Well, London (last weekend of August) was awesome. Went over for the World Rowing Championships to cheer on some friends, and it was fantastic. A lot of Irish people there cheering for the crews, and during the lightweight men's 4- race (with the Irish being up for the gold medal), the buzz was electrifying...it was so exciting! They ended up with the bronze, which is a good result coming into Olympic years. And my friend in the lightweight women's double won the B final and was so cute afterwards, just beaming. Lot of late messy nights, took me like a week to recover!
So then in the beginning of September I started my last official rotation of my med school career - General Practice (same as Family Medicine). It's like a merge between medicine and psychiatry. They do more "medical" stuff but are into all the touchy feely social and emotional stuff too, you don't know whether to be happy it's a more relaxed version of practicing or whether to gag with the corniness and groan at lectures about common-sense crap. We were placed for two weeks in an "inner" Dublin ring and one week in an "outer" ring. My inner was Leixlip (1 hour from Dublin) and my outer was in Kilmuckridge, Wexford (about 2 hours from Dublin). 3 weeks observing was quite enough, I found it very boring. The first clinic treated those who were on methadone, so I just sat watching paperwork being signed. The second clinic was quiet because apparently business was taken away by the National Ploughing Championships (I kid you not). I didn't see anything terribly interesting...but I definitely heard some weird stuff...what goes on in the country....geez.... Anyway, I would definitely Not do GP outright...it would be something I would retire to. At least no ward rounds.
At least this rotation is quite relaxed with a lot of time (not that I have been using it wisely), which is very helpful coming up to my first set of final exams. Irish universities are different in that your grades in previous years don't really count towards your final marks that go towards your graduation mark. That's why final year exams are so pressurized...and it's gotten to us from the first day. We now have 4 weeks to go to the day, 4 weeks to learn all of pediatrics (eeps! it's like all of medicine but for small people) and hopefully get in Obs and Gyne along the way. There are two parts to the exams...a written paper and a clinical one where you're assigned a long and short case. You could be given anything under the sun and asked even more. Scary stuff!
So time to hermit! At least I'm living in a single room on campus which is great for hermitting!
Friday, October 06, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Finally!! SUMMER!
Woooo hooo! Finally finished my MICU elective at Cleveland Clinic, and as fantastic as it was, it was loooong. I'll miss the environment & my team, but I won't miss the 30 hr. shifts and the 3-4 hr. long ward rounds. I enjoyed the work in MICU, but man, those ward rounds...seriously, it's nearly the biggest thing keeping me from going into medicine. I definitely need an active medicine where ward rounds and conferences are minimal. I'd be more of a surgery person, but I can't stand the thought of such repetition, doing the same procedures day in and day out, or those really long 7-hr. ones. I think I'll be able to do an elective in ER at CCF in November, so they won't get rid of me for too long! It'll be great to see what ER is like here, I loved A&E (accident & emergency) in Ireland. I'm glad I learned loads, saw a lot of interesting cases, got over acting like a med student idiot and got an idea of what working in the US is like. Also met some really fun people, med students and residents alike, got a good eval and hopefully an LOR (if he doesn't forget).
I might have said before...I can completely see how doctors get so absorbed into their work and become married to medicine (which doesn't bode very well for social life/relationships!) and I can conceivably see myself being sucked in in the future. That thought is a little depressing, but at least I know now that I love medicine and I'm definitely going into something that's right for me, which I suppose is good! And I also got to see the crazy work that'll have to be put in to advance or direct your career in the way you want it to go. Scary, but who doesn't like a good challenge?
But now I'm ready for my few days of summer next weekend when I go to London for a 3 day pissup!
Before that, have to take the Step 2 CS. I haven't prepared much for it, but I don't feel I really need to. It's mainly English proficiency, H&P and physical exams. I'm not the best with HEENT and Neuro exams, but we'll see how it goes. Will post about it. Anything would be better than my Step 1 anyway! So driving to Atlanta on Sunday to take the damn thing on Tuesday. I hope I don't crash and burn in London!
I might have said before...I can completely see how doctors get so absorbed into their work and become married to medicine (which doesn't bode very well for social life/relationships!) and I can conceivably see myself being sucked in in the future. That thought is a little depressing, but at least I know now that I love medicine and I'm definitely going into something that's right for me, which I suppose is good! And I also got to see the crazy work that'll have to be put in to advance or direct your career in the way you want it to go. Scary, but who doesn't like a good challenge?
