One of the guys who shared his testimony today said something very clever. He likened medical school to the mortal portion of the plan of salvation:
"We come to Earth, receive a body, and get tested. We come to medical school, receive a body, and get tested."
I let out what was probably the loudest laugh that I've ever produced in a chapel, and apparently (Jess said) about half the congregation turned to look. I hadn't noticed, because I was too busy being entertained. An excellent Sunday today. I only wish I had been clever enough to think of it first.
Showing posts with label anatomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anatomy. Show all posts
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
How Do You Learn?
As I mentioned previously, medical school often feels like drinking from the firehose. The whole process basically involves absorbing large amounts of information at a quick pace. This is easier in some subjects for me (concept-based ones) than others (memorization-based ones). Anatomy just happens to be one of those memorization-based subjects, and that is what we're slogging through right now.
I've found that flash cards tend to be a helpful way for me to memorize things, partially because they are very portable (I can go through them on the bus!), and partially because for my brain to memorize things, I have to beat them into it repeatedly. And then some more. Occasionally I'll try to come up with mnemonics to help things stick a little better. Discussing things with other people and reviewing together also helps, as does drawing things out.
But as I am always looking for a better way of doing things, what do you do, dear (5) readers, to make things that you learn stick?
I've found that flash cards tend to be a helpful way for me to memorize things, partially because they are very portable (I can go through them on the bus!), and partially because for my brain to memorize things, I have to beat them into it repeatedly. And then some more. Occasionally I'll try to come up with mnemonics to help things stick a little better. Discussing things with other people and reviewing together also helps, as does drawing things out.
But as I am always looking for a better way of doing things, what do you do, dear (5) readers, to make things that you learn stick?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Another week, another test
First off, thanks everyone for their kind words on the last post. I'll be remediating the exam the week after Thanksgiving, and I'll be spending half an hour per day going over stuff from that particular block to make sure I'm ready for it.
At OSU we have the option of two different pathways for our learning to take during our first two (pre-clinical) years. We face the choice in a few months, and in the meantime we get to sample both. We have 3 blocks of anatomy that each take about 4 weeks--these are set up with daily lectures and a packet of lecture learning objectives. On Friday we finished up our independent study pathway sample, which was a week of epidemiology and biostatistics. There were no lectures to attend, we were simply bought a book, were given a packet of information, and were expected to learn it all for the test at the end of the week (it's a short unit).
This most recent test went much better than the first. I passed easily, which is nice. Tomorrow we jump back into anatomy, and I'm going to be careful to not fall behind like last time. If I had to choose between the two pathways right now, I would probably go with the independent study (because of the better experience). We'll see how that opinion is affected by the next few weeks.
Wish me luck.
At OSU we have the option of two different pathways for our learning to take during our first two (pre-clinical) years. We face the choice in a few months, and in the meantime we get to sample both. We have 3 blocks of anatomy that each take about 4 weeks--these are set up with daily lectures and a packet of lecture learning objectives. On Friday we finished up our independent study pathway sample, which was a week of epidemiology and biostatistics. There were no lectures to attend, we were simply bought a book, were given a packet of information, and were expected to learn it all for the test at the end of the week (it's a short unit).
This most recent test went much better than the first. I passed easily, which is nice. Tomorrow we jump back into anatomy, and I'm going to be careful to not fall behind like last time. If I had to choose between the two pathways right now, I would probably go with the independent study (because of the better experience). We'll see how that opinion is affected by the next few weeks.
Wish me luck.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Catchall
So, first exam is finished. I learned a lesson the hard way that if you fall behind in medical school, there is no catching up. The few days leading up to the exam were pretty awful, full of study, study, and more study. Despite these efforts, I was still not as prepared as I should have been for the test. Fortunately, at my school there is no official class rank, and all tests are simply pass / fail. This means that I just had to clear 70% in order to pass. The exam had two parts, a written portion that we took on our computers in the lecture hall (this was multiple choice and covered anatomy, histology (tissue biology--mostly pictures of cells), and embryology), and the lab practical, which involved going to the cadaver lab and identifying structures on the bodies that had been pinned by the professor and TAs. I got 75% on the written portion, which means I could miss up to 20 of the 50 practical questions. I'll get those results later this week. While normally I would be disappointed with this kind of performance, I did learn a valuable lesson, and the clock essentially resets after each exam. As long as I pass, I'll be pleased. And then I'll do better on the next exams. But enough of that.
In other news, I discovered a way to bring back the song of the moment. Grooveshark, a very cool music-streaming service, can make widgets for you for free. They host the music file, and I get to share it on my blog. And if anyone has concerns about copyright issues, they speak to Grooveshark instead of me. This is a good thing. So song of the moment is back from hiatus, and it's back with a song by The Black Keys. Turns out these guys are from Ohio, which is cool. It's just two guys, one on guitar and one on drums. They sound kinda like the White Stripes, and I really like this song. It probably helps that I found the video entertaining. Here's the link.
What else... Still on track for 100 books this year. I'm excited to reach this goal, but don't foresee a specific numerical goal for the next couple of years. I think this will help me be more willing to read some of the lengthier tomes I've been wanting to get to (Rough Stone Rolling and The Lady in White come to mind).
