So today was the day, the day that I found out not only what type of doctor I am going to be, but where I am going to be for the next several years.
And the winner is.......Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby Pennsylvania for Internal Medicine!!!! The goal is to do a fellowship in Pulmonary/Critical Care medicine after that and finally be an Intensivist/Critical Care physician in the ICU.
As promised, I will go through what I did and why I did it.
Let's start at the beginning. When I was making my list of residency choices, I was gung ho about going into Emergency Medicine. I was, after all, a 20 year veteran as an EMT. And it only seemed natural. While was rotating through the emergency department is always felt right. However there were several things that were going against me. First and foremost, Emergency Medicine is very competitive and there are a lot less spots than there are applicants. So, I needed to be realistic. That being said, while looking into the Osteopathic programs that were available, there were only 3 that I could realistically apply to. I forgot to preface that the decision was made not to move from the area, but that I would apply to programs that were within a 1-1.5 hour driving radius of my house.
The other Emergency Medicine programs were all Allopathic and from looking at the residency classes over the years, many had not had a respectful number of Osteopathic physicians within their programs. So that already told me that there would be very little to no chance of getting an interview there let alone match into their program. So I had to decide what to do about a backup plan and decided on Internal Medicine. I liked seeing patients, especially in the hospital but I was not crazy about taking care of little kids. Then came my fateful rotation in November in the ICU.
From the first time that I started that rotation, I felt like it was right. That was especially true after one of the Intensivists started teaching us and while waiting for a patient to come up we had a very interesting conversation about critical care. The more I spent time in the ICU, the more I realized that I loved it there and so I became very torn. What to do? EM or IM to pulm critical care.
I added a couple of combined EM/IM and EM/FM programs and interviewed at a few. Then came the time to rank my list. I started receiving bad news that I would not be ranked at one location for Emergency Medicine and slowly I was coming to see that EM was probably not going to happen. I then received a phone call from Mercy Fitzgerald telling me that I am going to be ranked very high and they feel that the program and I were a good fit. Three days before submitting my list, I received a phone call from a combined program telling me that they were ranking me high. So there was a chance that I can do both EM and IM and eventually do critical care medicine.
Why did I set my rank list the way that I did (no, I will not post my rank order or the other places that I ranked). There were several things that I looked at:
First, what type of doctor do I see myself. Then I looked at the didactics. How were their teaching? Did the residents like the teaching style? Did I like the teaching style? From one of the places that I rotated at, I knew that I did not like their teaching style so, while I ranked them, I did not rank them high.
Then I looked to see what benefits the program offered. And most of them had very similar benefits so this was not a big deal.
I looked at a time frame. how long until I can finally be done with training. IM=3 years, Fellowship=3 years, EM/IM=5 years fellowship =1 year. So there was no difference there.
Finally I looked at salary. And there were big, big differences. While one program had very high salary compared to the others, I did not like the didactics. If I am not going to be happy, no amount of money will compensate for it. So that did not change. In the end I was torn between my #1 and my #2 but as you know, there can be only 1 and therefor I had to make the decision.
In the end, I matched in a location where it was close to home, had a good salary and benefits, had good didactics, and in the end would train me to be the doctor that I want to be.
Now, my focus will be to graduate from medical school, and enter into residency with my eye on getting that fellowship in 3 years. No holds barred.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Almost there but have Senioritis
So we are less than a week before I find out my fate. Before I get news of whether I matched to my #1, matched at all, or have to scramble. In the meantime, I having a bad case of senioritis. I mean I just do not want to sit and read anymore. After 3 or so years of hard core reading my brain just wants to shut down.
But I need to pucker up and get it done. I am almost done with my infectious diseases rotation and I am glad that I did this rotation. I am really understanding how to give antibiotics but more importantly, which antibiotics I should give. Next I am on Cardiology. Another very important rotation. Then 3 more rotations and I am done!!!!
Now comes the hard part. Since I am on the cusp of the end of my medical school career I am no longer eligible for scholarships or financial aid. Now I have to start earning a paycheck again, which while it will feel great will require tweeking of the budget. I decided that I am going to need a bridge from here until I start getting paid on a regular basis to ensure that the bank accounts do not go dry. There appears to be a limited number of these residency loans. One thing you need to remember is that the more loans you take out the more that you have to pay back, this on top of the mortgage that you already took out for the house. One thing that I did when I moved was that I did not trade up in my house.