But now I'm ready for my few days of summer next weekend when I go to London for a 3 day pissup!
Before that, have to take the Step 2 CS. I haven't prepared much for it, but I don't feel I really need to. It's mainly English proficiency, H&P and physical exams. I'm not the best with HEENT and Neuro exams, but we'll see how it goes. Will post about it. Anything would be better than my Step 1 anyway! So driving to Atlanta on Sunday to take the damn thing on Tuesday. I hope I don't crash and burn in London!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Life in the Cleveland Clinic
So I'm post-call yet again, seeing how coherently I can ramble on before I fall asleep at the keyboard. I'm not sure whether napping during call actually helps or not. Cokes definitely don't keep me awake, just make me crash further plus have to pee. I'm still enjoying it and learning a lot, but things are a little slower now than my first week - for some reason, my team isn't getting slammed with codes and new admits like other teams are. Which I suppose is lucky and good, but we're just feeling a bit bored and slacker-ish :). I got a new patient yesterday, but then she was floored and out of our service so the most I did was the admit note. Doing less doesn't make you any less tired though, you're probably more awake when you're up and running around. I still enjoy calls, but they're starting to wear me down a little. Only 2 more left!
The living quarters here are pretty basic, and you can hear everything! When someone goes to the toilet or has a shower, when someone's typing, etc. So can't get a lie in past 6 am! Most of us have long days, and most everyone tries to do a little reading if we can and aren't too tired, but it's hard cuz all we want to do is have fun and watch tv. I've met a few fun and awesome fellow students here, which is a relief. And the residents/fellows/attendings themselves are nice and not averse to some fun, so that's a relief too. This would be a really nice place to do a rotation, I think, although I imagine it'd be hard to get in. Maybe it helps that I know the city too.
Taking the Step 2 CS in 1.5 weeks. I haven't "studied" as much as I've wanted to, but I'm not too worried. All I need to do is review some exams, maybe practice with people (it hasn't really helped that my patients aren't conscious, although I could possibly get in some practicing without feeling like I'm intruding! sounds bad, I know). Seems like my whole life for the past year has been just studying and reading, and it'll definitely be like that next year too if not worse. I hope some of it's going in!
The living quarters here are pretty basic, and you can hear everything! When someone goes to the toilet or has a shower, when someone's typing, etc. So can't get a lie in past 6 am! Most of us have long days, and most everyone tries to do a little reading if we can and aren't too tired, but it's hard cuz all we want to do is have fun and watch tv. I've met a few fun and awesome fellow students here, which is a relief. And the residents/fellows/attendings themselves are nice and not averse to some fun, so that's a relief too. This would be a really nice place to do a rotation, I think, although I imagine it'd be hard to get in. Maybe it helps that I know the city too.
Taking the Step 2 CS in 1.5 weeks. I haven't "studied" as much as I've wanted to, but I'm not too worried. All I need to do is review some exams, maybe practice with people (it hasn't really helped that my patients aren't conscious, although I could possibly get in some practicing without feeling like I'm intruding! sounds bad, I know). Seems like my whole life for the past year has been just studying and reading, and it'll definitely be like that next year too if not worse. I hope some of it's going in!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
medicine! wooooo!
Well, it's been awhile, so much has happened!
Finished my OB/GYN rotation in June in the Rotunda doing Labour Ward nights (ie. the 10 pm to 8 am shift). I thought I'd hate it, but I really enjoyed it. I delivered my first baby on June 19th @ 4:51 am, and he was the cuuuutest little baby boy I've ever seen. The parents were fantastic, and let me give him his first bottle and play with him for awhile, took a picture of me feeding him and brought me the picture the next day! That was really sweet. It was a good rotation but I don't think I'd want to do it for my life. Delivering babies and everything involved with that region...it's just kinda gross.
