Updates and Blog on the Move

WE HAVE MOVED TO: A Theory of Living        

Wow, I started this blog almost ten years ago now, and unfortunately it got lost in the shuffle along the way.  Given how hard medical school and residency were, I guess that's not a surprise.

What does surprise me is that this blog still actually receives a decent amount of traffic.  Maybe that tells you something about all the lost or scared pre-meds, medical students, and residents (or even attendings) there are out there.

In any event, I have moved over to A Theory of Living.  Check it out.  Let's continue this journey together.

Shelf Woes

WE HAVE MOVED TO: A Theory of Living  

As any third year medical student can tell you, shelf exams are a bummer.  You spend your 4-12 weeks learning all you can about the way Ob/IM/FM/Surgery/whatever is practiced in the real world, then at the end of it, in the last week or two, you're supposed to pour a book's worth of knowledge into your brain.  The incredibly frustrating thing is that what is done in practice vs what is done on a test doesn't always match up... but you're expected to know both versions.

All in all, though, I've found them largely easier than first and second year tests (except the Surgery shelf, that was hard).  That probably has something to do with the fact that, even if the above issue crops up from time to time, you've more or less run around a hospital for several weeks practicing what's on the shelf exam.  That's real time learning and experiential learning.

Anyway, I say all this to explain that I have a shelf exam on Friday and will be largely absent from here until then.  Good luck to other medical students with Shelfs.  And especially good luck to second years.  It hasn't quite hit yet, but second year starts to get a little dark some time in the next month or two.

Noncompliance

I think one of the most frustrating things to deal with in the medical profession is noncompliance amongst patients.

I can understand when patients are not compliant with diet and exercise regimens or with quitting smoking.  Even though, in many cases, those are the bigger problems and ones that most need getting fixed, I can appreciate that those aspects of a person's life are profoundly hard to change.  As someone who works hard to find time to exercise and hates the most vegetables but forces them down anyway, I find myself personally frustrated with patients that won't do the basics to improve their diet and exercise, but at least I get it.  Quitting smoking and losing weight are statistically two of the hardest things in the entire world to do.

Ophthalmology Rotation Review

I did an elective in Ophthalmology a while back.

Looking back, I know that I did it for a lot of the wrong reasons.  Fresh off my fantastic surgery rotation, I was essentially looking around for specialties that would allow me to be a surgeon without suffering through a miserable surgery residency.

Med School Stress and Survival Skills

WE HAVE MOVED TO: A Theory of Living  

Today I thought I'd write about stress in medical school.  We've all seen it.  We've all had it.  Even the rosiest and happiest people in school can still feel it from time to time. 

This article may come across dark, and that's okay.  It's not supposed to be an indictment of hospital life or anything like that.  I just want to recognize the stress, take a look at some sources, and reach out.  There are a lot of medical students and healthcare professionals that let it get to them, let it get them down.  This article is for them more than anyone else, to say that yes it's there.  And in future articles we'll explore some coping mechanisms.

Where Am I Now?

WE HAVE MOVED TO: A Theory of Living  

It's been a couple years since I've updated the blog with my current status.  I think it's time to remedy that.

For an update on me...

The Hiatus

I would like to issue a short apology to my readers, or at least the people who used to be my readers.  Looking back at the data, it appears that the blog was just starting to take off right around the time when I stopped writing it.  I wish I had kept it up, because I really wanted to produce something that would touch and affect like minded pre-meds or medical students or even healthcare practitioners.

I think writing is one of those things that I have to make a point to do every day, or I fall off the wagon hard.  If I skip one day because of life or whatever, then it's really easy for me to convince myself to skip the next day.  Because of life.  Or whatever.  Then the day after it's just whatever.

Well, I'm back into writing now.  I've written every day for a couple of months now.  I can't promise that'll turn into an article even every other day, but I can say that'll it will definitely turn into an article from time to time.

Also, as a related side note, if any of my older readers find their way back, I would love to post guest posts from you here.  One of the themes that will become apparent in the future of this blog is how my thoughts and feelings on medicine and being a medical student have evolved and matured since the time when I first started this blog as a pre-med.  I know many of you were pre-meds around the time I was, and I would love to include your perspectives.