Meeting Patch Adams M.D.

Although I am in the middle of cramming renal and GI physiology, I decided to take a few hours off tonight to go see Dr. Patch Adams. He happens to be an MCV/VCU alumnus if you didn't know that already. You may have seen the movie and noted what a beautiful campus he attended. Unfortunately that was not MCV, that was UVA. Apparently the MCV campus was too urban and slovenly to be featured in the movie (but hey it's home, right?). Admittedly, UVA does have a gorgeous campus, however I would argue that we practice medicine waaaayyyyy better.

Anyway, it was definitley worth my time. It was without a doubt one of the most provocative, creative, and inspiring talks I have ever heard. I decided to purchase both of his books ( yikes! when will I have time to read them?) and yes, that is me and Dr. Patch Adams pretending to pick our noses. Maybe laughter is the best medicine. I was laughing so hard taking this picture that I forgot all about the upcoming exams.

Now for a little Q&A. Maybe I can actually stay on top of it this time.

1) You bet your ass I was Phi Beta Kappa

2) Don't take too seriously what I said about the competitiveness of med students. Yes, everyone wants to do well, some more so than others. However, at least in my school, this is not a curved system. By acing an exam, I am not preventing anyone else from also acing an exam. It's not like the first day of Ochem when they tell you that only ten percent of the class can get A's. Here, if everyone aces the exam then everyone gets honors. That being said, there is still an element of competition in that, inevitably, there will be a rank order. Depending on specialty preference and other various reasons, class rank may be very important to some people. But it is not to the extent that they would actively try to push others down (UCSD pre-med courses, anyone?). Everyone is very friendly, very helpful, and very cooperative. Many people choose to study in groups, and additionally, parts of the curriculum are done in small groups. For my team based learning sessions in biochemistry, we got a group and an indiviual quiz grade. This is also done in my Foundations of Clinical Medicine group. I have not encountered one soul who was unwilling to help me with anything I needed. From what I can tell, my class is like a mini-community and is very close-knit, protective, and supportive of its members. I have no doubt that lifelong friendships are being formed. As far as professors go, most are willing to bend over backwards to help you achieve your goals and support you in anything you want to do. As one attending put it to me, "You're in the club now", and that is so true. When I failed an exam, I was called in the very next day by the course director, who wanted to express her concern and see if there was any way she could be of assistance to me. Bottom line: Med schools don't choose people that they think can't make it. If they have chosen you, it means that they believe in you, and that they will do everything in their power to facilitate your journey.

3) I feel overwhelmed every day of my life and that is no joke. There is never enough time to get it all done, let alone do other things that I want to do. How do I deal with it? I try to go to bed every night knowing that I made the most out of my day. That's all I can do. I have bad days, good days, and average days, but every once in a while I get one of those supremely satisfying, inspiring, and rewarding days. Those are the ones that I live for. Although the workload oftem seems to require superhuman powers, just remember that you are human. Do the best you can do, and chances are, that will see you through.

Yes, I'm still here....

Hey all!

Sorry I haven't been keep you up to speed......there's just never enough time in the day.

So when we last left off I was just finishing anatomy, and I'm glad and sorry at the same time that it's over. Now we're back in the lecture hall four hours a day and to be completely honest with you I sleep through at least half of it. It was a lot more fun being in the lab even if it was smelly. Since the break, we have completed blocks in Embryology and Behavioral Sciences I, and have started Physiology and Histology. Behavioral Sciences was great, and given my psych background, I got 100% in it without even studying. Yay, at least I'm good at something!!!

Histology is so ridiculously boring that I can't stay awake in it to save my life. The good news is that in this great age of digital media, we don't have to spend hours looking at slides on the microscope. Everything I need to know, for the practical exam at least, is right here on my handy dandy CD-ROM. The class itself is not very difficult, it's just totally mind numbing.
Then there's physiology, and that is a whole different ball game. I used to like physiology in undergrad, but here they just suck all the fun out of it by making it so damn complicated. Trust me on this one: You're only getting half the story in undergrad physio. Believe it or not, I actually failed the first exam and that was definitely a wake up call. Luckily it was not because I'm stupid (I'm definitely not.....magna cum laude.....hahaha), but because I slacked off and underestimated the time I needed to put in. The sheer volume of the material was half my problem. But a lot of it is conceptually very difficult as well. Our second unit on cardiovascular physiology pretty much blew everyone's mind. But luckily I stuck with the program, put in the hours and passed the exam (barely). That brings me to the lesson of the day:

