Question for MS2s....

[guardian]

I found out that that the physio and neuro that you learn in first year is taught over during second year for pathophys, path, and pharmacology albeit briefly... any truth to this? And from what I heard, the things that are reviewed and taught during second year is more clinically relevant and what is primarily tested on Step1?

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[dingiswayo]

there is often some first-year material review during second year courses. for example, a lecture on pharmacologic treatment of arrhythmias must first cover the basics of cardiac electrophysiology. the same principle applies for many of the topics covered in path, pharm, and pathophys. that said, the review is often cursory, and full understanding of a pathologic process or treatment may often require you do your own self-guided review of the relevant first-year material.

of the "traditional" first-year subjects, biochem and physio are more important for laying the second-year foundation (and foundation for the boards) than anatomy (gross, histo, embryo, neuro).

and of course, 2nd year is more clinically relevant. 1st year generally covers the normal function of the human body. 2nd year generally covers pathologies and treatments. since most clinical medicine involves pathologies and treatments, it's should be obvious that 2nd year is more clinical.

i hope that answers your question.

 

[guardian]

Thanks for the input. I did know that second year is more clinically relevant. Perhaps, I should have rephrased my question. What I meant was if the physiology that is reviewed in the second year is more relevant than other aspects that are not reviewed. Sort of an indirect way of asking if all aspects of physiology is really relevant. For instance, I thought that alot of the stuff we learned in cardiovascular and pulmonary physiology was not clinically irrelevant, especially the stuff that were presented in an experimental format (hope my saying so doesn't come back to haunt me). It'd frustrate me when for instance the mechanics portion of pulmonary physiology would be weighed equally compared to other aspects that are more clinically relevant.

 

[Ludy]

I was really frustrated by a lot of the nonsense we had to learn in cardio and resp phys first year too (deriving equations? please). However, none of that stuff came up again second year, and there really isn't much physics-related material at all in board review books, much to my relief. There are some basic graphs and equations you should understand, but no more than what's in BRS Phys, which is pretty simple compared to the depth we went into in class.

 

[Hendooneh]

Just make sure you know all of the Michaelis-Menten equations and all of their deriviatives because you will use them 1000 times a day when you start to treat patients.

 

[guardian]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Ludy:
•I was really frustrated by a lot of the nonsense we had to learn in cardio and resp phys first year too (deriving equations? please). However, none of that stuff came up again second year, and there really isn't much physics-related material at all in board review books, much to my relief. There are some basic graphs and equations you should understand, but no more than what's in BRS Phys, which is pretty simple compared to the depth we went into in class.•••••Agreed! It's presented in a manner that only physiologists would care for. The first week of pulmonary physiology was just a big muddled mess with very little clinical take home messages. Who cares about Bohr's equation for measuring anatomic dead space?

But it's good to know that what's really important is stressed again during second year.

 

[Fix-it-Man]

In Physio the 3 big killers that will stay with you until your residency and beyond (if your're going into IM, FP, Peds, or Anesthesia) are pulmonary, cardiovascular, and renal physiology...OK?
As you get farther along in your clinical training, for example in cardio., you'll be more concerned with extra heart sounds (S3, S4) or murmurs rather than things like the relation of cardiac muscle sarcomere length to amount of force generated.

Renal physiology gets really hairy too...You basically need to retain everything you've learned in your 1st renal, because you'll need it for understanding of how diuretics work, acid-base imbalances (a ruthless killer!), or electrolyte imbalances, all of which are of clinical relevance.

For Pulmonary I suggest you retain knowledge of V/Q mismatch, alveolar gas exchange, and arterial blood gases.

WARNING: Everything and anything you learning in your first two years is fair game for USMLE Step 1, so even if you don't think you might not need it for your second year (after all, you have to make some room for all the Micro., Path, and Pharm), you should learn it well so that when you study for your boards, you don't need to start learning from scratch.

I hope this helped...Good Luck!!

 

[Long Hair and a Beard]

Another thing: You have to retain the microanatomy for the pathology in 2nd year.

 

[DOtobe]

I don't know how things work in allopathic schools, but I am a student at a DO school, and we take all of our core classes in the first semester and then for the second semester of our first year and the second year we have systems. So the physiology, pharmacology, path, etc. that is relevant to a certain system is revisited during that system. Do MD schools have systems, or do you just learn a more advanced version of pharm and the other classes during the second year?