OMS-1 Blues

[countthestars]

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So any other OMS-1ers feeling the blues? School/studying/sleeping/eating is pretty much all I do now...anyone else feeling this way?

 

[bkpa2med]

Those were the times -- don't worry it gets a little better MS2.

 

[ShyRem]

We tried to warn you.

Get used to it. third year, while far more interesting, can suck the life out of you more than the first two years depending on your rotation requirements for call (says the MSIII who is on IM and is working the next three weekends so she can have Thanksgiving weekend off).

 

[countthestars]

I'm counting down the days till I get to 3rd year. I'm well aware that the days will suck the life outta me then but at least I'll be doing something else than just studying all day. I really think the monotony of this cycle is the worst...well at least every day gone by is a day closer to the end of the tunnel.

 

[TerraMedicX]

I'm counting down the days till I get to 3rd year. I'm well aware that the days will suck the life outta me then but at least I'll be doing something else than just studying all day. I really think the monotony of this cycle is the worst...well at least every day gone by is a day closer to the end of the tunnel.

I'm TOTALLY with you!! I realized the other day that one of the reasons that class is dragging me down so much is that I'm just not used to the monotony of a regular schedule! 8.5 years of something different every day...and now I can predict with relatively good accuracy how my next week will look! LAME! I can't wait till clerkship when I at least have SOME variety!

Nate.

 

[scpod]

....I'm well aware that the days will suck the life outta me then but at least I'll be doing something else than just studying all day....

I probably spent more time reading and studying each day during my IM rotations than I did during the first two years. The material is a little different, but don't kid yourself by thinking it's easier. I had a lot of days were I spent 12 hours in the hospital and 4 or 5 hours reading afterwards before bedtime.

 

[DiverDoc]

In regards to first year, its all about effective studying. Ive started studying less and I am doing better. I feel this is because the time I do spend studying I make effective. (if its not goin in, put it down). Not to mention more time for doing things I enjoy and sleeping more. 👍

 

[spicedmanna]

So any other OMS-1ers feeling the blues? School/studying/sleeping/eating is pretty much all I do now...anyone else feeling this way?

Ah, yeah, MS-1... I remember those days...they were tough, for sure.

MS-2 is a bit better... Now I've added, running with my dog, practicing/teaching TKD, tutoring anatomy, teaching BLS, and attending the occasional school/club meeting to the cycle of school/study/sleeping/eating that you described. In about a month, I'm going to add, "studying for Step I of the boards" to all that. Oh boy, can't wait.

Hang in there.

 

[MaximusD]

Ah, yeah, MS-1... I remember those days...they were tough, for sure.

MS-2 is a bit better... Now I've added, running with my dog, practicing/teaching TKD, tutoring anatomy, teaching BLS, and attending the occasional school/club meeting to the cycle of school/study/sleeping/eating that you described. In about a month, I'm going to add, "studying for Step I of the boards" to all that. Oh boy, can't wait.

Hang in there.

Not studying for boards til 3rd trimester, although I use Goljan pathology rapid-review to review path before exams.

 

[MaximusD]

So any other OMS-1ers feeling the blues? School/studying/sleeping/eating is pretty much all I do now...anyone else feeling this way?

Do what you can when you can. Grades are low priority unless you're in the top or last quartile/quintile. Work on learning the most so that your future patients will benefit and so you won't look like an idiot on rotations.

Don't take life too seriously. You're going to become a doctor. Don't feel bad about having a little fun now and then. You only get to be 20-something once. Seriously.

 

[DannMann99]

wtf was the hiatus for maxi-d

oms-1 is the pits btw

 

[ShyRem]

I thought the burn-out in second half of MSII was much worse.

 

[zmeister22]

Don't worry. There are many days that I wish I would not have done this. I joke that if someone would pay off my loans I'd walk out the door, but I know this is what I want to do. Things will get better, especially when we study something more than the basic sciences that we have right now.

