I’ve written quite a bit this academic year about our Physical Diagnosis class, including encounters with standardized patients. But starting in a couple of weeks, things change dramatically. Instead of practicing skills on standardized patients, we enter the hospital under the guidance of an assigned “tutor” to apply our lecture knowledge of the physical exam. Continue reading
classmates
No Pants Required
(I guarantee you this is not what it sounds like.)
Last week, we began a new unit, called “Homeostasis.” I am wholly unclear what “homeostasis” means, but it sounds important. The previous unit was all about the various infections you could catch and how your body tried and/or failed to fight them off; this unit is about the heart, lungs, and kidneys.
Everything about the heart, lungs, and kidneys. Continue reading
We Are All Going To Die (Medical Student Syndrome)
[Note to my classmates reading this: I know this isn’t exactly what’s in your lecture notes. Shut up and smile. Then go back to studying Th2 cells, because we both know you don’t know them.]
[Note to my mom: don’t read this, you won’t sleep until Thanksgiving.]
Hi. My name is Nate, and I’m a medical student.
Hi, Nate!
This week, my ninety-nine classmates and I are about to take the final exam for our second block. It’s called Microbes and Immunity, and can be briefly described as “how your body fights off infection, and by the way here are some examples of the thousands and thousands of different ways you can get sick and/or die.” Continue reading
Uh Oh, Biochemistry
Week one of medical school (not counting our foundational unit) is in the books, and I have a problem.
I don’t learn biochemistry. Continue reading
Med School Begins! …Kind Of
The last time I posted, I was living in a different city, gainfully funemployed, and still technically a premedical student. Three weeks ago I moved in to another apartment (that’s five moves in three years, if you’re counting) and two Wednesdays ago started medical school.
So this blog will change a little bit, from highlighting the weirdnesses of being a postbac/applying to medical school to highlighting the trials of learning to be a doctor. Scary, but awesome. As I did with the premedical stuff, I’m going to try to be funny (current hit rate: around 20%) and I promise not to complain too much about how much work we have, because again we all know people that do that and they suck. Continue reading
