Official MCW Class of 2009 Thread

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I'm bored, studying for this shelf is making me want to tear my hair out, and the only silver lining is that my tv sound has decided to work and I can now watch last night's CSI. Boohoo... (third year really is a million times better than second year... not easier, definetely not less busy, but better).
 
Xandie said:
I'm bored, studying for this shelf is making me want to tear my hair out, and the only silver lining is that my tv sound has decided to work and I can now watch last night's CSI. Boohoo... (third year really is a million times better than second year... not easier, definetely not less busy, but better).
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How do shelves compare in difficulty to say, a pathology exam or other unit exam for 1st or 2nd year? Do you learn most of the stuff you need to know for the shelf throughout the month as you work in the clinic/hospital, or does it require reading stuff every night and studying like you would for a basic science course?

Not that studying for a basic science course has been particularly rigorous for me lately. For some reason today I decided to take up playing Free Cell again (something I hadn't played since undergrad), and also made it through about 20 of Panda Bear's posts on his blog.
 
Gimlet said:
How do shelves compare in difficulty to say, a pathology exam or other unit exam for 1st or 2nd year? Do you learn most of the stuff you need to know for the shelf throughout the month as you work in the clinic/hospital, or does it require reading stuff every night and studying like you would for a basic science course?

Not that studying for a basic science course has been particularly rigorous for me lately. For some reason today I decided to take up playing Free Cell again (something I hadn't played since undergrad), and also made it through about 20 of Panda Bear's posts on his blog.
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Oh my goodness. I read 2 of those yesterday, those are LONG! I read them occasionally, and I felt so guilty. Not like I did much aside from refresh SDN all day and make it through 1.33333333 lectures (anticoag stuff = 1). Fortunately, I haven't started playing Spider Solitaire or Pin Ball yet.

Hopefully, I can sleep tonight, cuz I've been so incredibly tired today.
 
Gimlet said:
How do shelves compare in difficulty to say, a pathology exam or other unit exam for 1st or 2nd year? Do you learn most of the stuff you need to know for the shelf throughout the month as you work in the clinic/hospital, or does it require reading stuff every night and studying like you would for a basic science course?
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Don and I might disagree on this one, since we have totally different studying styles, but then again we might give you a good balance and more accurate answers.

That little intro aside, the difficulty of the shelves depends a lot on how much you like the material and which rotations you've had before. Shelf questions are step 2 questions that "the majority" of 4th years got right... aka, they're the easier step 2 CK material. They DEFINETELY require studying, as I just did a practice question today on pseudotumor cerebrei (which incidentally should be treated with acetazolamide), and I haven't seen but one patient all year with pseudotumor. (She was an OB patient, for reference). So you definetely have to study... then again, it's like pre-studying for step 2, so it's not totally useless... I think I'm retaining more stuff from my shelf-studying than I did from my block exam studying during first and second year. I would wager that half of the questions are things you would know from rotating, and half require step 2 directed studying.

Don? Shall we disagree?
 
Gimlet said:
How do shelves compare in difficulty to say, a pathology exam or other unit exam for 1st or 2nd year? Do you learn most of the stuff you need to know for the shelf throughout the month as you work in the clinic/hospital, or does it require reading stuff every night and studying like you would for a basic science course?

Not that studying for a basic science course has been particularly rigorous for me lately. For some reason today I decided to take up playing Free Cell again (something I hadn't played since undergrad), and also made it through about 20 of Panda Bear's posts on his blog.
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No, I agree with you Xandie.

Overall, I think shelf exams are in general more difficult than your average path exam. They are almost entirely clinical vignettes, like step 1 and the robbins review book, with a few matching questions thrown in at the end of each one for "variety" (my advice is to do these first).

Personally, I've come to prefer them over departmental exams. I think they are easier to study for. I usually get a blueprints book (or case files), read that and focus on the "big ideas". Then I do a bunch of practice questions out of the "pre-test" books. (in fact, my favorite way to study for shelves is to do practice questions). Overall, I don't think I spend too much time studying for "the test" except toward the end of a rotation (and I agree, you do need to study). I try to read a little bit about my patients as we go along (i look a lot of stuff up on up-to-date). I also think you do pick up things as you go through the month.