We actually stayed the same, or some people may even say that we traded down. The house we bought was cheaper than one that we sold. Albeit we moved from Northern NJ to Southern NJ and the father from NYC you go, the more normal the prices get. When I sat down with the finance guy I pretty much laid it out in front of him: 30 year fixed or I am walking out. But some people may say that a 5 year ARM is better since you will be in school for 4 of those years, when you are paying very little and you may then move depending on where you do residency or you can then refinance to a fixed rate. To that I say, you are correct but that is also how this housing debacle started too. People buying houses they could not afford with a 5 year ARM and then when the rate readjusted they could not pay. These are things you should think about and do it carefully. Not just how far you should be from school. Another thing to think about would be the chores of the house. Will you have enough time in your day to cut the grass, rake the leaves? We moved to a townhouse complex and I do not have to do those things. They are part of the association fee. So my weekends are free for the family.
You should also think of ways to reduce how much you spend. Before you leave work, it would be beneficial to you to invest in a coffee maker (if you are one person, get those single cut coffee makers and buy the filter so that you can buy coffee in bulk and use the ground coffee), buy a lunch box to make your own lunch, invest in a wholesale club membership. Be a coupon clipper, shop around for textbooks on line and when you are done with a class, sell them back on line. I just sold a bunch of books that were just sitting on my shelf for almost $200.
Well, I am done reading probably for tonight. See you later dear readers
But I need to pucker up and get it done. I am almost done with my infectious diseases rotation and I am glad that I did this rotation. I am really understanding how to give antibiotics but more importantly, which antibiotics I should give. Next I am on Cardiology. Another very important rotation. Then 3 more rotations and I am done!!!!
Now comes the hard part. Since I am on the cusp of the end of my medical school career I am no longer eligible for scholarships or financial aid. Now I have to start earning a paycheck again, which while it will feel great will require tweeking of the budget. I decided that I am going to need a bridge from here until I start getting paid on a regular basis to ensure that the bank accounts do not go dry. There appears to be a limited number of these residency loans. One thing you need to remember is that the more loans you take out the more that you have to pay back, this on top of the mortgage that you already took out for the house. One thing that I did when I moved was that I did not trade up in my house.
We actually stayed the same, or some people may even say that we traded down. The house we bought was cheaper than one that we sold. Albeit we moved from Northern NJ to Southern NJ and the father from NYC you go, the more normal the prices get. When I sat down with the finance guy I pretty much laid it out in front of him: 30 year fixed or I am walking out. But some people may say that a 5 year ARM is better since you will be in school for 4 of those years, when you are paying very little and you may then move depending on where you do residency or you can then refinance to a fixed rate. To that I say, you are correct but that is also how this housing debacle started too. People buying houses they could not afford with a 5 year ARM and then when the rate readjusted they could not pay. These are things you should think about and do it carefully. Not just how far you should be from school. Another thing to think about would be the chores of the house. Will you have enough time in your day to cut the grass, rake the leaves? We moved to a townhouse complex and I do not have to do those things. They are part of the association fee. So my weekends are free for the family.
You should also think of ways to reduce how much you spend. Before you leave work, it would be beneficial to you to invest in a coffee maker (if you are one person, get those single cut coffee makers and buy the filter so that you can buy coffee in bulk and use the ground coffee), buy a lunch box to make your own lunch, invest in a wholesale club membership. Be a coupon clipper, shop around for textbooks on line and when you are done with a class, sell them back on line. I just sold a bunch of books that were just sitting on my shelf for almost $200.
Well, I am done reading probably for tonight. See you later dear readers
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Time to Wait
Hello there dear Readers,
It has been a few weeks since my last update. Since that time, I not only ranked my match list, but I can no longer make any changes as it has already been submitted. What does this mean? Well basically I have to wring my hands until February 14th to find out where I am going for the next 3-5 years. I took the time to make my list and there is rhyme to my reason of why I ranked my list the way that I did. I do not want to say anything yet as the match process is still going on, but once I match then I will spill everything.
In the meantime things on the studying end have been hard. I mean I really do not want to sit and read anymore. After spending 3 years reading hours on end, the last thing I want to do is read. But alas, I still have to. In fact during this current rotation, Infectious Diseases, I plan on doing more reading. I am in the library now taking a break from doing such. This rotation is nice because it is not very intensive and at times there are 1/2 days where I can catch up to reading or relaxing. Although it has been the later lately.
