The Medical Thread

[SoEnchanting]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Thank you! All I know about medicine I learned from ER.

LOL! I WISH that's all I had to know.

That is the #1 question I am asked... "Is it anything like "ER"/"House"/"Grey's Anatomy"/insert random medical show here?" and the answer is NOPE! But it's still pretty cool most of the time.

[Kappamd]

I originally thought I wanted to be a vet.....too bad I'm allergic to pretty much anything that has four legs.
I'm studying for the MCAT now and applying to medical schools this summer. I'm pretty nervous and feel like I have no idea what I'm doing or how the whole process works, so if anyone has any advice about ANYTHING....

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

I originally thought I wanted to be a vet.....too bad I'm allergic to pretty much anything that has four legs.
I'm studying for the MCAT now and applying to medical schools this summer. I'm pretty nervous and feel like I have no idea what I'm doing or how the whole process works, so if anyone has any advice about ANYTHING....

Good luck to you!

[SoEnchanting]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

I originally thought I wanted to be a vet.....too bad I'm allergic to pretty much anything that has four legs.
I'm studying for the MCAT now and applying to medical schools this summer. I'm pretty nervous and feel like I have no idea what I'm doing or how the whole process works, so if anyone has any advice about ANYTHING....

Oh man those days seem like they were just YESTERDAY! I guess my only advice at this point for you is to study hard and apply EARLY. A lot of my premed friends waited until the last minute, and I think it hurt some of them when interview time came. On the other hand, I came out pretty well and I do believe some of it came from being the "early bird".

And, since you brought it up, I have comment on the fact that you wanted to be a vet. Medical school, or the medical field in general really, is way too difficult and insane to be a back-up profession! I know vets who get allergy shots and use nasal sprays for their allergies. If that's what is truly in your heart you should do it. I hope that didn't come off the wrong way. Just some food for thought...

[Kappamd]

SoEnchanting,

No worries.....the vet idea was many MANY years ago. I've wanted to be doctor for a long time. I think the mere PREPARATION for medical school would have scared me off a long time ago if it wasn't what I truly wanted. Thanks for the advice though.

[SoEnchanting]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

SoEnchanting,

No worries.....the vet idea was many MANY years ago. I've wanted to be doctor for a long time. I think the mere PREPARATION for medical school would have scared me off a long time ago if it wasn't what I truly wanted. Thanks for the advice though.

LOL I definitely understand. There are so many hoops you have to jump through to get to medical school (and even more once you get in), it's amazing what we put ourselves through for this. It's worth every hardship though, if service and medicine is truly what fulfills you. Feel free to send me a PM as you get closer to application and interview time if you have questions. I'm going to assume if you've gotten to this point you've already done your research/teaching/clinical exposure/volunteering/etc. Right now you just need to study study study! Best of luck to you.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

I originally thought I wanted to be a vet.....too bad I'm allergic to pretty much anything that has four legs.
I'm studying for the MCAT now and applying to medical schools this summer. I'm pretty nervous and feel like I have no idea what I'm doing or how the whole process works, so if anyone has any advice about ANYTHING....

I was told by the med school admission's dean that you should read the "top matter" to JAMA and NEJM for the last 3 years. You should know current events from your newspaper--especially the government health issues, i.e. insurance, new drugs, better treatment options. And if you have not done experiences in a hospital or similar, you need to do them, ASAP. So, when you do get an interview, you have a discussion.

[BigRedBeta]

<rolls eyes> Oh shelf exams...how I wished you asked questions actually related to something I learned in the preceding 8 weeks...

SoEnchanted, have you taken the shelf for Family yet? Talk about ridiculous. I spent 8 weeks in clinic in a small town in rural Nebraska, where I felt like I learned a lot, only to have about 15 hematology questions!

What clerkship are you on now?

[SoEnchanting]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

<rolls eyes> Oh shelf exams...how I wished you asked questions actually related to something I learned in the preceding 8 weeks...

SoEnchanted, have you taken the shelf for Family yet? Talk about ridiculous. I spent 8 weeks in clinic in a small town in rural Nebraska, where I felt like I learned a lot, only to have about 15 hematology questions!

What clerkship are you on now?

Funny you say that! I JUST finished FM right before the holidays. That shelf was AWFUL for everybody, including myself! The average NBME score across the national was lower than I remember other exams, so at least it wasn't just us.

I'm on Internal Medicine now, and praying for a miracle...