In addition, my understanding is that shelf exams are curved throughout the year (true or not, I don't know), so in July you're not being scored against June M3's. There is also supposed to be a correlation between how well you do on the shelf exams and your step 2 score.
Departmental exams, in my opinion, are more likely to throw in random stuff that really doesn't help you for step 2, and require more effort (on my part) to study for.
 
Agent Splat said:
CHARGING TO 400 JOULES......ZZZZZZZZTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!
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SOMETIMES we post after Donny.

Wait, does this mean the thread will jump up and go back in the casino and draw an inside straight like James Bond now? Hook me up, baby!
 
video of a stabbing at somebody's birthday party... pretty freaky.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOwXIarEpzI[/YOUTUBE]
 
Ashers said:
Is that when Bond had digitalis toxicity or something? I haven't seen Casino Royale.
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I think that's what went down. One of the co-op writers alluded to it anyway. I missed Casino Royale in theaters because I was still peeved off at how they showed Brosnan the proverbial door, but I think I've calmed down enough to catch it on DVD when it comes out next month.
 
DoctorFunk said:
I think that's what went down. One of the co-op writers alluded to it anyway. I missed Casino Royale in theaters because I was still peeved off at how they showed Brosnan the proverbial door, but I think I've calmed down enough to catch it on DVD when it comes out next month.
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Hey, they're always showing somebody the door in the Bond flicks. Brosnan was a good Bond, but I after seeing Casino Royale at the Budget Cinema in Greenfield ($2.00, and the popcorn is cheaper, too!) I can say I'm quite happy they finally have a Bond with really ripped quads. I'm a woman of simple tastes, really.
 
samenewme said:
Hey, they're always showing somebody the door in the Bond flicks. Brosnan was a good Bond, but I after seeing Casino Royale at the Budget Cinema in Greenfield ($2.00, and the popcorn is cheaper, too!) I can say I'm quite happy they finally have a Bond with really ripped quads. I'm a woman of simple tastes, really.
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You have to remember I was too young to really remember the Timothy Dalton Bond movies, so Brosnan is the Bond I grew up on. I even saw all of his movies in the theater. I realize Connery was an infinitely better Bond than Brosnan, but he'll always be my guy, even if the writing in at least half of his movies was horrid.
 
samenewme said:
Hey, they're always showing somebody the door in the Bond flicks. Brosnan was a good Bond, but I after seeing Casino Royale at the Budget Cinema in Greenfield ($2.00, and the popcorn is cheaper, too!) I can say I'm quite happy they finally have a Bond with really ripped quads. I'm a woman of simple tastes, really.
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Quadzilla's got a new fan, I see.
 
DoctorFunk said:
You have to remember I was too young to really remember the Timothy Dalton Bond movies, so Brosnan is the Bond I grew up on. I even saw all of his movies in the theater. I realize Connery was an infinitely better Bond than Brosnan, but he'll always be my guy, even if the writing in at least half of his movies was horrid.
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Dalton was much too fierce and always seemed way too pissed off and intense to be Bond. It probably is because I grew up on Brosnan as well, but he is in my mind the perfect Bond. I always wondered why some people feel that George Lazenby was the best. According to many people he was just horrible, but there's a group that feel that On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the best Bond movie ever blah blah blah. I have to see it sometime just to see why there's such a disparity between the two schools of thought.

Actually I sorta grew up on Roger Moore because I remember seeing those movies most when I was a kid, so he was my first impression of Bond. He always seemed to me like the "nice uncle" type of Bond...but if you're not careful, the "nice uncle that will start to touch you" type.
 
I like Brosnan best too. Unfortunately, the only movie I Bond movie I own is Die Another Day (not the best one ever), and the only reason I own that is because the opening scene is on Maui near my house.
 
