Probably a weak title, but yesterday we began dissecting our cadaver! We had to expose (on one side of the back) the extrinsic and instrinsic muscles of the back. Cutting is the easy part - the hard (and hugely time consuming) part is "cleaning" the muscles afterwards of fat attached to it so we can have a good look at it. Some cadavers in the lab literally have skin then muscle, we weren't so lucky! It took us about 2 hours to get most of the fat off (we were dissecting from the neck all the way down to the lower back), but at least the anatomy professors kept walking by commenting "beautiful dissection" and "really superb job!" All 4 people in my group got plenty of time with the scalpel - doing this stuff kinda got old after a while!
We were in lab a total of 4 hours yesterday - by the end we were all pretty set on going home. 8 - 5 is a pretty long day, especially since class in the morning is so intense. Having anatomy lab in the afternoons will definitely make Tuesdays a long one! Everyone was pretty exhausted afterwards - a nap was just what the doctor ordered!
Rocked the embryology quiz - and so did everyone else! Almost 100 out of 144 got over a 90 on the 25 question quiz. That's pretty intense... We'll see how long those grades keep up!
Since I'm in Anatomy group "B" I have the day off ("A" is in the lab today), but I'll be spending most of my time in the library.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Rainy Weekend - Umbrella
The first week of real classes is over. Whew, what a whirlwind. I'm sure I've said it before, but the sheer amount of information we are given in such a short time (50 minute lectures) really is incredible. A common quote here is "trying to get a drink of water out of a gushing fire hydrant." I can see that Anatomy will definitely need some attention on my part - the vocabulary and subtleties involved get pretty complex.
Some of the terminology (especially gross anatomical terms like prone, midsaggital plane, anterior/posterior) I am familiar with because of my EMT training. I am very grateful for this, because I can see that some of my classmates will struggle with these terms. In Anatomy, you can't say "look at that muscle above the belly button" or "that artery is closer to the shoulder." Good terminology would be "look at that muscle anterior to the umbilicus" or "that artery is just lateral to the shoulder." At this point, I'll take whatever leg up I can get!
A large group of first and second year medical students went tubing down the James River yesterday - everyone was having a great time until the skies opened up on us. Then the thunder and lightning came, and we had to seek shelter on the shore, probably 2 miles away from the end of our trip. We all got pretty cold (after all, we didn't have much of anything that was dry), and some girls' lips even started to turn blue. Those girls got first priority at the little bit of shelter we found under an abandoned house. The sign near us marking "Trigger Happy Lane" wasn't too reassuring either - we laughed at comments about horror movies. Thankfully, a man came out to us from his RV and said he would call the tubing company to pick us up. That was really nice - we would really have been in a tough spot without his help!! Still, we all had a blast.
Last night I saw the Girl Talk free concert at John Paul Jones (Basketball arena) - UVA put it on to celebrate first year (undergraduate) move-in day. It is just one guy who mixes between 3-5 songs together in a hybrid. Really pretty amazing - his "Jump" (Van Halen) and "Shout" mix was a hit.
Tomorrow we have our first quiz in Embryology. Some of my friends are really getting nervous about it. I am pretty grateful that the first 2 years are all pass/fail. Getting a 70% and getting a 95% get you the same result - a Pass. That takes a huge load off of the pressure, and everyone is working pretty well together to help each other out. Plus, this quiz is only 5% of our Anatomy grade (our 2 CTS exams are about 35-40% each!!) A classmate of mine already sent out flash cards with the learning objectives and answers. Well, back to the grind. I'll let you know how the class does!
Some of the terminology (especially gross anatomical terms like prone, midsaggital plane, anterior/posterior) I am familiar with because of my EMT training. I am very grateful for this, because I can see that some of my classmates will struggle with these terms. In Anatomy, you can't say "look at that muscle above the belly button" or "that artery is closer to the shoulder." Good terminology would be "look at that muscle anterior to the umbilicus" or "that artery is just lateral to the shoulder." At this point, I'll take whatever leg up I can get!
A large group of first and second year medical students went tubing down the James River yesterday - everyone was having a great time until the skies opened up on us. Then the thunder and lightning came, and we had to seek shelter on the shore, probably 2 miles away from the end of our trip. We all got pretty cold (after all, we didn't have much of anything that was dry), and some girls' lips even started to turn blue. Those girls got first priority at the little bit of shelter we found under an abandoned house. The sign near us marking "Trigger Happy Lane" wasn't too reassuring either - we laughed at comments about horror movies. Thankfully, a man came out to us from his RV and said he would call the tubing company to pick us up. That was really nice - we would really have been in a tough spot without his help!! Still, we all had a blast.
