Favourite show: people walking to work/school
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Polymorphs
So, the word I woke up with in my head this morning (at 4.30am) was "polymorphs", which is short for polymorphonuclear leukocyte which is a type of white blood cell and are elevated in inflammation or infection. I think. I'm still learning this and it might be why it was laying down memory in my sleep (before the process was rudely woken by my phone alarm and 5am lecture).
This morning I just enrolled in a Masters of International Health subject - STIs and HIV an International Perspective. Despite my repeating pattern of biting off more than I can chew and then nearly choking, I can't let go of the MIH for some reason. Hoping seeing as it's only one unit and it's not statistics that I should be ok.
Anyway, I'm getting a little bit sick of my 2-minute noodle diet and I have been thinking about what I want to do in Nepal (I have a week there with no plans before going to Tibet and Bhutan) and maybe a mini-Annapurnas trek would be good. That is in two months. I also have a high school reunion and my work annual ball in the same week in about 5 weeks time, so I hope to use that as motivation, although the majority of my brain is saying "just wear black!"
This morning I just enrolled in a Masters of International Health subject - STIs and HIV an International Perspective. Despite my repeating pattern of biting off more than I can chew and then nearly choking, I can't let go of the MIH for some reason. Hoping seeing as it's only one unit and it's not statistics that I should be ok.
Anyway, I'm getting a little bit sick of my 2-minute noodle diet and I have been thinking about what I want to do in Nepal (I have a week there with no plans before going to Tibet and Bhutan) and maybe a mini-Annapurnas trek would be good. That is in two months. I also have a high school reunion and my work annual ball in the same week in about 5 weeks time, so I hope to use that as motivation, although the majority of my brain is saying "just wear black!"
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Nice day
It's so nice to wake up fairly naturally (my dog sort of woke me up, but I wasn't in a deep sleep). My usual routine is to let him out and open the blinds on the east side of the house and let the morning sunshine in. This morning I looked out and I could see all these silver-beaded threads on all my plants. I only have two potted bamboo and four planted fruit trees in the backyard so far (I concentrated all of my time last spring in the front). And the sun was being reflected in full-force off two of my 8 pavers (for the patio extension in progress) straight into my eyes. It was amazing.
Above is a photo of one of the bamboo trees and the spiders webs that caught my eye. All of my (six) trees had been covered in spiders webs over-night then the morning dew glistening was quite a surprise.
Spoiler alert - Project Runway was, to my nice surprise, on last night Yay! I recorded the Amazing Race and watched PR. And... I'm so glad Gretchen Jones won. I loved the three finalists, but I think the best designer won. I also think she was so unfairly targeted and bullied in that show for being nothing more than a tall poppy with an opinion. Yeh, I so got sucked into that show. But I had a nice night last night relaxing a bit.
Today, I have a lecture at 1pm, so I'll study from now until then. I go back on-call tonight, so I'll try and get a bit organised after the lecture as my wardrobe has imploded. I'm pretty happy at the rest of the house maintainence and feel pretty organised and stress-free. I'm proud of myself for my financial budgeting skills this fortnight, I think doing well on the mini-exam yesterday was a huge relief. And getting my readings done last week, I can focus on a fresh case study guilt-free. I'm also proud of myself for sitting down and drawing out the brachial plexus this morning so I think I almost have it down pat. There isn't a whole lot of time for rote learning in my schedule, but there are a few things that just take pure memory, in the way that I used to love playing that card game "Memory" when I was a kid.
Anyway.
Loving life.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Project Runway
I took a mini-break before my mini-quiz (so, SO happy I did way better than last week - whew!) so I watched an old recored episode of ER, you know, to relax my brain and get me all motivated to work in a Chicao County ER one day (or not). I thought I'd seen them all by now, but I don't think I'd seen this one. It was season 14, episode 15 where Neela is complaining to the cable-guy that she's single, and a doctor, and she needs Project Runway! hahaha.
Well, final episode of Project Runway is on for me tomorrow night (season 8). I can't wait. Then the following week Project Runway Australia kicks off (season 3). I'm just new to Project Runway so I haven't seen any others. But after each episde I want to get my dress-making manequin out (I think they call them "forms" or something) and whip up a creation.
Downton Abbey was last night, and Amazing Race Australia tonight.
