Had to readjust a little. Taken around 11:15 PM PST.
It's been a little more than two months since my last post (thank you everyone who has reminded me over the past couple of weeks :-p). When I last blogged, I was just finishing my Ob/Gyn rotation and about to start my Psychiatry rotation. For some reason, even though I worked from 8 AM to 5 PM on most days of my Psych rotation, I didn't think to blog during that time. Psych is now two weeks gone and, ironically, I am now taking some time out of my 4:30 AM to 8 PM Surgery rotation workday to write to you all. Today is actually a day off for me. Time to catch up on my personal to-do list, which includes blogging, paying bills, and (of course) studying...wait, I mean, sleeping.
What has happened over the past 8 or so weeks? During the switch weekend between Psych and Surgery, I flew back for Stanford Homecoming! After spending almost 12 hours that Saturday with the Stanford Marching Band for field rehearsal, the Stanford-Washington State game (which we won 38-28), and the post-game tailgate, I ended the day at the Phi Kappa Psi Homecoming dinner. Let me tell you, walking through the door of the Phi Psi house to jubilant cheers of "Ruke Ri!" simply made my night. Back in Michigan, Phi Rho Sigma had a successful Jello Shot Halloween party, and I've been keeping up with Stanford football from afar. Did you know Stanford might not make it to a Rose Bowl, even if Oregon remains undefeated and Stanford wins out for the rest of the season? There's some convoluted system that is best explained in this article: http://tinyurl.com/29q8rjq. In any case, stay tuned for BCS madness.
But enough about such frivolous topics. What has been going on in med school? Recently, the folks on my rotation had a lecture whose lecturer ended her talk with an explanation of how to be a top medical student. For those of you who are unaware, M3 year at Michigan is graded based on Pass, High Pass, and Honors (with Honors being the highest). Her explanation was based on the RIME model of evaluating medical students. It goes something like this:
The R in RIME stands for Reporter. This is the student who comes in early, leaves late, works hard, is friendly with everyone on the team, is professional with patients and colleagues, and studies on a regular basis. This student knows that the team has been following a patient's potassium, notices that a patient's lab work for the morning has come back, and tells the resident, "Hey, this patient's potassium came back as 130." The resident replies, "Oh, thanks so much, I was waiting for that result but was too busy this morning to check it. Thanks for letting me know." This student receives a Pass.
The I stands for Interpreter. This student does everything the Reporter does (works long hours, friendly attitude, etc.). This student notices the potassium and tells the resident, "Hey, this patient's potassium came back as 130. I think it's low." The resident replies, "You're absolutely right. I was waiting for that result but was too busy this morning to check it. Thanks for letting me know." This student also receives a Pass.
The M stands for Manager. This student is both a great Reporter and Interpreter. This student notices the potassium and tells the resident, "Hey, this patient's potassium came back as 130. I think it's low. Would you like me to write an order for potassium supplementation?" The resident replies, "That would be great. I'm pretty busy this morning. Thanks for helping me take care of this patient." This student receives a High Pass.
Finally, the E stands for Educator. This student is a great Reporter, Interpreter, and Manager. This student works long hours, has a friendly attitude, is able to understand the plan for each patient, and keeps track of patient care in the hospital. This student notices the potassium and tells the resident, "Hey, this patient's potassium came back as 130. I think it's low. Would you like me to write an order for potassium supplementation? The latest JAMA article on fluid management recommends an infusion rate of..." You see, this student is taking time outside of usual study time to look up extra material that benefits both the student and the team's fund of knowledge. This student receives Honors.
To anyone reading this description, the criteria for Honors might seem insurmountable, probably more so for med students who actually have first-hand experiences with these expectations. There's also a fine line between trying to get Honors and looking like an annoying suck-up. I guess the way I look at it is this: of course I'm going to work hard in everything I do, striving for Honors...but getting a Pass doesn't mean I'm a bad student. In fact, getting a Pass means I'm being recognized for a lot of what I wrote above. It means my professors and residents agreed that I came in early, that I left late, that I worked hard, that I was friendly, that I was professional, and that I had a good fund of knowledge (probably not as much as they would like, but they also have years of experience on their side). What I'm learning as M3 year goes past the midway point is this: it is not so much important to me what I lacked in not getting Honors as it is what qualities are vindicated in receiving a Pass. I'll take those qualities any day.
