I'm looking to pre-study before medical school and nobody is going to dissuade me from doing so. Will it be a waste of time to come in knowing all 320 pairs of muscles and all 206 bones? I'm assuming you will learn all of them in medical school?
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Do you learn all of the muscles and bones in medical school?
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Yes and yes.
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muscle/bone anatomy is maybe like 1% of what medicine actually is
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Unless you're DO.
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It would be a waste of time, but apparently no one is going to dissuade you, so go for it.
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I mean, the bones you learn in like middle school and the muscles in undergrad anatomy, if you take that, so...go for it, but if that's a big part of med school we've got a ton of partially-trained physicians in the 8th grade!
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Don't forget the insertions and origins, innervation, and blood supply of muscles and the name of every bump, ridge, hole, and rough surface for the bones
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Yeah OP, you need to start learning the critical aspects of medicine that they won't teach you in medical school.
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Then....why would it be a waste of time?
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Because memorizing the bones and muscles is really the easy part.
Almost all biology majors come with some kind of anatomy background so you won't be in much of an advantage just by memorizing them.
If you're dead set on pre-studying, you could probably purchase an anatomy text used in a medical school, which will teach not just the anatomy but also the clinical significance of various anatomical features.
Almost all biology majors come with some kind of anatomy background so you won't be in much of an advantage just by memorizing them.
If you're dead set on pre-studying, you could probably purchase an anatomy text used in a medical school, which will teach not just the anatomy but also the clinical significance of various anatomical features.
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Saves you very little time, in exchange for you spending what precious free time you have pre-matriculation to do whatever you want.
Case in point: we were handed all of the musculoskeletal system in about a week (including nerves, innervations, blood supply, origins, insertions). I learned it then. You really would rather spend a few months of freedom on something that they're going to blaze through?
But since nobody is going to dissuade you.. why even ask? Attempted humblebrag?
I'm going to pre-study something no matter what. My question was specific in regards to whether learning all of the muscles and bones would be a waste of time, not whether pre-studying in general was.
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Cool. Tell you what, just get First Aid and memorize that before med school. 🙄
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I pity you.
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How about learning a language your patients will speak (spanish, mandarin, sign language), and then traveling to a country where they speak that language to immerse yourself and learn about the culture.
That way you're learning something really relevant to being a great doctor, you're not wasting your time, and you'll be having a great time traveling!
That way you're learning something really relevant to being a great doctor, you're not wasting your time, and you'll be having a great time traveling!
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Person in my class told one of my good friends on day 1 of one of our rotations that "he was going to do better than him at everything," in a completely serious way. That's real gunning. This is just naivety about medical education.
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Yes, that would be a waste of time. Its a small part of anatomy that you are extremely unlikely to miss on the test. In a bigger picture sense anatomy in general is a surprisingly irrelevant part of medical school and non-surgical residencies (and surgical residencies teach you the anatomy you need to know), your grades from the first two years are not counted into your class rankings at most schools, and anatomy isn't very well represented on step one. So if your goal is to position yourself for the best possible match this would be a very poor use of your time even if you do retain the information from your prestudying.
If you insist on preparing for medical school against everyone's better advice I would suggest one of two options:
1) Learn Spanish. If you are going to school anywhere south of Canada at least 5% of your patients will be Spanish language only, if you're south of Georgia it will probable be more than 1/3rd of your patient population. Translators are surprisingly rare in the hospital and your ability to translate for you patients will make you a better physician, and will also likely significantly bump your GPA in your clinical rotations (which do affect you class rank). If you can afford it study abroad (www.ecela.com), and by the time school starts you'll be fluent. Failing that complete all four levels of Rosetta stone Spanish and sign up for a conversational Spanish exchange class on Skype. This is a skill that has the potential to bump you to the next letter grade on your evals in almost every clinical rotation.
