In honor of our upcoming heme/onc exam:

-Later!

Fashion Tips for Med Students

This post is designed to be a work in progress, so if YOU have a fashion tip to contribute, post it in a comment and I'll add it in.  :-)

-Later!!  :-p

So I was a little tired...

Open letter RE: Use of FLASH for instructional presentations

To the general population of medical educators and hospital administrators:

Using FLASH for student training is an inefficient way to convey information, and an absolute waste of time.  Here are the reasons why:
1) My piece-of-crap computer takes forever to load each screen (primary reason)
Please note that being forced to click pictures of fake mouses to display situations on fake computers and open fake resource folders and answer a fake phone on a fake desk to "speak" with a fake administrator ONLY PROLONGS THIS AGONY
2) My reading speed is approximately 1100 words per minute.  I do not, under any conditions, ever want to listen to someone else read a screen to me.  Their reading speed is approximately 0.2 words per minute.  My attention span is NOT long enough to effectively focus on what they are saying after the first 30 seconds.
3) My reading comprehension is approximately 99.999%.  My auditory comprehension is approximately 4%.  So WTH are you reciting lists to me instead of allowing me to read it for myself?!?!?!?
4) I get so bored with the lack of progress the reader is making, I begin writing a blog post in a new tab and the voice of the instructor fades into something resembling "the-adult-voice-through-the-phone" in the Peanuts animated clips.
Wait...."the-adult-voice-through-the-phone" is how ALL verbal communication sounds to my ADHD brain.... 
Point #4 is perhaps slightly less valid than the other two, as I may have a perception bias.

It's been 47 minutes and I'm only on screen 26 of 64!   Of the first training video!

*headdesk*

 P.S.  If I am so stupid that I have to be reminded to "Let's try another one!  Click on the best answer and then click submit!" for every. freaking. question. . . . I
a) probably wouldn't be in medical school and
b) you probably wouldn't want me doing clinicals in your hospital or caring for a patient EVER.

P.P.S.   >.<  After all that BS, the javascript failed on the last screen and I couldn't print my freaking certificate of completion.  DAMNit!!!!  Seriously?!?!?!!??

Well, I did it again. UPDATE!!! 80.2!!!

(update) YES WAY!!!  I had forgotten to add the points from my pathology case into my module grade!!!!!  FINAL MODULE GRADE IS AN EIGHTY-POINT-TWO!!!  A BEEEEEEE!!!!!!!  Such a relief!!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Another C in a module.  And, as usual, it was a C that was a mere three test questions short of a B.  A mere three questions that I'm sure I could've gotten correct if I hadn't been pondering the mechanics of the air conditioning unit about halfway through my exam and thus being prone to stupid errors.

Some days just suck.

So ow I'm gonna go read my lecture packets so I'll be prepared for class tomorrow.  Do you know why?  Because even when we [med students] don't succeed, we're not allowed to quit.  The next day, the next module, still comes on time whether you're ready for it or not.

Awkward Questions (Part 2)

(Continuation of yesterday's post)

Don't you just *hate* when a friend/acquaintance/classmate/coworker asks one of those questions to which you'd really like to say "NO!"... but your brain can't figure out how to phrase the rejection without sounding like an a**hole?

 

  

  

 

-Later!

Awkward Questions (Part 1)

Don't you just *hate* when a friend/acquaintance/classmate/coworker asks one of those questions to which you'd really like to say "NO!"... but your brain can't figure out how to phrase the rejection without sounding like an a**hole?

Example:

Part two coming tomorrow.  (If I have time).

-Later!

You know you're in med school when:

You put your facebook status as "I can't believe it's only Tuesday" and have 13 non-medical friends immediately comment that it is, in fact, still Monday.

You have to purchase a commercial-grade hole-punch and stapler to put your note packets together.

You a 3-in binder for a week's worth of notes, and a "largest-size-that-Staples-sells" binder to archive the notes for the 2-3wk long module.

Oh yeah, baby, isn't this the life.