If you are one of those people who study twice a quarter and still get straight A+'s, congratulations. I'm sure that you will graduate with honors and that your parents will be very proud. Unfortunately, the people who are getting A-'s and have better study habits are going to kick your ass in medical school. You have two options. 1)Start working on your study habits now
or 2) Prepare to be very humbled

If you can't tell by now, I was obviously the first type. I came out of undergrad thinking that I was the greatest thing since the advent of microchips ("No, I don't have to study...I'm just naturally brilliant...."). But alas, medical school is full of brilliant people. If you want to shine, you really have to work at it. Currently, I'd say that I'm somewhere in the bottom quartile of my class. Ouch. In order to improve my standing, my study habits are going to have to improve.... a lot. If you're like me, do yourself a favor and start working on them now.

The highlight of my year thus far has been the six week elective I did in anesthesiology. Only one other student and myself were accepted to this elective (yeah, my grades aren't great but at least I shine clinically!), so it was very personalized attention from the attendings and very awesome. One day we got to participate in this airway management lab, where I learned various intubation techniques (on simulation manequins of course), including oral and nasal fiber optic intubation and bronchoscopy. Those fiber optic scopes are seriously the coolest things ever!!! I feel so honored, as a first year medical student, to have been allowed to play with fifteen thousand dollar toys....
Another day we were let loose in the emergency room to practice starting I.V.'s. I feel sorry for some of the people we had to stick three times, but in our defense they were difficult cases. Seriously, it was so much fun. Why can't all of medical school be so fun?

It's been a lot of ups and downs, mostly downs at some points, but my gut always tells me to hang in there and to stick with it. As much as I hate it sometimes, I know that there is nothing else that I want to do with my life. Three people in my class have already dropped out. I can only reason that they had enough doubts about medicine as a career that leaving became a feasible option for them. Although I've been to hell and back this year, personally as well as academically, I have enough faith in what I'm doing that I'm still here. I'm glad. I'm really glad.

By the way, I've been procrastinating for two whole hours now. Time to dive back in to the exciting world of the kidney. Sigh.

Q&A

To briefly (or not so briefly) address a common question.....

Yes, The people in medical school are ridiculously competitive no matter what anyone says. You have to remember that pretty much everyone who successfuly makes it in is an overachieving, driven perfectionist. That being said, maybe it's not so much that they're competing against each other, but that they're competing against themselves. Or both. Probably both. The averages in my class are ridiculously high because a lot of people are just unrelenting gunners. They piss me off sometimes, and make me look bad just because I want to have a life and be a doctor. And I'm not saying my grades are all that bad either. I got an 85 in biochemistry and that was actually below average if you can believe that.

But the important thing to remember is that it's your choice. If having a life is important to you, then you can have it and that's ok. But don't expect to be in the top of your class if you make that choice. There are people out there who are willing to study twelve hours a day. But also take into consideration what kind of specialty you think you might be interested in. Due to the competitiveness of some specialties, you may need to be one of those people who does nothing but study. Since I am personally interested in emergency medicine, psychiatry, and anesthesiology, I feel comfortable making the choice to have a life and knowing that that I probably won't be at the top of the class. I don't need to be. In each of those three specialties, there is pretty much a residency spot for any U.S. medical graduate who wants one.

Based on my research so far, the most competitive specialties are plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, general surgery, and dermatology. For most other specialties, there are actually very high match rates. If you are interested in learning more about different specialties and statistics on match rates, check out http://www.careersinmedicine.org. Look to the right hand side of the home page at "Charting Outcomes in the Match". This website is awesome, and extremely helpful, for now and after you're in med school. Check it out!

Also, since somebody really wanted to know, the lowest GPA I've heard of that successfully got into medical school was 3.3. But, really, when you take all the variables into consideration, who knows? Bottom line: Don't think you're golden if you have a 4.0, and don't sell yourself short or give up if you have a GPA in the lower range. I got into med school with a 27 MCAT, during a year when only 40% of applicants got in. How do you explain that?