Ashers said:
I like Brosnan best too. Unfortunately, the only movie I Bond movie I own is Die Another Day (not the best one ever), and the only reason I own that is because the opening scene is on Maui near my house.
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Pretty sure that's the only one I own currently as well, which should be a crime considering how bad Die Another Day is and how good Goldeneye is. I've been thinking about picking up those huge Bond boxsets that came out recently, but I probably have to wait to win the lottery.

I always assumed they just CGIed those huge waves in the opening of Die Another Day, just like they blatantly CGIed the surfers on them.
 
DoctorFunk said:
You have to remember I was too young to really remember the Timothy Dalton Bond movies, so Brosnan is the Bond I grew up on. I even saw all of his movies in the theater. I realize Connery was an infinitely better Bond than Brosnan, but he'll always be my guy, even if the writing in at least half of his movies was horrid.
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This is one of the few times I have actually felt REALLY middle-aged on this thread. I grew up on the Sean Connery Bond, and the idea of someone "growing up" on this new interloper, Brosnan, just floors me. Roger Moore just always seemed too urbane to get his dainty hands dirty, and I never much cared for that.

I love Timothy Dalton as an actor (The Lion in Winter comes to mind), but his Bond flicks were not well written and just didn't have that Bondish charming semi-sociopath feel, where you wish you didn't like the guy. Brosnan's bond totally had it and I wasn't sure I'd bother with seeing yet ANOTHER actor do the bond until my friend Jane MADE ME GO. Fine actor, has the Bond feel, and has substantial calves to go with his quads.
 
DoctorFunk said:
Pretty sure that's the only one I own currently as well, which should be a crime considering how bad Die Another Day is and how good Goldeneye is. I've been thinking about picking up those huge Bond boxsets that came out recently, but I probably have to wait to win the lottery.

I always assumed they just CGIed those huge waves in the opening of Die Another Day, just like they blatantly CGIed the surfers on them.
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NO! They're at Jaws. The surfers were people from Maui. Or that's what the newspaper told us on 26 December 2001 when they ran the story that there was going to be filming for the then unnamed James Bond movie.

I just looked through Maui News' archives, and they don't keep records. But the waves were "small" the day they filmed (35 according to an Oahu newspaper). They'll get up to 70' offshore.

Here's from the Oahu paper.

Here's something that talks about the 70' waves from The Maui News.

Sadness that my mom just told me they're leaving Maui in January next year. =(
 
mirror.jpg
 
Attack of the Peds Shelf and Pre-Test... stop me if you've heard this one:

A 5-year-old boy is brought into the emergency room immediately after an unfortunate altercation with a neighbor's immunized Chihuahua that occurred while the child was attempting to dress the dog as a superhero...
 
Xandie said:
Attack of the Peds Shelf and Pre-Test... stop me if you've heard this one:

A 5-year-old boy is brought into the emergency room immediately after an unfortunate altercation with a neighbor's immunized Chihuahua that occurred while the child was attempting to dress the dog as a superhero...
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give 25mg metoprolol, unless he's an asthmatic.
 
Gimlet said:
What's the occasion for moving? New jobs?
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My dad's retiring, the hospital and medical system on Maui are driving him nuts, so he's gonna retire the second they let him -- not waiting til 65 even though he'd get a better pension or whatever. My mom's hated Hawaii since 4 months after we moved there.

Sadness. I don't know anyone in Spokane. =( And I won't be able to go Maui for vacation 4th year.

I think my dad's gonna do locum tenen (sp?) work for a few months a year to stay busy. My mom'd kill him if he were at home all the time.
 
Ashers said:
My dad's retiring, the hospital and medical system on Maui are driving him nuts, so he's gonna retire the second they let him -- not waiting til 65 even though he'd get a better pension or whatever. My mom's hated Hawaii since 4 months after we moved there.

Sadness. I don't know anyone in Spokane. =( And I won't be able to go Maui for vacation 4th year.

