It's been a while, it's been tough to "find time" to update the blog. This week is going to be a rough one - midterm exam time. Anatomy (written multiple choice and practical "pinable structures" in the lab) on monday, Biochem on wednesday, and CTS on friday. Plus, U2 is coming to town Thursday night. Good thing almost all of the CTS exam comes straight from the practice quizzes (but there are tons and tons of questions per lecture - one had over 70!!!).
My birthday was last Wednesday - didn't get too crazy with all the work I had to do but I was able to go out and have a little bit of fun. Each year I am so surprised at the people who come out of the woodwork to write on my wall to wish me a happy birthday. It really makes you appreciate all the different people you've met along the way - and it's been awesome to get to know such a wide variety with all of the things I've done. Definitely pretty special!
Despite my best efforts to stay ahead of the material, I still can't believe how much we need to know for these exams. Many people are especially concerned about the anatomy practical - we have to go into the lab with a sheet of paper (NO multiple choice here!) and they pin a structure on the cadaver and say for example ("identify" or "what nerve innervates this" or "gives 2 actions of this muscle"). It gets especially tricky with joints (and bones of the hand/foot - yikes.....), you have to be pretty specific. "Flexion of the arm" gets me nowhere - I have to specify between the "elbow" and the "glenohumeral" joint (shoulder). The many similar names also get a bit confusing (see supraspinatus muscle and suprascapular nerve, and thoracoacromial artery/thoracodorsal nerve). On the positive side, they only pin structures where it can reasonably be identified by nearby landmarks. I'll be going in to the lab tomorrow at 9 AM (no sleeping in for this guy!) to do a full review - I hope it goes well!!!
Interspersing my other classes while studying for anatomy has been tough... I might not get a ton of sleep tonight :( But then again, it's the rest 2 nights before the main event that matters most, so I probably won't be up too late!! I'll check in again after this Anatomy exam! Good thing it's all just straight pass/fail!!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Kids
I'll try to update more frequently - tough to find time! Class attendance has started to drop off a bit - I guess people would rather sleep in and watch the lecture online (via podcasts posted online) at a more convenient time. It sounds like a good idea, but who am I fooling - I don't have near the discipline to sit down for an hour and watch a lecture online. Plus, it would be pretty easy to be anti-social and never see anyone by just never showing up to class. We have another biochem quiz this week - lots of information on it, but I'm not super worried.
I've dubbed this week in Anatomy the dreaded "quad" week - 4 labs in one week. Group A does labs 9 and 11 on Monday and Thursday, while Group B (that's me) does 10 and 12 on Tuesday and Friday. Yep, we're responsible for all of it. Don't even get me started on how Group A never has Friday lab (so they often get Fridays completely off!!) It's pretty rough, but fortunately this is the only week like this. Our lab director told our group 2 weeks ago that this is the toughest few weeks we will have in anatomy - apparently it slows down considerably after the first exam. Exams are in 2 weeks, I'm curious to see how people cope with the challenge. Could be entertaining! I've been working reasonably hard to keep up with the material to avoid cramming for the exams - not that it would be really possible anyway (at least for Anatomy and Biochem) given the unbelievable amount of information covered. We're already through Lecture 23 in Biochem - where has the time gone??
UVA football continues to redefine pathetic - one of my favorite sports writers Mike Wilbon referred to the ACC as "stinky" and to UVA specifically as the "captain of stink." Pretty accurate - Cav Man falling off his horse to start Saturday's game pretty much summed up the state of UVA football. Enough on that.
Finally, CONGRATS to Allison and John having their first child (and my 2nd nephew), Jack! I CAN'T WAIT to meet him over Fall Break in 3 weeks! Speaking of which, I need to get his present pronto! That's all I have for now, more later.
I've dubbed this week in Anatomy the dreaded "quad" week - 4 labs in one week. Group A does labs 9 and 11 on Monday and Thursday, while Group B (that's me) does 10 and 12 on Tuesday and Friday. Yep, we're responsible for all of it. Don't even get me started on how Group A never has Friday lab (so they often get Fridays completely off!!) It's pretty rough, but fortunately this is the only week like this. Our lab director told our group 2 weeks ago that this is the toughest few weeks we will have in anatomy - apparently it slows down considerably after the first exam. Exams are in 2 weeks, I'm curious to see how people cope with the challenge. Could be entertaining! I've been working reasonably hard to keep up with the material to avoid cramming for the exams - not that it would be really possible anyway (at least for Anatomy and Biochem) given the unbelievable amount of information covered. We're already through Lecture 23 in Biochem - where has the time gone??
UVA football continues to redefine pathetic - one of my favorite sports writers Mike Wilbon referred to the ACC as "stinky" and to UVA specifically as the "captain of stink." Pretty accurate - Cav Man falling off his horse to start Saturday's game pretty much summed up the state of UVA football. Enough on that.
