This past week consisted of a lot of routine in terms of the academic rhythm, day in, day out. Yet, there were some wonderful highlights that inspired me and have left me feeling very very jazzed about the path I am upon.
Tuesday night, after getting out of anatomy early (yay for dissecting the pancreas!), I studied more, had dinner with Lindsey and then attended a welcome reception for new medical school candidates. Wow! So much fun to talk to the prospective students and answer the questions about Stanford and the interview process. It is still very weird to be on the other side of the medical school interview odyssey, let alone be speaking with aspiring med students who are highly qualified and impressive people that genuinely want my perspective on what makes Stanford Medical School unique. Alex joined me for the event and he was able to chit chat with a variety of applicants.
Alex has really become a part of the med school community. Of all of the significant others amongst my classmates, Alex has met and bonded with more people and attended more events. One of my classmates remarked about how great it is to see Alex around often and she said that she had told him that he is practically a first year, to which he replied that he is, he just doesn't have to do the homework and doesn't have the prestige. I think he is starting to feel connected to a good, enriching community here, just like I am.
On Friday, Alex and I hung out with Megan, Leo, and Liana, playing pictionary, watching movies, and eating DELICIOUS deep dish Chicago style pizza. Such a fun, fun night. We all crashed at Megan's place and then got up early n Saturday for the early bird's Basic Life Support class. The session only lasted a few hours, then the we went out for brunch and picked up ingredients for a chili bake and pumpkin squares before heading back to our house for an afternoon/evening of college football. Alex had a tutoring appointment so Liana and I made our way to our house earlier and started all of the cooking!
Liana is a huge football fan. She helped me with prep work for the meal and then positioned herself comfortably in front of the tv to thoroughly monitor the day's progress. As everything cooked, I worked on homework with the football in the background. The focus of the evening was th Stanford-USC game. In the fourth quarter, when things were getting really close, I stopped doing homework and joined Alex, Aaron (our football crazy housemate), and Liana to watch the events unfold. What a game! What a game! The game went into triple overtime and Stanford pulled it off. They are now 8-0 and we have good odds of being in the PAC-12 championships. So cool.
I spent Sunday at the free clinic, working at the musculoskeletal specialty clinic, and then tutored all afternoon. However, the best part of my Sunday reminded me of the special moments throughout this past week that have served as wonderful reminders as to why I am in the right place and pursuing the right career.
Back on Wednesday, I had a doctor's appointment at a Stanford clinic and after the nurse did the intake, I was greeted by a cheerful fourth year medical student. I told her that I am a medical student also and found out that she is actually going to school in Georgia, but she is here on an elective rotation. She already interviewed at Stanford for a residency program and she was describing the kind of experience she was having. She was excited, inspired, and she was taking advantage of every moment. More than that, she interviewed me with great pose and ease, and that in itself was very inspiring to me. Some day I will be there - on the cusp of residency, at a point where patients will do a double take, wondering whether I'm a student or a doctor, because it is hard to tell.
Then, on Friday, we had a Psychiatry lecture about addition and dependence. As a part of that lecture, we were fortunate enough to have a patient come in and speak with us about the conditions she was being treated for in the hospital. The psychiatrist leading our session interviewed the patient for about 30 minutes as a model of motivational interviewing. Watching the interview was very powerful, but it was a wonderful contrast to the sometimes dull lectures we seem to have on Friday afternoon. No one was dozing off, that's for sure and I feel badly for people who skipped lecture, because it was a great window into a realm of patient care that we have not been exposed to much (as of yet).
Immediately following the psychiatry session, we went off to practice our own motivational interviewing. I had a standardized patient who had tried to quit smoking when she started to notice asthmatic symptoms and subsequently has relapsed somewhat. She was seeking advice about what to do and how to address her worsening symptoms. I only had 10 minutes to talk with her, but it went very well. The whole encounter felt very smooth and questions just seemed to flow naturally. I think I even able to empower my patient a bit which is great! I felt really happy and confident after that interview. I received wonderfully encouraging feedback from my TA, the standardized patient, and my peers about my ability to connect with patient, maintain very attentive listening such that my questions stem directly from information the patient has given me, and that I enable the patient to both trust me and feel very comfortable. Yay! What an incredible end to the week.
Sunday was the icing on the cake! I volunteered at the musculoskeletal clinic and interview 'real' patients ON MY OWN for the FIRST TIME! I had a generous 20-30 minutes to interview the patients and I was completely on my own to do that. I was so nervous beforehand, but it turns out that in just a few short months I have gathered a nice collection of interviewing skills. In addition to interviewing for the first time, I also presented to an attending physician for the first time. Both aspects of my work at the clinic went really well. I was able to gather a lot of information and I communicated it back effectively and in an organized manner. The physicians were all very complimentary of my thoroughness in taking a history and my mannerisms with the patients.
One unique aspect of my time in clinic yesterday was my second patient encounter where my patient spoke only Cantonese and Mandarin and her daughter accompanied her as an interpreter. I had never experienced that before, but it went well and, at the end of the interview, they both thanked me for being so kind to them throughout their visit.
