When do you find time to study during surgery rotation?

[rubyness]

Surgery is my first rotation and I've been there for 2 weeks so far. I've heard we should study an hour a day, but frankly the time is hard to find. Perhaps if I was later on in the year I would already have a routine for balancing study with work on the wards, but as of now I don't.

I am doing more Pretest and Surgical Recall and less Lawrence because reading that takes forever! Our shelf is 50% of our grade.

Any suggestions?

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[doepug]

Wow. It sucks that the shelf is 50% of your grade... I think it reflects poorly on the school's educational philosophy. That being said...

Carry Surgical Recall in your coat. Read it whenever you have a minute or more free. If it doesn't fit in your coat, carry it around. Take it everywhere... OR, wards, lectures, cafeteria, wherever... and pull it out every chance you get. Dog-ear pages that you don't understand, so you can look those ideas up later. Do your best to go through a little bit of Recall every day, and re-read whenever possible.

Get a copy of Pre-Test (from a friend or the library), and go through it cover to cover. Many of the questions on the shelf exam will be similar to these. Again, go through the book a second time if you can.

If you still have time, get a copy of Blueprints. Use it to brush up on problem areas. It's an easy read.

Put Lawrence aside. Although it's great to read a true textbook, you don't have time for this. Refer to Lawrence if and only if you have a question from reading Recall or PreTest. For your purposes, Lawrence will be a low-yield resource.

Best of luck,
doepug

 

[Winged Scapula]

If you have access to free or reduced cost photocopying, considering copying a chapter frm your book of choice and carrying it around with you to read during "down times".

Its much easier to carry in your lab coat or the back pocket of your scrubs than a text and if you lose it, who cares (as opposed to a book which is easily forgotten in the OR, lounge, etc.)

Finding time to study will be a constant battle - even with the reduced work hours, its still tough as a resident.

 

[ERMudPhud]

I used to scan pages from my books into the computer and use OCR software to convert it to a text document I could load on my PDA. It didn't really take any longer than photocopying. Then I could sit and read anytime I had downtime (a few minutes here or there)

 

[Scrubbs]

I think I always had Recall in my pocket... it fit perfectly in the white coat, so its wasn't a problem. I never read Lawrence... just used Recall and Appleton & Lange (questions better than Pretest). The beginning of 3rd year is hard, b/c you're not used to rotations, but just throw yourself into it and you'll be fine! Good Luck!

 

[rubyness]

Thanks for the help, ya'll!! I'll give these a try! It sure is a switch from hours of desk study-- now studying has to be done on the go!

 

[kd]

I'm having the same problem on OB/GYN. These 80+ hour weeks are killing me and this is just so different from the way I'm used to studying. During preclinical years, I skipped class and mostly studied at home all the time. Now we have mandatory attendance at lectures, even when we're post call, so it's a huge pain to have to stick around the hospital all day for a lecture that ends up being cancelled anyway. I don't get any studying done there, even when I do have down time. I try to read OB recall when I can, but I always end up getting asked obscure stuff that isn't in there. I've never felt so stupid and incompetent in my life!

 

[shag]

Originally posted by kd
I've never felt so stupid and incompetent in my life!

Welcome to 3rd year!!! Luckily, after awhile, you build up a tolerance to feeling stupid and develop a thick skin. If you can't learn to take those feelings with a grain of salt, then your fellow students will be presenting YOU at morning psych rounds .

 

[chicamedica]

I'm so used to feeling stupid already and it's just my 4th month of 3rd year. . .