First off, thank you so much for keeping connected!! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while (everything is going great!) but I have tried to keep up with answering your comments and questions.
I stopped posting due to the interview/ match season that started in September. Interviews have recently wrapped for me and am currently teasing out the last of my rank order list. Then the waiting begins... which will be the hardest part I think.
For those of you unfamiliar with the process of a medical student obtaining a residency, here is the simplified version:
- finish four years of medical school - apply to your desired specialty
- Sept-Feb: interview across the country (expenses are mostly out of pocket)
- Feb: create a list of the programs you interviewed at by preference of where you would like to train
- Match Week: basically a match up between the hospitals and the candidates (both form lists of who they would like) and the computerized algorithm "matches" you up. We find out if & where we are placed the week of March 16!
I promise to reflect on the entire process and give as much advice as possible once that Match Week is over.
Until then please feel free to post questions and other comments as I have been checking back regularly
sincerely,
IDL
PS. I have officially finished medical school rotations! Feels great to have hit such a milestone, but I think it will all sink in once I get that email in March. For now, I have decided to stick around Louisiana (where I finished my last two electives) to enjoy the culture and festivals of Mardi Gras before making the long road trip home for the last time!
A little inspiration to get the wheels turning for this evening.
I just watched this TedTalk tonight and funny enough I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately with applications to residency around the corner.
There has always been that question lingering in the air when I talk to others about what residency specialty I have picked; that question? It is the one I always expect to get asked. "how hectic is the lifestyle?". Yet what they really want to ask is "will you have time for a family?" Unfortunately I have noticed that question gets asked a lot more toward the female medical students rather than the male - especially when their answer consists of a surgical specialty. I understand the concern but if you listened to the above talk you will already know what I am trying to get at...
Unless.
Why can't it be a package where you have a great career working alongside what you are passionate of rather than having to chose between lifestyle and career? Im not saying it is easy. But if life was easy and decision making was straightforward, what would be the point in having interests and passions?
Can it be done?
Can you have a great career AND be a great parent AND a great friend AND a great spouse?
No.
Unless you find your passion and try to not be afraid.
Thank you, Larry Smith, for being so blunt.
would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this....
The moving has begun, again! If it was not yet apparent, as a caribbean med student we do not have a 'home' hospital like the students that attend an american school in the US. Thus all our clerkship rotations are at school affiliated hospitals found throughout the states - mostly the east coast, the south and some central states such as Georgia, where I am currently residing for a month. The third year core clerkship rotations, those that are required by every medical school to be completed, can usually be done in one if not two places so the student can decide if and how much they would like to travel. I went between Florida and Maryland if you recall. Talking to other caribbean students this has been a common path.
The 4th year is completely different.
It is the year when you try and narrow down your interests if you have not picked a specialty already. These clerkships are called elective rotations and each individual is responsible to make up their own schedule based on their interests. For us, that usually means we move around to different hospitals depending on what they offer, their availability and scheduling... I will not get into the stress of making up that said schedule because that's besides the point. Yet, I will say that it is not an easy feat!
I will say that I finally have my 4th year scheduled!
Since my last post I have finished two one month electives, one in Michigan and one in Baltimore, MD. I am currently in Atlanta, GA doing a family medicine elective and will be heading off to New York for two months and then Louisiana for the last two months of my medical school clerkships. It seems I have so little left before I get to have that status as an MD. Looking back I can see how the process has shaped who I have become as a senior medical student. Last month I went back to Harbor hospital, where I completed the required 3 month Internal Medicine rotation last year. I worked with a Hospitalist doctor as a senior student. During my stay a new group students started their third year - including some friendly faces from Saba! I have to admit that I noticed a significant difference. By which I mean that there was a comfort level of navigating around the hospital, approaching patients, speaking up during rounds etc. For me, there was an evident difference in the level of knowledge between myself and the starting third years... Now! Let me explain myself before you jump to any conclusions. What I mean is this: I now realized how much information I have absorbed in the past year (and of course, there is a ton I still have yet to learn). It is really astounding to see the difference in which I approach certain problems, diagnoses and questions thrown at me. I find myself not overwhelmed like I first felt in third year. The knowledge seems to have become a second nature sort-of response. Anyways, ignoring my ramblings, what I mean to say is that I have surprised myself at how far I have come in just one year. The process is gruelling and pushes you to your limits but it really does work! I have no doubt those third year students will go through the same realization when they reach 4th year.
