Dec

29

First Day on the Wards: Part 1

December 29, 2005 | Leave a Comment

Are We Healing People Yet?
So there you are, on the first day of third year about to start your clinical training. Two years of lectures behind you, thousands of facts disintegrating in your brain every day, and you are standing sheepishly in your new short white coat at the nurse’s station about to start your [...]

Dec

16

Anatomy Lab

December 16, 2005 | 4 Comments

Don’t Get Carried Away
Exactly how much anatomy do you need to know and how much time should you spend in gross lab? Opinions vary. Some people love lab and eat it up (figuratively speaking) maintaining that there is no way to learn anatomy other than to spend hundreds of hours elbow deep in a cadaver. [...]

Dec

16

So You Want to Go to Medical School

December 16, 2005 | Leave a Comment

Relax
Several years before I applied to medical school my daughter became ill and had to be admitted to our local teaching hospital. Twice a day, the head of the Pediatrics department would make his rounds followed by an impressive entourage of about a dozen residents and third year medical students rotating through pediatrics. As they [...]

Dec

12

More Random Advice

December 12, 2005 | Leave a Comment

More Random Advice for Medical Students
1. Don’t lick your fingers after a digital rectal exam…and for pete’s sake don’t linger. There’s not that much up there that you can’t feel in three minutes.
2. Brain: It only looks tasty.
3. Yell at the nurses. Tell them that when you’re an intern, there will be hell to pay [...]

Dec

12

Urban Myth

December 12, 2005 | 2 Comments

Don’t Freak Out

The requirement to do pelvics, DREs and other invasive exams on classmates is an urban myth. You will not have to stick a speculum or your finger in anybody in your class, period.
To learn how to do a pelvic, for example, on your OB-Gyn rotation you will probably observe your resident do a [...]

Dec

12

Some Random Advice

December 12, 2005 | Leave a Comment

1. The Medical Profession is not a cult. I get flamed for saying this. You do not have to sacrifice your sanity, health, and physical fitness to its service, especially not in first and second year. It is just a profession. Treat it as a demanding job to which you expect to devote sixty hours [...]

Dec

12

A Word About Gross Anatomy Lab

December 12, 2005 | Leave a Comment

Get a Cheap Pair of Sneakers

Get a cheap pair of sneakers and a couple of pairs of cheap scrubs for anatomy lab. The smell gets everywhere. I’d even consider showering and changing in the Student Exercise Room before going home. Also, you and your tank partners should invest in one Dissector (the book which describes [...]

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