I mentioned that I felt pretty jazzed after Friday's standardized patient encounter, but that sense of enthusiasm pales in comparison to my time in clinic. All of I sudden, I had this image of my future career and the kind of physician and advocate I can be for my patients. The interviewing experience at Arbor was the perfect reminder that I am taking real steps towards becoming a physician and that I am learning a LOT, FAST!
So, even though my weekend went by quickly, I had a great one! I think my heart still races a bit when I think about how empowered I felt after seeing patients and truly contributing to their care.
In closing, I'll leave you all with a quote I heard this week (by Marcel Proust):
"The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new vistas, but in having new eyes."
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Halfway through Quarter #1
As the result of a really great weekend full of football and anniversary festivities, my weekly post is a few days late. Better late than never! :)
Last week was a good one, nothing too notable in lecture, although we did get to cover both sexual history and nutrition/diet in our clinical skills class, which meant practicing having somewhat sensitive conversations with our standardized patients. I felt pretty good about my interviews, at least it seems that I am acquiring some rhythm in the conversation and it all happens more smoothly.
On Tuesday night last week, I attended a Pediatric Interest Group welcome dinner that was very inspiring. The room was packed full of predominantly first-years and a few second-years and we had a panel of pediatricians from Lucille-Packard Children's Hospital (Stanford's renowned children's hospital). These panelists ranged in experience level from long-standing tenure clinical professors to junior residents. They discussed why they went into pediatrics, what they see as unique about their discipline, and what kinds of challenges they have faced in their careers. The instructor of my Pediatric Physical Findings course, Dr. Charles Prober (also Associate Dean of the School of Medicine), was there - he is a pediatric infectious disease specialist - along with his wife who is a pediatric endocrinologist and as the senior physicians in the room, they certainly led the show. They are so jazzed about their jobs and explain that a lot of what is sustaining about a career in pediatrics is the resilience and optimism of their patient population. They spoke about the type of culture that is promoted in pediatrics and the residents highlighted that as one of the reasons they chose that area to specialize in. It sounds as if pediatrics makes a point of considering the whole person not only in terms of how they treat patients but also how they nurture the physicians and other health care professionals during their training and beyond.
I thought it was a wonderful event and the more and more I get connected with the world of pediatrics here, the more I feel like that field could be a very good fit for me. I am still keeping a very open mind of course, but if I do choose that path, Stanford is one of the best places to be for obtaining excellent training in pediatrics.
One large wrinkle in my week involved my catching a head cold, which really ramped up on Wednesday and by the time my Healer's Art course started Wednesday evening (the theme was Grief & Loss), my nose was running so much and I was using up so many napkins that I think everyone thought I was a tad overly connected to the topic. Despite my constant sniffling, the class was a very good one and we were able to discuss how our national culture views grief and loss and how that compares to the medical perspective pertaining to those issues. In small groups, we shared our own loss experiences, what we learned from them and the lessons we want to take from those and utilize in our careers as physicians.
On Friday, after a long day of class, Megan and her boyfriend Leo came over to my house while I cooked some African peanut stew in anticipation of Liana, Nicole, and Liana's sister arriving for some good food and good conversation. We had a wonderfully relaxed evening - we played games, watched Friends, and let ourselves unwind after a very full week.
Saturday was game day! Stanford vs. U. Washington and Stanford homecoming. Alex and I went to tailgate in the early afternoon, watched the game, which was somewhat painful as a former Husky, and then went to dinner with our friends Nick and Laurie (Washington natives - Nick is a friend from high school).
The tailgate was incredible - they had six kegs of beer (funded by an Stanford fraternity alumni group), a huge BBQ, tons of food, games, and a DJ (oh, and a big screen TV to watch the other games going on across the country). Alex and I left the game at the end of the third quarter (Stanford was already up 55 to 14). As we were walking to the restaurant in Palo Alto where we were meeting Nick and Laurie, we kept hearing the classic train sound that indicates Stanford scored - final: 65 to 21. Yowza!
Sunday marked 3 years for my relationship with Alex. We spent the morning walking to a local coffee shop we can reach from our house, midday was consisted of tutoring appointments, and then we had a picnic dinner at a Redwood City park and went to the nearby cinema to watch the new movie 50/50. It was a simple celebration, but wonderful! I can't believe it has been 3 years, but it is exciting and I feel very very lucky to have Alex down here to share in this journey with me.
That's my weekly recap. Hope you all are well!
Happy last week of October!
Last week was a good one, nothing too notable in lecture, although we did get to cover both sexual history and nutrition/diet in our clinical skills class, which meant practicing having somewhat sensitive conversations with our standardized patients. I felt pretty good about my interviews, at least it seems that I am acquiring some rhythm in the conversation and it all happens more smoothly.
On Tuesday night last week, I attended a Pediatric Interest Group welcome dinner that was very inspiring. The room was packed full of predominantly first-years and a few second-years and we had a panel of pediatricians from Lucille-Packard Children's Hospital (Stanford's renowned children's hospital). These panelists ranged in experience level from long-standing tenure clinical professors to junior residents. They discussed why they went into pediatrics, what they see as unique about their discipline, and what kinds of challenges they have faced in their careers. The instructor of my Pediatric Physical Findings course, Dr. Charles Prober (also Associate Dean of the School of Medicine), was there - he is a pediatric infectious disease specialist - along with his wife who is a pediatric endocrinologist and as the senior physicians in the room, they certainly led the show. They are so jazzed about their jobs and explain that a lot of what is sustaining about a career in pediatrics is the resilience and optimism of their patient population. They spoke about the type of culture that is promoted in pediatrics and the residents highlighted that as one of the reasons they chose that area to specialize in. It sounds as if pediatrics makes a point of considering the whole person not only in terms of how they treat patients but also how they nurture the physicians and other health care professionals during their training and beyond.