This weekend is my school's annual Medicine Ball. Basically it is a dinner/dance and people get dressed up for it. My wife and I are not going this year for a couple of reasons. For one, we do not have a babysitter available. And for the other, being older to just about everyone we do not really feel like we fit in. We mainly sit around the table talking to ourselves. Why should we pay $100 when we can do that at home for free. But I am glad that we did go the previous 3 years. We are just not in that scene anymore. We have other friends that we have more in common with anyway. Besides, we can use the money for our trip after graduation.
A question came up in the comments about studying with children in the house and not being guilty about spending time with my wife. This is a question that has come up to me many, many times. And it is one that I will address here and at the Old Pre Meds conference in June (hint hint). In answering the question I need to preface it by saying that until this past June there were only 3 kiddoes.
While I was a 1st and 2nd year I needed to be very anal with my schedule. I stuck to it like glue and it worked out well. I treated my medical school time as if I were at work. I would not be home during those hours anyway so nothing was lost. When school was done for the day, I would go home where we would have dinner as a family. This would be around 5:30pm. Yeah, I know very early. During dinner, the TV would be off and the radio would play jazz that was barely audible. My wife and I would sit and our girls would each tell us about their day. At about 7pm, after dinner was done and I was settled, I went to the public library that was across the street and studied there until it closed at 9pm. I then went home and studied some more. This wold happen Monday through Friday afternoon. On Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, I would not study as this was our Sabbath and it was family time. On Saturday night, I would go out with my wife if we had a sitter and on Sunday mornings I would make breakfast as the short order cook and the girls would be the waitresses.
If there was an event at my kids' school then I would study when classes end and then meet everyone at the school to see the event. I made sure that I was at the parent teacher conferences and on Sundays if there was something going on, I would see if I can make it. Or I would go to campus in the morning and get a couple of hours done before going to the event. So to answer the question about guilt, no I never felt guilty because my kids and my wife understood and I made time for them as well.
During my 3rd year and now my 4th year I had less studying and thus more down time. So I would spend time with each girl on their own. We would either go to the mall or go to the diner for a drink but we would only talk about what they wanted to. Sometimes they did not want to talk at all, just draw with me around. They know what I am about to become and they are glad that I am doing it. They are also looking forward to when it is done and it soon will be.
I can tell you that being an older student does have its advantages. For one, many patients feel more comfortable with you because you are older and have a tendency to act more mature. We have a way of the world and since we have been in the workplace, are aware of office politics and how to play the game. We also know how to network with other people. We also have priorities that do not include drinking and partying every week. And we know how to make our money last longer. For example, I found a way to get some new cologne every few months and not have to shell out the high cost for it. Ask the counter people at the stores if they have any samples. Sometimes these samples come in a spray bottle that can last a couple of months depending on how much you use or it comes in a packet that is single use, but you can get a couple of them. In addition, ask for discounts. What is the worse that can be said, no? Then you are no worse than you were before.
When I saw that my cable bill went up, I called them up and explained the situation. They brought it down to the introductory rate for another 2 years. When I went to buy a suit for interviews, I spoke to the manager and they knocked off 10% of each item. The library is a great resource for magazines and books that you do not need to buy. In addition to borrowing CDs and listening to them.
Finally, we have restraint. Dear readers, I really want a brand new 40+" TV that is top of the line and has all the bells and whistles on it. But I cannot afford it now. I will be able to in the future. My car is rusting out and I brew my coffee at home. All of these things add up to less in loans.
I hope that you keep on enjoying to read this and I will update more often as time permits, and baby too.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Match day is almost here
Well fellow readers what can I say? I received a notice from the match that it is time to put together my list and to rank them in order of preference. In about 1 month I will know where I will be going for my residency, hopefully. For those who do not understand, let me explain.
Back in August, I submitted my application to the Electronic Residency Application Service, or ERAS. It is an application packet that includes your transcript, resume, and personal statement. Then you need to select which programs you are going to apply to. Then you wait for interview invitations. If this is sounding a lot like applying to medical school, it is.
When you get interviews, they usually last about 20 minutes and you then take a tour of the facility. From About September until January it is interview season. Then both you and the programs submit lists of rankings. You submit your list of most to least preference and so do the programs. On match day, the computer compares the lists and the first time there is an agreement between the lists, you match. If there is no agreement, then the next day you scramble. Where you send out applications to who ever has any openings left.
