Apr

16

Don’t Tell the Spartans

April 16, 2007 | 29 Comments

(Many of you are about to start third year and are looking forward to it with feelings of both anticipation and dread. You know that it’s going to be the real start of your medical career where you finally get to see what all the fuss is about. At the same time, despite the propaganda, [...]

Mar

25

Panda’s Quick n’ Dirty Guide to Third Year Rotations: Part 7

March 25, 2007 | 12 Comments

Family Medicine
(Some medical schools have a formal Family Medicine rotation while others have a regular continuity clinic that runs concurrently with your other rotations in third and fourth year. Osteopathic medical schools hit Family Medicine and primary care like a pimp with his biaches, that is, hard and often.-PB)
Your Real Responsibilities:
Nothing.  You’re a medical student  [...]

Mar

1

Panda’s Quick n’ Dirty Guide to Third Year Rotations: Part 6

March 1, 2007 | 1 Comment

(Surgical specialties are usually grouped together in a one month block although they may do things differently at some schools-PB)
Surgical Specialties: Urology, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, and Orthopaedics
Your Real Responsibilities:
Nothing. You’re a medical student. You don’t count. And since you typically only spend a week on each service with the weekend off in between, you will [...]

Feb

20

Panda’s Quick n’ Dirty Guide to Third Year Rotations: Part 5

February 20, 2007 | 1 Comment

(Some schools offer students the chance to rotate in the Emergency Department in third year while some only offer it as an elective in fourth year.-PB)
Emergency Medicine
Your Real Responsibilities:
Nothing. You’re a medical student. You don’t count. But that’s all right. We’re happy to have you. It’s true you’re not much help but [...]

Feb

18

Panda’s Quick n’ Dirty Guide to Third Year Rotations: Part 4

February 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment

(Disclaimer: I hated surgery with the burning fire of a thousand suns so you may have a different experience-PB)
General Surgery
Your Real Responsibilities:
Nothing. You’re a medical student. You don’t count. Your job on the surgery team is to be the butt of jokes and to give everybody someone to laugh at. [...]

Feb

9

Panda’s Quick n’ Dirty Guide to Third Year Rotations: Part 3

February 9, 2007 | 1 Comment

Internal Medicine (”Medicine”)
Your Real Responsibilities:
Nothing. You’re a medical student. Remember those red-shirted crew members on Star Trek? That’s kind of like you. Your only function is to walk around filling out the scene. Sometimes bad things will happen to you, sometimes you will provide comic relief, but mostly you will [...]

Feb

4

Panda’s Quick and Dirty Guide to Third Year Rotations: Part 2

February 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Pediatrics
Your Real Responsibilities:
Nothing. You’re a medical student. You don’t count. I hear that in Arizona they’re going to replace medical students with migrant workers. Sure, they’ll have to pay them minimum wage but this is peanuts compared to the cost of educating a medical student. This way the hospital will [...]

Feb

3

Panda’s Quick n’ Dirty Guide to Third Year Rotations: Part 1

February 3, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/Gyn)
Your Real Responsibilities:
Nothing. You’re a student and you don’t count. Every medical student in the hospital could vanish and apart from less crowding on the elevators, nobody would notice.
Your Pretend Responsibilities:
Following pregnant woman pre-, ante-, and post-partum. Assisting in vaginal and Cesarean deliveries. Assisting in gynecological surgeries including [...]

Nov

14

Tomorrow Will Suck

November 14, 2006 | 1 Comment

Third Year in a Nutshell
I wasn’t really looking forward to patient contact. Because we spent all of first and second year far removed from the clinical practice of medicine I paid lip service to the idea that something was lacking in our medical education but to tell the truth, we had a pretty good [...]

Feb

18

Scrubbing In: Part 2

February 18, 2006 | Leave a Comment

All Dressed Up, Nowhere to Go

Are you essential to the running of the OR? Will your skills be of any value?
Of course not.
On the other hand, just because you don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to surgery does not mean that the team does not want you there. [...]

Feb

15

Scrubbing In: Part 1

February 15, 2006 | 2 Comments

Yes, the Scrub Nurse is Laughing at You

The dreaded day has arrived. You are on your first surgery rotation. After a brief orientation you are told to report to the operating room to “scrub in” for your first surgey.
Get ready to run the gauntlet. You have the potential, in the next few hours, to screw [...]

Feb

10

First Day on the Wards: Part 2

February 10, 2006 | Leave a Comment

You Are Worthless and Weak

What is rounding?
At it’s most basic, rounding is the process of visiting hospitalized patients as part of a team. The team usually consists of an Attending Physician, a collection of upper level and junior residents and medical students.
The Attending Physician, or the “Attending” is the boss. He is usually a senior [...]

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 [...]