(That having been said, I'm hoping my upcoming Ob/Gyn and Psych grades are Honors :-p. Knock on wood.)
There's a change in the air. This past Friday, the weather in Michigan literally changed over the course of a few hours. Shorts and sandals are now out; jeans and hoodies are slowly coming back. It seemed like autumn came with the flick of a switch. Granted, I overhead the weatherperson say that this recent drop in temperature is a result of tailwinds from Hurricane Earl combining with a cold front from Canada. Still, the dry air and cool wind is a welcome respite from the grueling humidity that's been plaguing us this entire summer.
Also, the return of football is a welcome respite from the humdrum of lazy summer days. There's a new energy on campus with undergrads returning to school and a new energy in town with the start of football. Michigan opened its season with a 30-10 win against UConn, and Stanford opened its season with a 52-17 win against Sacramento State. As Brandon so wisely noted on his Facebook status: "[This past Saturday was] the official start to the best few months of the year."
In school news, my Ob/Gyn exams will be coming up this week, with my Psych rotation coming up next. A few days ago I took a Medical Specialty Aptitude Test from the University of Virginia School of Medicine (courtesy of Shaun Patel) with the following (interesting) results:
Specialty
- pediatrics
- nuclear med
- occupational med
- dermatology
- radiation oncology
- rheumatology
- med oncology
- infectious disease
- anesthesiology
- hematology
- gastroenterology
- pulmonology
- preventive med
- radiology
- obstetrics/gynecology
- ophthalmology
- psychiatry
- physical med & rehabilitation
- aerospace med
- nephrology
- allergy & immunology
- emergency med
- general internal med
- endocrinology
- neurosurgery
- pathology
- urology
- cardiology
- family practice
- colon & rectal surgery
- thoracic surgery
- general surgery
- plastic surgery
- orthopaedic surgery
- neurology
- otolaryngology
Seeing as how I'm just finishing up my second rotation, I still have a long way to go before this list gets narrowed down. Stay tuned.
[Suggestions?]
Yes, it has been over a month and a half since my last post. When we last left our hero, he was just finishing up his second month of Internal Medicine. A month of outpatient Internal Medicine has come and gone, as has the enormous collection of end-of-rotation tests. We haven't gotten our official grades yet, but I feel confident that I passed. Now I am well into my second rotation, Ob/Gyn, which started on August 8. I will be delivering babies, working in women's health clinics, and scrubbing into gynecologic surgeries until September 10. But instead of writing about my academic life, I wanted to share some thoughts on something completely different: food.
You see, over the summer, before the pre-clinical M1/M2 academic year begins, the members of my medical fraternity Phi Rho Sigma don't have the luxury of Chef Amy's culinary skills. Housemates who stay over the summer for pre-clinical research jobs or for their M3/M4 clinical responsibilities have to find their own way of dealing with daily sustenance. Some go to the grocery store and are able to fend for themselves with an impressive array of home-made food. My preferred means of getting my meals, however, was to buy outside food. My summer was pretty much a blur of No Thai! noodles, Chipotle burritos, and Jimmy John sandwiches. (Maybe that's why I seemed to have gained 10 lbs when I weighed myself at the gym this morning...)
This isn't to say that my dining experiences over the summer at Phi Rho have been bland. Having free time breeds creativity. Case in point: 45-cent wings at Buffalo Wild Wings (B-dubs). I innocently emailed Phi Rho my plans to order take-out from B-dubs and offered to place additional orders. Although I lost the exact order, the picture below is worth a thousand words.
[A moment of silence, for the chickens that were sacrificed to satisfy the hunger of Phi Rho.]
This also isn't to say that I ate out every single day. Summer was the perfect opportunity for me to expand my skill set beyond nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, and computer hacking skills, to include cooking skills. With encouragement from Anne and Danny, I've boiled pasta, grilled meat, baked banana bread, and made other non-bachelor foods (i.e. PB&J sandwiches). In fact, my proudest moment this summer was recreating an old favorite of mine from home: fried dumplings.
[1. Boil dumplings until edible, 2. Lightly coat frying pan with cooking oil, 3. Fry boiled dumplings in lightly-coated frying pan.]
~~~~~~
[Unfortunately, learning to cook has nothing to do with learning to avoid awkward poses.]
~~~~~~
[I'm shaking with excitement in anticipation of eating these dumplings. Hence, the blurriness.]
