Graduation Week 2018: Say Hello to Dr. Ward!

On May 24, 2018, I finally achieved my lifelong dream of becoming a physician! God is sooo good!!!! There have been so many emotions flooding through me these past few weeks, but now that I’ve finally calmed down from the high of graduation, I can reflect a little bit. I’m still at a loss of words to describe the joy I feel for this new accomplishment, so I’ll just let all the pictures speak for me. ***WARNING: Photo overload ahead!***

Hooded!

Hearing my name with "doctor" said in front of it as I walked across the stage was so surreal! It was even more amazing hearing the cheers of my friends and family.

My daughter has been my biggest supporter on this crazy journey. For years, she has told her teachers and friends that her mommy is a doctor. Now when she says it, it will be true! I'm so extremely thankful for her always being so understanding of my crazy schedule and the sacrifices made to get to this point. I hope I have inspired her to pursue any and all of her dreams.

So thankful for my amazing parents! My mom, who was the first African-American female from the state of Mississippi to graduate from the United States Military Academy (West Point), gave birth to the first doctor in my family. Excellence is in my DNA! And my dad is just downright awesome and not afraid put me back into reality when I get too big-headed, LOL.

My sisters are everything! I literally couldn't have made it through medical school without the support, babysitting, advice, and constant laughs they bring me. 

Thankful to this amazing guy for putting up with all my med school craziness for the past three years! Whether it was being my voice of reason when I had crazy ideas (and still supporting me when I did the crazy things anyway), listening to my rants, cheering me up during the rough times, or helping me stay current with the outside world when I got too far under my med school rock, I am so very appreciative of you! 

My circle may be small, but the love is strong! This journey would not have been anywhere near possible without the people you see above! I am truly blessed!

Thankful for everyone in my med school family. You all made this journey that much easier, and I am blessed to not only call you all my friends, but my colleagues. The GA-PCOM class of 2018 was the best to ever do it!

 

Check out all these beautiful black doctors! So proud of my classmates!

And of course, I couldn't end without giving a shout-out to the Student National Medical Association (SNMA). It has been such an amazing part of both my pre-medical and medical school experience, and I am proud to say that I graduated with SNMA!

SNMA Region III RMEC 2016 Recap – Jackson, MS

Pictured with SNMA Past National President Dr. Loretta Jackson ('92-'93)

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Student National Medical Association’s Region III medical education conference in Jackson, Mississippi. The conference was hosted by the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and it was a wonderful weekend filled with great pre-medical and medical student tracks that had everything ranging from simulation labs for the pre-medical students to one-on-one talks with current residents for medical students. It was nice being able to interact with the membership of SNMA and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the conference.

Pictured with the founders of White Coats Black Doctors

Since I became involved with SNMA on a national level, conferences have typically meant either sitting in full day meetings or running around making sure that workshops or anything else I was involved with is running smoothly. This conference was the first time in a while that I was able to just sit back and enjoy the programming. I also met some pretty awesome individuals such as the founders of “White Coats Black Doctors”, MAJ Ezella Washington – a family medicine physician and fellow DO (Woot! Woot!), and I was extremely excited that one of the speakers was a surgeon and that there were a few surgical residents in attendance.

College Buddies!

What made the conference even more exciting for me was that it served as a trip down memory lane. Although I am a proud SNMA Region IV member at the moment, I started off with the organization as a pre-medical student in region III, so it still carries a large piece of my heart. Speaking with the pre-medical students in attendance reminded me of where I used to be and it gave me a lot of inspiration for my presidential agenda that I am currently hard at work on. I even ran into one of my old college buddies who is now a physician. Just reminiscing about how we made it through the struggles of undergrad (that biochemistry major is a beast!), to now one of us being a physician and the other on the way, really makes me feel blessed. This journey is definitely not an easy one, so it warms my heart to see those around me succeed.

Selfie with the parents!

The other highlight of the trip was being able to stay with and see my parents since they live fairly close to the medical center. My mother’s birthday was the day before the conference started, and it had been almost a year since I had seen her, so it was nice being able to celebrate and spend some time with her. I had already seen my dad a few times this year since he came to pick up my daughter for the summer and brought her back, but it was pretty cool hanging out with him too. I made sure to take a selfie with them both before I left because I just love my parents!

But other than that, it was a great experience attending last weekend’s conference, and I look forward to the rest of my travels with SNMA. Oh, and shameless plug: registration for SNMA AMEC 2017 is now open, so sign up now! It will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on April 12-16, 2017 and I am looking forward to seeing you all! Feel free to head on over to www.snma.org to register and find out more :-) 

Med School Year Two, Second Term in Full Swing!