Spent the month of July finishing off the rowing season. This month is my "holiday" month, which wasn't much of a holiday between moving to different places, catching up on errands, and the rollercoaster that is rowing. The national championships were on the 14th and 15th, and in our 8's race, we came 2nd. We rowed decently, but we were pretty disappointed with that. The team which came 1st beat us by a long way, but at least we'd gained some back on them from our last race in June. Anyway, that's team rowing done for me - will probably scull next year since I can't commit to team training while doing finals. It's been enjoyable, and Captaining this year has also been enjoyable, but I think it would have been even more so if I didn't have so many things going on (ie. stupid group projects and the TSMJ (student med journal) which became the bane of my existence for 2 months). Definitely glad to have a break!
Now doing an elective in MICU (medical intensive care) at the Cleveland Clinic. This is only my 2nd day, and it's awesome. I love it, and I love being here. And I love that I know this job will be the right one for me. So my first day yesterday was eventful enough with consults. Today was a little harder because my team were on codes (as in "code blue code blue!"). Since Cleveland Clinic is so large, you actually have to run from floor to floor and building to building every time a code is called. It's like ER or Scrubs. But what made today hard was not the fact that we were dealing with patients nearly on their death beds, but talking to their families afterwards, and they're crying and appreciative of your work but obviously very sad, and it's really touching. You try to remove yourself a little without being cold-hearted, and it's hard to do. I nearly cried, my junior resident actully did cry. And several codes happened within the space of like 2 hours so you couldn't get a break from the depression. So that bit obviously no one likes, but it was really good to see how the jr. and sr. residents handled it. Then after work, we went to a happy hour/dinner that was being held for the residents (I think I was the only med student there) and it was just my team + fellow there, and we just had the best time making fun of each other. My team is awesome, everyone is really nice, and I actually got a speech from the fellow yesterday about how we're all one big family and if I'm unhappy, they're unhappy, etc. This is the most organized rotation I have ever had with orientation, accommodation, pagers, nearly everything for free, and they're so keen on teaching.
The work hours are long but time passes by without you realizing. So I usually start at 9 am, which means 8 if I have to pre-round (everyone else is there at 7), and then you're done by 6 or 6:30 pm. Unless you're on call, which I am tomorrow...then you don't finish til noon the following day. So unfortunately, haven't had time to visit the gym any, but maybe I will my post call day or tomorrow morning before pre-rounding. And, I love that this rotation I can stay in scrubs and sneakers. So much more comfortable! And, hopefully by the end of the week I'll have put in a central line, several IV and arterial lines, ABGs, Corpaks (PEG system), etc. AWESOME.
I'm really impressed by this rotation so far, I'm considering internal medicine now as well (ie route to EM and ICU). ICU wouldn't be a bad field to be in. It's definitely an active medicine (although ward rounds do take 3 hours, which I don't like), and it's chaotic enough without being too chaotic. I loved A&E (ER) in St. James's, but that emergency dept is a lot smaller than the ones in the US. I visited the ED in Cleveland Clinic, and that seemed a bit insane - unhappy chaotic, not a good kind of chaotic. And in MICU, we're probably doing all the same procedures they're doing in ER anyway.
Oh, and I passed the USMLEs. Not a great score, but I always knew that'd be my downfall. I don't study enough, so it'll be cool to see what happens next yr when i actually do study!
Finished my OB/GYN rotation in June in the Rotunda doing Labour Ward nights (ie. the 10 pm to 8 am shift). I thought I'd hate it, but I really enjoyed it. I delivered my first baby on June 19th @ 4:51 am, and he was the cuuuutest little baby boy I've ever seen. The parents were fantastic, and let me give him his first bottle and play with him for awhile, took a picture of me feeding him and brought me the picture the next day! That was really sweet. It was a good rotation but I don't think I'd want to do it for my life. Delivering babies and everything involved with that region...it's just kinda gross.
Spent the month of July finishing off the rowing season. This month is my "holiday" month, which wasn't much of a holiday between moving to different places, catching up on errands, and the rollercoaster that is rowing. The national championships were on the 14th and 15th, and in our 8's race, we came 2nd. We rowed decently, but we were pretty disappointed with that. The team which came 1st beat us by a long way, but at least we'd gained some back on them from our last race in June. Anyway, that's team rowing done for me - will probably scull next year since I can't commit to team training while doing finals. It's been enjoyable, and Captaining this year has also been enjoyable, but I think it would have been even more so if I didn't have so many things going on (ie. stupid group projects and the TSMJ (student med journal) which became the bane of my existence for 2 months). Definitely glad to have a break!
