Big Gestalt switch

[Monty Python]

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As the start of med school in August looms larger in my windshield, can you provide helpful generic tips for success in school?

After working fulltime 10+ years as a CRNA, it will be a big change of gears to go back to academia.

I know I can handle the load; I'm just looking for pointers on how to make the ride more productive and less onerous.

Did you find the material to be inituitively difficult, or just a lot of required rote memorization?

I've read the USMLE review books on biochem and physiology, but don't plan to read any others.

Thanks for whatever you think is helpful - all replies, do's, and don'ts appreciated.

 

[jetproppilot]

As the start of med school in August looms larger in my windshield, can you provide helpful generic tips for success in school?

After working fulltime 10+ years as a CRNA, it will be a big change of gears to go back to academia.

I know I can handle the load; I'm just looking for pointers on how to make the ride more productive and less onerous.

Did you find the material to be inituitively difficult, or just a lot of required rote memorization?

I've read the USMLE review books on biochem and physiology, but don't plan to read any others.

Thanks for whatever you think is helpful - all replies, do's, and don'ts appreciated.

Youre an intelligent, organized hard worker, Trin.

You'll do fine.

None of first year is intuitively difficult. Its just volumes of memorization.

Heres Jets study method:

PACKETIZING.

I learn stuff better if I write it so in med school Darrin R, the father of packetization, and I would write the material into a "packet" which consisted of looseleaf paper which was then stapled. We learned alot of the material by preparing the "packet", then we only studied from our "packets". Cuppla more times through our packets and we had every word/sentence/equation/etc memorized, down to the finest detail.

 

[bigeyedfish]

My advice is to do as many practice questions as possible. There is only so many things they can ask and most proff's tend to repeat themselves. I made the mistake of not studying old tests enough the 1st 2 years with the idea that I was going to "learn the concepts" and paid for it. (I was such an idealist, don't worry, I'm jaded now.)

Don't do anything between now and then. Hang out with your family, go on vacation, lay on the couch, go chase women, whatever. Then hit the ground running in august.

 

[bigeyedfish]

Another piece of advice is to buy First Aid for Step One now. It may or may not help you in your coursework and you won't have a whole lot of time to read it. But whatever subject you are on it's a good idea to at least flip through that book, it will let you know what's important for later, (and what's important that the instructors skipped.)

Congrats on med school by the way. With your experience you'll be a great physician. 👍

 

[opa beleza?]

I did exactly what Jet said without really having a name for it, but it is a process of distillation, the product of which is A SILVER BULLET for your exams. The sooner you get a system for this set up and going the better, you will be flying above your peers as they are trying to figure out how to condense a ton of info, make and LIVE your home made packets...

Also agree, you are begining to study for step 1 NOW, get first aid and see how it all fits together in little pieces of years 1 and 2. It is no secret, Step 1 opens doors big time, sux but true.

(PS I did crappy on my boards but got all clinical H's so there is a way around the boards)

Cheers 👍

 

[jennyboo]

First Aid for the USMLE Step 1. If you plan to take this exam, buy the book now so you can refer to it as you study for your classes. Read through the notes in it once or twice before each class exam. It won't help your exams, but familiarity with this book will help a lot in two years when you are in your last month before taking the board exam.

Repetition = Memorization. Whether you read, write, say it aloud, or listen to it through headphones, the key to learning the subject matter is not covering all of it, but covering the most important stuff several times. It's better to read the same set of notes 4 times in 4 hours than to read it slowly once in four hours. (I did 1 hour pre-read before the lecture, once during the lecture, 1 after the lecture, and 1 later on.)

Know your enemy (the test). That means looking at the test or something similar to it (i.e. the previous year's exams for your course exams, or Kaplan for shelf exams and boards) before you take the real thing, and being sure you're able to answer the questions.

Don't waste any money on medical equipment. Just have a stethoscope and nothing else.

 

[Laryngospasm]

Don't waste any money on medical equipment. Just have a stethoscope and nothing else.

Ill second that, also enjoy your time off. 👍

 

[aredoubleyou]

You won't have any clue if your doing things right until the first wave of exams. If you do well, keep doing what you were doing. If you do badly, don't stress out and just try something else out until you find something that works. You don't have to be all that smart to get through med school, just work hard and don't give up.

 

[stephend7799]

As the start of med school in August looms larger in my windshield, can you provide helpful generic tips for success in school?

After working fulltime 10+ years as a CRNA, it will be a big change of gears to go back to academia.

I know I can handle the load; I'm just looking for pointers on how to make the ride more productive and less onerous.

Did you find the material to be inituitively difficult, or just a lot of required rote memorization?

I've read the USMLE review books on biochem and physiology, but don't plan to read any others.

Thanks for whatever you think is helpful - all replies, do's, and don'ts appreciated.

you will have a great advantage since you have a medical backround. I had pretty much zero backround.. which made it harder..