I thought it was a wonderful event and the more and more I get connected with the world of pediatrics here, the more I feel like that field could be a very good fit for me. I am still keeping a very open mind of course, but if I do choose that path, Stanford is one of the best places to be for obtaining excellent training in pediatrics.
One large wrinkle in my week involved my catching a head cold, which really ramped up on Wednesday and by the time my Healer's Art course started Wednesday evening (the theme was Grief & Loss), my nose was running so much and I was using up so many napkins that I think everyone thought I was a tad overly connected to the topic. Despite my constant sniffling, the class was a very good one and we were able to discuss how our national culture views grief and loss and how that compares to the medical perspective pertaining to those issues. In small groups, we shared our own loss experiences, what we learned from them and the lessons we want to take from those and utilize in our careers as physicians.
On Friday, after a long day of class, Megan and her boyfriend Leo came over to my house while I cooked some African peanut stew in anticipation of Liana, Nicole, and Liana's sister arriving for some good food and good conversation. We had a wonderfully relaxed evening - we played games, watched Friends, and let ourselves unwind after a very full week.
Saturday was game day! Stanford vs. U. Washington and Stanford homecoming. Alex and I went to tailgate in the early afternoon, watched the game, which was somewhat painful as a former Husky, and then went to dinner with our friends Nick and Laurie (Washington natives - Nick is a friend from high school).
The tailgate was incredible - they had six kegs of beer (funded by an Stanford fraternity alumni group), a huge BBQ, tons of food, games, and a DJ (oh, and a big screen TV to watch the other games going on across the country). Alex and I left the game at the end of the third quarter (Stanford was already up 55 to 14). As we were walking to the restaurant in Palo Alto where we were meeting Nick and Laurie, we kept hearing the classic train sound that indicates Stanford scored - final: 65 to 21. Yowza!
Sunday marked 3 years for my relationship with Alex. We spent the morning walking to a local coffee shop we can reach from our house, midday was consisted of tutoring appointments, and then we had a picnic dinner at a Redwood City park and went to the nearby cinema to watch the new movie 50/50. It was a simple celebration, but wonderful! I can't believe it has been 3 years, but it is exciting and I feel very very lucky to have Alex down here to share in this journey with me.
That's my weekly recap. Hope you all are well!
Happy last week of October!
Monday, October 17, 2011
White Coat to Black Dress
Another week begins!
Last week was good and full. Seems to be a trend these days.
What were the highlights?
Monday I had another standardized patient interview where the focus was on practicing gathering information related to the History of the Present Illness and the Past Medical History. I had 7 minutes to conduct the interview and the whole thing went by in a blink! Afterwards I received some wonderful feedback from the patient. He told me that he felt that I easily connected with him and he appreciated greatly how empathic I was. He said that I had a lot of "keepers" and gave me the thumbs up. As my triad stood up to migrate to the next station, I thanked him and he said, "No, thank you!" He proceeded to give me another thumbs up with an accompanying statement of "Really!" under his breath.
That whole experience was wonderful. Not only did I get some really energizing feedback, I also learned a lot. Those sessions can be very overwhelming. Everyone is in performance mode, the setting is very artificial, and we all are desperately trying to remember what we should ask and in what order that sometimes it is hard to actively listen. With practice, I am sure that the whole interview will feel more natural.
Monday evening, I tutored, biked home late, and then worked on more homework.
Tuesday - nothing too exciting happened. Wednesday, I had my Pediatric Physical Findings class which, as always, was quite moving and inspiring. We saw four patients - one baby with an unusual sinus tract beneath the bridge of his nose that had become infected and needed to be drained and then surgically repaired; two siblings with Cystic Fibrosis; and a boy with a recent diagnosis of medulloblastoma (brain tumor). The range of case severity was quite extreme and my rounding group of students met with the young boy last and were privileged enough to hear a very moving description of the journey the boy had gone through in the past few months, as related by his dutiful and loyal father. The boy was obviously depressed, but the pediatric resident who was rounding with us gave him a certificate for letting the students come and see him and he lit up! We saw his smile for the first time and the whole room seemed to brighten a bit. Such a hard situation to be in! His prognosis is uncertain, but it was a bit heartbreaking to feel just a little of the anguish and confusion experienced by that family. The boy had been healthy and vibrant not long before.
