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!
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