Ever have one of those experiences where you find yourself saying, “Yep, that is what I’m supposed to do.” Well, I’m just now finishing my family medicine rotation and have had one of those such experiences. So much for the surgery thinking I had going into medical school. I love doing everything and all the other specialties are too limiting in their scope for me. I’ll have to say, it is a great feeling finally knowing for sure. Now here’s hoping I get accepted to the student elective offered by the Wilderness Medical Society next February.
Another shameless promo
For the few that read this site, take a look at http://gallopinggalapagos.com/ It has some great writers and is an enjoyable read.
Ob/Gyn – the unexpected specialty
It has been a while since I posted here and I thought I would catch up really quick. It has been a long few months, with lots of soul searching and questions. Finally it came to an end with the start of my rotation on Ob/Gyn. I am now at the end of it and can say that it was nothing like I expected. I know I went in to medical school thinking there is no way I could do Ob/Gyn but now I would have to say it isn’t on the bottom any more, it has jumped past Medicine, Peds, Psych, Surgery, etc. That isn’t saying much but I could definitely see a fellowship in Ob fitting in my plans. Wow, never figured on saying that. Oh well, minds change and my rotation has been filled with a bunch of great residents and attendings. I have a new respect for what they do and will say that delivering babies never gets old.
Specializing in Disappearing
Well, it has been a long, long year and one that didn’t give me much to blog about but one that will give me a great story to tell. I’ve sorta disappeared this past year and it has been a good thing in getting thing done. I’ll be posting more often now that I’m in my 3rd year and have gotten other things worked out. I’ve started a new website since I’ve had some downtime with some great contributors. Check it out, I called it Galloping Galapagos. Anyway, starting my OB/Gyn rotation so I look forward to learning in a great environment here at UT Medical Center in Knoxville. More about my weird year later
Internet circa 2001
In honor of their 10th birthday , Google has opened up their index allowing everyone to search the 2001 index of the internet. Sorta interesting seeing what was news back then and how much everything has changed. Check it out at http://www.google.com/search2001.html
Every med students dream
Alive, but swamped
For all my friends and family that haven’t heard from me in a while, I am still alive. Just a tad bit busy with med school. Nothing much interesting to post about right now. Just lots and lots of studying i.e. get up study and then go to bed. I really don’t do anything else right now (except I made a DVD for the M4 class as a graduation gift). I’ll post more about that later. First order of business is passing all my classes.
A break
It has been a long year that it is now coming to an end. With that in mind, I want to write a quick summary of what has taken place this last year.
End of M1 Year
January was the beginning of the end of my M1 year in medical school. I had just finished my first semester and completing gross anatomy. It was something very rewarding but I was glad to finish. The extraordinary amount of work required in lab was nice to leave. Histology was added and MBOD and Physiology picked up speed. Added in place of anatomy was the first class of my second year, Immunology (a subcomponent of Micro). It was an interesting class but was slightly overshadowed by my first year classes.
Beginning of M2 Year
After finishing my first year in March, we started four of our five M2 classes in April making up the first of three blocks. Half of my summer, starting in June, was spent in RI fulfilling my summer commitment to the Navy and the second half with family in PA and TN. My second year restarted in Aug with the second block and essentially went through the end of November when we had our second block exam. December marked the beginning of the third block in our second year with one assessment filling December ending on the 21st.
A look forward
Honestly, the farthest forward I look is the next assessment. Each one is composed of so much material that I dare not look to far forward. The only thing I do have scheduled in 2008 is Assessments 11-14, block 3 exam and step 1 of the USMLE. Lord willing they will all go ok allowing me to start my M3 year.
A walk
Ever gone for a walk and just walked until you were lost. Then turned and walked until you sorta knew where you were walking again. Well my cousin and I did that yesterday and
Nice change of pace from studying all the time.
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Assessments, Quizzes and Exams
In keeping with my new tradition of posting to my blog every once in a while, I’m posting about medical school, er should I say my life. Well, really I’m posting about what is in store for the next 2 months. First, official time off in medical school is a rarity but fortunately with our testing schedule we get every other weekend “off.” As I posted last time, since August every two weeks we have 60 question assessments and then every fifth week we have a “PCC/DRS” class week (more about PCC/DRS in another post). The major part of our second year examination come from block exams. We have 14 assessments split up into 3 blocks (each with an exam at the end of it).
The block exams are comprehensive and composed of 200 questions covering all the material covered since the beginning of that block. So, in the next 3 weeks, I’m gonna have the last assessment of this block and the block exam. So this Thanksgiving, I’ll be giving thanks by studying for my block exam on Nov. 30th. That is followed by an unusual three week long assessment (on Dec. 21st). If this seems confusing, as it was to me when I first started my second year, then looking at UT’s exams schedule might help.
I would like to post about something other then school and hopefully will in my next post. But other then singing in choir at church and running, I don’t seem to be doing anything other then school affiliated activities. I’ll have to see what I can come up with to post.