2) Start Research. Send the dean of whatever residency you are currently dreaming of (neurosurg?) and say that you are interested in beginning a research project in his department and could he recommend a professor to work with. Then email them politely and find a medical student sized project that you can take the lead on. If you put together a small data mining project the CITI training and IRB stuff that you can do from home will keep you busy until school start, and you can be well on your way to a publication by the time school get going.
Trying to simply study for you classes is very low yield in terms of your later match.
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Sure, it will help you in your A&P I lab practical 🤣. But seriously, the language idea is golden.
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Honestly if you're studying bones and you're only worried about the NAMES of each then you're doing it wrong anyways. The number 206 has SO many repeats anyways it's not actually that high. Focus on the features if you really want to be "prepared" which is completely unnecessary. Perhaps I'm just bias since I do bone research though haha
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I'm a pre-med like you, but I interpreted their comments to mean that you would be better off studying other areas that will give you more of an advantage once matriculating to medical school. A graduate level biochemistry or developmental biology book might be helpful for instance. Or, if you are interested in Anatomy and Physiology, buy a med school textbook and start reading it rather than memorizing the names of the muscles and bones (not to mention that has already been mentioned, you're going to need to know more than just the names anyway).
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They will have no real advantage. Don't pre-study anything. For the love of cheese (I really love cheese), don't do this. What will soon be most valuable to you will be free time...time spent doing non-medical stuff. Take advantage of free time right now.
Also, no, you won't learn everything you mentioned. We learned just about jack about the foot, for instance, and that's at a top 20 school. It will also be a different sort of learning than you are used to. You will waste time now.
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Actually, we didn't learn all 206. We learned "skull," not the individual bones. The big bones, yes, but not so much the small ones. As oths have mentioned, insertions, inner actions, and blood supply were much more important, and just knowing the names of the muscles and bones isn't going to help you unless you can identify them in a cadaver.
I second the learning another language thing.
I second the learning another language thing.
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Orly
I took undergrad anatomy and it was especially hard because of all the little bones and stuff
I assumed it would be even harder and more comprehensive in med school
I am slightly less worried now
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I already finished pre-studying for med school. I know all DEM BONES!!
Your toe bone connected to your foot bone
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone
Your hip bone connected to your back bone
Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone
Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone
Your neck bone connected to your head bone
COME AT ME GUNNERS!!!
Your toe bone connected to your foot bone
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone
Your hip bone connected to your back bone
Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone
Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone
Your neck bone connected to your head bone
COME AT ME GUNNERS!!!
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Orly
I took undergrad anatomy and it was especially hard because of all the little bones and stuff
I assumed it would be even harder and more comprehensive in med school
I am slightly less worried now
Muscles and bones almost never come up later on in the med school curriculum. What is extremely valuable to know however is innervation and blood supply, because knowing so can describe the etiology of some things.
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Memorizing these things is trivial. What you need is to be able to apply. For example, transecting the axial nerve would lead to what loss of function?
or, a man with appendicitis senses pain via what nerve?
or, a man with appendicitis senses pain via what nerve?
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Best advice in the thread.
Or, memorize this:
Thats only like a weeks worth of lectures, what about the rest of the year??
Orly
I took undergrad anatomy and it was especially hard because of all the little bones and stuff
I assumed it would be even harder and more comprehensive in med school
I am slightly less worried now
Meh we had to learn all the skull bones (including every foramen, aperture, suture, fissure, fossa, arch, and canal).
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You misinterpreted. We're saying don't study.
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AAHHHH HE GOT ME AGAIN
Best advice in the thread.
Or, memorize this:
We have to learn all of that? What's the point?
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What's the point of physicians knowing the metabolic pathways of the body? <-- this is your question?
So let me get this straight. You want to study in advance for medical school, but you're skeptical of the necessity of studying the things one studies in medical school? 😵
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For the love of GOD don't pre study for med school. That could only be dumber second to if I decided to make my fourth year actually challenging. This year, sans step 2, is the best year ever. And my summer off before starting med school was the best summer ever.
