Some notable parts of my week occurred on Wednesday. Turns out that at Stanford, Wednesdays are meant to be our 'off day.' We don't have lecture, but somehow the days just fill up. In a couple of weeks, our electives start and many of them take place on Wednesday. I am always so ready for Wednesday, because I convince myself that it will function as a bit of a mid-week reset. It does have a different pace, and for that I am grateful. Nevertheless, the day fills rapidly. This past Wednesday, I participated in a training to be an MMI rater (multi-mini interview), which means I will be contributing as an interviewer for the first set of medical school applicants on September 28. I am so excited! I think it will actually be quite therapeutic to begin to reformulate my association with the simulation floor in the medical school building (being on the other side of the interview process might make the ground floor a little less intimidating).
Funnily enough, immediately following that training I made my way directly for the ground floor of the med school building to the very rooms where I had been interviewed in February. I had not been down there since then and it felt a little eerie. The reason for my being down there was for my first patient encounter. Several of my classmates were there as well (ten in total) to complete our 'baseline' encounter in which we interviewed a patient without having received any instruction or training interview skills, how to take a history, etc. I was a bit terrified and the interaction I had was by no means a masterful interview, but I survived and so did the patient. It felt weird to be walking into an exam room, clipboard in hand and wearing a white coat, awkwardly shaking my patient's hand with my hands still wet from the hand sanitizer I was instructed to use upon entering the room. We had a great debrief with some older medial students afterwards and we could all move on with our days without the mystery of the baseline patient encounter looming over our heads.
The rest of the week went by fairly quickly. The intensity and density I have been mentioning repeatedly still held true this week, although I think I am less surprised by it. The reality of medical school is settling in a little bit and I am adjusting quite well - I think.
Friday, I spent the morning at the Medicine 2.0 conference that was hosted at the medical school. The speakers focused on issues related to how technology and social media are shaping the doctor-patient relationship and altering the patient experience. I found it fascinating, although the conference setup felt like being at a rock concert or a laser show. They took the technology theme way too seriously I think (the whole thing started about 30 minutes late because they were having some issues with the special effects). I only could stay for a short period before heading to my literature discussion group and histology lab, but I did get to meet a few really cool people (including an ER physician who spends portions of her year as the doctor for National Geographic expeditions - CRAZY! Sign me up!).
Yesterday was Alex's birthday and we had about 8 of my medical school classmates over for margaritas, a pinata, and other birthday festivities. I even had the chance to devote an hour to coming up with a baked concoction for his dessert (peanut butter-dark chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies with homemade applesauce to cut out some of the butter and fat). Everyone had a great time and I think Alex really enjoyed having the chance to hang with people our age. Plus, I think we did a good job of making Alex feel like 22 is the new 21 (see evidence below). :)
Now, I am readying for another busy week. This week is my last week of classes for mini-quarter. It will consist of quite a bit of review time, a vital signs workshop, and a dinner with my faculty mentor.
The week of the 26th is all exams and then I start new classes on October 3rd. It is unreal that this my fourth week of class, but I look forward to seeing how all of the material gets pulled together.
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