The important thing to remember is that you need to be realistic. If you always wanted to be a neurosurgeon and your grades are below average and your board scores are below average, you will never match into a program. Simply because there are too few programs and too many applicants and they programs only want the best. This is why you should always have a backup plan. I did just that.
However, I am a believer that things happen for a reason. I have been an Emergency Medical Technician for 20 years. I have been involved in emergency medicine this whole time. And when I went into medical school I was sure that I wanted to go into emergency medicine. I also thought that I would be able to make up for not getting honors in any classes by showing my work ethic to programs. Unfortunately, my board scores were not in the competitive range for emergency medicine. But I still applied. However, I also liked Internal Medicine and I applied to those programs as well. Back in November, I did a month in the Intensive Care Unit. Wouldn't you know it, I fell in love with the ICU. And for the first time in my medical school career I felt torn between the ER and the ICU. This past month I was doing a sub-internship in medicine and I just happened to be a part of the pulmonary service. And let me tell you, it solidified my decision. I want to go into Pulmonology/Critical Care.
I was able to see 2 patients from admission to discharge this week and the best part was that as a sub-intern I wrote orders and the resident cosigned them. It was just like being a real physician, but without all the responsibility. I can now see myself running an ICU. Like I said, funny how life works out.
I pretty much made my match list. This I will have to keep to myself until after I match. Next time, I will talk about some tricks to living on a very very tight budget.
Back in August, I submitted my application to the Electronic Residency Application Service, or ERAS. It is an application packet that includes your transcript, resume, and personal statement. Then you need to select which programs you are going to apply to. Then you wait for interview invitations. If this is sounding a lot like applying to medical school, it is.
When you get interviews, they usually last about 20 minutes and you then take a tour of the facility. From About September until January it is interview season. Then both you and the programs submit lists of rankings. You submit your list of most to least preference and so do the programs. On match day, the computer compares the lists and the first time there is an agreement between the lists, you match. If there is no agreement, then the next day you scramble. Where you send out applications to who ever has any openings left.
The important thing to remember is that you need to be realistic. If you always wanted to be a neurosurgeon and your grades are below average and your board scores are below average, you will never match into a program. Simply because there are too few programs and too many applicants and they programs only want the best. This is why you should always have a backup plan. I did just that.
However, I am a believer that things happen for a reason. I have been an Emergency Medical Technician for 20 years. I have been involved in emergency medicine this whole time. And when I went into medical school I was sure that I wanted to go into emergency medicine. I also thought that I would be able to make up for not getting honors in any classes by showing my work ethic to programs. Unfortunately, my board scores were not in the competitive range for emergency medicine. But I still applied. However, I also liked Internal Medicine and I applied to those programs as well. Back in November, I did a month in the Intensive Care Unit. Wouldn't you know it, I fell in love with the ICU. And for the first time in my medical school career I felt torn between the ER and the ICU. This past month I was doing a sub-internship in medicine and I just happened to be a part of the pulmonary service. And let me tell you, it solidified my decision. I want to go into Pulmonology/Critical Care.
I was able to see 2 patients from admission to discharge this week and the best part was that as a sub-intern I wrote orders and the resident cosigned them. It was just like being a real physician, but without all the responsibility. I can now see myself running an ICU. Like I said, funny how life works out.
I pretty much made my match list. This I will have to keep to myself until after I match. Next time, I will talk about some tricks to living on a very very tight budget.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Could be the end of Interview Season?
So I finished my last scheduled interview earlier this week. In total I had 6 interviews, and while I would like to at least have had 9 or 10, the fact of the matter is that you only need 1 nod and you are in your residency. This last interview was a little more challenging as I was asked questions that I did not anticipate and therefor did not prepare. So I will talk a little bit about how I prepared for my interviews.
To begin with, I applied to as many places as I could have within a 1-1.5 hour driving radius as the boss (aka the wife) told me that we are not moving. Or at least, that is the DEFCON 1 option. So when I received the invitation I ensured that I was prepared.