Where am I now?
Applications to residency programs are a month away! Yes, you read that correctly. One month. If you have been following my journey from the beginning, can you believe it's been 4 years?!
All the required board tests have been taken - and passed!! I am now finalizing the programs I am applying to, which has become a very time consuming task, albeit important. The personal statement is written; but it may be re-written over and over again in the next month. As a blogger and a person who enjoys writing, the personal statement has been something so difficult to be 100% pleased with because it forces me to summarize my passions, goals and direction in life in just one page. One page?! I am almost tempted to write one line: "Dear Program Director, please read my blog".
In any case, the end is in sight! Although it won't be smooth sailing until next March (when we find out to which program we matched) I can say I will try to make the most out of my travels and experiences.
Here are some pictures of Atlanta so far. Never did I expect it to be such an 'artsy' place!
This is going to be a tremendously difficult one to write.
On Losing...
What becomes of a person when they are gone? Their memories stay within those lives they have touched. The life around them, that, unfortunately, does not stop. Everything keeps going. The bed is made. The night table holds their glass of water. Their reading glasses atop that unfinished crossword puzzle; the one they set their mind on finishing later that night. Only, now, it is two nights later. The crossword puzzle remains unfinished and the glass of water, is half full. Yes, half full, because half empty is too much to handle for right now... My glass will always try and be half full... The one bedroom apartment looks exactly like I remembered it. The bookcase of classic novels, poetry and art books. Pictures, neatly, splattered on the shelves as proof of their travels. Familiar faces all smiling back at me. It all felt the same, like they were about to walk in the door. Only that didn't happen; it really didn't feel the same because the people who walked in were in fact family, but there were no smiles. Only sadness and disbelief in their eyes reflecting back my own emotions. The hugs were never-ending, the conversations began with "remember when...." and there was never a shortage of food because that was their way of taking care of us. And it was nice to be taken care of when other things were on my mind. I looked over at my family and how we had come together once again, how nice it was to see everyone in Romania after 10 years of being away - although I would've given anything to not see them under these circumstances. I had flashbacks on the strength and resilience of my grandmother and the calmness wisdom of my grandfather and pushed through the emotions. A strong link to keep pulling my family forward towards a new day... one that seems so far away, one that I am sure has sunshine and smiling faces, one that I do not want to come just yet because that means all of this - the passing of my grandparents - is in fact reality. And yet we have no choice but to move on. I want time to stand still. To stand still last summer, when I was home for a weekend from clerkships and they were in Canada. The last time I hugged them, the last time I experienced my grandmother's amazing cooking and the last time I sat down with my grandfather and showed him how to work his new laptop. Those memories are the ones that bring an ever slight curve back on my lips.
It has been 3 months since I've been back and life has hurriedly put me back on course. I am finishing up my 4th year elective clerkships and am writing my last exams before applications for residency begins. I cannot believe that the time has almost come and graduation is around the corner. Although I feel that this has been a long enough road. I will write on my elective experiences and application process soon.
I needed the time off to gather my thoughts.
Time to find my way back from Romania, time to find my way back from the loss. I cherish to have been so lucky to be close to all four of my grandparents and am unfortunate to have to experience their loss all within a couple years.
I've been thinking about my reflection on the psychiatry elective I finished over 2 months ago for a while now. In my last post I was just about to start it ...For 3 weeks I worked in the adolescent female inpatient unit and it was definitely an unexpected experience. I went there with the thought that it will be a nice break from the rigorous clerkship rotations I have been through and a nice transition from studying at home to my current trauma surgery rotation in Florida.
I was wrong and realized something about myself in the process.
I enjoyed my 6 week rotation last year which is why I decided to come back and work in another unit. Adolescent girls I thought would be a great fit - I can relate and it will help in my long term goal to work and advocate for women's health. I fit into the treatment team right away. The social workers, unit staff and my supervising attending all cared for their work and put in long hours. There was no real structure for me to follow which is great because it let me explore working with different people on the unit - from social workers holding family meetings to art and musical therapists. It was really up to me how much I wanted to invest. As I've said before, I learn best by experiencing, so I got involved as much as possible. I started getting to know the girls, their histories, their personalities, how they interact, their families … it was interesting in terms of psychiatry and applying the things we learn in books to real life situations… but also heart breaking to read about their life experiences at just 12 years old. By my second week, the attending doctor encouraged me to take time and talk to some of the girls one-on-one. I did.
