Truck Load of Memorization in med school ?

I know this is true for subjects like anatomy. But i;m

wondering if in med school, for memorization-heavy

subject such as anatomy, students only have to try brute-

force memorization of 1 of body system (say digestive) at

a time, then do a memory dump on 1 test and then can

afford to forget about it (the digestive system) and move

on to the next system (say immune) and do a another

memory dump and then forget about it ... ...

austin_powa_shh said:

I know this is true for subjects like anatomy. But i;m

wondering if in med school, for memorization-heavy

subject such as anatomy, students only have to try brute-

force memorization of 1 of body system (say digestive) at

a time, then do a memory dump on 1 test and then can

afford to forget about it (the digestive system) and move

on to the next system (say immune) and do a another

memory dump and then forget about it ... ...

Click to expand...

What odd formatting you have.

I'm no med student (yet) but I would say it's fairly crucial to remember that organ system stuff forever. I mean, you're learning it for a reason. Well, for two reasons. One is that you want to pass the boards, and the other is that you want to treat patients for the rest of your working life. Yeah, you can forget about some stuff when you specialize, because as, say, a cardio-thoracic surgeon you probably won't be treating a lot of acne. But you need to remember the basics or you're a danger to your patients. But, like I said, I'm not a med student so that's just a hunch.

um, i don't think you can "forget about it" after you learn it, because it might come in handy while you're trying to make a diagnosis/operating...

You shouldn't plan on forgetting the knowledge after each lesson.

There is a lot of memorization, but of course if you learn stuff like you should, so that you actually understand why things are they way they are, memorization is much easier.

You also learn by constant repetition; anatomy is an intro basically, then you'll review parts of it again when you get to a specific system in your studies, then you'll see it again in surgery, on GI service, etc etc. Use it or lose it, and many people lose it simply because they have no use for it. I guarantee you the urologist doesn't know much about head and neck anatomy, the CT surgeon doesn't know more than basics of neuroanatomy, etc.

There's an old story about a physician on trial. The lawyer opens up an anatomy atlas and asks him, "Where does this muscle insert, where does that nerve originate from, what is hartmann's pouch, etc". The physician gets them all wrong. The lawyer says, "Doctor, did you EVER study anatomy? How can you practice medicine?" In response, the physician replies, "There are two people in this world who know anatomy - First year medical students, and God himself".

Its a lot of memorization, but I'm sure its not any worse than other professions. I'm sure corporate lawyers aren't up on their criminal law, etc.

sscooterguy

vp826 said:

You shouldn't plan on forgetting the knowledge after each lesson.

Click to expand...

I guess a MD can only afford to forget the terminologies

about the other body parts (not necessarily how they work)

after he/she has settled in her chosen specialty/sub-

specialty/body-part ?

When you do a memory dump, you usually do it because you don't back to that material. You will continually use the knowledge you acquire in medical school, to a much bigger degree, so it will be harder for a memory dump.

The reality of medical school is that many people do memory dump because it is so volume intensive. One of our deans calls the phenomenon intellectual bullemia.

austin_powa_shh said:

I guess a MD can only afford to forget the terminologies

about the other body parts (not necessarily how they work)

after he/she has settled in her chosen specialty/sub-

specialty/body-part ?

Click to expand...

No. You are going to be using med-speak for the rest of your career. When someone says a patient is bleeding from XYZ into PDQ, you aren't going to always have the opportunity to go look those terms up. You will forever be consulting with other specialists and really don't want the rep of a dullard, giving blank stares to the radiologists, surgeons, etc when they explain what the referred patient has got or needs. And most organs have effects on the rest of the body, and people will get annoyed if you treat the kidney or liver, etc. at the expense of the brain, heart, etc. Anatomy is on the boards, but perhaps not a ton of it. But it is very fair game when you get pimped on rotations and beyond. Learn it as well as you can, and try to forget as little as you can. It will come in handy.

Hi there,
This is a duplicate post to one in the Non-traditional forum and I am therefore closing.

njbmd 🙂