I think my dad's gonna do locum tenen (sp?) work for a few months a year to stay busy. My mom'd kill him if he were at home all the time.
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Locum tenens.

What could your mom possibly hate about Maui? I can't imagine there are many people that would choose to leave paradise like that.
 
Gimlet said:
What could your mom possibly hate about Maui? I can't imagine there are many people that would choose to leave paradise like that.
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1) It's insanely expensive to live there.
2) It's insanely expensive to leave.
3) While we went to school, my dad went to work, my mom stayed at home with the cats.
4) Completely different culture -- Asian (so it was weird for me to move to the mainland in college, and it's one reason I surround myself by Asian friends).
5) Someone in our church outright told my mom that they wouldn't be great friends until we had lived in HI for at least 3 years because so many haoles (white people) come and go. It was true, as soon as we lived there for 3 years, my mom got more friends.
6) Massive anti-white discrimination (I got punched in the face in high school for being white, the lab assistants at the hospital were mean to me, and complained to a lab manager -- in Tagalog -- because I couldn't draw blood as well as they after I had been working for 2 months of working, and they had me on the evening shift.)
7) All of us kids went to the mainland for college.
8) My mom's 2 best friends on Maui have both moved away -- 1 to Oahu and 1 to Oregon.
9) I can go on, but I won't. It's not related to the place really -- great place to visit, I promise!


The leper colony with all the leper-chauns is on Molokai. It's in our county, but different island.
 
Ashers said:
4) Completely different culture -- Asian (so it was weird for me to move to the mainland in college, and it's one reason I surround myself by Asian friends).
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Do I get to count as a wannabe Asian friend since I love Asian food, profess to be a ninja, watch kung fu/samurai/anime movies often, and am a pseudo-buddhist?

I'm serious about all of the above, by the way.
 
DoctorFunk said:
Do I get to count as a wannabe Asian friend since I love Asian food, profess to be a ninja, watch kung fu/samurai/anime movies often, and am a pseudo-buddhist?

I'm serious about all of the above, by the way.
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LOL. Sure. 😉 You're a bit tall to be Hawaiian-Asian though. 😀

I'm considered Asian. Ask a lot of the APAMSA people. I was "more Asian" than my college roommate (Chinese, born and raised in Phoenix). I prefer rice to potatoes, eat with chopsticks, cook with chopsticks, eat spam musubi, and have a collection of really random Asian food in my apartment. Then the lab people who were nice to me said I was "Filipina," and my AP English teacher told me I had a stink eye worse than some Japanese.
 
DoctorFunk said:
Do I get to count as a wannabe Asian friend since I love Asian food, profess to be a ninja, watch kung fu/samurai/anime movies often, and am a pseudo-buddhist?

I'm serious about all of the above, by the way.
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We'll see if it's enough to keep you from gettin' yer ass punched on spring break.
 
just heard on scanner that an ambulance is en route to froedtert with a gunshot to the center of the forehead. pulse is 46.

it's a busy freaking night in the milwaukee area, but nothing seems snow-related yet.
 
Agent Splat said:
just heard on scanner that an ambulance is en route to froedtert with a gunshot to the center of the forehead. pulse is 46.

it's a busy freaking night in the milwaukee area, but nothing seems snow-related yet.
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Jesus, who is out and about shooting people on a night like this?

Center forehead, yeesh.
 
Gimlet said:
Jesus, who is out and about shooting people on a night like this?

Center forehead, yeesh.
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also seizures, snowmobiles through the ice (no patient), sparking telephone poles, and heaters spewing out CO.
 
Agent Splat said:
just heard on scanner that an ambulance is en route to froedtert with a gunshot to the center of the forehead. pulse is 46.

it's a busy freaking night in the milwaukee area, but nothing seems snow-related yet.
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:laugh: farkle alert in the house



I didn't think they'd find the body before the snow covered him though. Dang.
 
Gimlet said:
We'll see if it's enough to keep you from gettin' yer ass punched on spring break.
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I'll be sure to report back.

Unless, of course, that was a threat.
 
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