I was taught how important 'active listening' is as a skill. We were told about it in my 4th semester on Saba but not until now do I really understand what our prof was trying to tell us. Daily one-on-one sessions with some of the girls were amazing. They began sharing and opening up about their past; stories that weren't even in their social work reports. I was so happy to be able to have an honest discussion … to hear them out, never judging, that's really what they were looking for...but emotionally it was hard. Very hard. The movies about street kids from broken families surrounded by drugs, abuse and prostitution; girls being bullied because of their appearance to the point of harming themselves - unfortunately they are true. These girls have experienced life's hardships at such a young age that they grew up. Fast. What did surprise me was their strength, and resilience - two things that were not obvious when I participated in the group sessions. Most of the girls seemed so different talking to me than in the group. I learnt about their dreams and aspirations and then, in a split second, heard them shutting down those ideas because "it's not possible". That was difficult to swallow. As a person, I am an optimist (if you haven't figured that out yet!); so I asked "why?, why can't you?". their answer was even harder to understand, but it was the truth… "I have no support." " No one cares." "I have to take care of my siblings." "I have to provide for my family." Now, I am generalizing as not all the girls were in the same situations… but these were some of the answers I did hear.
I realized how important a nurturing, supportive environment is as a child. Having a family that cares enough to ask about getting homework done, to insert those (sometimes annoying) reminders to clean.. we've experienced them, and they come from our loved ones. But that is support; support that most of these girls were missing.
This elective made my final decision to not apply to psychiatry. NOT because I didn't like it. It's actually the complete opposite. I had the hardest time separating my emotions from acting as their doctor. We are taught about professionalism in the oath we take. As doctors, we are not a patient's friend and I completely understand that. In all my other rotations it is a clear line. In psychiatry, it became very blurred for me. I emotionally invested in my one-on-one sessions. Came up with ideas and ways to talk about difficult topics… and they worked. Great! But I went home and took their stories to heart. I could not separate the medicine from myself. At the end of my rotation, the attending pulled me aside and said I would become a great psychiatrist one day.
I'm sure, in time, I'd learn how to draw that line but I don't want to go through 2, 3 or 4 years bearing all that emotional turmoil with me when I get home. This may sound selfish but I think its the best thing for my own health and my ability to treat my patients.
As medical students we've either said it or heard it: psychiatry is not 'real' medicine. There are never clear cut answers; everything meshes together to provide an emotional response. And, as students, we all have that one thing which we cannot deal with in medicine - whether it be skin rashes, broken bones, surgery or delivering babies. For me, mental health is where it becomes the hardest. I can stand in the OR for 6 hours. I can deal with stabilizing a trauma patient after they got shot. I can stay up for 30+ hours without coffee. I can look at an open abdomen and see the medical complexity and not the patient. Yet, talking to someone through their emotional turmoil, hearing about their past, yes, I can do it. Yes, I can be good at it. Yes, it's very natural for me to just listen. But it's been one of the hardest things for me to go through.
Hats off to anyone who works in the mental health system, I now partially understand the hardships you experience.
Part of a letter I received from one of the girls on my last day of the elective. It's in a safe place to always remind me of my experience and how much they taught me.
PS. the video is a spoken word poem by Sarah Kay. I found it a great way to reach out and discuss those difficult topics. Needless to say I learnt a lot more amazing poetry slams from the girls… they were very familiar with it!
As I sit in yet another airport awaiting my connecting flight, I'm embarrassed to see I've only posted 7 times this year... but I will stop with the apologies and just accept it. I hope to continue my sporadic posts (and replies to comments) as I start yet another journey.
The Pediatric rotation finished! Looking back, long hours were spent with adorable, but screaming children.
After this rotation I really felt that my history taking skills have improved. Seeing 50+ patients per day gave me an opportunity to fine tune the questions I posed to parents and the patients (a technique that I'm sure I will be forever perfecting). I realized that it is such a fundamental part of any exam as it can drastically alter an assessment and treatment plan. Patients and parents tend to forget/ not divulge details if they do not think them significant and as a medical student we have the privilege to spend a fair amount of time questioning patients before the doctor sees them. The questions you ask and the flow of the interview not only sets the atmosphere of the appointment (especially in pediatrics) but it also shows the supervising doctor your train of thought. Each question should be directed in such a way that it either 'rules in' or 'rules out' a diagnosis on your continually forming mental differential diagnosis list.... and trust me that list is a long one when the answer to "what brings you in today?" is "my child has been coughing".