Yes, it sounds sad to be so excited about TV but it is very exciting when you only get to watch about 3 hours of it a week! You make it count!
PS I read in an article in the Huffington Post that 25% of American girls would rather win America's Next Top Model than a Nobel Prize, and I thought: "only 25%!?" Less work, more pay, more fun, clothes fit better......
Ups and downs
I just came home from a great session with my mentor. My mind is working clearly and I'm starting to really get the hang of working my way through a differential diagnosis including history,physcial examination and which labs and imaging to order, and the all important management plan.
Then I came home to do my end of week mini-quiz I've been dreading all week only to find it closed 7 hours earlier than last week and I have missed it! That's 5% of my total module grade gone! Faaaar-out. So I just emailed the curriculum coordinator to ask if I can get access to it asap. Let's see how tight they're going to be about the rules. I then I emailed off about my grievances from last week's quiz (I think I answers questions right and got marked wrong). It's a nightmare trying to prove yourself. And then mix that in with self-doubt and stress and my mood has gne from high to anxious/low within about an hour. Awesome.
But I can't let it affect me - I must now get in some quality study time as I go back to work tomorrow (yes, that's right, today is my only day off yet again).
If I was to be all Yoga about it I would say at least my insane need to be right is a good thing in medicine. If I didn't care about having the correct answers or not it might not be a good thing for my patients!
Then I came home to do my end of week mini-quiz I've been dreading all week only to find it closed 7 hours earlier than last week and I have missed it! That's 5% of my total module grade gone! Faaaar-out. So I just emailed the curriculum coordinator to ask if I can get access to it asap. Let's see how tight they're going to be about the rules. I then I emailed off about my grievances from last week's quiz (I think I answers questions right and got marked wrong). It's a nightmare trying to prove yourself. And then mix that in with self-doubt and stress and my mood has gne from high to anxious/low within about an hour. Awesome.
But I can't let it affect me - I must now get in some quality study time as I go back to work tomorrow (yes, that's right, today is my only day off yet again).
If I was to be all Yoga about it I would say at least my insane need to be right is a good thing in medicine. If I didn't care about having the correct answers or not it might not be a good thing for my patients!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
PT couse and internal chatter
Well I finally submitted section 1 of the first assignment for my personal trainer course. I'm not sure how long it took - probably longer than it feels - but I'm happy that the ball is rolling along in the right direction albeit slowly. Not bad me thinks for the hours I'm working and, oh yeh, that medical degree I'm doing too.
So in my med degree the modules are fairly independent from one-another, that is, there is no sort of pre-requisite in the pre-clinical module from one module to another (except the first one in biochemistry) and the learning is sort of more horizontal than vertical. This is all fine, except I'm in my second year and I feel as clueless as I did last year. I'm just starting to realise it's because I'm not necessarily building on past terms, one on top of the other, it's more of a building side-by-side, and accumulation of breadth at constant incredibly scary depth. I've been doing practice USMLE World question and I'm, like, "I don't know anything!" but it's really I don't know anything about the musculoskeletal system (yet).
Well with section one of the PT course submitted at least I can relax and I wont feel bad if I completely leave the next section until this med term is over - in 4 weeks! Eek!
Don't tell anyone, but we didn't do a single job today at work (I was on over-time, "the perfect crime" as my work colleague put it)! Not one! And after a great amount of sleep-bank deposits yesterday I studied from 7am to 6.30pm tonight! I'm so proud of myself. Then I just did about 30 mins on that PT assignment to get it submitted. Feeling like I accomplished something today.
Well, only two months until I go on my trip now. I changed shifts today with someone who went to Nepal two years ago so I got chatting to him and a good lead on a good tour guide in Kathmandu (for the first week where I still have nothing planned and plan to keep it unplanned until I get there as the rest of my itinerary is already mapped out). Then I got on eBay and had an interesting discussion with myself on whether North Face clothing was worth the money and whether I would be a victim of marketing/consumerism/capitalism if I bought a North Face down jacket. The internal jury is still out on that one. Standby....
Practicing Buddhism seems to have increased how much I notice my internal chatter, so don't be alarmed if you're not used to listening to the internal chatter. The say the difference between a mad person and a sane one is mad people talk out-loud. I'm also still deciding whether talking to my pets is crazy or not. At least I'm not talking to the wall...