From a heavy and meaningful morning, I proceeded to spend my afternoon interviewing another round of medical school applicants. This time I was paired with another rater (a fellow first-year) and we were assigned to the 'group room.' To execute that rater assignment, I was supposed to rate the candidate giving instructions, while my classmate Rachel rated the candidate receiving instructions. Both candidates entered together, and their assignment was to try and communicate as necessary such that the picture in front of the 'receiver' matched the picture in front of the 'giver.' The pictures they had were comprised of simple shapes, but the giver's paper had more detail, so they had 5 minutes to assess what the differences were, the giver had to describe what to draw, and then at the end of that time period they had 3 minutes to debrief and give each other feedback on how the communication went. Participating in this component of the MMI was really interesting. It is amazing how task oriented people could get, where they thought the goal was to get through the whole picture as fast as possible and with the most accuracy, rather than trying to practice good communication techniques. A few people seemed to really understand the point of the exercise, but most let their perfectionist sides come out and then that 'station' in the MMI became a bit more stressful for them.
Thursday was just another day in terms of classes, but in the evening a group of my new girlfriends (Nicole, Jessie, Lindsey, and I) gathered together for fruit, sweets, and wine and took advantage of a rare moment just to unwind, catch up, and connect. It was wonderful and a rare treat in an otherwise very busy week.
Friday was also just another day. After class, several of us went to the nearby Stanford Shopping Center (aka the mall) to look for dresses and other accessories for our medical school formal event which happened on Saturday night. I found myself a nice black dress and some classy bling (earrings) and then Alex and I headed home for the night.
This weekend was a big tutoring weekend for me. I tutored two hours on Saturday, three hours on Sunday, squeezed studying in on either side of the tutoring commitments, but still had a splendid weekend diversion. On Saturday evening, Alex and I met up with 8 of my classmates and a few significant others for a big group dinner at Buca di Beppo (so much pasta!) and then headed to school to board the big charter buses that were taking everyone from Stanford to the San Jose Museum of Art. Moonlighting - the official name of the event (I preferred med school prom) - consisted of 300+ medical students and their significant others browsing the galleries, sipping on wine, beer, or a nice cocktail, eating chocolate fondue, chatting with each other, and dancing! The party started at 9 and went all the way until 2am, although Alex and I caught the earlier bus back (we left at 12:30 instead).
The whole evening was great! Such good, good people and the event was a huge success. So many of my classmates came, as well as a great representation of the upperclassmen. Alex seemed to really enjoy himself - one of my classmates remarked that she felt like Alex was another first-year. He seems to know a lot of people and he has also left most people with a great impression. Aw, shucks, so proud!
Yesterday (Sunday), aside from tutoring and studying, Alex and I managed to concoct some scrumptious things both for breakfast and dinner. Alex made me whole-wheat flaxseed banana pancakes for breakfast and we had butternut squash fries, baked cabbage with mozzarella, and turkey burgers for dinner. Delish!
The weather seems to holding up its end of the bargain for now. Lots of pretty warm, sunny days and the whole week is supposed to maintain that pattern. I don't have many notable things on this week's horizon, although I do have another Healer's Art class on Wednesday evening, so I will probably have lots to say about that in my next blog entry. The academic agenda this week consists of learning about implantation (in Developmental Biology), metabolic disorders with metabolic origin (Genetics), fat metabolism (Biochemistry), the ethics of confidentiality (ethics component of the Practice of Medicine course), the anatomy of the abdomen, and we will continue to breakdown the medical interview even further.
My life has acquired (and maintained) some rhythm and routine now and that is a welcome shift. One month from now I will be back in the PNW for Thanksgiving. Time is flying! I am enjoying it - the people, the academics, and the opportunities before me!
Ever onward!
Last week was good and full. Seems to be a trend these days.
What were the highlights?
Monday I had another standardized patient interview where the focus was on practicing gathering information related to the History of the Present Illness and the Past Medical History. I had 7 minutes to conduct the interview and the whole thing went by in a blink! Afterwards I received some wonderful feedback from the patient. He told me that he felt that I easily connected with him and he appreciated greatly how empathic I was. He said that I had a lot of "keepers" and gave me the thumbs up. As my triad stood up to migrate to the next station, I thanked him and he said, "No, thank you!" He proceeded to give me another thumbs up with an accompanying statement of "Really!" under his breath.
That whole experience was wonderful. Not only did I get some really energizing feedback, I also learned a lot. Those sessions can be very overwhelming. Everyone is in performance mode, the setting is very artificial, and we all are desperately trying to remember what we should ask and in what order that sometimes it is hard to actively listen. With practice, I am sure that the whole interview will feel more natural.
Monday evening, I tutored, biked home late, and then worked on more homework.
Tuesday - nothing too exciting happened. Wednesday, I had my Pediatric Physical Findings class which, as always, was quite moving and inspiring. We saw four patients - one baby with an unusual sinus tract beneath the bridge of his nose that had become infected and needed to be drained and then surgically repaired; two siblings with Cystic Fibrosis; and a boy with a recent diagnosis of medulloblastoma (brain tumor). The range of case severity was quite extreme and my rounding group of students met with the young boy last and were privileged enough to hear a very moving description of the journey the boy had gone through in the past few months, as related by his dutiful and loyal father. The boy was obviously depressed, but the pediatric resident who was rounding with us gave him a certificate for letting the students come and see him and he lit up! We saw his smile for the first time and the whole room seemed to brighten a bit. Such a hard situation to be in! His prognosis is uncertain, but it was a bit heartbreaking to feel just a little of the anguish and confusion experienced by that family. The boy had been healthy and vibrant not long before.