Last night I saw the Girl Talk free concert at John Paul Jones (Basketball arena) - UVA put it on to celebrate first year (undergraduate) move-in day. It is just one guy who mixes between 3-5 songs together in a hybrid. Really pretty amazing - his "Jump" (Van Halen) and "Shout" mix was a hit.
Tomorrow we have our first quiz in Embryology. Some of my friends are really getting nervous about it. I am pretty grateful that the first 2 years are all pass/fail. Getting a 70% and getting a 95% get you the same result - a Pass. That takes a huge load off of the pressure, and everyone is working pretty well together to help each other out. Plus, this quiz is only 5% of our Anatomy grade (our 2 CTS exams are about 35-40% each!!) A classmate of mine already sent out flash cards with the learning objectives and answers. Well, back to the grind. I'll let you know how the class does!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Hip Bone's Connected to the... Sacrum?
Yeah - title's a bad anatomy joke. Sorry, I'll try to get more clever.
Yesterday we started Cells and Tissue Structure (CTS). Talk about a rough 2 hours. The lecturer moved pretty fast through some "basic" material involving sequestration and post-translational modification of secreted proteins. That's quite a mouthful, and something that I wasn't too good with back when I saw a brief overview of it in undergrad bio. Also doesn't help that my cellular biology knowledge is basically non-existent (at least compared to some of my classmates). Darn you Econ major! Guess I'll have to work a bit harder...
Today we got to have our first time in the anatomy lab. Funny aside - we have to wear some sort of eye protection in the lab, and I forgot my goggles. Good thing they have extras, because my partner and I literally were ready to wear sunglasses as our eye protection. At least I would have been stylish in the lab. Our cadaver isn't as large as I thought - although washing it head to toe took quite a while.
The amount of information being thrown at us can definitely be viewed as a bit overwhelming. It's looking like I'll have to hit up the library (which is much nicer than the undergrad ones!) after class to do some review of the day's material. I'm definitely not alone there, but I'm definitely not used to having to do this much work. I want to try to stay with it as much as I can, it would probably be pretty bad if I fell behind. Speaking of which, I need to review CTS and biochem for tomorrow. More later.
Yesterday we started Cells and Tissue Structure (CTS). Talk about a rough 2 hours. The lecturer moved pretty fast through some "basic" material involving sequestration and post-translational modification of secreted proteins. That's quite a mouthful, and something that I wasn't too good with back when I saw a brief overview of it in undergrad bio. Also doesn't help that my cellular biology knowledge is basically non-existent (at least compared to some of my classmates). Darn you Econ major! Guess I'll have to work a bit harder...
Today we got to have our first time in the anatomy lab. Funny aside - we have to wear some sort of eye protection in the lab, and I forgot my goggles. Good thing they have extras, because my partner and I literally were ready to wear sunglasses as our eye protection. At least I would have been stylish in the lab. Our cadaver isn't as large as I thought - although washing it head to toe took quite a while.
The amount of information being thrown at us can definitely be viewed as a bit overwhelming. It's looking like I'll have to hit up the library (which is much nicer than the undergrad ones!) after class to do some review of the day's material. I'm definitely not alone there, but I'm definitely not used to having to do this much work. I want to try to stay with it as much as I can, it would probably be pretty bad if I fell behind. Speaking of which, I need to review CTS and biochem for tomorrow. More later.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Start of "Foundations of Medicine" - Thunder Road
Woke up (for once) with a good night of sleep under my belt. Turns out I would need it, today was a long one. I arrived at my cubby at 8 AM to find a TON of stuff, including this bad boy to the left. I know it's tough to see, but this tome represents 1 semester's worth of Biochemistry notes. How generous of them. Oh, I also found our Cells and Tissue Structure (CTS) lectures similarly bound as well as a packet for Anatomy entitled "Human Embryology & Developmental Biology." That last sucker is 77 pages of very condensed and intense material. Oh, and that's only 1 weeks worth of Anatomy notes. Looks like I was right about hitting the ground running. Fortunately, the first half (8-12) of class today was devoted mostly to syllabus/outline things for biochem and Practice of Medicine (POM, developing interviewing/exam skills in small groups). Note to self: 4 cups of coffee is a bad choice - I was ready to jump out of my skin when we were discussing empathy during POM. Maybe just keep it to 1 cup for tomorrow. Not so much the case with anatomy this afternoon. After lunch (where, despite my attempt to be healthy, the sandwich person put about 100 pieces of bacon on my BLT) and a brief intro to anatomy, we got a quick overview of the actual anatomy lab. Our cadavers were already there (closed up of course), and the place had quite the pungent smell. I've been advised to not wear contacts in the lab - apparently formaldehyde can sink into them. Ouch, and gross.
