How much do you remember?

[CT]

I'm an MSI right now and something I find frustruating is that I seem to be forgetting many things (this is for anatomy), although they may sound familiar. I can't help but wonder how this will affect me during 3rd and 4th years. Is that how most people go into their clinical years and do they just review things as necessary? Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[womansurg]

To me, anatomy class felt like someone had tossed the phone book into my lap and said, "here, memorize this." Subjects are progressively more interesting (and easier to remember) as you advance along.

It'll get better...

 

[mikecwru]

Originally posted by CT
I'm an MSI right now and something I find frustruating is that I seem to be forgetting many things (this is for anatomy), although they may sound familiar. I can't help but wonder how this will affect me during 3rd and 4th years. Is that how most people go into their clinical years and do they just review things as necessary? Thanks.

How about some cliches from a senior?

Med school is about learning how to learn. You need to try to understand the stuff as best you can when you're first learning it---this helps you retain some stuff. You need dedicated and skilled teachers to help you do this, and as you go along and see the same information in different ways, it gets better and easier for you to do it on your own.

It's not as important that at the drop of the hat you can discuss the venous drainage of the thyroid, but you should eventually realize that if someone asks if you want to scrub in a thyroid case tomorrow, you should go and review the anatomy, physiology, procedure, complications, etc. And since you've seen the material before and you've become used to learning lots of crap quickly, you'll be able to do this the night before without taking all night (since you'll be tired from doing scut in the hospital)

The people that shout out answers and seem to know everything, 90% of the time they're not smarter than you... they're just better at playing the game right now.

mike

 

[Resident Alien]

so whats better, being smart and playing the game right, or not being smart and playing the game right?

 

[shag]

Mike is right on! I'm currently a 3rd year, and it is amazing how much I've forgotten. Everything on rounds sounds familiar but fuzzy, like a word that's on the tip of you tongue, but refuses to roll off.

It's also amazing how quickly things come back. For example, I just started medicine, and my first patient presented with chest pain. EKGs have always intimidated me, though I learned enough to fake it really well on tests. I had no clue as to how to interpret my patients EKG, but most of it came back after half an hour of reading.

One positive thing about med school is that important things are stressed over and over again. It is highly unlikely that you'll be pimped on the structure of some obscure polysaccharide, but you will see Acid/Base disturbances all the time.

Don't stress over what you forget. By 3rd year, you will be familiar enough with basic science material that clinical situations won't be quite so intimidating because you'll know how and where to look up information to help you manage you patients (and survive pimping sessions ) .

 

[hotbovie]

Medical school is an endless cycle of learning things quickly, promptly forgetting. learning something else, forgetting that, relearning something previously learned. There was a time that I could, for example, draw the entire brachial plexus, with each muscle innervated, all the way down to the lumbricals. However, I could only do that for about 1 week. Now, as M4, if I scrub a breast cancer case that includes an axillary dissection, I pull out Netter and review the anatomy in the axillary area.

Don't worry. You are normal. You'll be fine. The most important thing is to learn how to learn stuff fast.

 

[Smurfette]

We were told that the average retention between years 1 and 2 of med school is 17%. You do forget a lot, but it's familiar to you and usually it just takes a sentence or two description for it to come back to you. Then again, there's a lot that is completely forgotten, doesn't even sound familiar, but this stuff is usually the stuff that is relatively unimportant or clinically irrelevant.

Keep in mind that the really important stuff you will retain, or will be re-learned in your clinical years. They know you can't remember every single thing you've learned in your classroom years...it's not possible! You'll find you are just fine on the wards! Some things you forget but your classmates remember, and vice versa. It all evens out in the end!

 

[California]

I don't know what you guys are talking about, but everyone at my medical school has a 100% retention rate. On our exams, we're even required to memorize the page numbers of certain topics in our textbooks. Our professors think this will be very helpful for USMLE Step 1. However, I've taken it a step further by memorizing every word on each page of assigned reading. I'm absolutely sure this will make me a better doctor.

Enough of my horrible comedy. On a serious note, I think if you study the material the right way you will be able to remember more material than you expect. It's all about not cramming and studying the "right way." Just my two cents.

By the way, UC Irvine College of Medicine rocks. I love this place so much and I thank my lucky stars for picking this place over higher ranked schools. UC Irvine is relaxed and, in this atmosphere, I know I am learning this material in a way I cannot forget.

 

[Acro Yali]

I would say I remember a fair amount of the more clnically relevant information. Of course I can no longer go into the pathophysiology of all the obscure diseases I was taught in the first two years but if some one says something, I can usually recall what it is (or might be).

As other said, it is learning how to learn stuff quickly...and boy, do you learn to learn stuff quickly. I mean, now when I review stuff/look up procedures or diseases I can just look at it once and committ it to memory...for awhile that is. There is a lot of learning, forgetting, relearning, forgetting...you just keep on repeating the cycle until it sticks with you. Don't worry about not remembering anatomy, no one can remember all the information taught in the first two years.

 

[Purifyer]

freshmanritis I think that is the dumbest comment and contribution anyone has ever made in SDN. You dont know what you're talking about. Tell me if that's not true. So stop going around acting like your a good student and making unhelpful comments.

 

[Hero]

hehe, silly ******ed monkey

 

[Purifyer]

Laugh. Putting aside your complete ignorance of the south pacific (we don't have aborigines here, MATE), California is just showing pride in his school. I don't know about UCI, nor does it matter, you just come across as someone who has 'issues'.

Please don't be offended by my sardonicism, why can't we all just... get along? In the inexorable chance that you will reply with more.. please.. don't waste your time, I won't reply. I just wanted you to consider the possibility that the SDN community is above pathetic attacks at individuals.

 

[womansurg]

Originally posted by Purifyer
I just wanted you to consider the possibility that the SDN community is above pathetic attacks at individuals.

Don't worry, Cali and Pur.....everyone with more than six functioning brain cells caught Cali's intentional goodnatured sarcasm.

freshhamster's a troll, and a goner if he keeps it up..

 

[Hero]

it's obvious freshmanritis knows much more about medical school than anyone. you shouldn't even talk directly to freshmanritis unless you are the best of the best of the best like him/her.

we shouldn't be offended with the negative tone and condescending matter that freshmanritis speaks because he is obviously better than all of us.

 

[great north]

Goodness, there is so much hostility in this discussion...I like that, it makes for lively debate. Naturally, the medical school one attends has a bearing on the likelihood of obtaining a given residency, particularly at a distinguished university hospital...McGill, Cambridge, Oxford....Oh, right we're talking of american medical education. Personally, I would have preferred to have been at a canadian medical school, yet I am attending Ross, where between my classes on voodoo medicine and animal/virgin sacrifice it dawned on me how very elitist the medical community is throughout the world but especially in america. Clearly, amgs have a preference over fmgs which makes logical sense as the residency directors of your country consider their own citizens above foreigners, yet amoungst your own american medical school graduates why should their be any sort of discrimination. Given an individual scores well on the boards, has a wealth of knowledge and ability which are recognozed by his or her professors, there ought to be no resaon that the graduate from UCI be at a disadvantage...it lacks reason. I would suspect that the opinions of your patients carry the greatest weight in determining ones compitance unless like some TV evangalist you can stand above the ill, smack them on the forehead and cry..."youuuu are healed in the name of the HOLY ghost of HARVARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I would rather do an opthalmology residency in Georgia (the country) and practice in Nigeria giving people sight than have to deal with ignorance