In love with my new mug!!!!

Happy New Year! We started back classes this week after a nice 11 day holiday break, and I am already exhausted!!!! Our second term actually started Thanksgiving week, but this week we began our Reproductive & Genitourinary Medicine (RGU) unit. The material is interesting and not too bad, but being full swing into my board exam study schedule and having had full day mandatory lectures this week starting at 8am, it’s really taken a lot out of me. Over the break I was able to wake up early, knock out my questions, review the content, and be done early enough in the evening to relax a little. With classes added on, it’s a lot tougher, especially since I learn better outside of the classroom, but I’ve been focusing most of my board prep on what is currently being covered in class, so the lectures were a good reinforcement.

148 days to go until sh*t gets real!

Speaking of board exams, I am now officially registered and scheduled to take the USMLE Step 1 on June 4, 2016 and the COMLEX Level 1 on June 10, 2016!!!! I just about cried having to shell out the money for both of these super expensive exams, but knowing that I’m close to conquering an important milestone in my medical career has me super excited. Not going to lie though, I am extremely anxious about scoring well and making sure I prepare in the best possible way. Everyone has a different way of studying, so there isn’t any correct way to prepare for the exams other than keeping it to a minimum and doing what works best for you. So far, I am sticking with UWorld, First Aid for the USMLE Step 1, and Pathoma. I’m also required to use Combank for my classes, so I have been going through that as well. I’ve already hit the 1000 question mark, and I should be finishing my first pass of UWorld next month. I’ll add in some other question banks at a later time, and I’ll take my first NBME self-assessment either next month or the beginning of March to see where I stand. Right now it takes me 3 hours on average just to get through around 30-44 questions, but I am mostly using the question banks as a learning tool. I attempt to answer the question on my own in tutor mode, and then I go through all of the explanations for the answer choices (both right and wrong) and either annotate in my First Aid book or take notes in a separate notebook. It’s extremely time-consuming, but I’m hoping to get faster as the months go by. At the very least, I can say studying for boards has helped with my most recent class exams, but I’ll make sure to keep everyone posted on my progress. 

ECG Fun!

Outside of board exam studying and school, there isn’t much in the realm of updates. This week in clinical skills we learned how to do glucose testing, urinalysis, and ECGs. I can tolerate a ton of pain, but getting my finger pricked is the worst! I also don’t know why I thought we would be given pretend urine to test, so it was a bit awkward when we were handed cups, and told to head to the bathroom to collect our specimens. I learned that I was a bit dehydrated that day, so I’ve been stepping up my water game all week. My favorite part was working the ECG machine and learning how to set a patient up. Reading an ECG is still a weak area for me, but at least I know how to properly set one up! In OMM, we worked on our ultrasound skills for extra credit, and my group was able to get a really nice image of my classmate’s bicipital tendon. I posted the picture on Facebook, but then had to quickly go back and add hashtags when my mother asked if I was pregnant (Really, Mom?!?!...Sigh…lol). I also had to add hashtags after someone asked if I was ok after posting the above ECG picture, so I’ll adding a lot more clarification from now on when I post pics to social media, LOL. 

This is a bicipital tendon, NOT a baby! LOL

Anyway, I think that is about it. My daughter currently has her friend spending the weekend with us, which means she gets company and someone to talk to, and I get to study uninterrupted. I have my study schedule set to have breaks on the weekends, but since I have an exam next Friday and I won’t be doing any board exam studying the two days prior, my plan is to knock out the missed days this weekend. I probably won’t post again until I have my official scheduled break next weekend, so until next time!   

My Second Year of Medical School Starts Tomorrow!

Last Free Weekend Before the Start of 2nd Year!

Well, the time has come. Summer vacation is officially over :-( Tomorrow I start my second year of medical school, and right now the feeling is bittersweet. I’m excited to get back on track towards achieving my dreams, and I have some awesome classmates who I haven’t seen all summer, but I’m not excited about going back to the stress of long study hours and losing touch with reality. Luckily, this will be my last year EVER of classroom lectures, and in a few months I will be finding out where I’ll be doing hospital rotations for the next two years (I‘ll explain more on that in another post). I’ve been told that this year will fly by fast, and I really hope that will be the case. I know the first two years are necessary to build a solid foundation, but I’m ready to start the actual hospital work!

GA-PCOM Representing at the SNMA Region IV RLI!!!!