From a heavy and meaningful morning, I proceeded to spend my afternoon interviewing another round of medical school applicants. This time I was paired with another rater (a fellow first-year) and we were assigned to the 'group room.' To execute that rater assignment, I was supposed to rate the candidate giving instructions, while my classmate Rachel rated the candidate receiving instructions. Both candidates entered together, and their assignment was to try and communicate as necessary such that the picture in front of the 'receiver' matched the picture in front of the 'giver.' The pictures they had were comprised of simple shapes, but the giver's paper had more detail, so they had 5 minutes to assess what the differences were, the giver had to describe what to draw, and then at the end of that time period they had 3 minutes to debrief and give each other feedback on how the communication went. Participating in this component of the MMI was really interesting. It is amazing how task oriented people could get, where they thought the goal was to get through the whole picture as fast as possible and with the most accuracy, rather than trying to practice good communication techniques. A few people seemed to really understand the point of the exercise, but most let their perfectionist sides come out and then that 'station' in the MMI became a bit more stressful for them.
Thursday was just another day in terms of classes, but in the evening a group of my new girlfriends (Nicole, Jessie, Lindsey, and I) gathered together for fruit, sweets, and wine and took advantage of a rare moment just to unwind, catch up, and connect. It was wonderful and a rare treat in an otherwise very busy week.
Friday was also just another day. After class, several of us went to the nearby Stanford Shopping Center (aka the mall) to look for dresses and other accessories for our medical school formal event which happened on Saturday night. I found myself a nice black dress and some classy bling (earrings) and then Alex and I headed home for the night.
This weekend was a big tutoring weekend for me. I tutored two hours on Saturday, three hours on Sunday, squeezed studying in on either side of the tutoring commitments, but still had a splendid weekend diversion. On Saturday evening, Alex and I met up with 8 of my classmates and a few significant others for a big group dinner at Buca di Beppo (so much pasta!) and then headed to school to board the big charter buses that were taking everyone from Stanford to the San Jose Museum of Art. Moonlighting - the official name of the event (I preferred med school prom) - consisted of 300+ medical students and their significant others browsing the galleries, sipping on wine, beer, or a nice cocktail, eating chocolate fondue, chatting with each other, and dancing! The party started at 9 and went all the way until 2am, although Alex and I caught the earlier bus back (we left at 12:30 instead).
The whole evening was great! Such good, good people and the event was a huge success. So many of my classmates came, as well as a great representation of the upperclassmen. Alex seemed to really enjoy himself - one of my classmates remarked that she felt like Alex was another first-year. He seems to know a lot of people and he has also left most people with a great impression. Aw, shucks, so proud!
Yesterday (Sunday), aside from tutoring and studying, Alex and I managed to concoct some scrumptious things both for breakfast and dinner. Alex made me whole-wheat flaxseed banana pancakes for breakfast and we had butternut squash fries, baked cabbage with mozzarella, and turkey burgers for dinner. Delish!
The weather seems to holding up its end of the bargain for now. Lots of pretty warm, sunny days and the whole week is supposed to maintain that pattern. I don't have many notable things on this week's horizon, although I do have another Healer's Art class on Wednesday evening, so I will probably have lots to say about that in my next blog entry. The academic agenda this week consists of learning about implantation (in Developmental Biology), metabolic disorders with metabolic origin (Genetics), fat metabolism (Biochemistry), the ethics of confidentiality (ethics component of the Practice of Medicine course), the anatomy of the abdomen, and we will continue to breakdown the medical interview even further.
My life has acquired (and maintained) some rhythm and routine now and that is a welcome shift. One month from now I will be back in the PNW for Thanksgiving. Time is flying! I am enjoying it - the people, the academics, and the opportunities before me!
Ever onward!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
New this week - it does rain in Palo Alto :)
Thank goodness for having a little more space in one's life!
Last week was welcome respite from the craziness of exam week. Classes have been slow to ramp up (sometimes frustrating, but really allows some downtime for brain). On Monday, we had another standardized patient encounter, this time focusing on opening the medical interview and discussing the presenting illness with the patient. We worked in triads (three students at each station, with one standardized patient and one TA or prof). At each station, one of us was responsible for a 5-minute interview, while the rest of the team observed. After five minutes, the interviewer had time to reflect, the TA or prof then provided feedback, then the standardized patient did the same, and finally the remaining students had a chance to point out any other notable features of the interview. I really like these sessions! Although last week we only had one, typically we will have these every Monday and Friday, as we try and hone our skills associated with each portion of taking a history.
Tuesday, we had anatomy in the afternoon, which was fun, as always, but quite the shocker in terms of memory recall having been away from it for a week and a half. After anatomy, I tutored and then was lucky enough to participate in a dinner conversation with a physician from Penn who specializes in pediatric palliative care. We had a round table dinner discussion about palliative care, establishing trust and compassion in the doctor-patient relationship, and how to cultivate professional integrity in the patient encounter, even as medical students. I felt very moved by his comments and I was particularly impressed by how well he can articulate medical information in an open, honest, compassionate, and very tactful manner. A manner which promotes shared-decision-making in medical crisis and end of life situations.