So in my med degree the modules are fairly independent from one-another, that is, there is no sort of pre-requisite in the pre-clinical module from one module to another (except the first one in biochemistry) and the learning is sort of more horizontal than vertical. This is all fine, except I'm in my second year and I feel as clueless as I did last year. I'm just starting to realise it's because I'm not necessarily building on past terms, one on top of the other, it's more of a building side-by-side, and accumulation of breadth at constant incredibly scary depth. I've been doing practice USMLE World question and I'm, like, "I don't know anything!" but it's really I don't know anything about the musculoskeletal system (yet).
Well with section one of the PT course submitted at least I can relax and I wont feel bad if I completely leave the next section until this med term is over - in 4 weeks! Eek!
Don't tell anyone, but we didn't do a single job today at work (I was on over-time, "the perfect crime" as my work colleague put it)! Not one! And after a great amount of sleep-bank deposits yesterday I studied from 7am to 6.30pm tonight! I'm so proud of myself. Then I just did about 30 mins on that PT assignment to get it submitted. Feeling like I accomplished something today.
Well, only two months until I go on my trip now. I changed shifts today with someone who went to Nepal two years ago so I got chatting to him and a good lead on a good tour guide in Kathmandu (for the first week where I still have nothing planned and plan to keep it unplanned until I get there as the rest of my itinerary is already mapped out). Then I got on eBay and had an interesting discussion with myself on whether North Face clothing was worth the money and whether I would be a victim of marketing/consumerism/capitalism if I bought a North Face down jacket. The internal jury is still out on that one. Standby....
Practicing Buddhism seems to have increased how much I notice my internal chatter, so don't be alarmed if you're not used to listening to the internal chatter. The say the difference between a mad person and a sane one is mad people talk out-loud. I'm also still deciding whether talking to my pets is crazy or not. At least I'm not talking to the wall...
To do
Study to do this weekend (while at work):
Wish me luck.
- Anatomy - muscles of shoulder and upper limb, cervical plexus, brachial plexus revision
- Physiology - CNS, PNS, local control of motor neurons, and the motor system
- Patho - osteoarthritis revision, cervical spondylosis, whiplash injury
- Other - cranial nerves, genetic control of type and shape of bone, rotator cuff muscles, dermatomes/myotomes, Babinski's reflex, patella tenodon reflex.
Wish me luck.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Rest
I have a rest day today. I slept about 14 hours and I feel good. Almost great. My cervical lymphadenopathy has gone and I can open my eyelids more than 2mm apart. I also don't look 80 years old today like the last two weeks.
I had a phone call with one of my tutors, which is a new addition to the course - one that I actually like. She asked me some quick questions which covered last week's learning issues. It was great to do an aural/oral session to complement all the reading we do on our own. I didn't do too bad, but there's room for improvement as always.
Now I'm going to get some groceries and watch some tv, do some housework and laundry, prepare for working this weekend, and maybe tonight I might do some light reading tonight if there's time left in the day.
I like today.
I had a phone call with one of my tutors, which is a new addition to the course - one that I actually like. She asked me some quick questions which covered last week's learning issues. It was great to do an aural/oral session to complement all the reading we do on our own. I didn't do too bad, but there's room for improvement as always.
Now I'm going to get some groceries and watch some tv, do some housework and laundry, prepare for working this weekend, and maybe tonight I might do some light reading tonight if there's time left in the day.
I like today.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Radiology
My lecturer gave me this link to an awesome free online radiology tutorial! Yay! I've been looking for the right radiol book, and now I have this :)
http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/courses/rad/
http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/courses/rad/
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Stuff up
The other thing Iwant to rant on about is our case studies start on Monday Samoa time, and our first lecture is on Monday Samoa time and we're expected to have done some reading before the first lecture. The discussion forum thread isn't even open until then.
And..... the new weekly graded super-ridiculously random and hard quizzes are on the previous week's topic. So discombobulated. It might not sound like much, but the little things become problems when you're try to juggle a lot of human downloading (reading and learning) with incredible time constraints.
Ugh.
So, I've re-written my week's to-do list for this case, and have to tackle two learning issues a day, every day, for the whole week. I should have factored in my friends coming to visit me from out-of-town on Thurs (not predicting much study) and I wont even bother mentioning my other social plans I had for the weekend as they have just disintegrated. This is all on top of work, and the extra readings I need to do on imagining (so I can interpret xrays etc it better) and physical examinations (Tally and O'Connor - we're about to get intimate).