Now doing an elective in MICU (medical intensive care) at the Cleveland Clinic. This is only my 2nd day, and it's awesome. I love it, and I love being here. And I love that I know this job will be the right one for me. So my first day yesterday was eventful enough with consults. Today was a little harder because my team were on codes (as in "code blue code blue!"). Since Cleveland Clinic is so large, you actually have to run from floor to floor and building to building every time a code is called. It's like ER or Scrubs. But what made today hard was not the fact that we were dealing with patients nearly on their death beds, but talking to their families afterwards, and they're crying and appreciative of your work but obviously very sad, and it's really touching. You try to remove yourself a little without being cold-hearted, and it's hard to do. I nearly cried, my junior resident actully did cry. And several codes happened within the space of like 2 hours so you couldn't get a break from the depression. So that bit obviously no one likes, but it was really good to see how the jr. and sr. residents handled it. Then after work, we went to a happy hour/dinner that was being held for the residents (I think I was the only med student there) and it was just my team + fellow there, and we just had the best time making fun of each other. My team is awesome, everyone is really nice, and I actually got a speech from the fellow yesterday about how we're all one big family and if I'm unhappy, they're unhappy, etc. This is the most organized rotation I have ever had with orientation, accommodation, pagers, nearly everything for free, and they're so keen on teaching.
The work hours are long but time passes by without you realizing. So I usually start at 9 am, which means 8 if I have to pre-round (everyone else is there at 7), and then you're done by 6 or 6:30 pm. Unless you're on call, which I am tomorrow...then you don't finish til noon the following day. So unfortunately, haven't had time to visit the gym any, but maybe I will my post call day or tomorrow morning before pre-rounding. And, I love that this rotation I can stay in scrubs and sneakers. So much more comfortable! And, hopefully by the end of the week I'll have put in a central line, several IV and arterial lines, ABGs, Corpaks (PEG system), etc. AWESOME.
I'm really impressed by this rotation so far, I'm considering internal medicine now as well (ie route to EM and ICU). ICU wouldn't be a bad field to be in. It's definitely an active medicine (although ward rounds do take 3 hours, which I don't like), and it's chaotic enough without being too chaotic. I loved A&E (ER) in St. James's, but that emergency dept is a lot smaller than the ones in the US. I visited the ED in Cleveland Clinic, and that seemed a bit insane - unhappy chaotic, not a good kind of chaotic. And in MICU, we're probably doing all the same procedures they're doing in ER anyway.
Oh, and I passed the USMLEs. Not a great score, but I always knew that'd be my downfall. I don't study enough, so it'll be cool to see what happens next yr when i actually do study!
Friday, May 26, 2006
Man, I have GOT to start studying! Two weeks to the day until boards and not much to show for it. I've done a few practice Q's here and there, made some notes in the USMLE Bible that is First Aid, but I seriously have to step it up! I'm taking all of next week off, today's the last dossing day.
But it was a good one ;). Went to the gym early to release all the pent-up energy from the last few days - we're on a little lighter schedule of rowing training to accomodate the exam period. Didn't work too well cuz I'm still wanting to go for a run now. Then spent this morning running errands and splurging a bit before a few of the rowing gals came over for lunch. We're really close - I suppose a few of us have been together a few years now and seeing someone every day for like 2-3 years tends to bring you together :). It gets a bit bitchy sometimes, but we're each other's psychologists too. So myself and Anna decided to give people an exam pick-me-up, especially since one of the girls has had a tough time of it lately, and made a gorgeous lunch, I love lunches like that. Anna brought over a warm loaf of multigrain brown bread from Avoca that seriously could have been like a cake, and some salad leaves/tomatoes. I had corn for the salad and ham/cheese for the bread and ice cream to top it all off! I'll miss those lunches when I leave - they started about 3 years ago when Dor was Captain - a really good salad +/- potatoes with mayonnaise and bread in Rowing Rooms. And of course something sweet to top it off afterwards with a cup of Barry's Gold or coffee. Simple but perfect.