 

[rddoms]

Am I the only first year that's loving life right now? Sure it's tough, but this is what I've always wanted to do. I find myself, for the first time in my life, enjoying school. I must be a freak!

 

[Eudjinn]

Am I the only first year that's loving life right now? Sure it's tough, but this is what I've always wanted to do. I find myself, for the first time in my life, enjoying school. I must be a freak!

You are not alone, my friend...

 

[spicedmanna]

I thought the burn-out in second half of MSII was much worse.

I think I know what you mean. I'm starting to hit "the wall."

 

[fireflygirl]

I totally feel the same way. 🙁 Sometimes it's very aggravating and isolating and I have had several crying sessions - but then when I attend guest lectures or talk to a standardized patient and get some good feedback, I am reminded of why I'm doing this. I've heard that 2nd year gets much better....I hope so 🙄

 

[ShyRem]

I think I know what you mean. I'm starting to hit "the wall."

start fighting that burnout now, spiced. It only gets worse as second year goes on, and by the time boards come around you just don't care about anything anymore and can't stand to read an extra second more than absolutely necessary. go take a vacation or something and get recharged.

 

[djnels01]

start fighting that burnout now, spiced. It only gets worse as second year goes on, and by the time boards come around you just don't care about anything anymore and can't stand to read an extra second more than absolutely necessary. go take a vacation or something and get recharged.

This iz teh correkt answer

While 2nd year seemed better in some aspects, it was MUCH busier for me. Throw in board-study and there were times that I wanted to leave school. For real.

I think everyone has a "make-or-break" moment sometime in your first two years. It's completely normal. Just remember that you'll get through this...

 

[jp104]

So any other OMS-1ers feeling the blues? School/studying/sleeping/eating is pretty much all I do now...anyone else feeling this way?

I wish I had better advice than to just stick it out 🙁 All I can tell you is that it does get better; your schedule clears up significantly around Feb when anatomy ends.

I felt the same way you did around the end of Neuro 3/start of Hematology. The only way I made it was to just put my head down and power on through till the end of the year. Oddly enough what worked for me was to double how hard I studied. I guess I just needed to keep myself so busy I couldn't think about how much it sucked.

It could also be that you haven't had a system that has interested you yet. Maybe neuro/psych will spark something in you...and if not neuro maybe Heme or derm.

Stay strong and reach out to your friends/family/1st + 2nd yrs if you need support! We're always here for ya 🙂

 

[Natatiap]

i think it gets worse second year. A lot more material...however its a lot more interesting and you feel like you are actually learning something you are going to use. It all comes together the second year but tons of work. I hear third n fourth year gets better. Just stay strong!!

 

[ShyRem]

I am enjoying third year. Some of my classmates at other sites think they're in the deepest recesses of Hades. Third year can vary considerably. Even worse when you have to do 6 weeks of a rotation you find out you absolutely can't STAND and the fate of your grade is in the attending's hands.

 

[futuredo32]

During my first two years, I shadowed physicians which really helped to remind me that sitting in lectures and taking exams would not be something I'd have to do forever.
For the most part, I have really enjoyed my third and fourth years of med school. Some days of rotations are long, but I have had two rotations where there some very short days too (done by 10 am more days than not and never later than 3pm on these particular rotations).
For a lot of students, things get much better after first and/or second year.

 

[jbp100]

I'll echo my colleagues thoughts on third year. My first 2 years I was definitely looking forward to third year as the light at the end of the tunnel. Little did I know that the light was a big ole freight train that was medicine and surgery!

Luckily, those 4 months are gone now and I am completely enjoying the relaxed nature of family medicine for the next month and a half. Surgery dang near sucked all my life away, but you just keep your eye on the prize and keep trucking and it will be over before you know it.

As for the OP, if someone told me I had to go back and do 1st year again, I would flash the deuce and walk away. Fortunately (at least at our school), the schedule improves dramatically during 2nd year and the material actually becomes interesting. Good luck!