Finally, CONGRATS to Allison and John having their first child (and my 2nd nephew), Jack! I CAN'T WAIT to meet him over Fall Break in 3 weeks! Speaking of which, I need to get his present pronto! That's all I have for now, more later.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Already Gone
The title pretty much sums up the UVA football season. Done before it even started. As a long-time Wahoo fan and avid football fan, I can't even begin to explain how disappointed I am. Every year we have high hopes for the team, and everyone involved talks up the team and how strong it will be, but starting off losing to a Division I-AA school in William and Mary (and not a top D I-AA school either!) really doesn't bode well for the season. 7 turnovers - are you kidding me? It was unbelievable. I can't believe that was many of my classmates' first glimpse into UVA athletics - who will want to go to games now? On the bright side, I had a great turnout for the tailgate I ran before the game and it was awesome to see some of my undergraduate friends as well! In other football news, we learned this week about separated shoulders in anatomy, which is exactly what happened to OU's Sam Bradford on Saturday night. It was cool to see a real-life example of something we learned!
Last Wednesday I started my Social Issues in Medicine (SIM) community service at a center for at-risk teens. We spent about an hour total playing basketball - my total ineptness at least kept the teens pretty entertained. All in all, I had fun and it was nice to have a break from the wire-to-wire studying.
On Thursday we were "thrown into the fire" so to speak as we had our first hospital interviews with real patients. We were paired off and each of us talked to a patient and gathered their history for about 30 minutes. A few of my classmates reported some difficulty establishing a good relationship with the patient - it made me think back to how I had the same issues starting off as a fresh EMT 4 years ago. We do not spend 30 minutes talking to patients in EMS though, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much my patient opened up about his past and his feelings about his illness. It was definitely a powerful experience. I'm looking forward to helping some of my classmates interview people - it's definitely something you have to do often to become comfortable with.
Spent pretty much all day today reviewing anatomy, and went into the lab this evening to review some of the structures. I was surprised at how many of the parts I could identify correctly! We move to the hand and the legs this week - I'll definitely need to do my best to keep up!
Last Wednesday I started my Social Issues in Medicine (SIM) community service at a center for at-risk teens. We spent about an hour total playing basketball - my total ineptness at least kept the teens pretty entertained. All in all, I had fun and it was nice to have a break from the wire-to-wire studying.
On Thursday we were "thrown into the fire" so to speak as we had our first hospital interviews with real patients. We were paired off and each of us talked to a patient and gathered their history for about 30 minutes. A few of my classmates reported some difficulty establishing a good relationship with the patient - it made me think back to how I had the same issues starting off as a fresh EMT 4 years ago. We do not spend 30 minutes talking to patients in EMS though, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much my patient opened up about his past and his feelings about his illness. It was definitely a powerful experience. I'm looking forward to helping some of my classmates interview people - it's definitely something you have to do often to become comfortable with.
Spent pretty much all day today reviewing anatomy, and went into the lab this evening to review some of the structures. I was surprised at how many of the parts I could identify correctly! We move to the hand and the legs this week - I'll definitely need to do my best to keep up!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
September
Whew, it's been quite a week so far and I'm not even through Wednesday! In Anatomy Lab we have two groups, and typically each group will do a separate lab during their times. What does that mean? Yesterday during lab, we had to go over what the other group did on Monday as well as do our own dissection of the arm and forearm. 2 labs in one day was really, really tough. Plus we were introduced to the lovely difference between nerves and arteries. Yeah, not only do we need to know the muscles (telling the coracobrachialis and the brachialis apart, and then finding the musculocuaneous nerve!), but also the nerves that innervate them. It was rough, plus having 10+ muscles in the forearm to deal with was also interesting, to say the least. In sum: after 4.5 hours in the lab, we were all very ready to go home!
With our first online quizzes in CTS and Biochem things are starting to heat up around here (while the mornings have been getting pretty chilly), I cannot wait to be done with them on Friday! This weekend should be a blast - opening football game vs. William & Mary!
Each medical student is placed out in the community for "Social Issues in Medicine," which I start officially late today. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow.
Congrats to my sister and brother for both finding a house! Should be interesting to have all these families within about a half mile of my parents. I know they looked pretty much forever for places, so I'm sure they're excited. Well, back to work. Look for more tomorrow.
With our first online quizzes in CTS and Biochem things are starting to heat up around here (while the mornings have been getting pretty chilly), I cannot wait to be done with them on Friday! This weekend should be a blast - opening football game vs. William & Mary!
Each medical student is placed out in the community for "Social Issues in Medicine," which I start officially late today. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow.
Congrats to my sister and brother for both finding a house! Should be interesting to have all these families within about a half mile of my parents. I know they looked pretty much forever for places, so I'm sure they're excited. Well, back to work. Look for more tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)