Gems from First Aid

There’s a study book to use for the Step 1 called First Aid, and you’ll see pretty much every med student on campus (and on any campus) carrying it around wherever they go.

Here are some of the gems it has:

How to remember that the nipple is at the level of the T4 dermatome?  T4 for the teat pore.

How to remember that Gardnerella vaginalis is one of the bacteria causing bacterial vaginosis, which produces discharge with a fishy smell and white blood cells covered in bacteria (clue cells)?  I have no clue why there’s a fishy smell in my vagina garden.

An ode to the last exam

[8:50:01 AM] Shane:

“Twas the night before finals, and all through the college, The students were praying for last minute knowledge. Most were quite sleepy, but none touched their beds, While visions of essays danced in their heads. Out in the taverns, a few were still drinking, And hoping that liquor would loosen up their thinking. In my own apartment, I had been pacing, And dreading exams I soon would be facing. My roommate was speechless, his nose in his books, And my comments to him drew unfriendly looks. I drained all the coffee, and brewed a new pot, No longer caring that my nerves were shot. I stared at my notes, but my thoughts were muddy, My eyes went a blur, I just couldn’t study. “Some pizza might help,” I said with a shiver, But each place I called refused to deliver. I’d nearly concluded that life was too cruel, With futures depending on grades had in school. When all of a sudden, our door opened wide, And Patron Saint Put-It-Off ambled inside. His spirit was careless, his manner was mellow, When all of a sudden, he started to bellow: “On Cliff Notes! On Crib Notes! On last year’s exams! On Wingit and Slingit, and last minute crams!” His message delivered, he vanished from sight, But we heard him laughing outside in the night. “Your teachers have pegged you, so just do your best. Happy Finals to all, and to all, a Good Test!”

Iron-man for jerks

I know it hasn’t been that long since i was there, and that there isn’t really all that much different between us except that i started school a year before them, but lately everything term 1s do seems extremely annoying. Including studying at the same table as me, quietly doing anatomy questions together.

On a related note, exam time is a great time to reflect on how irritable and cranky of a person you can be. It’s like competing an iron-man and realizing you had it in you all along, but for downers. On the upside, it’s good practice for trying to stay aware of feeling annoyed, and keeping perspective. Emphasis on the practice. Having appropriate reactions to situations can be hard!

Tomorrow’s my Clinical Skills practical exam. We dress “professionally” in white coats and see our standardized patients. 6 days until the Path exam. 13 days until home and Christmas break. Whew.

Everyone is an expert

In front of me in the study hall, two term 2 students are giving two other students advice on term 1 exams (“Biochem is the great equalizer.  They use it to weed people out”).  Everyone always has lots of advice, and I suppose at some point everyone else is looking for advice too.  But inevitably, the advice turns into rants about the class and you wonder who the advice-giving is helping more.

Nearing the end of exam week

[2:38:06 PM] Frond: i just had a thought

[2:38:15 PM] Frond: about how med students are often thought of as arrogant

[2:38:19 PM] Frond: and annoying

[2:38:35 PM] Frond: because they think they have all these solutions and ideas and know so much about medicine when they haven’t experienced it yet

[2:38:50 PM] Frond: and how it’s good to have beginner’s mind and approach people to learn from them

[2:39:00 PM] Stephanie: true say

[2:39:11 PM] Stephanie: i wonder why we are that way

[2:39:20 PM] Stephanie: i think it’s the approach we develop in science

[2:39:25 PM] Stephanie: undergrad style learning

[2:39:28 PM] Stephanie: exams with 1 best answer

[2:39:33 PM] Frond: yeah for sure

[2:39:50 PM] Frond: and i think it’s easy to be on the outside of practice and criticize the way things are

[2:39:56 PM] Frond: without being in it or a part of it

[2:40:04 PM] Stephanie: ya

[2:40:06 PM] Stephanie: you don’t know what you don’t know

Sexy veggies

With the end of Micro is the start of Medical Nutrition.  In honour of that, and also of upcoming Hallowe’en (with all those “sexy costumes”), here’s to the 10 Naughtiest Vegetables on Earth!

I showed Frond this and he was not as amused as I thought he’d be.  I still chuckled (sophistication has never been my most defining trait).  Tomato has a penis!

Shower cockroach

In the shower last night I saw a cockroach on my shoulder covered in suds.  I yelled and slapped my shoulder.  It took me a few seconds but I figured out that it was my own hair.  I need more sleep or a haircut.