I started off by going to the website of each institution and program. I spent at least 1 hour looking around the website. Looking at the community that they tend to serve, seeing how many patients they see annually, looking to see if the hospital has a special niche. For example, is it a level 1 trauma center, does it have a cancer center, is it known for bone and joints, etc. Then I looked at the services that were offered to the community. What kind of resources were available? Then I looked at the residency program. I wanted to look for the curriculum. How long was each rotation, was there elective time and if so how much and where. Look to see where graduates of the programs went to, what type of specialty did they get and where. What kind of benefits are there, do they give you a stipend for books, meetings, conferences, if I was able to find out who I was interviewing with I did several searches to see if they had published any literature. And I read the papers when I could. And finally, I made sure that I thought about and wrote down at least 7-8 questions.
What I have found with this strategy is that the people that you interview with realize that you took the interview seriously. That you made the effort to research them and you care. I always say that if you do not have any questions, then you did not prepare enough because there is no way to know everything about the program.
So now, as in medicine, comes more waiting. The Osteopathic match is not until February 14th. So until then I have to wait. I need to sit down with all of the information I garnered from the interviews and I need to put together a ranking list for the match. In the meantime, I will be continuing to go on rotations. I will be happy to do something other than emergency medicine. I did some family medicine, I will be doing some internal medicine, infectious diseases, cardiology. I need to set up a surgical subspecialty and I may just do it in plastic surgery. I am so looking forward to being able to spend more time at home and relax before residency starts. I cannot wait, just over 5 months to go.
Right now I am doing something I have not done in a long time. Read for entertainment.
To begin with, I applied to as many places as I could have within a 1-1.5 hour driving radius as the boss (aka the wife) told me that we are not moving. Or at least, that is the DEFCON 1 option. So when I received the invitation I ensured that I was prepared.
I started off by going to the website of each institution and program. I spent at least 1 hour looking around the website. Looking at the community that they tend to serve, seeing how many patients they see annually, looking to see if the hospital has a special niche. For example, is it a level 1 trauma center, does it have a cancer center, is it known for bone and joints, etc. Then I looked at the services that were offered to the community. What kind of resources were available? Then I looked at the residency program. I wanted to look for the curriculum. How long was each rotation, was there elective time and if so how much and where. Look to see where graduates of the programs went to, what type of specialty did they get and where. What kind of benefits are there, do they give you a stipend for books, meetings, conferences, if I was able to find out who I was interviewing with I did several searches to see if they had published any literature. And I read the papers when I could. And finally, I made sure that I thought about and wrote down at least 7-8 questions.
What I have found with this strategy is that the people that you interview with realize that you took the interview seriously. That you made the effort to research them and you care. I always say that if you do not have any questions, then you did not prepare enough because there is no way to know everything about the program.
So now, as in medicine, comes more waiting. The Osteopathic match is not until February 14th. So until then I have to wait. I need to sit down with all of the information I garnered from the interviews and I need to put together a ranking list for the match. In the meantime, I will be continuing to go on rotations. I will be happy to do something other than emergency medicine. I did some family medicine, I will be doing some internal medicine, infectious diseases, cardiology. I need to set up a surgical subspecialty and I may just do it in plastic surgery. I am so looking forward to being able to spend more time at home and relax before residency starts. I cannot wait, just over 5 months to go.
Right now I am doing something I have not done in a long time. Read for entertainment.
Friday, November 26, 2010
The importance of "Me Time"
Hello there fellow non trads and a happy thanksgiving. This holiday marks a very important milestone in anyone who is in school. For the most part, it is the first real family holiday since Labor day or even 4th of july and people are going to want to talk to you and to see you and to find out how you are doing in school. Most of the time you are going to be telling the same story to multiple people. In addition, this marks the start of finals. It just seems as though time will get to warp speed once thanksgiving comes around and next thing you know, it is time for finals and then winter break. So if you have been putting off reading that chapter or writing that paper, get em done.
This brings me to my topic today. Now as non trads, especially those of us with families, our days are spent either at school or at home. And during that time we are either spending it with classmates and then when we get home, there are families that need our time. However, we tend to neglect a very important person. Ourselves. And surely, yours truly has and is very guilty of this as well.
The importance of having some me time is that you get to decompress. There is no one who is bothering you about going to the bathroom, being hungry, wanting to go home, buying a toy, talking shop, or having to deal with family issues. Rather you get to go to where you want to go, drink what you want to and let your mind settle down and enjoy some solitude. It is also important that you change where you have the me time as to not make it mundane. Little cafe's are wonderful. And if you can, try not to bring school work as this is NOT me time. Maybe, bring nothing and just listen to some music on your ipod, close your eyes and listen to the music at starbucks. Or even, bring a journal and write down your thoughts and feelings. You will find that you will not be resentful, and that you will actually be rejuvenated by the experience.