Well, if my luck is going to change I need to start with changing my attitude, Tony Robbins-style...
"I LOVE my life!"
Dear Universe,
Thank you for allowing me to pursue my career dreams. Thank you for providing me with a save home and loving family. Thank you for giving me a great job that is not only rewarding and interesting, but provides a good income. Thank you for the Winter sunshine today coming through my window and warming my legs, and the light rain forming a rainbow outside. Thank you for wonderful friends and work colleagues that support me and my career pursuits. Thank you for providing me with learning opportunities to gain the wisdom of appreciating that the truely valuable things in life are not the material things. Thank you for providing and allowing me to provide myself shelter, food, and water, warmth, and a soft bed.
Thank you for the stars, the birds, the flowers, the kittens and puppies, and for providing an eternal source of wonder and curiosity of the beauty of nature.
Yours sincerely,
CJ.
Monday, June 20, 2011
My life
Anyway, it's 7.39pm, I'm on-call, and I've done about 10% of what I allocated myself for today. Must go now and read about the anatomy of the upper limb. *yawn* Must convince myself it is interesting - <Insert a scene of my imagining working for MSF and being in a tent in Darfur and someone presenting with an upper limb trauma and needing to diagnose it....> Ok, slightly more motivated.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Words
A funny thing I noticed when I started this medical degree, is that I'd wake up and a medical word or term would come straight into my mind. I'll try and log the ones I remember. This term, on different days, I have woken up with;
I find it amusing.
Here is a picture I took outside the art gallery a few week ago;
![]()
- Postive rheumatoid factor
- Subchondral sclerosis
I find it amusing.
Here is a picture I took outside the art gallery a few week ago;
Epic fail
So I just did my weekly mini-quiz and totally stuffed the whole thing up. I'm so unimpressed with myself. Feeling really down now. But there is nothing I can do now, I just have to keep moving forward. The only thing that is reassuring is that I was doing bad in the other modules in the beginning but pulled it all together by the end.
My next case study is "Fractured humerous". It's the 4th out of 7 for the term. Our learning issues surrounding this case are;
Oh well. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.
I think I'll try and finish a section of the PT assignment and sent it off to feel like I've achieved something.
My next case study is "Fractured humerous". It's the 4th out of 7 for the term. Our learning issues surrounding this case are;
- Anatomy of the upper limb (skeletal, muscular, vascular, innervation) - here comes the brachial plexus
- Mechanisms of pain (physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology)
- Pathophysiology of hand weakness
- Consequences of vitamin D deficiency
- Pathology of fractures
- Clinical features and management of fractures.
Oh well. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.
I think I'll try and finish a section of the PT assignment and sent it off to feel like I've achieved something.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Hangover
My social life was reinstated last night. It was a big one. At 9am on the train home this morning, still in our party gear, coats and bags drenched in alcohol, and one iPhone lighter, my friend said "Have you seen The Hangover?" Our adventures could certainly be drawn as parallels to that movie. At one point I nearly lost my shoes because I decided they were hindering my dancing skills. Needless to say, I spent all of today in bed. My dog and cat loved it.
I just splurged $5.95 for a Box Office movie and watched 127 Hours. I heard people had fainted watching the scenes where he self-amputates his arm. I can see why.
Now I am a bit fuzzy in the head but have a bad habit for studying. I just want to gently read a few pages on antibacterial agents in my Kaplan notes seeing as this week is Osteomyelitis. I just also looked at my class discussion forum, and will just flick through this week's case again and make a list of what I want to achieve tomorrow, albeit I will be lucky to find an hour. Monday morning might be a final look over.
In TAM news, we took some self-portraits last night at the club, and this afternoon I saw them on Facebook and I was quite impressed at how well my body has maintained the tone the TAM workouts gave me, despite me not working out very often atm. It is inspiring me to keep working out, even if it's irregular and my diet is up and down. Also, Triple J had Itch-E and Scratch-E on Friday and it took me back to the mid-90's electro/rave music I used to love dancing too. I NEED their music for my dance cardio workouts. Very excited.
I just splurged $5.95 for a Box Office movie and watched 127 Hours. I heard people had fainted watching the scenes where he self-amputates his arm. I can see why.