My final weekend of freedom was a good one though. On Friday morning, I took a break to go see Straight Outta Compton, and I really enjoyed it! Then it was back to business on Saturday morning when I had to wake up extra early to attend the SNMA Region IV Regional Leadership Institute. This year it was held at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, so this meant I had to be up at 4:45am in order to get ready, drop my daughter off at my classmate’s house, and be on the road by 6am to make the two and a half hour drive. The trip was definitely worth it, as I got the chance to meet some amazing medical students from schools around the region. It was so interesting learning the similarities and differences of our school curricula across the region. My school started subjects such as pathology and pharmacology our first year, but there were some schools who don’t even cover that until second year. I was also surprised that a lot of the students had already started second year classes as early as two weeks ago. It made me so happy that I don’t start until tomorrow, and I made sure to not complain, LOL. One of the upperclassmen at my school also attended the conference (pictured above), and she currently serves as the SNMA Pre-Medical Liaison of the region, so we represented our school well :-)

An Amazing Group of Diverse Medical Students Representing SNMA Region IV

The conference lasted most of the day, but I was so happy when it ended earlier than planned. Not because I wasn’t having a great time, but because it was my last free Saturday of vacation! I was able to make it home, change my look in under ten minutes (the first picture on this post…#MomSkills!), and go out and enjoy myself while I still had someone to watch the little one. Hopefully this term will allow me to still have free time on the weekends, but just in case, I made sure to enjoy myself. Now it’s back to the grind, but no worries, because I’m still smiling!

Less Than a Week Until I Start My Second Year of Med School!

One Week to Go Until the 2nd Year of Medical School!

Where has the summer gone?!!!! In less than a week I’ll be starting my second year of medical school, and I’m not ready yet! I also don’t have the finalized class schedule for next week, so I’m still somewhat in a state of denial, LOL. Despite the sadness over my last free summer ending, I am ecstatic that this will be my last year of classroom learning. I seriously cannot wait to start rotations and put all this new knowledge to work. I’ll have to make it through my board exams first though, so I plan on going extra hard with the studying this year and really learning as much as I can in all my classes.

My Daughter and Our New Canine Visitor

In other news, my little one is back home and as happy as can be. I went to pick her up shortly after my last post, and I had a nice relaxing few days at my parents’ house. My mom also somehow managed to convince me to bring back and babysit her dog for a few weeks, so the last week and a half have been very interesting. It’s like having a toddler running around the place! I can’t tell you how many times I have said things like “what is that in your mouth?,” “Why are you crying?,” and “No, I will not pick you up!” Luckily, the dog is two years old and house trained, so I haven’t had to worry about any accidents, but it has oddly reminded me why I only have one child. My nerves are way too bad!

First Day of Third Grade!!!!

That’s pretty much it for now. Despite this being my last free week, it’s already a pretty busy one. I just got back from a meeting, and I have a few more meetings this week with some of the organizations I’m involved in. Plus, SNMA is having a regional conference in Georgia on Saturday that I will be attending, so I guess you can say my free time officially ended last week. So far, the exciting part of this week was yesterday when the little one started her first day of third grade. As you can see above, I just had to take my yearly photo of her :-) It’s crazy how fast time is flying by! I’m definitely not a fan of having to wake up at 6am every day, but judging by how tired I’ve been since yesterday, it will give me a good head start so I can be fully awake and refreshed for classes next week. I’ll be sure to update everyone on how the rest of the week goes, but right now I need to go figure out what to cook for dinner. Until next time!

50 Things I Learned During My First Year of Medical School

I still can’t believe I made it through my first year of medical school! It feels like it was just yesterday when I ended my career in research, moved to Georgia, and started a very crazy and demanding first term of medical school classes. This year has been an absolute roller coaster, but there have been more ups than downs, and I wouldn’t trade any of my experiences for the world. I am officially 1/4th a doctor and I can’t wait for what else this crazy ride has in store!

With that being said, I have finally reached a point where I can sit back and reflect on some of the things I learned during my first year of medical school. In retrospect, I probably should have been putting together a list as the year went on, but for now I just compiled a list off the top of my head. It is completely subjective and based solely on my experiences, but I am sure a few students can relate. If you’re about to enter medical school, then you might even find it a little bit helpful. Either way, I hope you enjoy!

1.   Buying all that expensive equipment at the beginning of the year is a huge waste of money. You’ll probably only use it a few times during your first year, and a lot of hospitals supply the basics. You should definitely buy a stethoscope though, and a cheap otoscope and ophthalmoscope should suffice if you don’t want to borrow one from a classmate.

