This reflection is for the week of September 6, 2021 to September 12, 2021. This week was a little rough. 

Monday

Monday was not too busy. It was a day off so it felt nice being able to sleep in. I definitely did not get as much work or review complete, but I allowed myself to relax a bit. Since I had my telemedicine FOSCE the next day, I made one of my cousins practice with me. Afterwards, I got to see two of my friends since we graduated in 2019. They go to a medical school that is about 35 minutes away from me. I knew I had to see them because one of them is in her third year (SO EXCITED FOR HER!) and the other friend just started her first year (ALSO VERY PROUD OF HER!)

Tuesday

Class on Tuesday was not too bad. I recognized many of the topics, and it didn’t feel too overwhelming. The first two lectures were more detail heavy while the last lecture was just an overview. I will be honest, the new lecturer for the metabolism sections has been a difficult transition. He seems very nice, but it’s difficult to figure out what information is pertinent versus extraneous. 

After class, I drove home and moved some furniture around to prepare for my telemedicine FOSCE. Unlike the majority of people, I did not use Zoom extensively throughout 2020 and 2021. At most, I used it to prepare for my interviews. I made sure that my background was neutral, and my laptop was elevated. 

The actual FOSCE itself. I was very stressed for this FOSCE because I got very uncomfortable around the social history section. In particular, sexual history was difficult to learn. During my actual FOSCE, I think I remembered most of ROS, and I remembered every part of the Past Medical History, Family History, and Social History.

The entire time in the FOSCE, I felt like I had lost the empathy I was able to exhibit to my first standardized patient. I think I lost this empathy because I was so focused on making sure I gathered all the data. This mistake is exactly something that the professors had mentioned at the beginning. I know that I need to go back to making sure I take time to be a human being with my standardized patients! I know I had two minutes left at the end, so I definitely could have spared some time to ensure my patient felt cared for. 

My SP agreed with me, and to no surprise, they also mentioned I needed to give an explanation of why I am asking some of those history questions. I knew that one of my weaknesses was transitioning between the histories, so I will also be working on that. Overall, I think that this FOSCE was not too bad. I noticed there were some differences in what my standardized patient said versus what I learned, but I don’t think that discrepancy will be too big of an issue. 

Wednesday

To be quite honest, Wednesday was not a good day for me. Wednesday’s are typically pretty decent because I can come home early. However, this Wednesday was just bad. 

It started off pretty okay while I was making breakfast. It’s when it was time to leave that I encountered some issues. To sum it up briefly, I had one of those mornings where I kept forgetting something small. For instance, I walked down my two flights of stairs and buckled into my car to realize I forgot my phone in the apartment. It was just one of those mornings, and I ended up arriving late to class.

Being late to class meant that I missed a few minutes, and I had no idea how to follow along. I decided to take the L (the loss), and just call it a day. 

After class, I stayed on campus because we had a required “Stop the Bleed” event. This event is required for us so that we know how to help a bleeding victim and apply tourniquets in case of an emergency. The event is run by a second year medical student who holds this position with the Surgery Interest Group. 

This session was rather…odd. We were taught that we should not use anything that is not an official tourniquet to stop the bleeding. We were specifically told no blood pressure cuffs or belts. This advice makes sense because those items could loosen and cause a major loss of blood. However, my classmates and I were all confused as to what we should do if we do not have tourniquets. I guess it might be a good idea to look into purchasing a simple one and keeping it in my bag, not really sure about that. 

Here are some pictures of me working on my rubber extremity: 

Thankfully, this session ended early. I went home and got some work done. Unfortunately, my bad day did not end there. I tried to bake cookies…and they did not come out right at all. I think I messed up some measurements or I shouldn’t have used salted butter. Regardless, I had made these countless times before, and was just not having a good day. Here is the sad end result: 

After that cookie attempt, I went to the Surgery Interest Group meeting. I am very excited for their future events like the suturing clinics! After this meeting, which was at 7pm, I went home and tried to get work done as quickly as possible so I could just go to sleep. 

