Retaining knowledge

[jw123]

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Hi, I have been reading the podiatry forums for about a month now and i'm sure that it is what I want to pursue. I have sort of a wierd question and i mean ABSOLUTELY NO DISRESPECT about this question.
1. Being focused so much on the lower extremity or surgery on the lower extremity, how much information do you retain about general medicine/physiology of all of the organ systems and general internal medicine after you've been out of school/rotaions for a couple of years? i know that many different diseases etc. can affect the foot but how much do you remember about other diseases and physiology of the body?

I know this is kind of a wierd question but i've been wondering it for awhile

thanks a lot

 

[KHep]

I guess that is in part what continuing medical education is for. It's a great question, but the same question applies to most specialties. What does a urologist remember about neuroscience?

Keep in mind that the current trend is toward expanding the podiatric physician's knowledge of general medicine. I currently attend Scholl College where there is a new emphasis on training us clinically identical to the md students as far as the first two years. Obviously that can't be the case as we move into year 3 because we need to focus on lower extremity as we move into our clinical experiences.

Don't worry about what you will forget. You are the one in control of that. I am sure that if you put your mind to it, you will retain as much as you can.

 

[spooge]

A student in gross anatomy asked our professor why we needed to know this stuff (we were studying the thoracic cavity) our professor looked at our class and yelled "You better remember this stuff! If not, you will be in trouble unless only a pair of feet without the rest of the human come walking into your office! When you treat any part of a human you are treating every part of them! Now shut the hell up and listen!" I think feli should remember this guy.

 

[PJAG]

A student in gross anatomy asked our professor why we needed to know this stuff (we were studying the thoracic cavity) our professor looked at our class and yelled "You better remember this stuff! If not, you will be in trouble unless only a pair of feet without the rest of the human come walking into your office! When you treat any part of a human you are treating every part of them! Now shut the hell up and listen!" I think feli should remember this guy.

 

[NatCh]

Out of school ten years now, outside of lower extremity material I remember only:

• On Old Olympus Towering Tops, A Finn and German Brewed Some Hops (cranial nerves)
• Army-over-Navy (suprascapular artery anatomy)
• Salt-Sugar-Sex, the deeper you go the sweeter it gets (adrenal cortex layers)

Yep, that's about it...

Okay, maybe I recall a little more than that but I'd guess maybe only 10% of what I learned in the first two didactic years. Mostly stuff rings a bell and gives me a foundation if I need to look it up.

Nat

 

[MaseratiGT]

Out of school ten years now, outside of lower extremity material I remember only:

• Salt-Sugar-Sex, the deeper you go the sweeter it gets (adrenal cortex layers)

Nat

Ooh la la! I'll remember that!

 

[Feli]

Some Say Marry Money But My Brother Says Big Boobs Matter More
(CN I-XII... sensory fibers, motor, or both)

As with anything, you remember it if you are interested and studying hard when you learn it. The "use it or lose it" saying does apply, but you will end up "using" a lot more than just LE anat/phys... especially during residency, and still out in practice. I think all specialists forget more and more of their general training as time goes by, but the stuff that they use and need most will be retained since it gets refreshed each time it's applied.

One example would be yesterday during my clerkship. A resident asked me what you use for an antibiotic against endocarditis in patients with mechanical heart valves. The classic textbook answer is amoxicillin, and I would've probably said that a year ago when I was in micro/pharm or studying for pt1 boards. Instead, I had to think it through, and I responded by saying the endocarditis pathogens were streptococcal, so you could use Ancef for good strep coverage (and it would also cover common skin flora that frequently infect surgical wounds). He said "no" since the "proper" answer is amoxicillin, but the principles (pathogens, antibiotic spectrums) and key concepts from basic sciences and general anat are still intact with me and I came up with an answer that makes good sense clinically. That's what's ultimately important in practice to get good results and help your patients, so I'm definitely fine with that.

 

[GymMan]

Hi, I have been reading the podiatry forums for about a month now and i'm sure that it is what I want to pursue. I have sort of a wierd question and i mean ABSOLUTELY NO DISRESPECT about this question.
1. Being focused so much on the lower extremity or surgery on the lower extremity, how much information do you retain about general medicine/physiology of all of the organ systems and general internal medicine after you've been out of school/rotaions for a couple of years? i know that many different diseases etc. can affect the foot but how much do you remember about other diseases and physiology of the body?

