FREE FROM THE USMLE!! (I hope?!)

The last couple months have been a whirlwind. I just finished sitting Step 3, and honestly, those USMLE people need some help. I take objection to being the subject of some sexually-repressed exam writers who felt it necessary to shove very graphic displays of every penile or vaginal wart possible on my screen with some chancres thrown in for good measure. Obviously 1-2 questions are inevitable, but come on, 15+ ? I really really really do not need to see 15 nasty members of genitalia on my exam, with the new technologically advanced screens they have in the Prometric centers. Nor did I really need to see that xray of a very Sex-and-the-City-ish object shoved some place where it just did not belong, and which I'm sure had a very disturbing story behind how it got there. Nor did I need to be placed right by the door so that every single person entering or exiting the room could glance at my screen. Yes, I did hear an "OH THAT'S SO GROSS" at one point. I'm thinking of writing in to those people and filing a complaint against my excessively obscene exam. I can't believe this is what passes as a medical licensing exam these days!



Anyway, I'm on Ortho rotation now, which I'm finding very disappointing. It's like med school again where you're watching the consultant do history and physical and some very boring pathological findings. And this is coming from me, who absolutely loves Ortho. So needless to say, my attendance has waned.



In October, I did PICU (peds ICU) at one of our peripheral hospitals. Before going into that rotation I was apprehensive because I wasn't that comfortably handling very sick kids. The exposure was good, treating kids with diseases I've never even heard of before. But I found their way of running the PICU and "teaching" residents management of kids was a bit odd - a lot of times it was like trial by fire. My fellow residents were pretty cool and I did not in any way feel like my knowledge was sub-par, and there was one particular resident who annoyed the hell out of me (and her hair really really really reeked too). I hear she's book smart but wow, clinically that really did not come out. The q4 long call was pretty exhausting and there were times I didn't sleep because of coding kids (that was pretty awful). Definitely glad to have my call rotations out of the way and no more WCMC! I really enjoyed my time at WCMC and the pathology is great, but not having to commute and live up there for months at a time is awesome.

In September, part of my month was Ultrasound. I covered night shift sick call frequently so therefore missed most of it. So I really am not comfortably with my level of ultrasound knowledge at this stage. This is something I'm going to have to work on.

Anyway, am now on vacation and free for a little bit. I was all set to go back to Dublin for yet another DULBC dinner, and I was realy looking forward to it. But unfortunately not enough alumni replied, we couldn't get the funds and after a stressful weekend of phone calls and emails, we had to cancel the even to avoid a 1000 euro loss. So after we made this decision, I cancelled my flights to Dublin... there's no point going and spending the money for catching up with one or two people. Such a shame. So now I'm spending my vacation time helping out my program for interview season. And of course, seeing a ton of shows!