2. Buy yourself a copy of First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 and treat it like it’s your lover. It will make your life a whole lot easier. (If you’re lucky enough to be attending my school, you won’t really need it until you hit second term)

3. Invest in a large desk and white board for your home.

4. If your anatomy lab is like mine, it will probably provide all the tools needed to do a dissection, so don’t bother buying your own dissection kit either. (By the way, I have an unused dissection kit for sell if anyone wants to buy it, lol). The basics for anatomy lab are scrubs, shoe covers, gloves, googles, and copies of Grant’s Dissector and Netter’s Anatomy books (my lab provided the books, since they get so nasty that no one who brings one in actually takes it out of the lab).

5. There will probably be an electronic version of every textbook you need available completely free from your library, another student, or by other means. This won’t help if you’re an unfortunate soul like myself who prefers to actually feel the paper and be able to turn the pages of a book, but it can save you tons of money if you’re strapped for cash.

6. After about a term or so of reading all the chapters in your textbook that correspond to a lecture, you’ll quickly realize that passing most exams depends on how well you can memorize the PowerPoint slides and other material that is presented in class. It will also save you a lot of time study-wise. 

7. Even if you don’t necessarily want to get involved, attending club meetings is a great way to get free food and you might even find a few you like :-)

8. I’m convinced the sole purpose of orientation week is to get students used to sitting in one room for eight hours straight. I think my week mostly consisted of talks on financial aid, professionalism, and ethics. The real fun lies in the nightly social events where you’ll get a chance to hang out with and have fun with your new classmates, so make sure you go to at least one of them if possible.

9. You will find a group of classmates that will quickly become your main support system throughout school. Whether it’s celebrating birthdays, pushing you to not give up, or forcing you to get out the house and have fun, these will be the people who help you make it through. There also won’t be many people who understand the med school struggle as much as your classmates around you. You don’t have to be a social butterfly, but try to find one or two people that you connect with early on. Medical school is so much better when you don’t feel like you’re doing it all alone. 

10. It’s worth it to have people outside of medical school with whom you can talk to or hang out with every now and then. It will help you feel somewhat connected to the real world.

11. Don’t feel bad if you don’t have any previous knowledge in the subject matter that will be taught before attending medical school. Even if you do, it really won’t help that much, so everyone is pretty much in the same boat. In other words, pre-studying the summer before is a waste of time! (Note to all of you entering medical students trying to get ahead by studying all summer)

12. Taking one day every weekend to do nothing school-related was one of the best decisions I made all year. It’s so easy to get consumed with studying that you lose focus and become miserable. A small weekly refresh button does wonders. (Ignore this during exam weekends)

13. Taking a two hour break each day is also nice. Go exercise, watch TV, do nothing, or if you’re a parent like me, spend it with your child. That way when you get back to studying you won’t be so easily distracted.

14. You’ll have more free time than you actually think you do during your first year. Take advantage of it so that you don’t completely lose your sanity!

15. It can be completely overwhelming at first. Remember to take everything one day at a time. You have everything it takes to make it, and if your school didn’t think so as well, they wouldn’t have accepted you. 

16. Don’t wait until the last-minute to ask for help. Whether it’s from your classmates, school administration, or outside sources, get it even if you’re not sure if you need it. Everyone struggles at one point or another. 

17. It’s a good idea not to talk with others about grades. Not only can it potentially stress you out, but I’ve found that the ones who aren’t doing as well tend to lie about how well they’re doing, while the top scorers in the class will try to act as if they’re struggling.

18. During your first year, passing is the only thing that really matters! Don’t get caught up in trying to obtain honors or being in the top 10% of the class, because it will just stress you out even more. Almost every physician I have spoken with (including those in super competitive fields) has said the same. Ten years from now, no one will really care what your grades were the first two years of medical school.

19. Try not to forget the information learned after every block exam. You’ll most likely need it for board exams, so try to learn the material the best you can the first time around.

20. You will learn that you can be completely stretched beyond what you thought were your limits, and still succeed.

21. When I first started, one of the 2nd year students told me to “get used to the constant feeling of being uncomfortable.” So true!

22. You will quickly learn how much of a luxury sleep really is. Don’t make it worse by trying to pull an all-nighter. I have yet to see anyone actually benefit from not sleeping before an exam.

23. Weekends will no longer mean sleeping in and being lazy. You’ll actually be excited for the extra time to study without the worry of having new material added in. Three day holiday weekends will excite you even more for the very same reason.

24. You will probably lose the ability to carry on a normal conversation with people outside of medical school, and you will also learn that not everyone can handle hearing your awesome stories from anatomy lab.

