True Medical Student

Everyone says anatomy is the true initiation into medical school.  Since we started first year with biochem, I didn't feel like a "true" medical student until day one of cutting open my cadaver about six weeks into school.  However, I would like to revise this.  You are not really a true medical student until your finger has been in an orifice which it has never been in before... in a [living, thinking, breathing] complete stranger.

We've had clinical skills sessions where we got to listen to hearts, listen to lungs, do a musculoskeletal exam... and then last week (or two weeks ago?  three? I've been so busy, I can't keep track anymore) we had our genito-urinary session.  Our standardized patients for this session are people who are trained in training us to feel their inside and outside parts.  "No no, my ovary is a little more to the left.  There, now do you feel it?"  "Keep going, my prostate is a little further back."  Because they were so professional, what could have been an incredibly uncomfortable afternoon turned out to be one of the most educational experiences I've had yet in school.  It was still a little uncomfortable, because after all, I was still directed to strum someone's scrotum like a guitar, and that's a weird order no matter how professional you are.

Catch-Up (Part 2 of 2)

So the other class we're taking right now is Physical Exam, or as I like to call it, the "Pretend You're a Doctor Class." This class is also TBL-based and, like physiology, TBLs actually sort of make sense for the class.

We focus on a different part of the exam (different part of the body) each week. We have an assigned reading each week that goes along with that part of the exam. Every Monday we have a short individual quiz on that reading, and then we take a new and different and longer quiz as a team, also based on the reading.

The group quiz is open book and open internet. Some questions might still be hard though if we were in any other time period other than right now. But thanks to cell phone apps like Google Goggles, there's really not that much work (or learning) involved.


One other afternoon a week, you meet with your team again plus a facilitator who's either a doctor or a fourth year med student, and you get to practice the exam on each other. Of course, because as doctors you only examine people of the same sex, our teams also split up into boys and girls to practice. Sarcasm aside, it probably is necessary to split the sexes since we do get pretty up close and personal with each other - boobs seriously get in the way of properly listening to your heart and lungs.

The most fun part of this class is that you are supposed to practice outside of class! Our facilitator told us that we should be practicing so often that every time we walk into a room, our friends, family, and pets should run out.

So far the novelty is still there for my family and friends, so people have still been very willing to let me practice (I have NOT practiced on any pets... yet). For your viewing pleasure, here are just a few of the many pictures taken during one physical exam practice session on a very patient friend (patient, get it? yuk yuk yuk).

she's a littttle impatient

i saw my first optic disc!

listening to the heart

Listening to the Heart

This is too apropos not to share with everyone.

In physical exam class, each week we learn and practice another part of the physical exam. This week we learned about examining and listening to the heart.

Here's an article from the NYTimes Science Section today:
stethoscope article

Physiology Shmysiology

Math in med school? Ew. And physics? I did not think I would ever need to use that again. I don't know how I feel about this whole physiology nonsense. Anatomy was pure memorization - no previous skillz really necessary (unless you've taken anatomy before, cheaters). With physiology you actually have to thiiiink. Terrible. Who really wants to use their brain?

But on the positive side, class now starts at 10 every day - no more 8 am dissection labs, woohoo! I do my best to focus on the important things in life...


And I can't wait for the Physical Exam class to start on Monday - everyone I'm friends with, prepare to be practiced on.