~~~~~~
[Dumplings fried in cooking oil with a touch of garlic. Kudos to Anne for letting me use her kitchen and for helping me finish this meal.]
Despite all the good times I had with food this summer, I'm very thankful that Chef Amy is back. For one, her meals are more delicious and nutritious than my salami sandwiches. Plus, there's a renewed energy in the house. Eating with the new M1s and the old M2s, M3s, and M4s helps me appreciate the sense of community I love so much at Phi Rho. Scarfing down cafeteria food in the middle of a Labor & Delivery shift just isn't the same as sitting down at a table with good friends.
Despite all the good times I had with food this summer, I'm very thankful that Chef Amy is back. For one, her meals are more delicious and nutritious than my salami sandwiches. Plus, there's a renewed energy in the house. Eating with the new M1s and the old M2s, M3s, and M4s helps me appreciate the sense of community I love so much at Phi Rho. Scarfing down cafeteria food in the middle of a Labor & Delivery shift just isn't the same as sitting down at a table with good friends.
P.S. Other big news/interesting tidbits from my life:
- I'll be working the night shift, 10 PM to 7 AM, in Labor & Delivery this entire weekend, starting today and going until Sunday 7 AM. Wish me luck.
- Hey Stanford folks, I'm coming back for Homecoming 2010! My flight arrives in SFO the night of Friday, October 22, and leaves SFO the morning of Sunday, October 24.
- Also, I'm planning on working in Honduras for a week in May of next year, between my M3 and M4 years. A group of Michigan med students is heading to La Ceiba to volunteer at a low-income clinic in the town. Updates to come.
[Disclaimer: I retell some stories about patients, but I hope I've been successful in sufficiently removing identifying information.]
It's been about a month since my last post, and I now have two months of my M3 year under my belt. A lot of other classmates are in the process of studying for end-of-rotation exams ("shelf exams"), and some have already completed shorter one-month-long rotations. However, the three-month-long Internal Medicine rotation is the single longest rotation of the year, so I still have one more month to go. In that month, I will have to find time to study for the massive Medicine shelf exam (the biggest shelf of the year) as well as for the smaller Michigan-specific Medicine quizzes (the EKG quiz, the chest X-ray quiz, the cardiology quiz, and the pattern recognition quiz). Fortunately, after two months of inpatient medicine split between the VA hospital and St. Joseph Mercy hospital (St. Joe's) filled with nights spent in the hospital, I now have a month of outpatient clinics, which means free nights and weekends (sounds like a cell phone commercial). The other advantage of the outpatient service is the vast number of patients I will get to see everyday. It will be hard work trying to interview, examine, and evaluate patients in less than 30 minutes, but I should be able to get a diverse collection of medical problems to learn about firsthand.
Granted, one of the priorities of medical school is learning the basic clinical knowledge needed to diagnose and treat patients. This is where being responsible for patients and studying for school exams come in. Yet, in my short time as an M3, my patients have taught me a lot more than simply the science of medicine. I've learned, for example, that I enjoy aspects of primary care. I was evaluating a patient once for a heart attack, and in the process of the interview I ended up explaining why it was important for him as a diabetic to conduct daily checks for foot ulcers. Not only was I excited to be able to answer a medical question posed by a patient, but it was also rewarding to see how the patient truly appreciated my taking the time to help him understand his medical condition. At the same time, I've also seen the flip-side of primary care when one of our patients was unable to receive proper post-hospitalization alcohol rehabilitation after losing her health insurance. This upcoming month of outpatient medicine will give me more of a taste for the primary care setting. My time on the wards so far have also been filled with a mix of emotions. One of our elderly patients at St. Joe's fell into a coma from the aftermath of an infection that overwhelmed his already frail body. We informed his family members that he was unlikely to recover from this state, and they decided to make him "comfort care," which means they wanted no further medical interventions. When I last saw this patient with the medical team, his daughter was holding his hand and stroking his head as he slipped in and out of mild seizures. I felt a lump grow in my throat as I watched this woman attempt to comfort her father in his last days of life. After leaving the room, I was struck by the juxtaposition of this end-of-life moment with the hospital-wide lullaby that played minutes afterwards, signalling a successful delivery in the birthing unit. Another patient had an acute mental status change that our team thought was due to an infective abscess in her brain. Unfortunately, her chronic kidney disease meant using contrast dye in the MRI scanner to confirm the diagnosis could potentially cause severe renal failure. Both her and her father agreed that it was worth risking this rare but fatal reaction in order to obtain the information needed by our medical team. With the abscess disrupting her brain's language centers, this patient fought through broken sentences to let us know simply that she was scared.