A question was asked about pattern recognition, let me explain.
When studying try to put things together in a pattern. In biology you know that A=T and G=C and that everytime you see a DNA sequence you will automatically know what the complementary sequence would be. In as much, when studying, you will recognize that when going from DNA to a protein, the pattern is always DNA to mRNA to tRNA to Protein. So if a question asks you about a defect where a protein is not made, you know that there will be something wrong in the pattern and you can recognize it. Same thing for chemistry, you know that the pattern for combustion is always "something + oxygen=carbon dioxide and water" it is always that. So if there is a question about why combustion has not occurred, or if the equation is not balancing you can know that the problem lies with one of the 4 elements of combustion. The same goes with medicine. If you know that if a person who has chest pain needs to be evaluated with an EKG, blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation, chest x-ray, get a past history of the chest pain and their medical history and social history and if they are consistent with a cardiac problem, then you can recognize the pattern of treatment is nitroglycerine, morphine, aspirin, beta blocker (if not contraindicated), ACE-inhibitor, oxygen. And you know that the labs you are going to run are a Complete blood count, basic metabolic pattern, cardiac enzymes, arterial blood gas, etc. That is because you recognize the pattern of treatment. Eventually is becomes second nature but you must repeat, repeat, and repeat to know to recognize the pattern.
In the above example, if the patient with chest pain is a woman in their 40's and you find out that they just got off a plane from Australia, then the pattern points to a blood clot. On the other hand, if the patient is in their 40's and their father died at 51 from a heart attack and her uncle had his first heart attack at 48 and she has high cholesterol, the pattern points to cardiac.
I hope that this has answered the question about pattern recognition. If not, let me know and I will try to explain it better.
Now, off for some "me time"
With that in mind, I am off for some "me time".
This brings me to my topic today. Now as non trads, especially those of us with families, our days are spent either at school or at home. And during that time we are either spending it with classmates and then when we get home, there are families that need our time. However, we tend to neglect a very important person. Ourselves. And surely, yours truly has and is very guilty of this as well.
The importance of having some me time is that you get to decompress. There is no one who is bothering you about going to the bathroom, being hungry, wanting to go home, buying a toy, talking shop, or having to deal with family issues. Rather you get to go to where you want to go, drink what you want to and let your mind settle down and enjoy some solitude. It is also important that you change where you have the me time as to not make it mundane. Little cafe's are wonderful. And if you can, try not to bring school work as this is NOT me time. Maybe, bring nothing and just listen to some music on your ipod, close your eyes and listen to the music at starbucks. Or even, bring a journal and write down your thoughts and feelings. You will find that you will not be resentful, and that you will actually be rejuvenated by the experience.
A question was asked about pattern recognition, let me explain.
When studying try to put things together in a pattern. In biology you know that A=T and G=C and that everytime you see a DNA sequence you will automatically know what the complementary sequence would be. In as much, when studying, you will recognize that when going from DNA to a protein, the pattern is always DNA to mRNA to tRNA to Protein. So if a question asks you about a defect where a protein is not made, you know that there will be something wrong in the pattern and you can recognize it. Same thing for chemistry, you know that the pattern for combustion is always "something + oxygen=carbon dioxide and water" it is always that. So if there is a question about why combustion has not occurred, or if the equation is not balancing you can know that the problem lies with one of the 4 elements of combustion. The same goes with medicine. If you know that if a person who has chest pain needs to be evaluated with an EKG, blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation, chest x-ray, get a past history of the chest pain and their medical history and social history and if they are consistent with a cardiac problem, then you can recognize the pattern of treatment is nitroglycerine, morphine, aspirin, beta blocker (if not contraindicated), ACE-inhibitor, oxygen. And you know that the labs you are going to run are a Complete blood count, basic metabolic pattern, cardiac enzymes, arterial blood gas, etc. That is because you recognize the pattern of treatment. Eventually is becomes second nature but you must repeat, repeat, and repeat to know to recognize the pattern.