Thursday

As you should know by now, Thursdays are very busy. For this Thursday, we had to make sure we were dressed up, and on time again because we were working with standardized patients. For this session, we were learning how to take vitals! Here is a picture of the rooms (Remember the Monsters Inc analogy?):

From previous experiences, I did remember how to do the basics for heart rate, respiratory rate, and taking blood pressure. However, I am very out of practice. My preceptor also decided I would be the first person to go so I really took one for the team, and fumbled everywhere. 

Fortunately, the preceptor also struggled a bit because he was unfamiliar with the specific tools we had. In the end, it was not too bad. I know I need to practice a bit more, but I am very happy to start these skills now.

The asynchronous modules for this day were a bit time consuming and I ended up finishing them later. 

My research course section was a bit more work. We were required to meet with our biostatistics groups again and work through an activity. This activity was a bit time consuming, but we all ended a little early. After that, we went to individual presentations for three areas our projects could fall under. These sessions were based on our preferences. I think I might be interested in doing my project on nutrition, but maybe not. It became clear that I did not want to base my project in basic or clinical research (even though I love those both, I think my building years gave me a strong foundation there and I should focus on another area of interest). 

After this session, we were finally given our clinical site preceptors! I will be working with an endocrinologist who practices about 35 minutes away from me. She did medical school in India and moved here, so I am very excited to meet her! I really hoped for someone who was female and Indian so I could ask more personal questions. 

Thursday evening I went to prepare for our case studies, and I tried my best to go to sleep early. 

Friday

Knowing I have an exam in a week, one would think that I would have spent most of my Friday studying, correct? Unfortunately, that did not happen. 

Friday morning’s lecture on glycolysis was surprisingly really good. The case study was also interesting. We had a patient with Marfan syndrome, and we worked through those questions with this specific case study preceptor one last time. We switch preceptors every block so I will be missing him. 

After the case study, I was disappointed in the lack of vegetarian food the cafeteria offered. I had to stay for lunch because there was a training session for our outreach screening clinics. This training session was great, and I am very excited to volunteer. Essentially, this clinic provides screening services to homeless and low-income individuals in a nearby city. 

After that training, I had a meeting with the financial advisor. She is so sweet and so much fun to talk to! She was the only person this entire month to comment on my Stranger Things shirt, and she is also super excited for the next season! 

This session was pretty short because I explained I was very familiar with the terms and concepts from understanding my undergraduate loans. I also am very neurotic about keeping track of my expenses. We discussed making sure I did not buy too many resources (I do not plan to buy any extra resources). I bought too many for MCAT prep and honestly all those companies are targeting you, do not fall prey. Just stick to a few, and use them well!

We also discussed having a fun budget (which I have one, so don’t worry about me there!). In addition, she explained some scholarship information that is specific to my school. After this meeting, I got groceries, and came home. I studied for a bit, but then focused on building a standing wardrobe. 

My solution to Wednesday was to lay everything out in the wardrobe so I am not fumbling in the morning. I spent about two hours building it because I kept making mistakes but I know it will be helpful in the long run. 

Saturday

This day was super uneventful. I spent the entire day studying. 

Overall

This week was a bit tough. I forgot to mention that I cried a bit on Thursday just from being overwhelmed. To my surprise, another classmate felt the same way so I know that I am not alone.

Life feels a bit better right now even though there is so much information I have left to review. 

In terms of my physical health, I made some appointments to tour two gyms this week so hopefully I can get back to exercising. I did make some time for yoga this week, but I need more activity. I am thinking for the next block that I will not go to lecture. We shall see. 

I also noticed that being an adult like doing laundry and cooking really takes time away from studying. I meal-prepped some food this morning and spent an hour cooking, but hopefully I have less work to do tomorrow and Tuesday. 

Anyway, I have my first summative exam on Friday. Wish me luck!