[There have also been about three tornado warnings for Ann Arbor in the past week. A metaphor for M3 year's whirlwind of emotions?]
Rest assured, there are light moments in the hospital as well. One of my elderly patients, for example, offered these wise words of advice: "Are you married? Be careful who you end up with. They might be marrying you because you're going to be a doctor and will have lots of money." Another time, while letting a man with significant pleural effusions squeeze my hand during a thoracentesis, the two of us joked about letting him knock out my teeth instead of those of the attending and senior resident performing the painful procedure. Putting my block M white coat back on after the procedure, I had to smile when he said, "You know, you look 10 feet tall with that white coat on." You see, in the hustle and bustle of M3 year, it can be easy for us med students to forget our role on the medical team. Thankfully our patients can help remind us, often in the most unexpected times, just what an important contribution we can make to their care simply through our presence.
Rest assured, there are light moments in the hospital as well. One of my elderly patients, for example, offered these wise words of advice: "Are you married? Be careful who you end up with. They might be marrying you because you're going to be a doctor and will have lots of money." Another time, while letting a man with significant pleural effusions squeeze my hand during a thoracentesis, the two of us joked about letting him knock out my teeth instead of those of the attending and senior resident performing the painful procedure. Putting my block M white coat back on after the procedure, I had to smile when he said, "You know, you look 10 feet tall with that white coat on." You see, in the hustle and bustle of M3 year, it can be easy for us med students to forget our role on the medical team. Thankfully our patients can help remind us, often in the most unexpected times, just what an important contribution we can make to their care simply through our presence.
This post was supposed to be published during my Step 1 studying, but as you can guess, something got in the way...namely Step 1 studying. However, my original thoughts are still relevant, now that I'm one month into M3 year.
The post was supposed to be about comparing myself to my classmates. I wanted to write it during Step 1 studying because I thought those four to five weeks were filled with moments of self-doubt. All of my other classmates had individualized study strategies, so it was impossible to track my progress or to know if my personal strategy was the "right" one. However, the fact of the matter is that this was the first time we were actually competing over something that had very really implications for our future careers. Granted, I felt more motivated to crush the test rather than crushing my friends, but it was still a strange feeling to think I wasn't studying enough or I was studying the "wrong" way.
As you might imagine, this feeling has stayed during M3 year. The first two years of med school are all pass/fail grading, but M3 grades go from fail to pass, high pass, and honors. There are "recommended" guidelines for how many percentage of students should receive pass, high pass, and honors; for none of the clerkships is the recommendation 100% honors. Our curriculum is set up in such that the standard for "pass" is excellence, not mediocrity. We've been reassured that getting a "pass" isn't necessarily a C grade. Yet, this reassurance is tempered by the reality that my classmates and I will be subjectively graded by our attendings and our senior residents with no objective scoring rubric.
How do I wrap my head around this new academic paradigm? By staying true to my personality. I've never been one to raise myself up by bringing others down. It also helps to be working with similarly-minded students (I feel I get along really well with the three other classmates on my inpatient Internal Medicine team at the VA hospital). Outside of school, it helps to be living in Phi Rho where both clinical and non-clinical students can keep me grounded. I still have to learn how to be an independent learner with no lectures or quizzes to guide me, but that shouldn't stop me from having the occasional impromptu trip to sushi and the movie theater on my day off (thanks, Angeline and Ritesh).
In short, it will be tough learning how to gauge what I know and what I don't know (the essence of a self-directed education), but the only thing I can do is work to the best of my ability, not to the best of the abilities of people around me.
Just for reference, this is my clerkship rotation schedule for the year:
- Internal Medicine: 5/10/10 - 8/1/10
- Ob/Gyn: 8/2/10 - 9/12/10
- Psychiatry: 9/13/10 - 10/24/10
- Surgery: 10/25/10 - 12/19/10
- Neurology: 1/10/11 - 2/6/11
- Family Medicine: 2/7/11 - 3/6/11
- Pediatrics: 3/7/11 - 5/1/11
Alrighty, well, it's been more than a month since my last post. Unlike
my other delayed posts, this one was delayed for reasons other than
laziness: Step 1 took over my life. Despite my best efforts scheduling
in time to blog, studying for the boards ended up taking up a lot of
time. Fortunately, there were fellow M2s at Phi Rho to keep me sane.