 

[Lamborghini1315]

I probably spent more time reading and studying each day during my IM rotations than I did during the first two years. The material is a little different, but don't kid yourself by thinking it's easier. I had a lot of days were I spent 12 hours in the hospital and 4 or 5 hours reading afterwards before bedtime.

Wow how the heck did you pass the first 2 years? 🙂

 

[Lamborghini1315]

From what i gather its not the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd years that make you feel like you have a life again..but its the second half of 4th year when you have more time to yourself. Although from a 2nd year's perspective i think 3rd year can't be as bad as the first 2 years of school just because of all the transitions you go through from rotation to rotation and heck when you rotate through a field you might apply for residency will only motivate you. Its just not the same anymore....i am ready for rotations that's for sure.

 

[Chai tea]

Hey, I'm curious as to what everyone's curriculum like. I got into Western feeling really excited, but now I really wish that I'd gone somewhere else instead. First of all: We have eight hour schedules - sometimes 9 hours a day in class with lots of classes that aren't board relevant and are truthfully a waste of time. We are wasting hours in class learning how to "research" the web or about "professionalism" or about "how to write a paper and cite." I thought that this stuff is for undergrads and that once we get into med school, we should stay focused on our core subjects like anatomy, OMM and embryology, etc. Second: most of our teachers are horrible! I've never experienced such terrible lectures in my life. Third - OMM is the class I was looking forward to the most, and has been a BIG disappointment. They teach it as a load of theory - we spend so much time listening to lectures about OMM theories and concepts that we hardly get around to the actual practice. My peers are getting injured left and right doing HVLA because we don't know how to do it and we are still expected to perform it and be tested on it in the little time we have to practice in class. Please tell me if this is how it is in any of your schools because from the way it's going here, I really regret coming to Western.

 

[ShyRem]

We had a one hour lecture on how to use the web and the resources on the web and where they're hidden at UNE's website. It was assumed you could write a paper when you got into med school. We didn't have many lectures in two years on professionalism, but there was a weekly lecture on humanity in medicine, but this lecture hour a week also covered the "how to do an eye exam" and stuff like that. OMM was a one hour lecture followed by two hours of lab time. At first it didn't work so well, but I am amazed now in my third year the things I can do and do fairly well.

If you're having problems with OMM, find a fellow (do you have those) or a faculty member and get some one on one tutoring to get it down right. You can cause some pretty significant injury if you HVLA the c-spine the wrong way.

 

[rddoms]

We have a class first quarter called Evidence Based Medicine. Although it felt like a waste at the time, it will be more important as the years go on. As far as OTM goes, we only have had a few "lectures". The vast majority of our time is spent in the lab, doing the techniques as they are taught to us. I definitely look forward to this class, mainly because it is a good break from sitting in the lecture hall (plus the K'ville crunch is awesome after a long night of studying).

 

[zmeister22]

Our teachers site their OMM papers with references from the seventies and early eighties and use each others' quotes as references and test material... kind of a disappointment. I believe in a lot of OMM, it is just taught in a horribly nonacademic way. I wish they would give us new sources, research, results that aren't rhetoric, etc. I want to use it, but the VAST majority of our class has expressed their supreme disappointment in the class. That said, they have to be some of the nicest, most understanding people on the staff. Give it a chance and see what you get out of it in the end.

 

[Slevin]

Our teachers site their OMM papers with references from the seventies and early eighties and use each others' quotes as references and test material... kind of a disappointment. I believe in a lot of OMM, it is just taught in a horribly nonacademic way. I wish they would give us new sources, research, results that aren't rhetoric, etc. I want to use it, but the VAST majority of our class has expressed their supreme disappointment in the class. That said, they have to be some of the nicest, most understanding people on the staff. Give it a chance and see what you get out of it in the end.

Could be worse I had a question about tensegrity on my last OPP exam... The correct answer I kid you not was

A statue in the city of Denver.

Oh how I hate OPP lecture

 

[USArmyDoc]

Third year rocks.....life gets so much better. You will work long hours, but it is so much more fun and you can have down time when you choose.