25. Try not to commit yourself to many outside activities. School will probably cause you to miss things like graduations, weddings, etc., and if you’re worried about upsetting anyone, just think of how upset you all would be if you ended up failing out of medical school because of it. Learn to say no, and be happy with focusing on your priorities.

26. Don’t put off doctor’s appointments, oil changes, and other important things because of school. Ignoring these things can prove to be very costly. 

27. There will probably come a time where you will cry. Sometimes for no reason at all, sometimes because of what you think was a bad exam, and other times because you’re so stressed you don’t know what else to do. Let it happen!

28. When it comes to attending classes, do what works best for you. Don’t let administration try to guilt trip you into attending lectures if you know you learn best on your own. It’s really not worth it to perform poorly on an exam because you didn’t take the time to find out how you study best and use that time wisely.

29. Don’t be afraid to switch up study techniques if something is not working for you. A large portion of the first year of medical school will be spent finding out how you learn the best and most efficiently.

30. A lot of your learning will be through independent study. YouTube and Google will become some of your best friends, and if you really get stuck on something, there will most likely be a mnemonic or some other tool available on the internet.

31. Once you discover that you can listen to lectures at 2x’s speed, you’ll start to wish that everything you watch could be sped up as fast as possible. 

32. When it comes to learning neuro, Dr. Najeeb is awesome, and if you can get past the accent, listening at 2x’s speed is even better.

33. Those lesions on the MR image? Don’t feel alone. Half the class doesn’t see them either.

34. Histology sucks! That is all.

35. Use Robbins and Pathoma to get through pathology.

36. If you’re a weird learner like me, then Picmonic will be the best thing since sliced bread. I can’t tell you how many times the pictures popped into my head during exams and helped me get a few extra points.

37. Put down those paper notecards…Quizlet and Anki flashcards are awesome!!!! You might even get lucky and find cards made by past students which will save you a ton of time.

38. Drinking after each and every exam will probably become the new norm. (Note: I am in no way condoning excessive drinking) 

39. When it comes to basic primary care skills, you will start off BSing your way through using your stethoscope, reflex hammer, ophthalmoscope, and other equipment. When you actually do hear or see something, it will be the coolest thing ever. When you actually get out and start seeing real patients, actually learning how to use the equipment will become a top priority, since you’ll realize that lives will depend on your skills one day.

40. When it comes to dealing with standardized patients, fake it until you make it! I’m convinced they can smell your fear during every practical exam and take off points because of it. 

41. By the end of first year, you will most likely be sick of hearing about Horner’s Syndrome, Bell’s palsy, and sepsis. The good news is you probably won’t (and better not) miss these in a clinical setting.

42. If you’re attending an osteopathic medical school, do not neglect OMT! If your school is anything like mine, then failing the course could be the reason why you have to repeat the entire year. It can feel completely subjective at times, but suck it up, and get through it.

43. Try to practice OMT skills at least once a week. It’s no fun trying to learn how to do 20+ techniques right before a practical exam. Trust me, I speak from experience.

44. If you’re a D.O. student, you’ll also get used to be half-naked in front of your peers fairly quickly. You’ll also get pretty comfortable touching your classmates in awkward places. Yay, for that sacral rock! Lol

45. Since you’re a medical student now, you’ll probably get phone calls from random family members and friends asking about a specific medical problem they may have. Chances are you won’t know the answer.

46. Your white coat ceremony will be one of the most memorable experiences of your life. Hopefully you won’t have an exam three days afterwards (as was the case for me), so take some time to really enjoy it and have fun with your close family and friends who attend.

47. Medical students who don’t have families to take care of have NO idea how easy they have it. Try not to roll your eyes as they complain about how tired and stressed they are. We’re all working hard, just in different ways.

48. Once in medical school and living off student loans, you’ll quickly find out what it means to be truly broke and how hard it is to stretch student loan refund money into the summer months.

49. You will probably question your decision to attend medical school on a weekly basis. It will seem like pure torture at times, and to be honest it somewhat is. At the end of the day, if it’s really meant for you, you’ll love it more than you hate it.

50. You know what they say: “If it were easy, everybody would be doing it!” Medicine is not for everybody, and you should only pursue it if you can see yourself doing nothing else in life. The first year of medical school is tough, but getting through it will feel better than you know.

To those of you who have successfully made it through your first year of medical school, CONGRATS!!!! We still have a long way to go, but if the first year is a sign of things to come, then it will all be over before we know it. I hope you all are taking the time this summer to relax and hit that refresh button, because the grind will be back very soon!  

To the newly accepted medical students, CONGRATS AND GET READY! Enjoy the calm as much as you can, because the storm is coming! LOL 

Another Successful Term of Medical School Completed!