Kudos to Amy Li for maintaining our morale on the white board.
[Tao, me, Zoe, Steph, and Eunice had our tests scheduled in Ann Arbor
for April 21. Brandon and Laurel had their tests scheduled for April
28.]
[After April 21. Brandon and Laurel sprinting to the finish.]
[Everyone in Phi Rho done! Cristina, Shaw, Emily, and Tyson were out
of the house during boards studying.] My birthday was the day after my boards (one reason why I purposely
scheduled it that way). To celebrate, I simply had friends come over
to Phi Rho and watch David Blaine magic on TV. Thanks everyone for
keeping me company! The following day I flew back to California for my grandma's 80th
birthday was that weekend (another reason why I purposely scheduled it
that way). The first meal I had when I was back on the West Coast was
In-N-Out.
[Animal-Style fries and a 3x3 burger. There's no place like home.] On the morning of my grandma's birthday, Phi Psi also had its pledge
ceremony for the new pledges at the house on campus. I felt
fortunately to be able to see the new generation of Phi Psis being
introduced to the fraternity and it was great to see brothers that I
still recognized living in the house. I was definitely relieved to
find out that I still remembered to words to our fraternity song.
After the pledge ceremony, my family and I took my grandma out to a
wonderful lunch at Hunan Chili Restaurant in Mountain View. She had
lots of friends from her apartment complex at the lunch as well as
lots of family. Later that day, I went up to San Francisco to eat
dinner with Phi Psi alums at Le P'tit Laurent, a small, delightful
French bistro.
[Le P'tit Laurent, at the corner of Chenery and Diamond St.]
[I had a delicious seafood soup, sea bass, and sorbet.] The next day, I had lunch at Amici's Pizza with Nick Hsu and Hendrick.
Later that night, I attended a Stanford Band rehearsal. (Muscle memory
goes a long way with remembering how to play our songs.) Good times. It was definitely nice to be back in California, but I only stayed for
four days. After coming back to Ann Arbor, I only had a week before M3
orientation began. What did I do with my pre-wards time? Lots of cool
stuff. Preparing for M3 year entails getting a new wardrobe, my very
own pager, and (most exciting of all) my first car for commuting to
work!
[My 2007 Honda CR-V.] In addition to getting all my cool toys, I also went to see Obama
speak at the Michigan commencement with Ritesh. We were so jealous
that the graduating ROTC officers were commissioned by the President
himself.
[Pumped to see the Commander in Chief] John Rutherford and Te also visited Michigan for John's sister's
graduation. We had a nice brunch at Nick's Original Pancake House.
[Whoops, I think I blinked.] Finally, M3 orientation was from Wednesday to Friday. We had sessions
on performing Foleys, NG tubes, IVs, along with other important
clinical information like online resources. I start my rotations with
Internal Medicine at the VA. Not sure how often I'll be able to blog
from here on out, but I hope to keep it up. Feel free to send me
reminders and demand your reading materials. Wish me luck!
my other delayed posts, this one was delayed for reasons other than
laziness: Step 1 took over my life. Despite my best efforts scheduling
in time to blog, studying for the boards ended up taking up a lot of
time. Fortunately, there were fellow M2s at Phi Rho to keep me sane.
Kudos to Amy Li for maintaining our morale on the white board.
[Tao, me, Zoe, Steph, and Eunice had our tests scheduled in Ann Arbor
for April 21. Brandon and Laurel had their tests scheduled for April
28.]
[After April 21. Brandon and Laurel sprinting to the finish.]
[Everyone in Phi Rho done! Cristina, Shaw, Emily, and Tyson were out
of the house during boards studying.] My birthday was the day after my boards (one reason why I purposely
scheduled it that way). To celebrate, I simply had friends come over
to Phi Rho and watch David Blaine magic on TV. Thanks everyone for
keeping me company! The following day I flew back to California for my grandma's 80th
birthday was that weekend (another reason why I purposely scheduled it
that way). The first meal I had when I was back on the West Coast was
In-N-Out.
[Animal-Style fries and a 3x3 burger. There's no place like home.] On the morning of my grandma's birthday, Phi Psi also had its pledge
ceremony for the new pledges at the house on campus. I felt
fortunately to be able to see the new generation of Phi Psis being
introduced to the fraternity and it was great to see brothers that I
still recognized living in the house. I was definitely relieved to
find out that I still remembered to words to our fraternity song.