Wednesday, I had Pediatric Physical Findings in the morning in the children's hospital. We were able to round on three different patients - one was a neonate with a rare skin condition known as icthyosis. She was 11 days old and recovering well from a serious, very rare congenital condition. As was true for the previous week, I left that 1.5 hr session feeling inspired and jazzed about medicine. I feel so so privileged to have as many opportunities as I do before me. It feels like I have a million doors open to me, and right now that is almost entirely exciting, not daunting (I imagine the switch between exciting and daunting will be a bit of a roller-coaster over the next 3 years as I try to figure out what type of physician I want to be).
Wednesday evening, I had my first class for the Healer's Art. Oh boy, is this class my cup of tea or what?! We had dinner followed by a large group discussion, then we broke up into small groups and discussed personal strengths we recognize in ourselves that we want to preserve, nurture, and cultivate during our medical training - characteristics we feel are personal assets, but we fear might be muted by the nature of medial school and resident education. Here is a link about this curriculum:
http://www.ishiprograms.org/programs/medical-educators-students/
The class is led by the Stanford Hospital chaplain (a former ER doc) and there are 3 other physician facilitators. Four of my classmates and I are serving as student advisors for the class and this class (comprised entirely of first-year medical students) is the largest in size since the class was first introduced at Stanford in 1990. My classmates are amazing people! I think I knew that before, but sitting in my small group that night, sharing personal stories, reflections, hopes, etc. I was reminded of just how impressive they are and how enriched our little community of 86 medical students really is. Yippee!
Thursday was a pretty average day (although I biked to school in the rain (very reminiscent of the PNW and we were able to dissect the hand in anatomy, which was sooooo cool!). Friday classes weren't very notable either, although we had our first ethics lecture in the afternoon, which quickly reignited my passion for clinical ethics problem-solving. I spoke with the director of the biomedical ethics program after the class and he seemed very enthusiastic about the session and about my potential role in the program in the future. I was all smiles, that's for sure!
Alex picked me up from school on Friday and we ventured to Monterey to visit his grandparents (Jay and Rita) and aunt, uncle, and cousins (Joanne, Tom, Kirsten, and Kyle). We had wonderful home-cooked meals (think tacos, french toast casserole, and homemade veggie chili), went to the Monterey Aquarium, reconnected with my college friend Larissa and her fiance Rob, then had more family time, and more great food.
Today, I trained to give flu vaccines as part of Stanford's "Flu Crew" Program. After training, I am now eligible to help vaccinate Stanford students, faculty, and staff at various events on campus, as well as help vaccinate migrant farm worker populations at an array of farms around San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Monterey counties.
After tutoring, studying, and more studying, here I am! Ready for the next week!
By the way, it is gratifying to know that even just under a month and a half into med school I can begin to problem-solve my way through medical problems and/or questions (when Alex's grandma asked about osteoporosis, I gave her a whole spiel about how the disease develops at the cellular level - it felt good!).
That's all for now - much love to all my dear friends and family!
Last week was welcome respite from the craziness of exam week. Classes have been slow to ramp up (sometimes frustrating, but really allows some downtime for brain). On Monday, we had another standardized patient encounter, this time focusing on opening the medical interview and discussing the presenting illness with the patient. We worked in triads (three students at each station, with one standardized patient and one TA or prof). At each station, one of us was responsible for a 5-minute interview, while the rest of the team observed. After five minutes, the interviewer had time to reflect, the TA or prof then provided feedback, then the standardized patient did the same, and finally the remaining students had a chance to point out any other notable features of the interview. I really like these sessions! Although last week we only had one, typically we will have these every Monday and Friday, as we try and hone our skills associated with each portion of taking a history.
Tuesday, we had anatomy in the afternoon, which was fun, as always, but quite the shocker in terms of memory recall having been away from it for a week and a half. After anatomy, I tutored and then was lucky enough to participate in a dinner conversation with a physician from Penn who specializes in pediatric palliative care. We had a round table dinner discussion about palliative care, establishing trust and compassion in the doctor-patient relationship, and how to cultivate professional integrity in the patient encounter, even as medical students. I felt very moved by his comments and I was particularly impressed by how well he can articulate medical information in an open, honest, compassionate, and very tactful manner. A manner which promotes shared-decision-making in medical crisis and end of life situations.
Wednesday, I had Pediatric Physical Findings in the morning in the children's hospital. We were able to round on three different patients - one was a neonate with a rare skin condition known as icthyosis. She was 11 days old and recovering well from a serious, very rare congenital condition. As was true for the previous week, I left that 1.5 hr session feeling inspired and jazzed about medicine. I feel so so privileged to have as many opportunities as I do before me. It feels like I have a million doors open to me, and right now that is almost entirely exciting, not daunting (I imagine the switch between exciting and daunting will be a bit of a roller-coaster over the next 3 years as I try to figure out what type of physician I want to be).
Wednesday evening, I had my first class for the Healer's Art. Oh boy, is this class my cup of tea or what?! We had dinner followed by a large group discussion, then we broke up into small groups and discussed personal strengths we recognize in ourselves that we want to preserve, nurture, and cultivate during our medical training - characteristics we feel are personal assets, but we fear might be muted by the nature of medial school and resident education. Here is a link about this curriculum:
http://www.ishiprograms.org/programs/medical-educators-students/
The class is led by the Stanford Hospital chaplain (a former ER doc) and there are 3 other physician facilitators. Four of my classmates and I are serving as student advisors for the class and this class (comprised entirely of first-year medical students) is the largest in size since the class was first introduced at Stanford in 1990. My classmates are amazing people! I think I knew that before, but sitting in my small group that night, sharing personal stories, reflections, hopes, etc. I was reminded of just how impressive they are and how enriched our little community of 86 medical students really is. Yippee!