Lastly, 2 hours of very intense work reviewing the first 3 weeks of embryo development (gamete development --> gametogenesis for you science types). Talk about whirlwind - our anatomy prof doesn't mess around. My roommate informed me we did in 2 hours what he did in 2 weeks in his upper-level embryology course. Great.
So, to summarize my classes this semester: Biochem, CTS (starts tomorrow), "Clinical Anatomy & Medical Imaging," and POM. Talk about jumping down the rabbit hole...
Still enjoying most of it though! More tomorrow...
Saturday, August 15, 2009
White Coat Greatness!
This week we finished up our intro to Medical School class - "Cells to Society." Nothing too interesting to report there.
Yesterday we had our white coat ceremony. The family came up to celebrate with me! The ceremony took quite a while (144 names take a while to read), so I had some time to reflect what the white coat means to me personally. I think it symbolizes clearly what my life has been leading to for the past few years. It represents something of a commitment to the betterment of others, and working to help alleviate other people's struggles. This past summer, a close friend told me to always be mindful of past experiences and mentors who have helped me along the way - I am only so strong as these factors. The white coat is a visible and concrete reminder of this fact, and it is something I will absolutely take into the future.
I'm definitely looking forward to a relaxing weekend - something of the calm before the storm. Biochemistry and Anatomy start right away on Monday. From what I hear, we hit the ground running and go right into some pretty intense material! The real game beings Monday!
Yesterday we had our white coat ceremony. The family came up to celebrate with me! The ceremony took quite a while (144 names take a while to read), so I had some time to reflect what the white coat means to me personally. I think it symbolizes clearly what my life has been leading to for the past few years. It represents something of a commitment to the betterment of others, and working to help alleviate other people's struggles. This past summer, a close friend told me to always be mindful of past experiences and mentors who have helped me along the way - I am only so strong as these factors. The white coat is a visible and concrete reminder of this fact, and it is something I will absolutely take into the future.
I'm definitely looking forward to a relaxing weekend - something of the calm before the storm. Biochemistry and Anatomy start right away on Monday. From what I hear, we hit the ground running and go right into some pretty intense material! The real game beings Monday!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wednesday - I Gotta Feeling
The past few days have been much more jam-packed than the first day!
Yesterday served more as an Orientation - we learned all about the Honor Council, UJC, etc... There are tons and tons of student groups that spoke - seems that the Medical School here has some super-involved people. A definite "highlight" was the director of Student Health predicting a "very large" outbreak of Swine Flu to occur once the Undergrads come back for the Fall Semester. How comforting. The good news? Medical Students will be at the top of the list to get the swine flu vaccine (but I would hope I would be in the category anyway as an EMS provider?).
Today we had our first "patient contact" and had to dress accordingly - professional attire. This week from Wednesday to Friday we have an introduction to Medical School called "Cells to Society" which focuses on Diabetes. Today we were told all about Diabetes from the molecular level and its systemic effects all the way to the growing concerns over a global pandemic of the disorder. It really does appear to be a major problem going into the future.
A patient came in front of the entire medical school class and was interviewed by an internist as a demonstration of how to properly engage the patient and what to ask/look for in an interview. Very interesting, since the questions he asked and his overall repore he built with the patient really was unlike anything I have experienced as an emergency medical provider. We split up into small groups for the afternoon (9 people with 3 mentors including a clinician, a cell biologist, and a chaplain) and we interviewed another patient ourselves. I thoroughly enjoyed this last part especially, as the patient really opened up to us and shared some valuable insight into her condition.
On a separate note, the social life really is in full swing. Each night the social chairs of the student government for the medical school have an event planned. It's definitely been a challenge attending these events, getting relatively few hours of sleep, and then repeating it all over again at 8 AM the next morning.
We start "real" basic science classes next Monday - should be quite the adventure. Did I mention I helped move 23 cadavers into the Anatomy Lab yesterday afternoon? Definitely pretty creepy moving around bodies like that... guess I'll have to get used to it. Brings back memories of fetal pig dissection in the 9th grade - somehow I think this might be just a bit different. They were also sharpening the hack saws for our start next week - yikes!
Well I've written enough for now - I'll check back soon!
