June 18, 2008

• The Final Countdown

  In the midst of all the stress of moving, I felt i should take a moment to let people know that I really am enjoying 4th year. 4th year is the breather for medical students, in the sense that we choose all our own courses, and so ideally you are spending the entire year doing not what you HAVE to do, but what you WANT to do, and often in locations where you want to do it. So while I dont have my entire schedule set yet, here is the tentative plan for my final year as a medical student

  June 13-25: Essentials of Clinical Reasoning @ Chicago medical school
  July 7-Aug 1: Gastroenterology @USC
  Aug 1-Sep 8: up in the air due to unforseen circumstances...possibly 2 weeks of optho at UCI
  Sep 8-Oct 3: Sub internship @ Mount Sinai chicago
  Oct 6-Oct 31: Pediatric Speech Pathology, private clinic
  Oct 31: STEP 2 CK....to be followed by crazy partying in West Hollywood, costume not yet decided
  Nov 10-28: Ambulatory Care, random clinics around chicago
  Dec 1-Dec 26: Online Nutrition, California and wherever I am interviewing
  Jan 5-Jan 30: Online Ethics, California and wherever I am interviewing, also MATCH FOR OPTHO
  Feb: Undecided
  March: Clinical Forensics and MATCH DAY
  April, May: Last big travel fling...ideas include Morocco, Egypt, Kenya...the Africa Trip
  June: Graduate

  So rather than a bunch of international electives, i chose to focus my time on studying for step 2, and doing a couple audition rotations, which will let me finish early enough to take 2 months of traveling and maybe hit up another few continents.

  As part of my ECR elective, today I had to watch the new 3rd year students interview a standardized patient, their last such interview before they start seeing real people in the hospital. Afterward, us M4's who have the vast experience of a whole year give them our feedback.

  It was both cute and nostalgic watching them do H&P's. I couldnt help wondering if I looked that naive and uncertain when I first began. And I dont doubt that I did. Some of the more notable bloopers included students using the otoscope (ear looker) to do the fundoscopic exam (eye looker), asking if a patient takes glyburide (a diabetic PILL) in both arms, and a few students getting so caught up in nerves that they FORGOT to do a physical exam.

  Its hard to imagine that it only took a year from me to go from similar fumbles and faux pas to where I am now, feeling pretty confident in my history taking skills, and even writing assessments and plans. What a difference a day makes, eh? And while thanks to this blog both you and I know my thought process as this transformation slowly took place, actually being able to watch a student at the beginning of the final walk and comparing what I would do differently now, i almost lost the forest for the trees.

  A few leftover questions I missed from the choose your own adventure challenge:
  Nanumus: Do doctors really write GTFO on charts?

  No, but there I have written things like FLK syndrome (funny looking kid), UBI (unexplained beer injury) and a couple others. With the advent of HIPAA, a lot of doctor to doctor slang is slowly going the way of the buffalo, but here is a link to a GINOURMOUS list of british and american medical slang that may still be used at a hospital near you.

  Chinchujin: What do you do in the hospital that goes against your principles?

  Technically, nothing yet. But i am still on the fence about the abortion issue, and I am a firm believer in letting people die with dignity, which comes dangerously close to euthanasia in the opinions of some. However, I am sure these moral quandaries will become more of an issue as I progress in years.

  Ed8e: Something really long about my views on privatized health care versus univeral

  I will admit to being a cop out on this one. I dont know anywhere near as much as I should about the differences between the two, and I lack the time right now to properly research it. However some things worht looking into for the controversey value alone are single payer, and franchised or concierge care. Another thing that will have to wait til i am a bit older and actually involved in the business of medicine before i can properly post something.

  I think I managed to answer almost everyones question, and hope you enjoyed the choose your own adventure...next game in a few weeks when I am all settled in back in LA. In the meantime, i return you to your regularly unscheduled posting

  -Almost Dr J

  • 11:43 pm
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