Trying to study before med school starts is like playing a snowboarding video game before you have ever been snowboarding thinking it will give you a leg up. Just not true at all
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Trying to study before med school starts is like playing a snowboarding video game before you have ever been snowboarding thinking it will give you a leg up. Just not true at all
Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
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You don't know them all yet? What have you been doing all this time? House and Grey's Anatomy can only take you so far...
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I forgot to ask, OP, have you been accepted yet?
If not, concentrate on getting into med school first. if yes, relax enjoy the rest of the year. It's going to get harder come next fall.
If not, concentrate on getting into med school first. if yes, relax enjoy the rest of the year. It's going to get harder come next fall.
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Everyone always says this, but I really feel it's a gross exaggeration. So far medical school curriculum has been very manageable and probably easier than an engineering degree in undergrad. I think prestudying the bones and muscles could be very helpful, and don't think it's a bad idea since it is early in m1 that most schools teach it.
That being said, if I were you I wouldn't prestudy. Rest and enjoy your time before school starts.
Hey Geretts,
Some medical schools have a summer pre-matriculation program. Maybe your school has one. I have been waffling about doing one as I am a non-trad and a little anxious about medical school myself. The students that I talked to highly recommended it. I think it is worth looking into and thinking about. I think they give you a taste of what is to come. Hopefully, I will have some sort of foundation that I can build upon during medical school proper and hopefully be a stronger and less anxious medical student.
However, I also heard that you don't want to waste one of your last summers. So choose wisely. 🙂
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Since you seem to know, perhaps you can share with the rest of the clinical relevance and utility of knowing all of those things? I haven't walked through any of these pathways since I was studying for step 1. Unless I'm giving a presentation where knowing some of the details are relevant or helpful, I have yet to actually have a discussion about any of these things in a clinical context. Most residents don't know the details of a lot of these metabolic disorders, particularly the rare ones. Believe it or not it's actually not necessary to know things like the origin and insertion of all of the muscles, the names of all of the bones, the reactants and products for all of - or even just the main - biochemical pathways, and a whole bunch of other stuff to be an effective clinician. There are some exceptions, of course: an endocrinologist is likely very familiar with those pathways just as a surgeon is likely to know much more anatomy than, say, an internist. But by and large I don't think your average physician would be able to write out the complete process of glycolysis, much less all of the glucose oxidation pathway, from memory with the names of all of the intermediates and enzymes, but perhaps I'm short-changing attendings.
The point here is that there is an entire corpus of knowledge which might be called "medical decision making" which you really won't start to learn until third year. That corpus of knowledge is much more important for the day-to-day practice of medicine than knowing the rate-limiting step of pathway X. That's not to say that knowing the rate-limiting step of pathway X ISN'T important - it is, and when you get to med school you should do your best to learn all of that stuff - but there's only so much information you can cram into your head, and when push comes to shove I'd rather be more familiar with the diagnostic, management, and treatment strategies for something like Tay-Sachs than knowing the entire ganglioside pathway. The former is necessary for treating the patient; the latter might help improve your understanding of the disease and is obviously important if you're going to be involved with research, but knowing that information is not going to help you improve your patient's health. Knowing what diagnostic tests are available, the characteristics of those tests, the treatment options available, and prognostic information, on the other hand, will.
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I pity his / her peers...
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😱 are you serious?
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Yeah, that floored me a bit, considering they covered more than that in ugrad anatomy.
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Orly
I took undergrad anatomy and it was especially hard because of all the little bones and stuff
I am slightly less worried now
No, it was slight hyperbole. But not that much. We learned the suture lines, but other than the bones related to the sinuses (so the face) and a few key blood vessels (as it related to epidural vs subdural hematomas), we didn't learn all the bones in the skull. Then again, my school really glossed over head and neck anatomy, having decided that it was too specialized for most people. There was an optional 4th year elective we could take if we really wanted to know more anatomy.
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In all seriousness, you can familiarize yourself with medical directional terminology. It should take you all of 15 minutes.
http://quizlet.com/6170041/medical-terminology-directional-terms-flash-cards/
But why not relax while you still can?