Now I am a bit fuzzy in the head but have a bad habit for studying. I just want to gently read a few pages on antibacterial agents in my Kaplan notes seeing as this week is Osteomyelitis. I just also looked at my class discussion forum, and will just flick through this week's case again and make a list of what I want to achieve tomorrow, albeit I will be lucky to find an hour. Monday morning might be a final look over.
In TAM news, we took some self-portraits last night at the club, and this afternoon I saw them on Facebook and I was quite impressed at how well my body has maintained the tone the TAM workouts gave me, despite me not working out very often atm. It is inspiring me to keep working out, even if it's irregular and my diet is up and down. Also, Triple J had Itch-E and Scratch-E on Friday and it took me back to the mid-90's electro/rave music I used to love dancing too. I NEED their music for my dance cardio workouts. Very excited.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Exam prep material
This is a response to a comment from my last post. Blogger is being silly and wont let me comment on my own blog.
Hi Bee,
Doctors In Training is one of a number of companies that do prep courses for the USMLEs (US Medical Licensing Exams). I use USMLE prep material as there are so many resources out there as all US med students have to sit these exams. They should all help me prepare for my med school exams, and the Australian Medical Council exam too. They tend to be more revision and emphasising highly-examinable topics. I use them as a guide as I go through my course to make sure I'm covering everything I should be.
I would recommend First Aid for the USMLE at about $40-60 each. Step 1 is basic concepts, Step 2 is applying them to clinical situations, and Step 3 is preparing for unsupervised patient treatment. These books are reasonably priced and my med school and Doctors In Training recommend the FA series. Actually, FA for the USMLE Step 1 is on our required textbook list, I read it before I go into an exam, and I don't go anywhere without it (it currently smells like coconut milk, but that's another story.) I recommend the latest version of these as they changed the format and is now even better.
Kaplan does good prep courses that are recommended by many students, but they are pricey! I got my notes second-hand from eBay. I don't believe you need the latest version of these. They go into more depth than FA, but if it's revision then FA is prob enough. I'm doing some first-hand learning from my Kaplan notes. I would say it's half-way between FA and reading the textbooks. They also do videos, but again too expensive for me but I hear they are really good.
Have you checked out http://www.almostadoctor.com/? It might be just what you're looking for. It's free and UK based, and I love their notes and I print them out to read more in-depth. They have an OSCE section as well, but that's ahead of me atm.
I use DIT atm for their single pharm lectures because they're only $12 each and I need that visual/audio supplement for my pharm as my course is so heavily self-directed learning. I would say it is too basic for you. I will do the full DIT Step 1 course ($770) but not until next year before starting clinical placements as my med school has a Step 1-like hurdle exam, and I'm also considering doing the USMLE (so I can apply for US residency programs if I want, ie paeds). Actually, $770 is one of the cheaper ones. Check out their website as they have a recommended study plan and also recommend other sources too,but for you, being at the end of your course, look more at Step 2 and 3 prep.
Then finally there's USMLE World that is supposed to have the best practice exams (sorry Kaplan). I get a 30-day subscription before each exam and do 10-20 questions per day until I've done all of them for the topic at least once, and read the correct and incorrect explanations. They are presented in the way USMLE questions are presented, which is the way my med school presents them too. (ie MCQs, clinical vignette followed by five possible answers, two of which are easy to discount, two distractors, and two maybes, requiring application and manipulation of basic sciences into a clinical scenario). That is $100 for 30-days. There used to be a free, wiki version, but it shut down. Maybe someone paid them to!?
I'll need to do the Australian Medical Council exam once I graduate before I can apply for internship in Australia. It's a slightly different format, but obviously the medicine is the same. They say if you do your clincial rotations in Australia it is most helpful, so that is what I'll be doing plus all the USMLE prep. The AMC have two publications - AMC MCQs and Anthology of Medical Conditions. I would only recommend them for people wanting to sit the AMC exam to get used to the format as they're not particularly user friendly.
Hope that helps?
CJ
Hi Bee,
Doctors In Training is one of a number of companies that do prep courses for the USMLEs (US Medical Licensing Exams). I use USMLE prep material as there are so many resources out there as all US med students have to sit these exams. They should all help me prepare for my med school exams, and the Australian Medical Council exam too. They tend to be more revision and emphasising highly-examinable topics. I use them as a guide as I go through my course to make sure I'm covering everything I should be.