In the above example, if the patient with chest pain is a woman in their 40's and you find out that they just got off a plane from Australia, then the pattern points to a blood clot. On the other hand, if the patient is in their 40's and their father died at 51 from a heart attack and her uncle had his first heart attack at 48 and she has high cholesterol, the pattern points to cardiac.
I hope that this has answered the question about pattern recognition. If not, let me know and I will try to explain it better.
Now, off for some "me time"
With that in mind, I am off for some "me time".
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Some Study Skills
Hello there fellow nontrads. I am officially done with my ICU rotation and starting on Tuesday I will be at my combined EM/FM rotation. Also next month I have 3 interviews making it a total of 6. And the countdown to match day has begun (February 14th).
So I decided to write about study skills since in the past I wrote about time management. Now as nontrads, many of us have not been in school for a while and have either lost the study skills we once had or never really had them to begin with. And usually that translates to poor performance on exams. Most of the time though, we have the information in our head but we are so nervous about the exam that we blank out. And I think that these ideas can help with all types of educations.
The secret is..................Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, Repetition. The more times you read about it, the more it will sink in. Once you start with Repetition, the second secret is pattern recognition.
For example: When I would start a class, I would take notes and listen as well as I can. Of course, during that time I would miss some things because I was writing notes. But that was alright because I was recording the class, In the old days (1990's) I used a portable tape recorder. Then, on my way to work, I would pop the tape into the car and listen during my commute to/from work. Then at least I would hear what the teacher was saying. And because I was not writing anything, I did not miss anything. In addition, I would then transfer my notes from the presentation I wrote all over to a notebook in outline form. This forced me to read the notes several times as I was writing them. However, before I would start a new set of notes, I would read all of the notes that I had written up to that moment. As the semester went on, of course that took longer and longer to do. Then before the exam, at least 2 weeks before. I would put all of my notes together into a review sheet and study that.
So how would I not get distracted? Good question, I would listen to white noise.
In the past, I would listen to a recording of a thunderstorm. It was enough to break the silence and not let my mind wander. Now with my ipod, I downloaded the whitenoise app and there are plenty of white noises to use. Presently, I have been using an mp3 that my friend had told me about that helps with brain waves and what not. I noted it in a previous post.
To prepare for an exam though, I would hunt the internet for inline quizzes and exams. You need to play with keywords. And I was able to take practice tests to see where I was lacking.
I hope that this helps fellow non trads. You can do it. Just keep your eyes on the prize. As always, below are some books that I think would help. Until next time. And if I do not see you sooner: Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy it, you deserve it.
So I decided to write about study skills since in the past I wrote about time management. Now as nontrads, many of us have not been in school for a while and have either lost the study skills we once had or never really had them to begin with. And usually that translates to poor performance on exams. Most of the time though, we have the information in our head but we are so nervous about the exam that we blank out. And I think that these ideas can help with all types of educations.
The secret is..................Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, Repetition. The more times you read about it, the more it will sink in. Once you start with Repetition, the second secret is pattern recognition.
For example: When I would start a class, I would take notes and listen as well as I can. Of course, during that time I would miss some things because I was writing notes. But that was alright because I was recording the class, In the old days (1990's) I used a portable tape recorder. Then, on my way to work, I would pop the tape into the car and listen during my commute to/from work. Then at least I would hear what the teacher was saying. And because I was not writing anything, I did not miss anything. In addition, I would then transfer my notes from the presentation I wrote all over to a notebook in outline form. This forced me to read the notes several times as I was writing them. However, before I would start a new set of notes, I would read all of the notes that I had written up to that moment. As the semester went on, of course that took longer and longer to do. Then before the exam, at least 2 weeks before. I would put all of my notes together into a review sheet and study that.
So how would I not get distracted? Good question, I would listen to white noise.
In the past, I would listen to a recording of a thunderstorm. It was enough to break the silence and not let my mind wander. Now with my ipod, I downloaded the whitenoise app and there are plenty of white noises to use. Presently, I have been using an mp3 that my friend had told me about that helps with brain waves and what not. I noted it in a previous post.
To prepare for an exam though, I would hunt the internet for inline quizzes and exams. You need to play with keywords. And I was able to take practice tests to see where I was lacking.
I hope that this helps fellow non trads. You can do it. Just keep your eyes on the prize. As always, below are some books that I think would help. Until next time. And if I do not see you sooner: Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy it, you deserve it.
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