So, with that said, I do love kids; I like observing their different personalities and how they surface at such a young age. I like making them laugh and feel comfortable in the doctor's office. I am grateful for the opportunity to have had such a large amount of time interacting with patients during the peds rotation but my heart is with the field of obstetrics and gynecology :) ... and will make sure to enjoy the simple fact that my patients will be able to express their pain and describe it!
Being home meant I got to spend time with this "little" guy. :)
For the past 5 weeks I took a much needed 'break'. And the word break is in quotes because it consisted of being home and studying for the canadian equivalency exam as well as working on 4th year elective applications.
I was definitely burned out when I got home. Sleep, eating and doing nothing all day had never felt better... every now and then we all need a lazy, lounging day ( or week) spent in the confines of our home ... Although, as I sit here waiting my plane, I am excited to be returning to my role as a medical student. I guess I missed having a structured day. I really shouldn't be surprised; I am the type of person that will choose white water rafting and camping as my vacation rather than an all-inclusive resort.
Friends supporting friends. Being in medical school doesn't mean your hobbies are put on hold.
the never ending swarm of runners was such an amazing view.
mile 11.
I also went to support a friend running the NYC Marathon (I hope to write a short post on that alone) but I do want to encourage all of you to attend a big city marathon if you ever have the chance. It truly is an inspiring atmosphere!
So what's next?
I'm going back to the start! That is I will be returning to Sheppard Pratt for a 3 week clerkship in female adolescent psychiatry before returning to Florida for 3 months of Trauma Surgery to complete my third year.
I'm excited to return to Pratt as I will be going back changed; a more experienced medical student. With Ob/Gyn in mind, the female adolescent psych elective will be a nice complement. During my core Ob/Gyn clerkship we dealt with a surprising number of pregnancy complications related to drug addictions and mental health. I will try to keep you posted.
To end this overdue and long update I'm also happy to share I will be partaking in the Color Run in support of Global Citizen. Click on the links to find out more about them and see when they will be hosting an event near you :) It's a fun and interactive way to get everyone involved and spread awareness.
PS. Personal goal of running a marathon has been set... and now it is public which means I have to do it
I wrote my last post almost a month ago - I can't seem to keep up with the blogging.
Third year seems to be becoming a blur.
As much as it is exciting to be in the hospital, you rotate through each specialty so quickly. As I am getting comfortable and familiar with my surroundings, the rotation is over and I am thrown into another. Sometimes it seems I just need to keep my head above water long enough for my next day off to come. Working 6 days a week since February with a total of 3 weekends off has taken a toll. Might I add that the "day off" is spent guiltily sleeping in and then franticly studying for the next exam.
Needless, to say it can/has been frustrating and exhausting to feel lost most of the time - while trying to keep an external calm and having the classic "medical student enthusiasm".
I have already finished my first week of paediatrics.
Here is peds in a nut shell: adorably cute kids that are ALWAYS screaming/ crying and come in with full blown colds that get you sick (and give you headaches!). Lessons learned so far? new found respect for parenting!
... but I'd rather tell you about the last little while in florida.
I finished 6 weeks of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Ob/Gyn) and LOVED it. I think I may have found my specialty. The rotation was mostly an inpatient experience as I only spent 2 days in the outpatient clinic, however it was my choice as I wanted to get as much hands on learning as I could. I became a sponge for wanting to learn too much in very little time. I couldn't help myself, I took two 26 hour calls that were voluntary and worked 12+ hours/day. I may have over-indulged! But I had great attendings teach and trust me to perform procedures on patients. To give you a little glimpse... I learned to actually deliver babies with my own two hands (what an incredible experience! To hold someone in their first moments of life and be part of that new family), I was taught how to close fascia and skin, admit patients on my own, read and interpret fetal and maternal monitoring strips, make first incisions, drain cysts and scrubbed in/assist on numerous surgical cases.... the list can keep going but I'm afraid I will start using too much medical lingo ... then I would lose my readers for sure.
If you can't tell that I am excited then here is a picture to prove it. This was taken on one of my last days working with a doctor that I have grown to look up to (she truly invested her time in teaching and showing me everything she could). This was taken after she had let me close fascia and skin after a c-section and perform a quick surgical procedure called marsupialization on my own (with her guidance of course!). Such a rush.