Thursday was a pretty average day (although I biked to school in the rain (very reminiscent of the PNW and we were able to dissect the hand in anatomy, which was sooooo cool!). Friday classes weren't very notable either, although we had our first ethics lecture in the afternoon, which quickly reignited my passion for clinical ethics problem-solving. I spoke with the director of the biomedical ethics program after the class and he seemed very enthusiastic about the session and about my potential role in the program in the future. I was all smiles, that's for sure!
Alex picked me up from school on Friday and we ventured to Monterey to visit his grandparents (Jay and Rita) and aunt, uncle, and cousins (Joanne, Tom, Kirsten, and Kyle). We had wonderful home-cooked meals (think tacos, french toast casserole, and homemade veggie chili), went to the Monterey Aquarium, reconnected with my college friend Larissa and her fiance Rob, then had more family time, and more great food.
Today, I trained to give flu vaccines as part of Stanford's "Flu Crew" Program. After training, I am now eligible to help vaccinate Stanford students, faculty, and staff at various events on campus, as well as help vaccinate migrant farm worker populations at an array of farms around San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Monterey counties.
After tutoring, studying, and more studying, here I am! Ready for the next week!
By the way, it is gratifying to know that even just under a month and a half into med school I can begin to problem-solve my way through medical problems and/or questions (when Alex's grandma asked about osteoporosis, I gave her a whole spiel about how the disease develops at the cellular level - it felt good!).
That's all for now - much love to all my dear friends and family!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
So long mini-quarter
I did it!
I successfully completed my first week of medical school exams. As stressful as this week was, the change of pace was nice in a way. We had mornings off and exams in the afternoon.
First up, we had our histology exam on Monday afternoon. My class was divided into groups of eight and we were assigned a forty-five minute time slot between 1 and 5 to complete the test. We had to identify ten things from five different slides, all in silence - raising our hands and the TAs coming over to confirm whether our attempt was successful. If we were right or wrong, we never new, the TAs merely made a mark on their notepad. After the exam, more studying, some tutoring, then more studying.
On Tuesday, we had our Cells to Tissues exam - 3 hours to complete twenty-two pages and boy was at a tight squeeze. Everyone was there straight to the end. It was quite the exhausting exam. Apparently the professor added an additional question this year because the exam is open note/resource and the 'find' feature on iPads and computers makes finding things easier than normal. Well, 'find' or no 'find' it was a long exam for all of us.
After more studying and more studying, I had my Pediatric Physical Findings class on Wednesday morning. We met in the children's hospital, were introduced to the distinguishing characteristics of pediatrics by Dr. Prober (Associate Dean of Medicine and a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases) and one of the senior pediatric residents. We got a tour of the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), PICU (pediatric), and the normal pediatric floors. We finished our session with a visit to an 11 year old patient with an undiagnosed stomach problem.
I loved that whole experience! Some of the unique things about pediatrics, really unique challenges, drew me in - such as the challenge of working with a patient for whom verbal communication may not be possible, meaning the physician needs to be astute to body language cues and work well with families to get as much information as possible and provide the best care. I do love working with kids, and this class will be a great experience for me to test out how important that patient population is to me.
After that class, I participated as a rater in the Multi Mini Interview for Stanford's medical school admissions process. It took up much of my afternoon but was a very valuable experience for me to be able to see what it is like on the other side of the room. The question I had revolved around the possibility of initiating a preferential admissions process for medical school contingent on devoting 2-3 years at the start of one's career to working in a rural or underserved community. Interviewees were required to explore the pros and cons and discuss the topic from multiple perspectives over the course of ten minutes. I saw ten people and they were very different in the approach and communication style.
I went home after the MMI and studied, studied, studied in preparation for our closed-note Molecular Foundations class on Thursday. Staying up later and studying was increasingly challenging as the week went on because of the stress and strain of studying so much and the two-way (16 mile) bike rides I had been completing each day.
Anyway, after another morning of studying, I took my last exam and WOW, it sure did feel good to check that off the list. There was a keg waiting outside on the lawn for us when we were done (in contrast to the coffee that awaited us after our Tuesday exam). We all hung out, chatted, and glowed with relief. A few of us ventured to the center of campus for some frozen yogurt to celebrate - I was one of them, no big surprise. I tutored a new student in physics for an hour and then met Alex and a bunch of my classmates at a local favorite in Menlo Park - the Dutch Goose. We shared pitchers of beer and some greasy food, including sweet potato fries. I think our energy was quite infectious. We were all so so happy to be done with mini-quarter and the stress level had virtually disappeared. We hardly recognized each other.
Friday morning we had a clas that focused on learning how to give feedback to others and understanding the importance of critical reflection in medicine. In the afternoon, we were introduced to the content of our Practice of Medicine course - we start lectures on quantitative medicine and population health on Monday and we will be starting to deconstruct the medical interview in small groups and with standardized patients.