After the pledge ceremony, my family and I took my grandma out to a
wonderful lunch at Hunan Chili Restaurant in Mountain View. She had
lots of friends from her apartment complex at the lunch as well as
lots of family. Later that day, I went up to San Francisco to eat
dinner with Phi Psi alums at Le P'tit Laurent, a small, delightful
French bistro.
[Le P'tit Laurent, at the corner of Chenery and Diamond St.]
[I had a delicious seafood soup, sea bass, and sorbet.] The next day, I had lunch at Amici's Pizza with Nick Hsu and Hendrick.
Later that night, I attended a Stanford Band rehearsal. (Muscle memory
goes a long way with remembering how to play our songs.) Good times. It was definitely nice to be back in California, but I only stayed for
four days. After coming back to Ann Arbor, I only had a week before M3
orientation began. What did I do with my pre-wards time? Lots of cool
stuff. Preparing for M3 year entails getting a new wardrobe, my very
own pager, and (most exciting of all) my first car for commuting to
work!
[My 2007 Honda CR-V.] In addition to getting all my cool toys, I also went to see Obama
speak at the Michigan commencement with Ritesh. We were so jealous
that the graduating ROTC officers were commissioned by the President
himself.
[Pumped to see the Commander in Chief] John Rutherford and Te also visited Michigan for John's sister's
graduation. We had a nice brunch at Nick's Original Pancake House.
[Whoops, I think I blinked.] Finally, M3 orientation was from Wednesday to Friday. We had sessions
on performing Foleys, NG tubes, IVs, along with other important
clinical information like online resources. I start my rotations with
Internal Medicine at the VA. Not sure how often I'll be able to blog
from here on out, but I hope to keep it up. Feel free to send me
reminders and demand your reading materials. Wish me luck!
Well, the first week of boards studying has come and gone. Overall, it
seems to be going OK. I've been able to stay on track for the most
part. That being said, there's still a good 300 or so pages left in my
First Aid that I need to make a first-pass at, plus thousands of
Q-bank questions. To get my mind off Step 1 studying, I thought it
might be nice to look back at all that has happened from the beginning
of February until now. February was a simpler time. I broke 200 in bowling for the first time
ever (bowled a 211 in the third game of February 3). Also, the Phi
Rhollers finally received the free bowling balls that we won last
semester. The balls also came with free custom drilling, fitting our
hands like gloves.
[My bowling ball, fresh out of the package, before drilling.]
[The complete ensemble.] Unfortunately, the crown weighed heavy on the Phi Rhollers. We didn't
make the Winter League playoffs. It was a bit of an anti-climatic
ending to a short-lived med school bowling career, but at least we had
good memories going into boards studying. March saw the Galens Smoker come and go. The Galens Smoker is the
annual student-produced musical comedy where we roast our beloved
faculty with funny impressions and inappropriate jokes. Check out the
article in the latest Medicine at Michigan magazine:
http://www.medicineatmichigan.org/magazine/2010/spring/exclusives/smoker.asp.
The photo gallery is pretty fun to look at. Especially picture #11. In non-school-related news, I've ended up putting my car shopping on
hold. I wasn't able to find a suitable car for a suitable price before
I disappeared to study for Step 1. Fortunately, some friends back in
California took it upon themselves to scope out the auto landscape for
me. Harvey Xiao, John Shen, and Nick Hsu are fraternity brothers of
mine who know a lot about cars. In fact, they run a blog called Middle
Class Motoring that features reviews about cars made for...well...the
middle class. Every week, they have a theme, whether it be AWD
vehicles, Subarus, or whatever. This week they were kind enough to
have "Luke's week." Check out their website at
http://middleclassmotoring.com/past-crush/2010/3/22/lukes-week-car-advice-for...
