Med students like to complain? :P

Another blog entry from Medscape: Is Your Med School Perfect?

Kendra Campbell -- I’ve noticed on campus that I frequently hear people complaining about one thing or another related to our med school. People complain about things like the staplers not be refilled quickly enough, the cadavers not being taken care of properly, professors not writing fair questions, and there being too many students on campus. It seems like some students are always complaining about something. In addition, it appears that no matter what the complaint actually is, many students always end their rant with, “well, what can you expect from a Caribbean school?” or “well it is Ross University.” Why are some people always unhappy about something? And why do they blame it on the school, even when it’s something like other students not taking care of the cadavers?

Personally, I rarely complain about anything. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely had my complaints here and there, but in general, I don’t really think there are that many problems here. And more importantly, when there is a problem, I don’t necessarily see it as the fault of the school, nor do I blame it on the fact that this is a Caribbean medical school. I mean, if someone doesn’t refill the staplers the second they’re empty, does that really reflect poorly on the school? Sure, there are some issues that are definitely in the school’s purview, but isn’t that a part of life? If I walked into an Ivy League medical school right now, would I find all the staplers filled to the brim, the cadavers in impeccable condition, and every professor perfectly designing test questions and without any faults? Somehow, this seems very unlikely to me.

Obviously, my school has its faults, but I don’t see any good reason to randomly complain about it all the time. If there really are important issues, they should be properly brought to the attention of the administration. And does it really make sense to automatically blame everything on the fact that our med school happens to be Caribbean?

I was talking to a student the other day, and she had previously attended one of the top medical schools in the U.S. She had to leave because of personal reasons, and she ended up deciding to come here to finish her medical education. She was telling me how our campus is absolutely amazing compared to the U.S. school, and that we are way more technologically advanced. I think a big problem with the complainers is that they have never actually been to another med school, so they don’t really have anything to compare it to. Is it possible that the dissecting tables are just always shinier on the other side of the campus wall?

I’d love to hear from all of you on this topic -- whether you attend a top-rated med school, or one that’s not very well known. Does your med school have a lot of problems? Do students frequently complain about one thing or another? And do they always blame it on the school, no matter the true cause? Or does your med school happen to be perfect?

__
Quite true, I guess it is inherent to every student to complain. We almost complain about everything. Lahat napapansin natin, mga questions na binibigay sa exams, pati mga pagkain sa canteen pinupuna.
So what do I complain about our medschool? Nothing much really, only some profs who doesn't teach well. Oh yeah, I really hate it when we take exams in the Anatomy lab.. The smell is bothering during the exams, it's hard to concentrate. I guess un lang. My other complaints doesn't really affect the whole student body anyway. hehe

maybe fewer exams? :P hhaha

"No Med Student is an Island"

Early this morning, I came across this article from Medscape Blog

No Med Student Is an Island

Ali Tabatabaey -- For most of the X-generation robots attending med school during our times, life is about day-to-day patients, disease, prescriptions, discussions, and the whole thing all over again. Not many of us dare to disclose our human emotions, and even if we do have such feelings, it’s something we hold to ourselves for those lonely moments when no one is around to see. And so the real tragedy of being a med student unfolds: the lonely human, facing a world of emotions!

It seemed like a normal shift, checking on the patients, organizing the files, writing notes, going to the interns’ room to rest, seeing your colleague crying her eyes out…

“I’m sorry. Did I bother you? I’ll come back another time.” It was like being shocked with 10000 volts of electricity. She’s one of those disciplined interns who do the job and leave out the accessories, hardly losing her frown while at work. I was stunned.

“No. Thanks, I’m ok. I have to get back to work anyway.”

“You don’t look OK. You can go home if you like, I’ll cover for you.” And I’m one of those people who just can’t keep their nose out of people's business! “Is there anything I can do? I might be able to do something if you tell me what’s wrong.”

“Have you seen the patient in room 9?”

“Yes.” A 2.5-year-old girl who has spent the last 10 days in a coma. 12 days ago, she came down with a fever and vomiting. Her condition deteriorated by the minute, and now she is brain-dead. It was probably viral encephalitis or a complicated tumor, but no one knows for sure. Her family has not allowed further investigations. “What about her?”

“She came in a couple of months ago with a febrile convulsion. She wasn’t my patient, but I remember her clearly. She was a beautiful girl, bending down the side of her bed. I walked in and called her a naughty girl!” The stream of tears running down her face refused to be controlled by the pathetic attempts made by the wet tissue in her hand. “Is she really dead now? How could she turn like this in two days? We probably missed her diagnosis the first time.” Frustration, anger, sorrow and many more emotions flooded her. I was muted by the enormous emotions overwhelming her. I had nothing to comfort her. “Why her? Why so fast? Isn’t there any hope? Isn’t there any justice?”