I would recommend First Aid for the USMLE at about $40-60 each. Step 1 is basic concepts, Step 2 is applying them to clinical situations, and Step 3 is preparing for unsupervised patient treatment. These books are reasonably priced and my med school and Doctors In Training recommend the FA series. Actually, FA for the USMLE Step 1 is on our required textbook list, I read it before I go into an exam, and I don't go anywhere without it (it currently smells like coconut milk, but that's another story.) I recommend the latest version of these as they changed the format and is now even better.
Kaplan does good prep courses that are recommended by many students, but they are pricey! I got my notes second-hand from eBay. I don't believe you need the latest version of these. They go into more depth than FA, but if it's revision then FA is prob enough. I'm doing some first-hand learning from my Kaplan notes. I would say it's half-way between FA and reading the textbooks. They also do videos, but again too expensive for me but I hear they are really good.
Have you checked out http://www.almostadoctor.com/? It might be just what you're looking for. It's free and UK based, and I love their notes and I print them out to read more in-depth. They have an OSCE section as well, but that's ahead of me atm.
I use DIT atm for their single pharm lectures because they're only $12 each and I need that visual/audio supplement for my pharm as my course is so heavily self-directed learning. I would say it is too basic for you. I will do the full DIT Step 1 course ($770) but not until next year before starting clinical placements as my med school has a Step 1-like hurdle exam, and I'm also considering doing the USMLE (so I can apply for US residency programs if I want, ie paeds). Actually, $770 is one of the cheaper ones. Check out their website as they have a recommended study plan and also recommend other sources too,but for you, being at the end of your course, look more at Step 2 and 3 prep.
Then finally there's USMLE World that is supposed to have the best practice exams (sorry Kaplan). I get a 30-day subscription before each exam and do 10-20 questions per day until I've done all of them for the topic at least once, and read the correct and incorrect explanations. They are presented in the way USMLE questions are presented, which is the way my med school presents them too. (ie MCQs, clinical vignette followed by five possible answers, two of which are easy to discount, two distractors, and two maybes, requiring application and manipulation of basic sciences into a clinical scenario). That is $100 for 30-days. There used to be a free, wiki version, but it shut down. Maybe someone paid them to!?
I'll need to do the Australian Medical Council exam once I graduate before I can apply for internship in Australia. It's a slightly different format, but obviously the medicine is the same. They say if you do your clincial rotations in Australia it is most helpful, so that is what I'll be doing plus all the USMLE prep. The AMC have two publications - AMC MCQs and Anthology of Medical Conditions. I would only recommend them for people wanting to sit the AMC exam to get used to the format as they're not particularly user friendly.
Hope that helps?
CJ
Thursday, June 16, 2011
5am lectures
The 5am lectures on Thursday mornings are very difficult for me and my terrible habit of needing to sleep occasionally. At least they are not interrupted by inconsiderate patients having emergencies.
Well, I have seemed to have lost a good portion of today so I must stop blogging and start learning about calcium homeostasis, microbes involved in osteomyelitis, and other such areas of this week's learning objectives which I seem to be deficient in.
Oh, before I go, a quick mention that today we were talking about imaging and MRIs and I asked "What if you don't have access to MRI?" and I found myself thinking about working in Samoa. If not Samoa, then Cambodia, or Rwanda, or somewhere exotic and remote where you need to improvise and rely on your clinical judgement. I'm so excited, I seem to have gotten an extra boost of motivation lately thinking that I might actually one day do this big dream I have for working for Medecines Sans Frontiers (or similar organisation). You know that nice feeling that rarely happens when a dream starts to morph into a future possibility? I'm there right now.
Well, I have seemed to have lost a good portion of today so I must stop blogging and start learning about calcium homeostasis, microbes involved in osteomyelitis, and other such areas of this week's learning objectives which I seem to be deficient in.
Oh, before I go, a quick mention that today we were talking about imaging and MRIs and I asked "What if you don't have access to MRI?" and I found myself thinking about working in Samoa. If not Samoa, then Cambodia, or Rwanda, or somewhere exotic and remote where you need to improvise and rely on your clinical judgement. I'm so excited, I seem to have gotten an extra boost of motivation lately thinking that I might actually one day do this big dream I have for working for Medecines Sans Frontiers (or similar organisation). You know that nice feeling that rarely happens when a dream starts to morph into a future possibility? I'm there right now.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Winter
It's one of those nice sunny winters day. I took the opportunity to clean up the patio a bit and the windows. I also moved the dog kennel and tried to convince my pooch that its a great place to sleep.