My friend Carolyn Anderson from UPS, currently studying at UC Davis, came to visit Friday afternoon and we spent the evening relaxing at ur house with a few of my med school friends,
Yesterday was all about enjoying a slow morning, grocery shopping and tailgating for the Stanford- UCLA football game. Alex and I joined some of my classmates for a big tailgating extravaganza. I had never experience this kind of tailgating event but it was so much fun! The game was awesome too. Having never been to a big football game, I was shocked to find myself five rows up from the in-zone (all of the student sections are right by the field and all Stanford students get in free). The Stanford team did amazingly well, I felt proud!
Now, a relaxing Sunday, finally! Hanging with Alex, making banana bread, going to the Farmer's Market in Palo Alto with my friend Lindsey, tutoring, going for a run, making good for the week, etc.
Tomorrow, I start a whole new set of class's, but it will be nice to wind back the dial a bit on the stress-o-meter. For a little while at least.
I successfully completed my first week of medical school exams. As stressful as this week was, the change of pace was nice in a way. We had mornings off and exams in the afternoon.
First up, we had our histology exam on Monday afternoon. My class was divided into groups of eight and we were assigned a forty-five minute time slot between 1 and 5 to complete the test. We had to identify ten things from five different slides, all in silence - raising our hands and the TAs coming over to confirm whether our attempt was successful. If we were right or wrong, we never new, the TAs merely made a mark on their notepad. After the exam, more studying, some tutoring, then more studying.
On Tuesday, we had our Cells to Tissues exam - 3 hours to complete twenty-two pages and boy was at a tight squeeze. Everyone was there straight to the end. It was quite the exhausting exam. Apparently the professor added an additional question this year because the exam is open note/resource and the 'find' feature on iPads and computers makes finding things easier than normal. Well, 'find' or no 'find' it was a long exam for all of us.
After more studying and more studying, I had my Pediatric Physical Findings class on Wednesday morning. We met in the children's hospital, were introduced to the distinguishing characteristics of pediatrics by Dr. Prober (Associate Dean of Medicine and a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases) and one of the senior pediatric residents. We got a tour of the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), PICU (pediatric), and the normal pediatric floors. We finished our session with a visit to an 11 year old patient with an undiagnosed stomach problem.
I loved that whole experience! Some of the unique things about pediatrics, really unique challenges, drew me in - such as the challenge of working with a patient for whom verbal communication may not be possible, meaning the physician needs to be astute to body language cues and work well with families to get as much information as possible and provide the best care. I do love working with kids, and this class will be a great experience for me to test out how important that patient population is to me.
After that class, I participated as a rater in the Multi Mini Interview for Stanford's medical school admissions process. It took up much of my afternoon but was a very valuable experience for me to be able to see what it is like on the other side of the room. The question I had revolved around the possibility of initiating a preferential admissions process for medical school contingent on devoting 2-3 years at the start of one's career to working in a rural or underserved community. Interviewees were required to explore the pros and cons and discuss the topic from multiple perspectives over the course of ten minutes. I saw ten people and they were very different in the approach and communication style.
I went home after the MMI and studied, studied, studied in preparation for our closed-note Molecular Foundations class on Thursday. Staying up later and studying was increasingly challenging as the week went on because of the stress and strain of studying so much and the two-way (16 mile) bike rides I had been completing each day.
Anyway, after another morning of studying, I took my last exam and WOW, it sure did feel good to check that off the list. There was a keg waiting outside on the lawn for us when we were done (in contrast to the coffee that awaited us after our Tuesday exam). We all hung out, chatted, and glowed with relief. A few of us ventured to the center of campus for some frozen yogurt to celebrate - I was one of them, no big surprise. I tutored a new student in physics for an hour and then met Alex and a bunch of my classmates at a local favorite in Menlo Park - the Dutch Goose. We shared pitchers of beer and some greasy food, including sweet potato fries. I think our energy was quite infectious. We were all so so happy to be done with mini-quarter and the stress level had virtually disappeared. We hardly recognized each other.
Friday morning we had a clas that focused on learning how to give feedback to others and understanding the importance of critical reflection in medicine. In the afternoon, we were introduced to the content of our Practice of Medicine course - we start lectures on quantitative medicine and population health on Monday and we will be starting to deconstruct the medical interview in small groups and with standardized patients.
My friend Carolyn Anderson from UPS, currently studying at UC Davis, came to visit Friday afternoon and we spent the evening relaxing at ur house with a few of my med school friends,
Yesterday was all about enjoying a slow morning, grocery shopping and tailgating for the Stanford- UCLA football game. Alex and I joined some of my classmates for a big tailgating extravaganza. I had never experience this kind of tailgating event but it was so much fun! The game was awesome too. Having never been to a big football game, I was shocked to find myself five rows up from the in-zone (all of the student sections are right by the field and all Stanford students get in free). The Stanford team did amazingly well, I felt proud!
Now, a relaxing Sunday, finally! Hanging with Alex, making banana bread, going to the Farmer's Market in Palo Alto with my friend Lindsey, tutoring, going for a run, making good for the week, etc.
Tomorrow, I start a whole new set of class's, but it will be nice to wind back the dial a bit on the stress-o-meter. For a little while at least.
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