Continuing on my reflection... I love Trinity. And I love that all students of Trinity love Trinity. It gives us a really unique sense of community and pride, moreso than any of the other Irish colleges. It could have something to do with the fact that it's a closed campus...literally...it's walled all the way around and all open space is contained within the college campus itself. But I feel like I'm catchin up on that sense of school pride that I missed while attending CWRU, since I really didn't like being there, everyone was apathetic and that place really didn't suit me socially. Apart from a few friends, I wish I never wasted my time going there not from an academic point of view (the educational opportunities are endless)but for my own personal happiness and sanity. Ultimately it's what led to me and Viv coming to Trinity in the first place on junior year abroad...we just had to escape from the confines of that soul-sucking place. I hear it's better there now with the new renovations. Good for them, but I'm so happy that I came here. I'll be an IMG (international med graduate) but it's been worth it!
But it was a good one ;). Went to the gym early to release all the pent-up energy from the last few days - we're on a little lighter schedule of rowing training to accomodate the exam period. Didn't work too well cuz I'm still wanting to go for a run now. Then spent this morning running errands and splurging a bit before a few of the rowing gals came over for lunch. We're really close - I suppose a few of us have been together a few years now and seeing someone every day for like 2-3 years tends to bring you together :). It gets a bit bitchy sometimes, but we're each other's psychologists too. So myself and Anna decided to give people an exam pick-me-up, especially since one of the girls has had a tough time of it lately, and made a gorgeous lunch, I love lunches like that. Anna brought over a warm loaf of multigrain brown bread from Avoca that seriously could have been like a cake, and some salad leaves/tomatoes. I had corn for the salad and ham/cheese for the bread and ice cream to top it all off! I'll miss those lunches when I leave - they started about 3 years ago when Dor was Captain - a really good salad +/- potatoes with mayonnaise and bread in Rowing Rooms. And of course something sweet to top it off afterwards with a cup of Barry's Gold or coffee. Simple but perfect.
Continuing on my reflection... I love Trinity. And I love that all students of Trinity love Trinity. It gives us a really unique sense of community and pride, moreso than any of the other Irish colleges. It could have something to do with the fact that it's a closed campus...literally...it's walled all the way around and all open space is contained within the college campus itself. But I feel like I'm catchin up on that sense of school pride that I missed while attending CWRU, since I really didn't like being there, everyone was apathetic and that place really didn't suit me socially. Apart from a few friends, I wish I never wasted my time going there not from an academic point of view (the educational opportunities are endless)but for my own personal happiness and sanity. Ultimately it's what led to me and Viv coming to Trinity in the first place on junior year abroad...we just had to escape from the confines of that soul-sucking place. I hear it's better there now with the new renovations. Good for them, but I'm so happy that I came here. I'll be an IMG (international med graduate) but it's been worth it!
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
On some down-time waiting for lecture to begin. So I'll continue updating my life :). It's a nervous time right now because although we're not in final med yet, all the rotations/study/tutorials are being geared towards doing the obs/gyne and paeds finals in November, then the medicine/surgery finals in April. Lecturers are going through what they're looking for when you present, how to make yourself shine, and all the stuff they expect you to know...and some of the things they want as basic knowledge seem like honors questions! That plus trying to figure out what you want to do and narrow down your field choices.
I'm definitely more a surgery person than medicine. Medicine's too boring for me, can't stand the 4+ hour ward rounds and 2+ hour conferences. Guess it won't be a life of free pens for me :). So I'm considering more active medicines like Emergency Med (which I really enjoyed) and am also interested in musculoskeletal medicine (PM&R), following on my natural inclination to fields like anatomy and exercise physiology. Problem being that physiatry doesn't really exist anywhere other than the US, so I haven't had any real exposure to it yet except for 2 days shadowing I did at Christmas. I also would consider general surgery, but I haven't heard anything good about surgery in the US in terms of lifestyle and colleagues. Lifestyle I wouldn't have a problem with. People being dicks to each other for absolutely no reason, or trying to one-up each other all the time, I would have a big problem with. I always think people work best when each person tries to be cooperative with everyone else, and I would not deal well in a situation where everyone keeps to themselves and hoardes info/ambitions. I'd really like orthopedic surgery (more an jocks/boys club than anal surgery) or even ophthalmology, but those are impossible fields to get into especially for IMGs like me.