Snow in Georgia!

Wow, what a week! This was the last week of the term, but it was anything but predictable. Tuesday morning we were greeted with snow, but luckily nothing was closed. Coming from Louisiana, my daughter had only seen snow once in her life (although she doesn’t remember it), so she was super excited to see and play in all the snow. As you can see in the picture above, even though it was seven in the morning, she was all smiles. On Wednesday, we had a winter storm come through the area, and while my daughter’s school made the decision to close the night before, I didn’t receive notification from my school until around 5am that morning. Having both schools closed definitely saved me the headache of trying to find her a sitter while I went to mandatory case discussions (since the daycare centers were also closed in the area), and I appreciated the study time. The professors also found a way for us to complete the assignments together online, so it didn’t interfere with us missing questions on today’s exam. Yesterday, my school had a 2-hour delay though, so that meant taking an exam that was originally scheduled for the morning in the afternoon. Luckily, my daughter’s school didn’t have a delay yesterday, so everything was business as usual.  

Notes from my 2nd term of medical school!

Today I completed (and passed) my final exam of second term, which means that spring break has officially begun! The past few months have been a bit of a blur, but I am happy to have conquered yet another milestone, and I am actually looking forward to what next term has in store. To give you an idea of how intense this term has been, I took a picture of my note stack. Although most of my notes were typed out, front and back, it still stacked up to be almost a foot tall! I think last term’s notes only measured about five inches, so it is safe to say that this term was way more intense. Oddly enough, I felt this term was way more manageable than the last. I don’t know if I finally managed to adapt to the course load or if it was because the material was more interesting, but I really loved this term. I also feel like I had a lot more free time to do things I enjoyed, and I definitely was a lot less stressed out during my exams which were reflected in much better grades this time around. I hope I can keep up the good streak next term, but that will also be when we hit all neuro subjects, so I am slightly nervous. For now, I am going to take the week to really enjoy myself and mentally prepare for the final term of my first year. Right after today’s exam, I went to the movies to see Focus (which I enjoyed), and this evening will be spent watching Netflix. I managed to get into House of Cards over the winter break, so I am super excited that the new season was released today! I also plan on having a ton of mother-daughter bonding time this weekend, because there wasn’t as much of it as I would’ve liked this term due to Monday exams always being around the corner. No worries though, because I will definitely be putting up a few posts within the next week that will hopefully help out both pre-medical and medical students.   

Anyway, I am off to enjoy my evening. Just a heads up to any medical or pre-medical students that tomorrow is the last day to register without late fees for the SNMA national conference on April 1-5, 2015 in New Orleans. Not only will I be in attendance, but I will also be a part of one of the workshops (more details to come once confirmed), so I look forward to meeting you guys! And if meeting me doesn’t convince you to attend, then CLICK HERE to see why this is such a wonderful opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. Until next time!

Halfway Done with My Second Term of Medical School!

At the time of my last post, I oddly wasn’t aware that we were about to be hit with yet another brutal schedule. One practical exam and three written exams later, I can happily say that I made it through the storm! The major exam that I took today completely wore me out, so I am happy to be done with exams for the moment, even if the next major one is in a week in a half. I was so drained that I ended up skipping the four hours of lecture that were immediately scheduled after the exam. I went grocery shopping, got an inspection done on my car, and even took an uninterrupted nap so it was well worth it. Luckily, our lectures are recorded, so I’ll make sure to play catch up this weekend. Tonight there will be absolutely no studying though. I cooked a full dinner and I just put my daughter to bed, so as soon as she actually falls asleep, I plan on baking some cookies, opening a bottle of wine, and watching Empire tonight. Oh, the joy!

But aside from not posting recently, I got on here tonight because I wanted to share a really cool experience that my class had last week. We underwent the “Ebola Simulated Clinical Experience”, where we were trained in donning and doffing N95 masks and gowns in the event of an infectious disease situation. The coolest part was actually getting to work with our on-campus simulated patient known as Stan. Stan is basically a human-like robot that breathes, blinks, goes into shock, and talks (among other things). He is typically used by the 2^nd-year medical students, so it was nice being able to really see why everyone likes using him. My school also has a female counterpart that can experience contractions and even give birth, so I’m really looking forward to working on her next year. We also will be learning how to do FULL exams on actual human patients next year, but that’s another story, LOL. Anyway, that’s all I will post tonight. I’m about to relax as if I’m not a constantly stressed out medical student!

Getting into the Holiday Spirit!

