ x ] 🔬 Lab Midterm Study Guide

- [ ] Lab practice questions ⚗️

[marvelousbenz]

Monday, 4th of December 2023

I went to a coffee shop to study. It was hella productive. Did 30 MKSAP nephrology questions AND made anki cards. Love that.

[medimagination]

Day 1

Hello guys😇

After a long time.... Just made ophthalmology notes on the Goodnotes app!!

Happy with the progress im making with taking digital notes! Using an iPad Pro 12.9 inch and 2nd gen pencil

:) have a great day guys(*∩ω∩)

[aliciavstudies]

surgery week 5&6 /6: acute care service (general surgery) 

this elective marks the last two weeks of surgery (& the hardest two weeks of the rotation)!! 🥳🥳 acute care service is a branch within general surgery, and essentially deals with all the emergencies of general surgery, like appendicitis, mesenteric ischemia, and bowel perforations. it’s known for being a very demanding week - I personally worked from 5:45am - 6pm almost every day not including the 24-28 hour call shifts. 

i was genuinely surprised by how much i enjoyed gen surg!! since it’s known for the horrible hours, i was expecting to really hate my life, but i had a lot of fun and learned alot. first of all, my team was so lovely, the gen surg residents were quite nice and understanding, and the off-service residents were amazing. one of the off service residents i worked with on urology, so i was already comfortable with him. so baseline i felt a part of the team, and supported by my residents. i think also because gen surg relies on med students, i felt like i was actually being helpful and less of a burden/nuisance to teach. it was nice to come into the hospital and actually feel like my presence was necessary yk? 

second of all, i think i really enjoyed the actual medicine aspect of gen surg. the disease process made sense to me and the surgeries were logical solutions to the diseases. the patient population was also very diverse, and they would operate on young people in their 20s and older people in their 90s, and honestly, they all recovered quite well from surgery. it was to see the patients come into the hospital super sick, but leave walking, talking and smiling.

lastly, the call was definitely bad but it helped me appreciate how gen surg is needed. essentially any surgical issue could be solved by gen surg & (i personally think) it’s one of the core specialties needed to keep a hospital running. i remember for one case, there was a bladder rupture and my residents weren’t sure if urology was going to come in (because they do home call) but they weren’t especially worried because they could also fix the bladder themselves. i think that’s amazing!!! they just have the skills to fix a large portion of the organs in the peritoneum!!! 

ANYWAYS LOL this was a long post, but i just have a lot to say about gen surg. <333

xoxo alicia