Monday, February 14, 2011

Quick Update

It's been a while since my last post. Medical school is getting busier and more hectic.

We're currently in our physiology and cell biology block.
We finished our first CB test and just finished our 2nd physiology test (pulmonary and GI).
The tests were supposed to be on Fridays, 1 week apart (which means about 2 weeks of intense studying). However, due to the crazy weather, school was canceled for 4 days, resulting in the test being postponed to the next Wednesday. Let me tell you... that was hard on everyone's energy and drive. We were all ready to celebrate the end of 2 weeks of studying, enjoy the nice weekend. But instead, we were stuck indoors in the snow and ice. I definitely struggled to open my syllabus again.

However, that's what friends and colleagues are for. We were able to help each other keep up the study spirit, making sure we go through the entire syllabus yet again before the test on Wednesday.
I actually ended up scoring really well this last physio test - perhaps the extra time and extra help from friends was beneficial.

Today, we are having our first FULL physical exam practice with a standardized patient. 25 minutes. Video-taped. We are all not prepared... but hopefully, 25 minutes will go by quickly, and I'll be able to do the basic things that I know how to do (vitals, head/face/neck, cardiovascular and pulmonary...) I'm not as good with the abdomen, musculoskeletal, and nerve reflexes. But we have to learn and practice at some point.
They're really throwing us into this. But I guess that's just how things are. Everything has a start - sometimes it's an ease-in kind of thing, sometimes it's a blind-dive.

I wonder when we will begin transforming into the naive, immature students that we are to mature, professional physicians.