Microbe Christmas ornaments that speak to my inner nerd

Today I completed my first exam of the term, and it feels so good to finally be over that hurdle. It still trips me out every time the score pops up on the screen immediately after submitting an exam, but with this being the first exam, I wasn’t too upset with my score. I am just happy that I don’t have to worry about practical exams bringing down my average this term. I also feel like this term may be the best one I have this year, mainly because last term was a struggle and next term we start neuro, which has never been my strongest subject.

Our "first" tree!

On another note, it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! My microbe Christmas ornaments arrived last week, and they made me super happy! Nothing rings in the holiday season better than a Rhinovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, E. coli, neuron, and pretty red amoeba :-) I even bought a tree and decorated it with my daughter on Friday. Usually we’re never home for the holidays, so I’ve never actually bothered to buy a tree, but I decided to be a little different this year. It was a fun experience playing Christmas music and decorating the tree with my little one, although I think she was just in it for the candy canes.

I live for that smile :-)

The best part of last week was when I took a little break from lecture to attend a holiday luncheon at my daughter’s school. The look on her face when she saw me was absolutely priceless! I told her I would attend, but obviously she didn’t believe me, so it was nice being able to “surprise” her. It made me realize that while school and my goals are important, it’s not worth missing opportunities to spend special moments with her. People always say that children grow up so fast, and I’m really beginning to see it. So far, I feel like I’ve made a pretty good effort in balancing motherhood with medical school, but I know the quality times spent with my daughter will become few and far between especially when I start rotations. With that being said, I’ll take advantage of our recorded lectures and make an effort to attend more of her school functions and special moments. Unfortunately, she has a class holiday play next week on the same day I have a mandatory lecture, so hopefully I can convince my professor to let me skip out on the first hour.

I never miss an opportunity to bond with my little one!

Other than that, I have an OMM quiz tomorrow and an exam covering managed patient care on Wednesday that I need to study for, so I probably won’t post again until the end of the week or early next week. As always, I love the comments and e-mails that I get from everyone, and I apologize for not being able to respond as fast as I used to, but I promise I will get to them all. I hope everyone has a fantastic week, and hopefully you all are feeling the holiday spirit as much as I am!

Small Medical School Accomplishments and Celebrating Champions in Healthcare

Me and Dr. Regina Benjamin, 18th Surgeon General of the United States

Last week was definitely a good one! I received the grades back for both my OMM and SPOM practical exams, and I am happy to say that I did well on both of them. I received mostly 100’s on all my stations for OMM, with the exception of cervical muscle energy. I was so nervous that I had my patient look the wrong way for the oculocephalogyric reflex, and it brought my score down 20 points for that one station. Overall I came out with an A for the entire practical, and I do not have to remediate any parts of the exam! Remediation is required if a student makes less than an eighty percent on any station on the exam, so I am pretty happy I managed to do well. As for SPOM, we received our practical grades back early Thursday morning, and I was just so happy that I did well enough to pass the entire exam altogether with my written score included. Later that afternoon we received an e-mail saying that the breakdown of our written scores was available, and when I went to check, I was shocked to find that my score jumped up 11 points! It turns out that a few questions had more than one correct answer or they were simply thrown out, and I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of it. I finally feel like I am getting the hang of medical school, and even though the work never stops, I can finally stop stressing at least a little bit.  

Class, anatomy lab, and both lunch and dinner with the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. Friday was a very busy, but definitely good day!

Aside from grades, Friday was definitely the highlight of not only my week, but medical school so far. Dr. Regina Benjamin, the 18^th Surgeon General of the United States, came to GA-PCOM to speak to us and hold a Q&A session during lunch, and it was a wonderful experience. The GA-PCOM SNMA chapter (which I am a member of) presented her with a quilt at the end, and she even let me take a picture with her. Not only is Dr. Benjamin extremely intelligent and down-to-earth, but she also holds 23 honorary degrees, and does a lot of work to help rural and underserved communities. It was definitely an honor to be in the same room with her.

Later that evening, GA-PCOM held an inaugural Champions of Healthcare dinner that featured Dr. Benjamin as the keynote speaker. This was an amazing event that honored some of the outstanding staff, faculty, and students of GA-PCOM, and it was great to have one night of fun without studying. I also loved the fact that I got to have a chance to socialize and have drinks with both my professors and classmates alike. I thought I wouldn’t know too many people at the event since I am a first year student, but I probably knew half the people in the room! One thing that Dr. Benjamin said during her speech that evening was that the Lord takes you where you need to be, and as I looked around I couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that I really am where I need and want to be. I’m sure every medical student thinks their school is the best, but I truly believe mine wins hands down. GA-PCOM has everything I could ever want in a medical school, including diversity, a sense of community, and amazing students, faculty, and staff alike. I just feel so blessed to have been accepted into the school, and I hope that I can continue to work hard enough, so that I too can one day become a champion of healthcare.