Right now, planning on returning to the US for internship/residency. That's where the best post-graduate training and resources are, even though primary med ed is pretty standardized universally. And a life of large space, luxury and efficiency is appealing. To be honest, I like the european lifestyle (and dare I say people) better but it would be nearly impossible to advance career-wise over here, since I'm non-EU and non-Irish. If I could stay in Europe with an equal chance for career advancement I would, though probably would explore somewhere other than Ireland. Wouldn't mind doing a bit in Australia either, and I think eventually I would like to join one of those groups like Doctors-without-Borders to explore a different side of medicine and expose myself to problems/issues that I would never encounter otherwise.
But first things first, I've got to pass this damn USMLE first. It's an annoyingly difficult exam, and my studying hasn't been the best for it. I can't seem to concentrate very well, and it's a bloody 7+ hour exam! Each subject you study in medicine is huge as it is, and this exam combines them all! Whoever devised this exam must've been a big time nerd with a chip on his shoulder who's getting payback on those docs who've managed not to have social problems. Well it's working, it's KICKING MY ASS.
I'm definitely more a surgery person than medicine. Medicine's too boring for me, can't stand the 4+ hour ward rounds and 2+ hour conferences. Guess it won't be a life of free pens for me :). So I'm considering more active medicines like Emergency Med (which I really enjoyed) and am also interested in musculoskeletal medicine (PM&R), following on my natural inclination to fields like anatomy and exercise physiology. Problem being that physiatry doesn't really exist anywhere other than the US, so I haven't had any real exposure to it yet except for 2 days shadowing I did at Christmas. I also would consider general surgery, but I haven't heard anything good about surgery in the US in terms of lifestyle and colleagues. Lifestyle I wouldn't have a problem with. People being dicks to each other for absolutely no reason, or trying to one-up each other all the time, I would have a big problem with. I always think people work best when each person tries to be cooperative with everyone else, and I would not deal well in a situation where everyone keeps to themselves and hoardes info/ambitions. I'd really like orthopedic surgery (more an jocks/boys club than anal surgery) or even ophthalmology, but those are impossible fields to get into especially for IMGs like me.
Right now, planning on returning to the US for internship/residency. That's where the best post-graduate training and resources are, even though primary med ed is pretty standardized universally. And a life of large space, luxury and efficiency is appealing. To be honest, I like the european lifestyle (and dare I say people) better but it would be nearly impossible to advance career-wise over here, since I'm non-EU and non-Irish. If I could stay in Europe with an equal chance for career advancement I would, though probably would explore somewhere other than Ireland. Wouldn't mind doing a bit in Australia either, and I think eventually I would like to join one of those groups like Doctors-without-Borders to explore a different side of medicine and expose myself to problems/issues that I would never encounter otherwise.
But first things first, I've got to pass this damn USMLE first. It's an annoyingly difficult exam, and my studying hasn't been the best for it. I can't seem to concentrate very well, and it's a bloody 7+ hour exam! Each subject you study in medicine is huge as it is, and this exam combines them all! Whoever devised this exam must've been a big time nerd with a chip on his shoulder who's getting payback on those docs who've managed not to have social problems. Well it's working, it's KICKING MY ASS.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Summary of the year so far
Well, after nearly a year I've decided to rekindle my blogging efforts. I've joined the bebo and myspace craze (great inventions!), and as awesome as they are, ya don't want to read a lot on them...makes them crammed. I like my internet aesthetically pleasing. So I've recently gotten in touch with a few mates who I haven't talked to in literally years, and since I'm cutting myself off from AIM cuz I get a bloop everytime I try to study, I figured this blog would be a great way of staying in touch!
I'm still in Dublin at Trinity College (I love this place!), one year away from becoming a full-fleged doctor. Right now I'm doing a rotation in Obstetrics and Gynecology, which to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of. Today in my group was me and 3 guys - we went to see a C-section of a woman with placenta accreta (a complication of pregnancy). Because it's relatively rare, there were like 20 people crammed at the foot of the bed trying to get a view. So the placenta dislodges spontaneously, and there was huge gushing of blood...like seriously, waterfall coming out of this tiny woman. And the surgeons are in there tugging away trying to get the baby out but one of them was rather rattled from all the blood spewing forth and her hands were shaking badly. When they got the baby out, it was blue and not breathing and was the most awful shade of pale grey imaginable. If anyone had looked at us 4 med students they would have seen 4 people who couldn't have gotten out of there faster! None of us were particularly keen on seeing a baby die. So they whisk the baby away and are slapping it to get it to respond and eventually have to intubate the baby (the instruments are kind of cute actually cuz they're like mini versions of the adult tools) , which they had trouble doing so there was a bit of panic. But after what seemed like ages, they got the baby tubed and she turned a nice normal color, and they controlled the mother's bleeding too (after a Lynch suture which makes the uterus look kind of like a pork round...) . So all was good. I'll give it more time, but not really falling in love with obs/gyne right now.