I found ob/gyn to be the perfect combination of primary care in which you can develop a relationship with your patients, hands-on work that is not too time demanding in the OR (most procedures are < 2 hours) and a specialty which I can take the skills I learn and contribute elsewhere, where maternal health resources are needed. This specialty would allow me to continue pursuing my interest in international health (and even link my undergrad genetics studies). There are so many (too many?) possibilities.
Hollywood beach boardwalk
Other than rotations I have not had much time to explore Florida, unfortunately. But I hope to do so in the coming weeks... I am however a 5 min drive to the beach and boardwalk which has become my new running route as soon as I get used to the humidity here - you'd think I would be used to it from Saba, no?
mom and I at the beach after our 17 hour road trip!
Obviously this is the first place we would go to :)
Dinner with friends before they left for their next rotation.
My new favourite study spot.
Poolside studying can work...sometimes
One thing I find is hard to get used to is all the moving around. As much as it is exciting and amazing to have all this opportunity to travel and temporarily live in places I would never think of going, my friends and I have Skype friendships now. Sometimes we even Skype if we are in the same city doing different rotations. Everyone has such a different (and hectic) schedule that it is hard to find to maintain those friendships in person... unless we meet up for study sessions!
I look at all this moving around as travel opportunities and times of adventure... but sometimes, just sometimes, I feel like a lot of people my age are starting their life. "settling down" so to speak which seems like a comforting idea. Being away from close friends and family can be isolating. Moving from place to place with no real 'home' can also be isolating. Always studying can become lonely.
Just some thoughts.
To end off on a more positive (and super cool!) note, here is something I found today :)
I went to my first hot yoga class in a very very long time. Before starting clinical rotations I become an avid yogi - I will even admit I became addicted to the 'high' of relaxation and clearing your mind... and the excessive sweating of course. Something about it just cleanses you.
Recently I have been more tired than usual. I guess that's what happens when you work 6 days a week for 6 months, move from city to city trying to temporarily settle down and call the place your home - oh, study and write exams in your spare time as well. I have not had a break from clinical rotations and my mind/ body are taking the toll. Don't get me wrong! I am loving clerkships. Being in the hospital and interacting with patients is inexplicably amazing. I always leave with a smile on my face at the end of the day - even if I grumble getting out of bed at 5:30am everyday.
My point is this: rotations are tiring.
Learning is on overload all day, every day. And your body needs more than 5 hours of sleep at some point. Right?
So I decided it was time for yoga again. The class I went to was amazing and challenging. Not just on my body but on my mind. You reach a point in that hour and a half where you regret going... not because you are not enjoying it but because you start thinking I could've done so much more with the time I spent in this class. I noticed myself constantly having to push these thoughts out of my head and put effort into 'being in the moment'. At the end of the class the teacher ended with something that really resonated with me so I thought I'd pass the message along.
She said: "Take the time to think back to this past hour and a half. Think about what the others in the class have accomplished. Send the praise and compliments to the centre of the room so that everyone can feel the positive energy.... breathe. Now, take a moment and think about your own practice. Pay attention to what first comes to mind. Now push those thoughts of 'I could've tried harder. I could've done better. I could've stood stiller.' out of your head. Why is it that when we think of our own practice we criticize but when we think of the others around us we praise them on their hard work. We should treat ourselves with the same kindness that we allow ourself to treat others."
She was right. My first thought was I should've been more mentally present during the practice. I should've stopped thinking about what I need to study...
We are our own toughest critic. I have always noticed that about myself. So from now on I will be (trying) setting a goal to be content with my results or performances, because, at that particular time, I know I gave it my all.
So, please, take the time to stop and think. Think about how you would praise others for their efforts. Now say that about yourself. Be happy with your accomplishments.
Choosing a specialty is like finding the one person you want to spend the rest of your life with...at least I consider it with as much importance. It will dictate your career, lifestyle and opportunities. It will send your life in a certain direction ... surgery versus family medicine will make a difference. It is not just about deciding whether to be a doctor because that was an easy decision, it is now time to really define the rest of my life.
Like I have mentioned before, the follow up question I always get to "what do you do?" is "what kind of doctor do you want to become?"
As I have always had a passion for surgery, I have been going back and forth on it being my top choice because I am also trying to consider the lifestyle I want to lead further down the road, thatis, one of balance (traveling, keeping active, research, family etc.) Should I choose something I am truly passionate about or a path that would guarantee me more free time away from the hospital? Is there a way to do both?