Examinations

"One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."  -Albert Einstein

Yeah.  About that.  See, at one time I *loved* school.  When I was in undergrad, I took practice standardized tests for fun!!  (I already told you I was a nerd.)  Then came the MCAT.  I crammed so hard and was so stressed for that one exam that my psyche was permanently scarred.

I was waitlisted at first, and began grudgingly preparing to take the MCAT again.  But luckily, I was accepted and did not have to repeat the exam!  Imagine my excitement!

I was a fool.

Sorry to burst the bubbles of any pre-meds out there, but med school is hard.  And unforgiving.  And it doesn't care if you have ADHD and get distracted by shiny objects when you should be focusing on the pathways of lipid metabolism.    The entire first year, I felt as if I were drowning, and that every time I came up for a gasp of air, some exam would come batter me over the head until I was once again submerged and hopeless.

And you know what the worst part is?  You can't cry for help.  A drowning person can shout, and people will swiftly come to the rescue.  But in med school, if you say that you're struggling, the professors think that you're not trying hard enough and your classmates think you're stupid and then start talking behind your back.  "Did you hear about that Em?  She made a C on the last exam!!  haha, I haven't made lower than a 92 all year!  She must be stupid, those questions were easy!!"

But they don't know what it's like.   They can just sit down and study for four hours straight...and be really productive for four hours straight!  When *I* sit down to study for four hours, I usually get distracted after about 15 minutes.  Then a few minutes later I'll come to the sharp realization that I'm staring into space, bouncing up and down on my exercise ball, and not at all retaining information.  This cycle repeats itself ad nauseum.  They don't know what it's like to have to shove information into a brain that's behaving like a toddler being forced to eat Gerber's spinach + peaches + rice cereal.  It is so tiring, having to constantly fight mind and body to be still enough and focused enough to read through a lecture packet. 

Don't get me wrong...I still like learning, and I do find the human body fascinating.  It's just so hard to keep the pace expected by the professors.  And that engenders frustration and despair.

The sad thing is, I can't imagine doing anything else with my life.  While I'm sure I have the ability to be successful at almost any other career, I know I won't be happy doing anything else but medicine.  So I will continue to endure one soul-bashing exam after another until I get that damn MD, or die trying.

Later.

Relationship Status: "Single"

 

 Later!

Tuesday

So, today is Tuesday.  2nd day of 2nd year.  Class wasn't too bad...actually I really like the prof doing the immunology lectures.  There should TOTALLY be a mandatory class for new-and-returning-med-school-lecturers that covers 1) How to prepare a handout, 2) How to make a powerpoint, and 3) How to make lecture interesting.  And, this immunology dude should TOTALLY teach it!!

Then, I came home because I don't have afternoon class today.  (We have "afternoon class" three days a week.  Yesterday, my friend and I were walking across campus discussing how the admissions office lured us in with statements like: "Oh, yeah, here at Medical College, we have class from 8-12am, so you have all afternoon to study!!"  And poor innocents that we were, we swallowed it, hook-line-and-sinker.  Well, I'm here to tell you that this was all LIES!!!  We have "mandatory group activities" from 1-5pm!!  Three days a week!!   I don't care what fancy label they plaster on the schedule, it's still class!!)

Where was I?  Oh yeah, I came home early because I don't have afternoon class today.  So then I was all:  "I'm gonna print off tomorrow's lecture packet and study and be prepared!" Some people call that "being a gunner."  I call it "sheer desperation."

So I logged on and downloaded the lecture packet and clicked print.  And Printer dutifully shot off a few pages...and then I heard the ominous beep. 

"Out of Paper"

Well, Printer was definitely NOT out of paper.  It was really a paper jam, but Printer was trying to shift the blame.  "Hey!  It's not my fault I can't print your stupid document!  You didn't feed me paper!!...oh...uh...just kidding...it's uh...kinda stuck in my middle somewhere...."

 Not sure where I was going with that.  It sounded hilarious in my head when I started the story.

In other news, I'm really proud of myself for going to the gym before class, two days in a row.  :-)



Later!