Also, we played a game last night called "Killer Bunnies", and while it was pretty strange, I thought it was a lot of fun. Jess even played, which is a pretty big deal.
EDIT: Jess so gently reminded me that she in fact not only played Killer Bunnies (a pretty big feat in and of itself), she also won Killer Bunnies. Congrats to her, and hopefully this helps her be more excited about playing in the future. :)
In other news, I discovered a way to bring back the song of the moment. Grooveshark, a very cool music-streaming service, can make widgets for you for free. They host the music file, and I get to share it on my blog. And if anyone has concerns about copyright issues, they speak to Grooveshark instead of me. This is a good thing. So song of the moment is back from hiatus, and it's back with a song by The Black Keys. Turns out these guys are from Ohio, which is cool. It's just two guys, one on guitar and one on drums. They sound kinda like the White Stripes, and I really like this song. It probably helps that I found the video entertaining. Here's the link.
What else... Still on track for 100 books this year. I'm excited to reach this goal, but don't foresee a specific numerical goal for the next couple of years. I think this will help me be more willing to read some of the lengthier tomes I've been wanting to get to (Rough Stone Rolling and The Lady in White come to mind).
Also, we played a game last night called "Killer Bunnies", and while it was pretty strange, I thought it was a lot of fun. Jess even played, which is a pretty big deal.
EDIT: Jess so gently reminded me that she in fact not only played Killer Bunnies (a pretty big feat in and of itself), she also won Killer Bunnies. Congrats to her, and hopefully this helps her be more excited about playing in the future. :)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
First exam!
Well, med school is moving right along. Our first test is on Friday, and I'm not ready yet. So I'm going to continue studying instead of making a longer blog post, and I leave you with this video metaphor for the past couple of weeks.
I'm a lucky lucky lucky little boy.
I'm a lucky lucky lucky little boy.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Cuttin' for the very first time
We began anatomy this week, and unlike the class at my undergrad, we get to do the dissections ourselves. Each group of 8 medical students is in charge of one cadaver, and we learn everything from them--starting with surface anatomy and working all the way down to the deepest muscles and skeleton.
Medical school usually begins with anatomy because that is the foundation for all of the rest of the knowledge that follows. The donors who gave us their bodies have facilitated this for us, and it's a humbling thing to dissect another human body. We learned a little about each of our donors (age at death, what they did for a living, family members who survived them), and their initials.
*This paragraph deals more directly with dissection. I've tried to keep it from being terribly graphic, but this is a warning for those who don't want to read it*
Our donor was a female, and we began by making t-incisions in her back. The first step is removal of the skin and the tissues directly below it--this process is called flaying, and is one of the few parts of dissection that involve a scalpel. You pull on the corner of the skin, and use the scalpel to cut the connective tissue that attaches the skin to the muscle below. Most of the rest of dissection is called "blunt dissection", and is done with a blunt metal probe, scissors, and your fingers.
We follow particular instructions, found in a book called Grant's Dissector. We dissect MWF, with four of the eight people in our group being there and doing the dissecting. We rotate through on a two on, two off basis, which is done in such a way that on any given day, two people who are there were present at the previous dissection. This helps keep continuity, which is useful.
By the end of next week, we'll have worked our way down the arms and to the hand. Pretty neat stuff. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Also, there are videos on Youtube (search "human dissection") that you can view if you're interested in seeing what the process looks like. Because it's not the sort of thing that you want little Timmy to stumble on, it requires that you have a Youtube site login to view them. By the way, it's not a gory process, as bodily fluids have been replaced with formaldehyde and other preservatives.
Medical school usually begins with anatomy because that is the foundation for all of the rest of the knowledge that follows. The donors who gave us their bodies have facilitated this for us, and it's a humbling thing to dissect another human body. We learned a little about each of our donors (age at death, what they did for a living, family members who survived them), and their initials.
*This paragraph deals more directly with dissection. I've tried to keep it from being terribly graphic, but this is a warning for those who don't want to read it*
Our donor was a female, and we began by making t-incisions in her back. The first step is removal of the skin and the tissues directly below it--this process is called flaying, and is one of the few parts of dissection that involve a scalpel. You pull on the corner of the skin, and use the scalpel to cut the connective tissue that attaches the skin to the muscle below. Most of the rest of dissection is called "blunt dissection", and is done with a blunt metal probe, scissors, and your fingers.
We follow particular instructions, found in a book called Grant's Dissector. We dissect MWF, with four of the eight people in our group being there and doing the dissecting. We rotate through on a two on, two off basis, which is done in such a way that on any given day, two people who are there were present at the previous dissection. This helps keep continuity, which is useful.
By the end of next week, we'll have worked our way down the arms and to the hand. Pretty neat stuff. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Also, there are videos on Youtube (search "human dissection") that you can view if you're interested in seeing what the process looks like. Because it's not the sort of thing that you want little Timmy to stumble on, it requires that you have a Youtube site login to view them. By the way, it's not a gory process, as bodily fluids have been replaced with formaldehyde and other preservatives.