My last rotation was Ophthalmology, which was really cool. I enjoyed it, found more doctors to add to my list of people I want to be when I grow up, and learned loads. I thought it was going to be incredibly boring when I first came into it, and I don't like things poking eyes and whatnot, but it was cool watching the cataract surgeries and finally learning how to use the fundoscope. The only thing I didn't like was watching the unblocking of a lacrimal duct in a kid - that is viscious! They take this wire and literally jam it down the inner side of the eye...EW. I'd consider Ophtho if it wasn't so bloody hard to get into.
Before that was ENT. Which I pretty much skipped because of all the work that had to be done for the Trinity Student Medical Journal (which I directed this year). This year ended up being a hell of a lot more work than it should have been for various reasons - laziness on the part of some people and type A personalities of medics. Seems sort of ironic that the two happened simultaneously. Fortunatelly for me, the ENT rotation is a bit of a joke and as with some other things, it's "teach yourself medicine" time. I went in for two hours the whole rotation, and learned how to use an otoscope. Not well.
Before that, I was doing Anesthesiology which was an AWESOME rotation simply because the anesthetists were so keen on teaching. I really wish I could have spent more time there, but because of the feckin TSMJ, I had to skip a bit. I don't think I'd do anesthesiology, but it was way better than I thought it would be and not too boring because in theatre when anesthetists are just basically monitoring, you'd get a tutorial so you're not just sitting there staring into space. This rotation was split with radiology, which was also quite interesting. I liked viewing the MRI interpretations. For some reason, I just like MRIs in general. Not any specific body part, but MRIs of anything.
In January, I did Paediatrics. That was hell on wheels. A whole load of bitchiness came out of everyone. All I'll say for now is that MEDICAL STUDENTS AND GROUP PROJECTS DO NOT GET ALONG. DO NOT ASSIGN MEDICAL STUDENTS GROUP PROJECTS! I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory isn't it? What happens when you put 10 type-A personalities in together? And add to that a couple people who rank 10/10 on the laziness and stupidness scale? (trust me...there are some really stupid people doing medicine. I know that's not reassuring to the general public). That just really ruined the rotation for me. Plus I've never seen such flagrant examples of subjective grading in my life, with examiners hiding behind the excuse that "life isn't fair." Why the hell does that give them license to ignore the universal best practice of standardized examinations? The kids were the actual fun part. And I'm so glad I didn't drop any of them.
In December, I did Hepatology. That sucked because the team sucked. I learned nothing and felt it was a waste of time so essentially skipped it.
For October/November, I was doing Psychiatry. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But that's probably because I started off interviewing a bipolar patient, who are mad fun people (I don't mean "mad" to be a pun). When they come into hospital, they're in their manic phase and delusional, but really fun to hang out with and interview. My patient even sang for me! So I got a good introduction to psych :). The rotation was enlightening and not too difficult. Some people in my class are now enamoured with it...but not for me. I find it still a bit waffly and psychiatrists are a different breed - sorry to the psychiatrists out there, but man...they say in 45 minutes what they could have said in 10, and what makes it worse is that you can anticipate what they're going to say about 3 minutes before they get around to saying it :).
Anyway, that's just a long brief recap of my rotations so far. All this + studying for USMLEs and Captaining my rowing team + TSMJ + SDN! I'll be glad when I can look back at this year and laugh.
