Oops I did it again...

Dumb title, I know, but I feel bad I'm slacking on the blogging again. As it turns out, life gets busy. Anatomy is over and actually the block after anatomy is over! It's not as bad as it seems though, since our last block (Macromolecules) was only 8 days long. Did you ever hear the "medical school is like a trying to take a drink out of a fire hose analogy"...








I know how you feel.
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The last anatomy test went really well, and today's test turned out much better than I had expected. I'm trying really hard to stay away from the "just have to memorize this for the test" mindset and embrace the "I really want to understand the changes of the DNA double helix when adding more KCl to the buffer solution so I can apply the concepts to my career one day" pattern of thought. It's hard.

The hardest part is that often there isn't enough time to understand the material at a level beyond memorizing. Couple that with the fact that we're tested with multiple choice questions every day and you have a recipe for "know it for the test." Quizes, exams, the boards... we're always going to have to know the "answer." One of my classmates made the point that in the clinic, medicine really isn't a, b, c, d or all of the above. It's usually: how old is the patient, have they ever felt that pain before, does any one else in the family have experience with this symptom, what do they do for a living, what do they think is going on, what have they tried so far and has it helped, does anything make it worse? I wonder if there's a class on applying the multiple choice answer to the real life situation?

The good news is: my house is clean (including the shower and toilet!), the laundry is done and this weekend I'm spending time with Matt, my sister-in-law Amy, the Bmore crew and the child Matt and I are mentoring at the Kids vs. Mentors football game!