I know this is kind of a wierd question but i've been wondering it for awhile

thanks a lot

Hi. I haven't read this whole thread but I'm curious if you were asked to defend your choice what you'd say. Why specifically would you choose to, out of the blue, be relagated to the lower body when you could be a physician (making more money most likely) and address the entire body? If you like lower leg (for whatever reason) you could focus on this in primary care or even as a foot and ankle doc in Ortho surg doing bunion surgery or corn removal, etc. (and earn a ton more than most DPM's in Ortho groups do). Just wondering. I can't really defend my choice if I did this as well. I'm not sure I can get into Ortho surg ever, so it may be a case of tiering down to find my place also.

 

[GetnMyFtNtheDor]

please understand that medicine is not about "tiering down". First, know that a podiatrist is a physician who focuses on the foot. Second, know that there are a lot of aspects to the foot, and podiatrists handle the majority of them. Primary care and orthopods will often refer complicated cases to podiatrists.thirdly, most of your posts seem to deal with the money aspect and insurance reimbursements. So, please note that podiatry is procedural, so yes, there are big bucks to make in this field...but, medicine is about so much more than income. Please keep that in mind.

 

[GymMan]

please understand that medicine is not about "tiering down". First, know that a podiatrist is a physician who focuses on the foot. Second, know that there are a lot of aspects to the foot, and podiatrists handle the majority of them. Primary care and orthopods will often refer complicated cases to podiatrists.thirdly, most of your posts seem to deal with the money aspect and insurance reimbursements. So, please note that podiatry is procedural, so yes, there are big bucks to make in this field...but, medicine is about so much more than income. Please keep that in mind.

No, I realize this. But being so far in debt now it's hard to look objectively at it. I need to pick a field that I can both do (or be selected for AND successfully do the work to pass classes, residency, boards, etc.) AND earn as much as possible while tolerating the day to day job.

 

[GetnMyFtNtheDor]

I understand the part about being objective. However each field is what you make it. I would say that healthcare professionals (MD,DO,DPM, DDS, OD, etc) in general is low risk. I think the riskiest is going a homeopathic route. Podiatry is pretty safe
.

 

[MaseratiGT]

 

[MaseratiGT]

I think I can remember things better if I mentally link the information to a dirty mnemonic.

 

[spooge]

I have to see things to learn them, so, I always try to picture what I need to remember on Selma Hayek's chest. But not with too much cleavage. You dont want to forget what you are trying to remember because you got lost thinking about her ta tas.

 

[PJAG]

I have to see things to learn them, so, I always try to picture what I need to remember on Selma Hayek's chest. But not with too much cleavage. You dont want to forget what you are trying to remember because you got lost thinking about her ta tas.

Great strategy!....i'll be using it for sure.👍

 

[jonwill]

Hi, I have been reading the podiatry forums for about a month now and i'm sure that it is what I want to pursue. I have sort of a wierd question and i mean ABSOLUTELY NO DISRESPECT about this question.
1. Being focused so much on the lower extremity or surgery on the lower extremity, how much information do you retain about general medicine/physiology of all of the organ systems and general internal medicine after you've been out of school/rotaions for a couple of years? i know that many different diseases etc. can affect the foot but how much do you remember about other diseases and physiology of the body?

I know this is kind of a wierd question but i've been wondering it for awhile

thanks a lot

You're absolutely right. You lose what you don't use. It is difficult going from a general medical education over the first few years to a more focused one in the last few years. The fact of the matter is that you do forget a lot. However, in residency, you do a lot of other rotations and you quickly remember it. And you learn a TON on rotations like medicine, ID, gen surg, vasc surg, etc. I spent nearly half of my first year medically managing patients on other services. I am leaps and bounds above where I was as a student though it did lay a good foundation. I am currently on the ortho trauma service but in the last three days, have spent time working patients up for a GI bleed and acute renal failure.

I'm sure that down the road, as I don't use a lot of this stuff, I'll lose it. But I'll retain some of it which is ultimately more than I knew before! As medicine is now more than ever a profession of specialties and sub-specialties, this can be said for all of us. You'll be an expert in your field and that's about it.

 

[kmyprimeval]

LOL...my roomate and I came up with this: Oh oh oh, to touch a fine vagina gives Victor a hard-on (olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, hypoglossal)

 

[allenmarchallo]

LOL...my roomate and I came up with this: Oh oh oh, to touch a fine vagina gives Victor a hard-on (olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, hypoglossal)

I used a similar analogy when I took A&P....

 

[MaseratiGT]

We should turn this thread into "Tips for Memorizing."

Here's my next addition:

FLAT PiG

Anterior Pitutary Gland Hormones

Follicle Stimulating Hormone
Lutenizing Hormone
ACTH
TSH
Prolactin
ignore
Growth Hormone

😀

 

[HenryH]

These are some catchy mnemonics! 👍

In podiatry school, do students just formulate their own mnemonics and other memorization techniques, or is there some sort of "collection" that students have access to (this is what I've heard)?