I'm still in Dublin at Trinity College (I love this place!), one year away from becoming a full-fleged doctor. Right now I'm doing a rotation in Obstetrics and Gynecology, which to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of. Today in my group was me and 3 guys - we went to see a C-section of a woman with placenta accreta (a complication of pregnancy). Because it's relatively rare, there were like 20 people crammed at the foot of the bed trying to get a view. So the placenta dislodges spontaneously, and there was huge gushing of blood...like seriously, waterfall coming out of this tiny woman. And the surgeons are in there tugging away trying to get the baby out but one of them was rather rattled from all the blood spewing forth and her hands were shaking badly. When they got the baby out, it was blue and not breathing and was the most awful shade of pale grey imaginable. If anyone had looked at us 4 med students they would have seen 4 people who couldn't have gotten out of there faster! None of us were particularly keen on seeing a baby die. So they whisk the baby away and are slapping it to get it to respond and eventually have to intubate the baby (the instruments are kind of cute actually cuz they're like mini versions of the adult tools) , which they had trouble doing so there was a bit of panic. But after what seemed like ages, they got the baby tubed and she turned a nice normal color, and they controlled the mother's bleeding too (after a Lynch suture which makes the uterus look kind of like a pork round...) . So all was good. I'll give it more time, but not really falling in love with obs/gyne right now.
My last rotation was Ophthalmology, which was really cool. I enjoyed it, found more doctors to add to my list of people I want to be when I grow up, and learned loads. I thought it was going to be incredibly boring when I first came into it, and I don't like things poking eyes and whatnot, but it was cool watching the cataract surgeries and finally learning how to use the fundoscope. The only thing I didn't like was watching the unblocking of a lacrimal duct in a kid - that is viscious! They take this wire and literally jam it down the inner side of the eye...EW. I'd consider Ophtho if it wasn't so bloody hard to get into.
Before that was ENT. Which I pretty much skipped because of all the work that had to be done for the Trinity Student Medical Journal (which I directed this year). This year ended up being a hell of a lot more work than it should have been for various reasons - laziness on the part of some people and type A personalities of medics. Seems sort of ironic that the two happened simultaneously. Fortunatelly for me, the ENT rotation is a bit of a joke and as with some other things, it's "teach yourself medicine" time. I went in for two hours the whole rotation, and learned how to use an otoscope. Not well.
Before that, I was doing Anesthesiology which was an AWESOME rotation simply because the anesthetists were so keen on teaching. I really wish I could have spent more time there, but because of the feckin TSMJ, I had to skip a bit. I don't think I'd do anesthesiology, but it was way better than I thought it would be and not too boring because in theatre when anesthetists are just basically monitoring, you'd get a tutorial so you're not just sitting there staring into space. This rotation was split with radiology, which was also quite interesting. I liked viewing the MRI interpretations. For some reason, I just like MRIs in general. Not any specific body part, but MRIs of anything.
In January, I did Paediatrics. That was hell on wheels. A whole load of bitchiness came out of everyone. All I'll say for now is that MEDICAL STUDENTS AND GROUP PROJECTS DO NOT GET ALONG. DO NOT ASSIGN MEDICAL STUDENTS GROUP PROJECTS! I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory isn't it? What happens when you put 10 type-A personalities in together? And add to that a couple people who rank 10/10 on the laziness and stupidness scale? (trust me...there are some really stupid people doing medicine. I know that's not reassuring to the general public). That just really ruined the rotation for me. Plus I've never seen such flagrant examples of subjective grading in my life, with examiners hiding behind the excuse that "life isn't fair." Why the hell does that give them license to ignore the universal best practice of standardized examinations? The kids were the actual fun part. And I'm so glad I didn't drop any of them.
In December, I did Hepatology. That sucked because the team sucked. I learned nothing and felt it was a waste of time so essentially skipped it.
For October/November, I was doing Psychiatry. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But that's probably because I started off interviewing a bipolar patient, who are mad fun people (I don't mean "mad" to be a pun). When they come into hospital, they're in their manic phase and delusional, but really fun to hang out with and interview. My patient even sang for me! So I got a good introduction to psych :). The rotation was enlightening and not too difficult. Some people in my class are now enamoured with it...but not for me. I find it still a bit waffly and psychiatrists are a different breed - sorry to the psychiatrists out there, but man...they say in 45 minutes what they could have said in 10, and what makes it worse is that you can anticipate what they're going to say about 3 minutes before they get around to saying it :).
Anyway, that's just a long brief recap of my rotations so far. All this + studying for USMLEs and Captaining my rowing team + TSMJ + SDN! I'll be glad when I can look back at this year and laugh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)