Yesterday served more as an Orientation - we learned all about the Honor Council, UJC, etc... There are tons and tons of student groups that spoke - seems that the Medical School here has some super-involved people. A definite "highlight" was the director of Student Health predicting a "very large" outbreak of Swine Flu to occur once the Undergrads come back for the Fall Semester. How comforting. The good news? Medical Students will be at the top of the list to get the swine flu vaccine (but I would hope I would be in the category anyway as an EMS provider?).
Today we had our first "patient contact" and had to dress accordingly - professional attire. This week from Wednesday to Friday we have an introduction to Medical School called "Cells to Society" which focuses on Diabetes. Today we were told all about Diabetes from the molecular level and its systemic effects all the way to the growing concerns over a global pandemic of the disorder. It really does appear to be a major problem going into the future.
A patient came in front of the entire medical school class and was interviewed by an internist as a demonstration of how to properly engage the patient and what to ask/look for in an interview. Very interesting, since the questions he asked and his overall repore he built with the patient really was unlike anything I have experienced as an emergency medical provider. We split up into small groups for the afternoon (9 people with 3 mentors including a clinician, a cell biologist, and a chaplain) and we interviewed another patient ourselves. I thoroughly enjoyed this last part especially, as the patient really opened up to us and shared some valuable insight into her condition.
On a separate note, the social life really is in full swing. Each night the social chairs of the student government for the medical school have an event planned. It's definitely been a challenge attending these events, getting relatively few hours of sleep, and then repeating it all over again at 8 AM the next morning.
We start "real" basic science classes next Monday - should be quite the adventure. Did I mention I helped move 23 cadavers into the Anatomy Lab yesterday afternoon? Definitely pretty creepy moving around bodies like that... guess I'll have to get used to it. Brings back memories of fetal pig dissection in the 9th grade - somehow I think this might be just a bit different. They were also sharpening the hack saws for our start next week - yikes!
Well I've written enough for now - I'll check back soon!
Monday, August 10, 2009
First Day - Manic Monday?
Maybe a bit anticlimactic. For probably the first time EVER, I had all my stuff I needed completed and finished. Quite an accomplishment for me as you all know! Started at 8:30, and I'm here writing this at noon! Nothing really major happened today at all - got yet another tour (but I'll still always get lost around the Medical Center!), had to fill out some forms/emergency contacts. They made a big deal in the letter a few weeks ago to bring pens... it was nice to see they actually provided them! Nothing says "rough economy" quite like "bring your own pen, we won't be providing them." My tour guide was an RA in my dorm first year - maybe she looks back on that and laughs? I can't believe that was 4 years ago!
Got fitted for my white coat today - once again my broad shoulders force me to get a huge size that would probably fit most of our "larger" members of the rescue squad. I guess that's what i get for being a swimmer, right? I'll be getting it taken in for sure.
As for the people - I'm really surprised (and psyched) about how down to earth and "socially adept" people we have in our class! I was really expecting some major social issues - science types aren't usually considered the most outgoing and talkative people (for the most part!). Something about spending all their time in a lab. Which is why I majored in Econ! We have to wear our hospital IDs in Jordan Hall (the Med School) at all times - good thing because I'm horrendous with names. Yesterday a bunch of us went out to Crozet to a random watering hole complete with a rope swing... 2 back flops and several curses later I decided maybe swinging wasn't the best idea.
Well I think I've written enough for today. All in all a great day, BBQ tonight. Back on the saddle for our first FULL day tomorrow (8-5... yikes.).
I'm also not sure if I like my setup for the blog. Any suggestions?
Got fitted for my white coat today - once again my broad shoulders force me to get a huge size that would probably fit most of our "larger" members of the rescue squad. I guess that's what i get for being a swimmer, right? I'll be getting it taken in for sure.
As for the people - I'm really surprised (and psyched) about how down to earth and "socially adept" people we have in our class! I was really expecting some major social issues - science types aren't usually considered the most outgoing and talkative people (for the most part!). Something about spending all their time in a lab. Which is why I majored in Econ! We have to wear our hospital IDs in Jordan Hall (the Med School) at all times - good thing because I'm horrendous with names. Yesterday a bunch of us went out to Crozet to a random watering hole complete with a rope swing... 2 back flops and several curses later I decided maybe swinging wasn't the best idea.
Well I think I've written enough for today. All in all a great day, BBQ tonight. Back on the saddle for our first FULL day tomorrow (8-5... yikes.).
I'm also not sure if I like my setup for the blog. Any suggestions?
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