It's been a busy sort of week, complete with full sorts of days. Monday and Tuesday were both eight-to-fives (or would have been, had I attended the 8 AM lecture)... Knowing I can watch the lecture online makes it somewhat more difficult to motivate myself in the morning. Today is a bit better; I have the afternoon free (besides catching up on lectures and studying, of course). The midterm is closing in too quickly....
Luckily, everything in this block is already familiar, thanks to the Molecular Biology and Cell Biology courses I took last year at IU. But having four lecture hours worth of material each day builds up quickly -- really quickly.
Monday afternoon, I met with my randomly assigned physician mentor, who is a pediatrician at a nearby children's hospital. I enjoyed meeting her, but she wasn't able to take me around to patients due to my lack of white coat. So it felt kind of useless staying there for two hours when I wasn't doing anything or learning much. Went home exhausted.
Tuesday afternoon, I had my first assigned session for a program called Big Friends, which puts med students in charge of a small group of elementary kids (this year, they're nine-year-olds) to engage them in activities after school. WOW those kids had energy... Some of them, anyway, and that was enough. It was still a generally good time, aside from the screaming and the jumping and the whining about homework.
Tomorrow, I begin learning how to give physical exams. The first step is HEENT (head/eyes/ears/nose/throat). I'm rather excited to see a retina.... I've been practicing listening to Kitty's lungs so I'll be ready for the next step: pulmonary. On a side note, his heart beats incredibly fast!
Friday, I'm skipping class -- at least, the first part of it. Body Worlds opens at the museum on Saturday, and the staff and volunteers get to preview the exhibit Friday morning. I'm pretty excited about it. I hear they plastinated a camel... which honestly raises all kinds of questions for me...
All for now, I think. I should get back to the clinical and diagnostic applications of recombinant DNA. Or I may end up taking a quick library nap... That delicious [yet overprised] asiago bagel isn't sitting quite right.... I suddenly miss BBC.
14 October 2009
04 October 2009
Emergence
OK, so I disappeared there for a little while. Things got a little crazy. Well-- even more so than usual, that is.
Survived the Anatomy final exam. Didn't ace it, but I passed it. That one guy in my lab group -- the one who did sports medicine in undergrad and already knew the entire course before it was taught -- he was the first to finish his written exam. I was so irritated with him.... I wish I had that weird weapon from No Country for Old Men... Or maybe I was just in another angry mood that day. Then during the practical, he walked through the lab with this air of confidence while every other student was squirming and struggling... I'm hoping he knows nothing about biochemistry... It'd really make me feel better.
So our second block -- Elements of Bioscience -- hasn't been too intense just yet. Honestly, a good bit of it is review from undergrad classes. (I'm really glad I took Cell Biology last year -- even if I've already forgotten a lot of it!) And it's really good that it's mostly review, because it's been a little disorienting... The difference in class structure, going from Anatomy to this, has been rather jolting. I'd just figured out productive ways to take notes and study for Anatomy; now I've got to rethink my study plan. And the fact that this switch happened in the middle of the week didn't help things either.
Also this past week, I had my first videotaped one-on-one interview with a standardized patient. For anyone who doesn't know-- standardized patients are basically actors who play the part of a specific patient who has come into the clinic for one reason or another. They represent actual cases (though I don't know where they get them). So far we've just taken histories, but later on we'll be starting physical exams. They're actually a lot more than actors, though; they're really professional patients. They can tell you your strengths and weaknesses, and whether you're doing a procedure correctly.
This session was actually really useful. (I haven't seen the video yet... I hate watching myself on tape. Then again, I think most people probably do.) My biggest problem was forgetting to ask certain questions during the history-taking. I completely neglected to ask about alcohol/tobacco/drug use. But my standardized patient (who has been doing this for a long, long time) gave me a pretty positive review, so that was really encouraging. Apparently, I'm pretty good at putting forward a comfortable yet professional demeanor.
The weekend has been fairly busy, too. Saturday, Alisha & I went shopping for decor to fill our all-too-bare walls. The adventure was incredibly successful, minus a small scuffle with IKEA. (On a side note -- that store is MASSIVE!) I found I'm really drawn to funky metal works for some reason. Today, I had my orientation/training session at the Franklin Institute for the Body Worlds 2 exhibit. I will actually probably skip class the day before the exhibit opens so I can tour it before having to answer questions about it. (It's okay -- the lectures are taped and posted online so I can listen later.) There are going to be some definite benefits to this volunteer gig.... I get free admission to the museum (and I've got to admit -- that giant heart is pretty darn cool) and IMAX every so often.
So the busy weekend has left very little time for studying. Was going to read over some notes once I'd laid in bed last night, but Kitty obviously disagreed, since he made himself comfortable right across my chest. I gave in and turned out the light. There will always be more time to study....
Survived the Anatomy final exam. Didn't ace it, but I passed it. That one guy in my lab group -- the one who did sports medicine in undergrad and already knew the entire course before it was taught -- he was the first to finish his written exam. I was so irritated with him.... I wish I had that weird weapon from No Country for Old Men... Or maybe I was just in another angry mood that day. Then during the practical, he walked through the lab with this air of confidence while every other student was squirming and struggling... I'm hoping he knows nothing about biochemistry... It'd really make me feel better.
So our second block -- Elements of Bioscience -- hasn't been too intense just yet. Honestly, a good bit of it is review from undergrad classes. (I'm really glad I took Cell Biology last year -- even if I've already forgotten a lot of it!) And it's really good that it's mostly review, because it's been a little disorienting... The difference in class structure, going from Anatomy to this, has been rather jolting. I'd just figured out productive ways to take notes and study for Anatomy; now I've got to rethink my study plan. And the fact that this switch happened in the middle of the week didn't help things either.
Also this past week, I had my first videotaped one-on-one interview with a standardized patient. For anyone who doesn't know-- standardized patients are basically actors who play the part of a specific patient who has come into the clinic for one reason or another. They represent actual cases (though I don't know where they get them). So far we've just taken histories, but later on we'll be starting physical exams. They're actually a lot more than actors, though; they're really professional patients. They can tell you your strengths and weaknesses, and whether you're doing a procedure correctly.
This session was actually really useful. (I haven't seen the video yet... I hate watching myself on tape. Then again, I think most people probably do.) My biggest problem was forgetting to ask certain questions during the history-taking. I completely neglected to ask about alcohol/tobacco/drug use. But my standardized patient (who has been doing this for a long, long time) gave me a pretty positive review, so that was really encouraging. Apparently, I'm pretty good at putting forward a comfortable yet professional demeanor.
The weekend has been fairly busy, too. Saturday, Alisha & I went shopping for decor to fill our all-too-bare walls. The adventure was incredibly successful, minus a small scuffle with IKEA. (On a side note -- that store is MASSIVE!) I found I'm really drawn to funky metal works for some reason. Today, I had my orientation/training session at the Franklin Institute for the Body Worlds 2 exhibit. I will actually probably skip class the day before the exhibit opens so I can tour it before having to answer questions about it. (It's okay -- the lectures are taped and posted online so I can listen later.) There are going to be some definite benefits to this volunteer gig.... I get free admission to the museum (and I've got to admit -- that giant heart is pretty darn cool) and IMAX every so often.
So the busy weekend has left very little time for studying. Was going to read over some notes once I'd laid in bed last night, but Kitty obviously disagreed, since he made himself comfortable right across my chest. I gave in and turned out the light. There will always be more time to study....
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