(I'm looking forward to trying out their recommendations). Looking ahead to my post-boards life, I'll be coming back to
California after my Step 1. My test date is April 21, I'll be
celebrating my birthday in Ann Arbor on April 22, and I fly out on
April 23. Among the many things I'm looking forward to, celebrating my
grandma's 80th birthday and going to the shooting range with Isabelle
are definitely on the list. While I'm home, I'm sure I'll be asked the
occasional medical question. Our professors have always joked about
how our family members will start consulting us as medical experts,
even as med students. I'm hoping my Step 1 preparation will be
satisfactory. 5 days down. 24 more days to go!
seems to be going OK. I've been able to stay on track for the most
part. That being said, there's still a good 300 or so pages left in my
First Aid that I need to make a first-pass at, plus thousands of
Q-bank questions. To get my mind off Step 1 studying, I thought it
might be nice to look back at all that has happened from the beginning
of February until now. February was a simpler time. I broke 200 in bowling for the first time
ever (bowled a 211 in the third game of February 3). Also, the Phi
Rhollers finally received the free bowling balls that we won last
semester. The balls also came with free custom drilling, fitting our
hands like gloves.
[My bowling ball, fresh out of the package, before drilling.]
[The complete ensemble.] Unfortunately, the crown weighed heavy on the Phi Rhollers. We didn't
make the Winter League playoffs. It was a bit of an anti-climatic
ending to a short-lived med school bowling career, but at least we had
good memories going into boards studying. March saw the Galens Smoker come and go. The Galens Smoker is the
annual student-produced musical comedy where we roast our beloved
faculty with funny impressions and inappropriate jokes. Check out the
article in the latest Medicine at Michigan magazine:
http://www.medicineatmichigan.org/magazine/2010/spring/exclusives/smoker.asp.
The photo gallery is pretty fun to look at. Especially picture #11. In non-school-related news, I've ended up putting my car shopping on
hold. I wasn't able to find a suitable car for a suitable price before
I disappeared to study for Step 1. Fortunately, some friends back in
California took it upon themselves to scope out the auto landscape for
me. Harvey Xiao, John Shen, and Nick Hsu are fraternity brothers of
mine who know a lot about cars. In fact, they run a blog called Middle
Class Motoring that features reviews about cars made for...well...the
middle class. Every week, they have a theme, whether it be AWD
vehicles, Subarus, or whatever. This week they were kind enough to
have "Luke's week." Check out their website at
http://middleclassmotoring.com/past-crush/2010/3/22/lukes-week-car-advice-for...
(I'm looking forward to trying out their recommendations). Looking ahead to my post-boards life, I'll be coming back to
California after my Step 1. My test date is April 21, I'll be
celebrating my birthday in Ann Arbor on April 22, and I fly out on
April 23. Among the many things I'm looking forward to, celebrating my
grandma's 80th birthday and going to the shooting range with Isabelle
are definitely on the list. While I'm home, I'm sure I'll be asked the
occasional medical question. Our professors have always joked about
how our family members will start consulting us as medical experts,
even as med students. I'm hoping my Step 1 preparation will be
satisfactory. 5 days down. 24 more days to go!
Hello loyal blog reader!I feel obligated to write a quick post, given how my last one was over a month ago. A lot has happened in those past weeks. I'll go into more detail in future updates. The biggest piece of news is how my classmates and I are starting to studying for our USMLE Step 1 exams. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the test, this Wikipedia article pretty much sums up the importance of this 8-hour exam when it says, "The Step 1 exam is arguably the hardest and most important examination a medical student will take during his/her career." Basically, last week was our last week of lectures (ever!), and we now have a little more than a month to review everything we've learned over the first two years of med school. I've spent the past two days organizing a study schedule that not only covers subjects ranging from Biochemistry to Microbiology to Pharmacology and all of the major organ systems in between, but also gives me time to go to the last couple of Pops Orchestra rehearsals as well as perform in the concert. Feel free to check it out here. The spreadsheet itself might seem chaotic to anyone except me. All that matters is I think I'm ready to attack this beast head-on. As you might notice, I've scheduled in weekly breaks when I can just relax. Ironically, studying for Step 1 might help me stay up-to-date on this blog because I've actually scheduled in time to write. Those will be the times when I can bring you all up to speed on what's been happening these last few weeks. In the meantime, wish me luck! I've got my "Step 1 pump up music" Pandora station going (http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh208632477574733780), and have all my resources ready for Day 1 of Step 1 studying. My test date is April 21. Peace and love, friends. Peace and love.
[In the background: Kaplan Q-Bank (4,600+ practice questions at my fingertips). In the foreground (from bottom to top): First Aid for the USMLE Step 1, my review foundation; Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple; printouts for review lectures.]
[In the background: Kaplan Q-Bank (4,600+ practice questions at my fingertips). In the foreground (from bottom to top): First Aid for the USMLE Step 1, my review foundation; Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple; printouts for review lectures.]