Improving Study Habits in Medical School

A large part of medical school so far has been finding the most effective ways to study and retain the huge amount of information that is constantly being thrown at me. I’m still working on tweaking my study habits, but since I was asked, I figured I would make a post about what is currently working for me. Hopefully by the end of the term, I will have a more solid breakdown of the things that really help, but this post should serve as a good general breakdown.

Time Management

I’ve mentioned it before, but time management is a huge part of succeeding in medical school. People constantly tell me that they don’t know how I do everything while raising a child, but I think it’s actually a really big advantage for me. While most students have the option of going home and probably taking a nap or doing other things that distract them from studying, I don’t have that luxury. Because I have a child, virtually every minute has to be accounted for. I don’t have the same amount of study hours as my peers, so I have to make every second count. It’s easy to put off studying when you have the option of waking up early to do it, but it’s a different story when you have to wake up at 6am and get your child ready for school.

What works for me is breaking down the schedule and giving each lecture a set amount of time spent studying for it. We are expected to study 5-7 hours outside of lecture, but right now I am currently averaging around five hours a day of studying. Normally one class will have had more hours than the others, so I try to devote three hours a day towards studying for that, and I give the other classes about an hour of study time. If I get out of class at 5, then that gives me one hour of study time before I have to pick up my daughter, and then my mommy/free time is typically from 6-8pm. I study another four hours from 8-12, and then I am done for the night. So far I have been good about hitting my goal, but there’s always a little extra time when anatomy lab gets out early or when my group is not going for OMM lab where I can get in some extra study time.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

This is definitely something I can improve on. The only way you can truly gauge how you’re doing on a subject is by quizzing yourself and doing practice tests. There are a ton of websites that have quizzes to help you, and so far I have found the Board Review Series (BRS) books pretty amazing. Also, make sure to go over your answers and figure out where you went wrong. I did not do this with the exam I just took, and I am convinced that at least one of the questions was very similar to one I did in the BRS book, but did not go over. For anatomy, the University of Michigan has excellent practical and written exams, and I also really like the SUNY Downstate material. I used Firecracker for about a month until my free trial ran out, and I think it’s a pretty good resource as well, although a bit pricey.

Review the Material Multiple Times

I recently got great advice from one of the second year medical students on studying, and the key point was to make sure to review the material at least five times outside of lecture. That means attend or listen to the lecture at least once, review the material three times over a semi-spread out timeframe, use the fourth time to take quizzes, and devote the fifth and final time to group studying. Even if you’re not a fan of group studying, it can reveal things to you that you might not have learned, so it’s a good thing to do if only for an hour or two. I haven’t actually done this yet, but we just started a new block and I plan on implementing it, so I will let everyone know how it works out for me after the next exam.

Ways to Retain the Information

Outside of repetition, YouTube and mnemonics have been lifesavers when it comes to retaining information. Mnemonics make it easier to remember long lists of things (ie the branches of the external carotid artery), and I find that the more dirty they are, the better they work. I have also found some amazing videos on YouTube that have explained things to me in five minutes or less despite having spent hours on my own trying to figure it out. YouTube pretty much has videos on anything you can think of, so if you get stuck on something, use that search function! I remember things that are really off-the-wall and eccentric, and some of the videos posted have all the elements needed to make the information stick in my mind.

Know What Works Best for You

 It’s important to remember that everyone has different ways of studying, so what works for me might not necessarily work for you. During orientation, I took a LASSI exam and found out that I am a strong read/write learner. I already knew this, but I learn best from reading the textbook and taking my own notes. This doesn’t work for everybody, and it is a really big waste of time to not study in a way that feels comfortable to you. Furthermore, what worked for you during your undergraduate years will probably not work in medical school just because of the sheer volume of material. Don’t be afraid to spend a month or two tweaking your study techniques until you find something that works. Also, I’m pretty sure that all schools have learning centers with people there to help you find effective study skills, so use them!

This pretty much sums up everything for now, but I’m sure I will have more posts on the subject in the future. The current term ends for us in November, and then we will start a completely different block that will consist of full days of lectures without labs. This is probably when I will have to really get a handle on things, but for now I am sticking with what I have written above. I wrote this post in terms of medical school, but I think the tips can be used by anyone whether you're in medical school, graduate school, or undergraduate school. It's important to build a good foundation early on so that you don't struggle later, so I hope this post helps!