The lawns I hope to do over the weekend. I dont have a mower with a motor in it...yet. But I will very soon! So far I've had friends and neighbours do it for me, and often by surprise! People can be surprisingly generous.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Dazed and confused
Up until about 20 minutes ago I thought I was working on-call tonight. I'm just so used to 24-hours in this uniform, I feel kinda funny about having tonight off. I'll have to drive my own private car home. It feels weird. I don't think I've had a day off in 8 days now, and then I only had the one day off, Monday, or did I do Monday night? Uhh.... well I'll just keep turning up until it's annual leave then.
I'm back tomorrow morning at 7am, so I wont have to worry about what to do with myself tomorrow.
I think it's hilarious and I feel kinda special that Kaplan posted a comment on yesterday's post. There is so much money in USMLE prep it's not even funny. I am so glad for it all, though. It really does help a lot.
So, I missed today's lecture because right at 5 mins til it started my pager beeped and I got stuck out of my patch and had to take the patient to a small rural hospital I'e never been to before. They were quite good there but it took a little while to get back.
Well that's all. More study tonight. I'm dogged by that biochem section I missed, but I know I must move on to the next case study or risk falling behind, which is was worse.
I'm back tomorrow morning at 7am, so I wont have to worry about what to do with myself tomorrow.
I think it's hilarious and I feel kinda special that Kaplan posted a comment on yesterday's post. There is so much money in USMLE prep it's not even funny. I am so glad for it all, though. It really does help a lot.
So, I missed today's lecture because right at 5 mins til it started my pager beeped and I got stuck out of my patch and had to take the patient to a small rural hospital I'e never been to before. They were quite good there but it took a little while to get back.
Well that's all. More study tonight. I'm dogged by that biochem section I missed, but I know I must move on to the next case study or risk falling behind, which is was worse.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Everybody - panic!
I'm at Code Orange on my panic scale. It's my last designated day for this case study and I have two massive learning issues to cover and it's not going to happen. My head is dizzy from not sleeping enough/properly and I'm at damage control status.
The learning issues are the physiology of muscle fibre contraction and the biochemistry of energy production. The basic concepts I already understand thanks to my paramedic background (physiol) and the biochem term I did in Samoa, and I've just looked at ATP for the PT course. I just really need to revise and go more in-depth. That would be fine if I had 3 days. I have more like 3 hours and I'm tired. My eyes don't even work properly.
First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 will be my saviour again, and I think I'll get my USMLE World QBank subscription a wekk early next week. Maybe I might even think "Stuff it. I'll cram those two points before the exam". Biochem is a lot of rote learning anyway.
No, I really don't want to be the kind of doctor that crams for exams and data-dumps afterwards, but I need to keep the bigger picture in-focus. I have learnt almost all thre is to know about osteoarthritis and the relevant medications this week. I feel confidently that I could differentially diagnose most presentaitons of joint pain. This is good. I can look more in-depth as I move forward. My primary goal is to pass.
This is my rationale.
Oh well, here I go.
The learning issues are the physiology of muscle fibre contraction and the biochemistry of energy production. The basic concepts I already understand thanks to my paramedic background (physiol) and the biochem term I did in Samoa, and I've just looked at ATP for the PT course. I just really need to revise and go more in-depth. That would be fine if I had 3 days. I have more like 3 hours and I'm tired. My eyes don't even work properly.
First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 will be my saviour again, and I think I'll get my USMLE World QBank subscription a wekk early next week. Maybe I might even think "Stuff it. I'll cram those two points before the exam". Biochem is a lot of rote learning anyway.
No, I really don't want to be the kind of doctor that crams for exams and data-dumps afterwards, but I need to keep the bigger picture in-focus. I have learnt almost all thre is to know about osteoarthritis and the relevant medications this week. I feel confidently that I could differentially diagnose most presentaitons of joint pain. This is good. I can look more in-depth as I move forward. My primary goal is to pass.
This is my rationale.
Oh well, here I go.
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