This does not mean at all you wont have to work your ass off.. You will.. There is no slacking in medical school. If you do you will fail.. I mean you can slack weeks for the exam but when it comes closer to the exam you have to put yourself in the mood to cram massive massive amounts of information even if you are not in the mood or it means nothing to you.. I liken it to going to a friends apartment and memorizing every last detail of where things are in the apartment and regurgitating it during the exam.. It was really really tough for me.. I did not like it. but i got through it and so will you

 

[supahfresh]

what specialty are you thinking of doing?

 

[Monty Python]

what specialty are you thinking of doing?

Depends on which day of the week you ask that question.

Today I did several challenging and rewarding anesthetics on sick patients whom I hope I helped. Today you would have heard me say "anesthesia."

Yesterday was a day from hell in Xray where a combination of stupid thick-headed inattentive xray techs caused a near death to occur *, combined with the realization my hospital is expecting me to do top-quality anesthesia with chicken wire and bubble gum equipment on road trip anesthetics.

* Pt had to be intubated for an MRI due to severe back pain. His back was so screwed up he sleeps sitting up. Even after precedex load and maintenance infusion, 10 mg versed, 100 ug fentanyl, 20 mg ketamine, and small bumps of propofol, he screamed bloody murder and drew up his knees when we attempted to lay him flat on the gurney. No big deal .. intubate in the hallway (away from the magnet), hustle into the MRI room, put on the MRI gantry, hook up to MRI anesthesia machine and monitors, and then I request the techs to SLOWLY advance the gantry into the magnet tunnel. They're not listening ... they're talking about their upcoming beauty parlor appointments.

Zip in goes the gantry, the MRI fires up, and I immediately notice no more end-tidal, bellows acting screwy, and WTF the tube is, um, out, courtesy of the end-tidal line being stretched tight as a bowstring. I ask them to stop the test and extricate the pt so I can reintubate. "No, we can't stop the test, it's already started." My "requests" became considerably less diplomatic in rapid-fire fashion over the next five seconds and they got the gist. Out comes the gantry. I ask them to shut off the magnet. "No, we can't do that." I say to hell with them and attempt to reintubate the pt as he lies on the gantry, barely outside the MRI tunnel. Rather hard to do as the magnet tries to pull my laryngoscope from my hand. My hospital is too cheap to get plastic handles/blades. Somehow managed doing a two-handed laryngoscopy and directed the tech to insert/advance the tube under my visualization.

Test finished finally. Pt emerges, is extubated, to/from PACU, to day surgery unit for discharge. Pt receives standard soft drink in ambulatory surgery. Then the orthopod decides he needs a CT scan. Remember, this pt can't lie flat. CT scan isn't set up or equipped for GETA. Pt is full stomach with 12 oz of coke 30 minutes ago. I refused to start this totally elective diagnostic case in an un-equipped room.

Someone else from my group pushed the drugs and intubated in a room with no anesthesia machine, no ETCO2 monitor, only a pulse ox, ambu, and propofol pump. I relieved and extubated at the end of the CT scan, as the pt demonstrated 30 second head lift.

On my way out I located the MRI magnet emergency kill switch, behind two separate flip-lids.

Yesterday my answer would have been psyc.

 

[Sammich81]

Hi Trin. I'm an MS3 and this is how I got through years 1 and 2, and what I wish I had known:

1. Books: Don't buy too many. Wastes time and $$ trying to go through them. Better to have a high quality few and memorize those. As others have said, repetition is key. My favorites for basic science were First Aid for USMLE Step 1, BRS pathology, Path Recall, BRS physiology, High-Yield Neuroanatomy, sometimes High-Yield Gross Anatomy.
2. Study style: You can't just blindly recopy your notes over and over trying to learn it. You have to reorganize and filter the information in a way that makes sense to you. Like jetpro said, distill it. And try to have one centralized source that you plan to review, whether that means copying relevant parts of your notes into the BRS books or making your own packets.
3. Mnemonics: The dirtier the better! If you google medical mnemonics you can find something for anything. But it's best to make up your own, because it sticks better that way.
4. Tests and tutoring: If you can look over old tests. And if your school offers it, get someone in the class or two above you to be your tutor. My tutor went over the lecture notes with me once every week or two and just quizzed me on stuff. Not only did she know how to emphasize what was testable, it confirmed whether or not I'd really learned the material.
5. Dorky things: Because I'm very visual and mildly OCD, I color coded my notes. Ex: for pharm, orange was nasty side effects, blue was therapeutic uses, pink was drug names...and so on. Yeah I'm a loser but come test time I would picture things in the appropriate colors and it worked for me. Also use a planner and count back from test time so you know how much you need to cover in any given week. This gives you the flexibility you need to take an evening off if you really need it but to catch up appropriately.

Good luck! It's a hell of a ride but I'm happy with my choice.