In the last few days I've had the opportunity to scrub in on a short surgical procedure for one of the patients I was following on the internal medicine floor. I am enjoying the internal medicine rotation, however in the past month and a half I have spent in it I have to confess that I have never been so excited to come back to the hospital (after a full 12 hour shift, mind you) to scrub in for that procedure! It was exhilarating and inspiring...I got those butterflies in my stomach and I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face, even if it was after an 18 hour day. It made me think why not do both? Why can't it be both? I have worked hard at becoming a doctor thus far and chose to take this path with no reservations - which does come with sacrifices - so should I settle for something I would like or something I would love? I figure if I am loving what I do, I can (eventually) take charge and make time for how I want to live my life as well... it might take a while before I am able to reach that point in my career but wouldn't it be worth it?
I don't yet have the answer yet but I thought I would share my thoughts and would love to hear some feedback from you!
Much has happened since the last time I wrote. I finished my review paper, got it approved, received some of my clinical rotation schedule, already finished the psychiatry rotation at Sheppard Pratt and am 2 weeks into the internal medicine rotation at Harbor hospital.
So let's start with psychiatry!
Sheppard Pratt Psychiatric Hospital
6 weeks at Sheppard Pratt psychiatric hospital flew by. It was overwhelming at first - as you can imagine we had information overload...hospital protocols, new schedule, new patients, learning not to get lost in the hospital (trust me, the last one was harder than you think!). Being in a hospital with real patients is completely different than just reading about suicidal behaviour. It was very surreal in the first week when you sit with a patient and ask about suicidal thoughts, homicidal thoughts and severe depression. I was surprised at how comfortable patients were discussing such personal issues. Overall I actually enjoyed psychiatry more than I had thought. I really liked getting to know patients, their stories and by that I mean not just their 'medical history'. Psychiatry is one of the few specialties which really relies on knowing the full picture; social aspects of a patients life is just as important as their medical symptoms of depression. Assessing and managing a patient includes psycho-social evaluations. I loved sitting down with the treatment nurse, the social worker and the psychiatrist to check-in on patients daily. Once the patient would leave everyone would say their impression of the story we had just heard, we'd call a patients family to get another perspective and include both their and the patient's request on how to manage them. Are they safe to be out in the real world? that was the golden question, the one that decided if they needed to stay in the inpatient program or can continue as outpatient treatment. The down sides to psychiatry? there was no practicing of hands-on medicine and I feel like I would miss that. Most of the management of a patient was medications and therapy... the therapy portion I liked, the medication monitoring not so much. The pros of psychiatry was definitely the amazing schedule and lifestyle it allows. It is a specialty in which you can choose to do research in your free time and that is something I will be pursuing no matter what field I end up going into.
My friend from Saba and I looking all professional on our first day of internal medicine
Suffice to say I liked the rotation and will most likely going back in november to do an elective in adolescent/child psychiatry :)
Internal medicine is a totally different basket of eggs! I have only started 2 weeks ago and I find myself going to take a history of present illness report from the patient and asking them more questions about their social situation than I probably should. Although it is important, IM deals with emergent cases at times (especially [and obviously!] when we are doing admissions from the emergency department!). I need to stop thinking like a psychiatrist!! haha. So far I am in the overwhelming stage of IM... long hours (12 hr shifts are the norm and we have night call as well as long call 7am-9pm. Oh, did I mention we work 6 of the 7 days a week?). So yes, still adjusting to the schedule and the early start time! But all in all I like the patient interaction and the fact that we get to use our physical exam skills everyday. Something about hearing the patient talk about their symptoms and then confirming it with palpation or auscultation is very thrilling! :)
6:30am sunrise from the Harbor hospital parking lot.
As far as I am in my clinical rotations I can say one thing for sure: people are truly sick. I know this is such a general statement but when you read about stage III kidney failure, or about pancreatitis, or about anaphylactic shock it doest not sink in until YOU see it. I am starting to link all my book knowledge with the corresponding patient and it is a great way to build information. I find that I am learning so much more, so much faster than at Saba!
Oh and for those of you reading this and are preparing to start rotations, get ready to feel like you do not know anything all over again! We are once again merely medical students trying to stay afloat and catch our breath... its going to be a great ride.
- apply to your desired specialty
