Aged Dogs, Novel Tricks, and Pap Smears (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Med School)
Halfway through October and where the heck has the time gone? I'm on week seven of first year, with one midterm under my belt (yes, it went pretty well, couple of stupid mistakes though...thank god for Honours/Pass/Fail...I'm pretty sure I nailed a solid Pass. Though honestly, x-linked dominant traits do NOT pass from father to son, I don't care what the freaking answer key says.), I met my second PBL group today (are there any uncool people in this class? Seriously. Oh god, I'm such a suck.), and I'm nearly done my first shadowing experience. By which I mean the practice part of my family practice course (four office visits in this semester, everything else is seminars and stuff. Ick.). It's been an interesting run, and really, though it started off really well, I've gotta say, I've been a little disappointed recently.
Let me recap. My preceptor is wicked cool and has this amazing habit of throwing us into things and picking our brains as we flounder around in a sea of medical possibilities. It's great, it's enthralling, it's exhilerating, it's kept me so far off balance that I'm willing to try anything, to say anything, because my comfort zone just stops existing about half an hour into each session. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I gave my first shot (B12 supplement. I literally had to throw the needle into the muscle, just like a dart. Skin is freaking tough, I bounced the thing of the guy's arm on my first try.), I performed my first pap smear and bimanual exam (I think I went into shock for a short while after that one. A woman I'd never met had just let me do WHAT now? I tell you, there's nothing quite like having your fingers buried in a stranger to snap your decision to go into med school into focus. Comfort zone? What's that?), I looked at eardrums, down throats, and into eyes. I was learning stuff! I was thinking on my feet and interacting with patients who were more than willing to contribute to my education! I was having more fun than I've ever had in my whole 17 prior years of education!
Then my preceptor left to go to New Zealand. I shadowed his locum last Tuesday. She's a great doctor, smart, funny, easy to talk to. We had some great conversations and I learned a lot conceptually, but it wasn't the same kind of learning. I was very passive with her, sitting back while she talked to the patients. I got to observe some cool stuff (suture removal, radiograph reading, and a breast exam spring to mind), but I wasn't contributing to my learning at all. I wasn't making the connections and coming up with the hypotheses, and I didn't get nearly as much out of it. My role was very much nod and smile, say hi to the patient, shake their hand, and then take lots of notes.
It's funny, a month ago, if you'd asked me, I would have said that was the best way for me to learn. In the past I've never been very hands-on. I hated labs. I never wanted to practice the concepts I absorbed. I was very much a lecture-oriented person. I hated being thrown into new situations and having to rely on my knowledge and skills because, frankly, I had no conviction. One of my teachers here in med school says that people learn best when they're off balance and a little uncomfortable. The first time he said that, I was very sceptical: honestly, all those years of school, I think I've learned what works best for me. Thanks but no thanks, I'll sit back and observe. The more time I spend in this field, though, the more I believe him. It's nice to know that, no matter how set I am in my habits, I can adapt. It's good to think that maybe I made the right choice in coming here (I won't pretend there haven't been times I've questioned that choice). Now if I could only get this waking-up early thing down...
In other news, my mother cooks a mean turkey, my best friend's ex is an amazing dancer, and I'm sending my love to two of my three sisters (what the hell, I'll send it to all three, but only two of them need it).
Let me recap. My preceptor is wicked cool and has this amazing habit of throwing us into things and picking our brains as we flounder around in a sea of medical possibilities. It's great, it's enthralling, it's exhilerating, it's kept me so far off balance that I'm willing to try anything, to say anything, because my comfort zone just stops existing about half an hour into each session. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I gave my first shot (B12 supplement. I literally had to throw the needle into the muscle, just like a dart. Skin is freaking tough, I bounced the thing of the guy's arm on my first try.), I performed my first pap smear and bimanual exam (I think I went into shock for a short while after that one. A woman I'd never met had just let me do WHAT now? I tell you, there's nothing quite like having your fingers buried in a stranger to snap your decision to go into med school into focus. Comfort zone? What's that?), I looked at eardrums, down throats, and into eyes. I was learning stuff! I was thinking on my feet and interacting with patients who were more than willing to contribute to my education! I was having more fun than I've ever had in my whole 17 prior years of education!
Then my preceptor left to go to New Zealand. I shadowed his locum last Tuesday. She's a great doctor, smart, funny, easy to talk to. We had some great conversations and I learned a lot conceptually, but it wasn't the same kind of learning. I was very passive with her, sitting back while she talked to the patients. I got to observe some cool stuff (suture removal, radiograph reading, and a breast exam spring to mind), but I wasn't contributing to my learning at all. I wasn't making the connections and coming up with the hypotheses, and I didn't get nearly as much out of it. My role was very much nod and smile, say hi to the patient, shake their hand, and then take lots of notes.
It's funny, a month ago, if you'd asked me, I would have said that was the best way for me to learn. In the past I've never been very hands-on. I hated labs. I never wanted to practice the concepts I absorbed. I was very much a lecture-oriented person. I hated being thrown into new situations and having to rely on my knowledge and skills because, frankly, I had no conviction. One of my teachers here in med school says that people learn best when they're off balance and a little uncomfortable. The first time he said that, I was very sceptical: honestly, all those years of school, I think I've learned what works best for me. Thanks but no thanks, I'll sit back and observe. The more time I spend in this field, though, the more I believe him. It's nice to know that, no matter how set I am in my habits, I can adapt. It's good to think that maybe I made the right choice in coming here (I won't pretend there haven't been times I've questioned that choice). Now if I could only get this waking-up early thing down...
In other news, my mother cooks a mean turkey, my best friend's ex is an amazing dancer, and I'm sending my love to two of my three sisters (what the hell, I'll send it to all three, but only two of them need it).
posted by Keltok at 1:31 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah, the whole thrown into it off-balance thing does help you learn a bit, because you learn by trial and error. Getting it right yourself is memorable - and mistakes when it matters are equally memorable.
I was at an interview for BBBS, and they made me do things like state my opinion on illegal drugs, what makes porn porn, and what constitutes child abuse. I came up with some decent answers, I suppose. It was interesting, though - I had never tried to put my stance on that into 4 sentences or less before. Even that was a learning experience, and I was just picking things out of my own head, not trying things out on another person with no controlled variables in sight.
It's almost a relief to be challenged, eh? Some stuff is supposed to be hard, or you won't appreciate its value.
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