It has begun.
So I started medical school a couple of weeks ago. Everyone I know who has been through med school told me to be ready to hit the ground running - boy, were they right! It's only the first day of my third week and we already have a written exam and a lab practical on Friday. We have covered so much information in the past two weeks that even with studying every night I am still behind. It's madness, I tell you!
I will admit, however, that it is also very exciting. One top of learning anatomy and physiology in the classroom, we are taking a clinical skills course that teaches us how to interact with patients and complete clinical exams. The goal of this course is to make us comfortable with patient examination from the beginning - a lot of other medical schools tend to wait until later in the curriculum for this kind of instruction. This week, we will learn how to take patient histories by meeting with volunteers who will act out illnesses.
Another exciting aspect of med school is the Gross Anatomy Lab. In this course, I have my very own cadaver that I get to work on with three other people. At least three times a week we go to lab for 3-hour sessions, dissecting our cadaver to find all the important structures we need to know. We do this in a big room with all the other students and their cadavers. It's 23 cadavers and 93 students in all, plus a few instructors wandering around to help us when we need it. So far my table's cadaver has been pretty unremarkable (read: normal), but today I think we may have uncovered part of a hip replacement. So cool!
The cadavers are all New Mexico residents who graciously donated their bodies to the medical school. They are mostly elderly men and women, with the occasional 40 or 50 year old thrown in. We know nothing about our cadavers except for sex, age, occupation, and cause of death. While we use our cadavers for learning purposes, we never forget that they are real people and treat them with the respect you would a real patient. At the end of this course, we will have a service for all of our cadavers and their families to show our appreciation for the gift they have given us.
That is about all I will talk about at this point - unfortunately, I must get back to studying! In summary, I will leave you with this cartoon...
Just so you know, that was me at 8:30am this morning in our embryology lecture...yikes!
I will admit, however, that it is also very exciting. One top of learning anatomy and physiology in the classroom, we are taking a clinical skills course that teaches us how to interact with patients and complete clinical exams. The goal of this course is to make us comfortable with patient examination from the beginning - a lot of other medical schools tend to wait until later in the curriculum for this kind of instruction. This week, we will learn how to take patient histories by meeting with volunteers who will act out illnesses.
Another exciting aspect of med school is the Gross Anatomy Lab. In this course, I have my very own cadaver that I get to work on with three other people. At least three times a week we go to lab for 3-hour sessions, dissecting our cadaver to find all the important structures we need to know. We do this in a big room with all the other students and their cadavers. It's 23 cadavers and 93 students in all, plus a few instructors wandering around to help us when we need it. So far my table's cadaver has been pretty unremarkable (read: normal), but today I think we may have uncovered part of a hip replacement. So cool!
The cadavers are all New Mexico residents who graciously donated their bodies to the medical school. They are mostly elderly men and women, with the occasional 40 or 50 year old thrown in. We know nothing about our cadavers except for sex, age, occupation, and cause of death. While we use our cadavers for learning purposes, we never forget that they are real people and treat them with the respect you would a real patient. At the end of this course, we will have a service for all of our cadavers and their families to show our appreciation for the gift they have given us.
That is about all I will talk about at this point - unfortunately, I must get back to studying! In summary, I will leave you with this cartoon...
Just so you know, that was me at 8:30am this morning in our embryology lecture...yikes!
posted by Samara at
3:20 PM
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