What are you on now?

[BigRedBeta]

Originally Posted by SoEnchanting

I'm on Internal Medicine now, and praying for a miracle...

What are you on now?

I'm on Medicine right now too - inpatient at the VA Hospital finishing up week two of six. We have a phenomenal lecture/socratic seminar series during the course of our 12 weeks on medicine so I've learned a lot just by being in class the last two weeks. I'm not particularly worried about the IM shelf as our class as a whole (at least during first semester) is averaging a whole half standard deviation higher than the national average.

[SoEnchanting]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

I'm on Medicine right now too - inpatient at the VA Hospital finishing up week two of six. We have a phenomenal lecture/socratic seminar series during the course of our 12 weeks on medicine so I've learned a lot just by being in class the last two weeks. I'm not particularly worried about the IM shelf as our class as a whole (at least during first semester) is averaging a whole half standard deviation higher than the national average.

That is awesome! I wish I could have a lecture to supplement everything I'm learning in the hospital and at clinic. Our Medicine rotation is 8 weeks, so there's a slight time crunch, too. What are you using to study, besides lecture notes? I quit Harrison's like 2 days in, and am now just reading FA & doing MKSAP.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

<rolls eyes> Oh shelf exams...how I wished you asked questions actually related to something I learned in the preceding 8 weeks...

SoEnchanted, have you taken the shelf for Family yet? Talk about ridiculous. I spent 8 weeks in clinic in a small town in rural Nebraska, where I felt like I learned a lot, only to have about 15 hematology questions!

What clerkship are you on now?

Did they have any "throw out" or "experimental" questions? My husband got all kinna crazy questions on 2 different board exams. So don't be shocked with the dumbshit...

All my tests were oral and I had to defend my ideas, which sucks in my life.

[BigRedBeta]

Wow, that is unfortunate not to have any lecture at all. I thought that everywhere had at least some lectures while on Medicine. Just seems like there's way too much information to learn while on this clerkship to do it all on your own.

We do 6 weeks on inpatient, 3 weeks of a selective (Pulm, Rheum, DEM, Geriatrics, etc - Cards isn't offered. I'm doing ER at the VA, which isn't a real ER, but it's good for learning bread and butter initial work-up type stuff) and then 3 weeks of outpatient clinic. Our outpatient clinic time is only for a half day each day, the other half being taken up by small group work on high-impact cases...essentially a more challenging PBL session with much more questioning/pimping.

I haven't started MKSAP yet, though I plan to. I've been using Blueprints but a lot of people in my class are using Step Up to Medicine. I personally like having actual text to read rather than just outlines, and blueprints is nice because each chapter/topic is only about 4-6 pages. Kind of depends on what you prefer, but the information seems pretty much the same. Case Files is extremely popular at my school (Nebraska) for all the clerkships.

We do 6 weeks on inpatient, 3 weeks of a selective (I'm doing ER at the VA, which isn't a real ER, but it's good for learning bread and butter initial work-up type stuff) and then 3 weeks of outpatient clinic. Our outpatient clinic time is only for a half day each day, the other half being taken up by small group work on high-impact cases...essentially a more challenging PBL session with much more questioning/pimping.

What school do you go to? What specialties are you thinking about? Where are you hoping to end up for Residency?

[cheerfulgreek]

I was watching Nightline and a few months ago they had a topic about student loans. Some people are going to med school to be doctors just so they can pay off their loans. For some it isn't what they truely want to do for a living. That's sad. School should be free.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a dolphin trainer at a zoo. I wanted to do that for a long time, after I saw a mother give birth to a calf at a zoo. I didn't change my my mind until I got to highschool. That's when I made the decision to be a vet.

[BigRedBeta]

I don't see how going to med school helps the situation...I had zero undergrad debt, and will be at about $170,000+ in the whole when May 2009 rolls around - and I only pay in-state tuition. Private school tuition will usually run you closer to $250k. If you have so much undergrad debt that you need to earn 6 figures to pay it off, it doesn't make sense to add another 150-250k to the total.

On top of that, residency only pays about 44-46k a year in the beginning with small raises in subsequent years (becoming a physician has a real rags-to-riches feel to it sometimes). You're also working 80 hours a week. At my school, with their salary package, that works out to $11.09/hr before taxes.

On a side note, I have an ex-girlfriend who is a third year med student at a different school (Creighton) and her parents are paying her medical tuition for her...I really wish I hadn't screwed that one up.