i still don't get it

[Iron123]

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guys i still don't get how to study during third year. i'm on ob/gyn right now. i learn a lot during the day but when i go home i'm so tired that i basically eat and fall asleep. ideally i'd like to be studying somewhere in there and working out. but somehow i'm just not balancing things right. please help i think that if i could read more i wouldn't be so scaared of being pimped and not knowing the answers to so many questions and being moore helpful on the rotation overall. what do you think? of course, any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[tupac_don]

guys i still don't get how to study during third year. i'm on ob/gyn right now. i learn a lot during the day but when i go home i'm so tired that i basically eat and fall asleep. ideally i'd like to be studying somewhere in there and working out. but somehow i'm just not balancing things right. please help i think that if i could read more i wouldn't be so scaared of being pimped and not knowing the answers to so many questions and being moore helpful on the rotation overall. what do you think? of course, any help is greatly appreciated!

If you wanna get organized, do this. When you come home, depending how long you stay, say you come in 6 and stay till 7 at night, just an estimate. What I would do, is as soon as you come home, sleep for 2 to 2.5 hrs, that will give you a nice break and you will feel refreshed, then at around 10 start reading and read till about 2 or so, then go back to bed. Now this method doesn't work for everyone. Yea you will be little more tired during your on site, the key there is drink lots of coffee, plus you get quality 4hrs of studying and you can still learn pretty decently on your rotation even with 3-4hrs of sleep, b/c the adrenaline is running, and little coffee goes a long way. That's the best way I can think of to sneak in some quality studying time.

You have to ask yourself what's more important, sleep vs. getting in more studying time and performing well on the shelf. Also use any free minute to study during the day, if you have some downtime, have a book handy and open it up and read up on some stuff, do some test questions.

But I think the most important thing there is to break up your day with a nap when you come back, that way you can actually do a productive workout instead of drag A**, plus you can actually put in some quality studying, when your brain is little rested.

 

[Dunce]

. . . the key there is drink lots of coffee, plus you get quality 4hrs of studying and you can still learn pretty decently even with 3-4hrs of sleep, b/c the adrenaline is running, and little coffee goes a long way. . .

Most people who attempt this routine will soon crash and burn

 

[pillowhead]

If you wanna get organized, do this. When you come home, depending how long you stay, say you come in 6 and stay till 7 at night, just an estimate. What I would do, is as soon as you come home, sleep for 2 to 2.5 hrs, that will give you a nice break and you will feel refreshed, then at around 10 start reading and read till about 2 or so, then go back to bed. Now this method doesn't work for everyone. Yea you will be little more tired during your on site, the key there is drink lots of coffee, plus you get quality 4hrs of studying and you can still learn pretty decently on your rotation even with 3-4hrs of sleep, b/c the adrenaline is running, and little coffee goes a long way. That's the best way I can think of to sneak in some quality studying time.

You have to ask yourself what's more important, sleep vs. getting in more studying time and performing well on the shelf. Also use any free minute to study during the day, if you have some downtime, have a book handy and open it up and read up on some stuff, do some test questions.

But I think the most important thing there is to break up your day with a nap when you come back, that way you can actually do a productive workout instead of drag A**, plus you can actually put in some quality studying, when your brain is little rested.

To each his/her own, but personally, I would not recommend this method. Napping that long every day and then only getting a few hours of night time sleep is going to screw you up.

As a 3rd year, when I was really really tired, I just didn't study. Period. You aren't going to get anything productive done when you're that tired.

So the real question isn't "How can I study more?" The real question is "How can I be less tired?" What time are you going to bed at night? You should be getting at least seven hours of sleep every night on every rotation except Surgery and of course any night when you're doing overnight call. Train your body to go to sleep between 930 and 1000 every evening. You might feel a little bit tired in the morning, but you should not be needing excessive amounts of caffeine just to function normally.

Days off are your friends (obviously). Before you do anything else on a day off, do two hours of good studying after a long night's sleep. You'll be amazed how much you can retain when you're refreshed and even if you don't do anything else the rest of the day, you can still feel good about doing something. (Of course, this requires not being hungover in the morning.)

On all other days, just try to do a little something. Unlike the first two years when you generally needed long marathon sessions to really accomplish anything, you'll be very surprised how 20 minutes a day can really add up. Do 15-25 multiple choice questions and really understand the answers. It doesn't take too long but really helps. Alternatively (I really like this method)--write down on an index card throughout the day little topics that come up or stuff you're not sure about. Keep it pretty specific: a certain drug's side effect profile, EKG manifestations of a particular disease process, criteria for diagnosing a rheum or psych disease. Look up a couple of those things a day and again, by the end of the rotation, you'll be surprised how much you've learned. And you can impress because you're looking up stuff relavent to the patients you're seeing.

Good luck to you! It will get better through the year. It'll just be more natural after a while.

 

[Syranope2]

To each his/her own, but personally, I would not recommend this method. Napping that long every day and then only getting a few hours of night time sleep is going to screw you up.

As a 3rd year, when I was really really tired, I just didn't study. Period. You aren't going to get anything productive done when you're that tired.

So the real question isn't "How can I study more?" The real question is "How can I be less tired?" What time are you going to bed at night? You should be getting at least seven hours of sleep every night on every rotation except Surgery and of course any night when you're doing overnight call. Train your body to go to sleep between 930 and 1000 every evening. You might feel a little bit tired in the morning, but you should not be needing excessive amounts of caffeine just to function normally.

Days off are your friends (obviously). Before you do anything else on a day off, do two hours of good studying after a long night's sleep. You'll be amazed how much you can retain when you're refreshed and even if you don't do anything else the rest of the day, you can still feel good about doing something. (Of course, this requires not being hungover in the morning.)

On all other days, just try to do a little something. Unlike the first two years when you generally needed long marathon sessions to really accomplish anything, you'll be very surprised how 20 minutes a day can really add up. Do 15-25 multiple choice questions and really understand the answers. It doesn't take too long but really helps. Alternatively (I really like this method)--write down on an index card throughout the day little topics that come up or stuff you're not sure about. Keep it pretty specific: a certain drug's side effect profile, EKG manifestations of a particular disease process, criteria for diagnosing a rheum or psych disease. Look up a couple of those things a day and again, by the end of the rotation, you'll be surprised how much you've learned. And you can impress because you're looking up stuff relavent to the patients you're seeing.

Good luck to you! It will get better through the year. It'll just be more natural after a while.

Thanks for these suggestions - they seem really helpful and not too difficult to try. I, too, am having trouble motivating myself to study for my shelf exam in three days. Sigh.

 

[tupac_don]

Most people who attempt this routine will soon crash and burn

Agreed, not all people can handle this routine. If you can't you can't, but if you can, it can be very effective.

 

[Nerdoscience]

Probably more feasible is just to find ways to use little chunks of time here or there to study a little bit, and set aside specific time for non-study activities (not including inhaling sustenance or sleeping).

It's not easy to study on busy months. The good news is that all months aren't as b usy as OB. The bad news is that many of them are, or are close. You'll figure it out. Better sooner than later...

 

[lord_jeebus]

I don't know how your ob/gyn rotation is structured but I was able to do almost all of my reading during downtime on labor deck and (to a much lesser extent) between procedures. When I got home I just ate and fell asleep.