The truth is that the girl is in fact dead, at least as far as the neurologist is concerned. There is nothing we can do except to keep her body alive. The story had become more tragic now that I knew a bit more about her, but still there was nothing we could do. We had been beaten by a virus. My fellow intern knew all this too but … In such times of hopelessness, we need someone stronger to hang on to. All I could think of was praying at the holy shrine. Maybe this way she could calm down a bit. She accepted.

I guess all of us X-generation robots attending med school still have a touch of humanity deep down inside. No matter how rock solid we try to be, the so-called everyday events around us are so powerful, that just when you least expect it, they will push you over the edge. One day we will all break into tears. It’s just not the same day for all of us.

Two days later, room number 9 was empty again.

First Year Med.. coming to an end.

"time really flies" But this year was the longest year of my life! Just 10 months ago, I was enrolling for medicine, which was also the longest enrollment I had in UST. And now, we have just finished our first comprehensive exams! 2 weeks full of exams! whew! What an experience!

My blog has been left in the dust for quite some time. Only got to update it just once every month or maybe no update at all. It was really hard not to be able to write. And I'm getting rusty already! All these exams full on ABCDs.. full of medical terminologies.. memorizing.. analyzing.. it's draining my creative juices! Although we had some little creative activities in med, but they were not quite enough. And doing these creative fun things in just a little time and being paired with exams, how can we squeeze out our creative juices! :P

So here comes summer.. what am i going to do, without anything to study.. anything to read.. anything to highlight.. :P guess I have to open some of my books this summer and keep on reading! hahah just joking! Well, i have no definite plan yet, but I really want to work. Keep myself busy! I'm currently eyeing on this English tutoring job, online. Found some in JobsDB.com I was also eyeing on medical transcription. At least its quite related to my course. C'est la vie! Or maybe just enjoy bumming throughout the summer! :P Definitely i have to lose weight!!! minus 1000cal off my diet to lose 2 lbs per week! That's Biochem for you! :P Oh well..

Now.. I'm bored...

LiveScience.com: "iPods Help Doctors Recognize Heart Problems"

article originally posted in LiveScience.com

Doctors can greatly improve their stethoscope skills and therefore their ability to diagnose heart problems by listening repeatedly to heartbeats on their iPods.

Previous research has shown that the average rate of correct heart sound identification by physicians is 40 percent.

In a new study, 149 general internists listened 400 times to five common heart murmurs during a 90-minute session with iPods. After the session, the average score improved to 80 percent.

Proficiency with a stethoscope—and the ability to recognize abnormal heart sounds—is a critical skill for identifying dangerous heart conditions and minimizing dependence on expensive medical tests, said lead researcher Dr. Michael Barrett, clinical associate professor of medicine and cardiologist at Temple University School of Medicine and Hospital. "It's important to know when to order a costly echocardiogram or stress test," Barrett said.

Barrett believes the skill of learning heart problems is best learned through intensive drilling and repetition, not by traditional methods, usually a classroom lecture or demonstration in medical school and then on the job.

"You don't build this proficiency by osmosis," Barrett said.

--
My take:
Wow! That's nice. It really is true. Both seeing and hearing clinical applications would really make it easier for medical students to more or less understand these things, aside from just memorizing everything from the book. And also let's not forget the applications of the things we have learned. ;) Seeing, hearing, and doing, not one less. As quoted by Dr. King in one of his lecture on the Special Senses Physiology: "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand."

The Motley Fool: "Apple is only maker that couples insanely great design with insanely great service"

This article is originaly posted from MacDailyNews
The whole article is published in The Motley Fool

"Look, I like a decaf venti latte with a splash of cinnamon as much as the next Fool. But I can also easily live without it. Don't ask me what I'd do without my MacBook Pro," Tim Beyers writes for The Motley Fool.

"And I'm hardly alone. Enter any of Apple's beautifully designed retail stores, and you'll see firsthand the crowds clamoring for gizmos. Teens camp out by the iPods. Dads inspect the video gear. And geeks like me are set up by the MacBooks, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the iPhone," Beyers writes.

Beyers writes, "Indeed, if there's anything that proves the Mac maker's superiority in this contest, it's the iPhone. Starbucks may be able to charge $3.50 for milk and coffee, but Apple has the audacity to charge $600 for a phone."

"Why can't others do the same? Because Apple is the only electronics maker that couples insanely great design with insanely great service," Beyers writes. "No, really. When you buy from Dell, you're buying a PC. Wait a few days, and it'll be shipped to you. Have a problem? Call Geek Squad or the creepy neighbor who waters his lawn at midnight and who knows something about computers. Or, worse still, wait on hold for 30 minutes to get help by phone."

"When you buy from Apple, chances are you're doing it at one of more than 170 of its retail stores, which, at last count, are outperforming both Tiffany and Best Buy in sales per square foot," Beyers writes. "And if you have a problem? Head back to the store to get personal service from one of Apple's specialists, called Geniuses. Don't underestimate this advantage, Fool."

----

My take:

No doubt about it. But that makes Philippine's PowerMac Center an exception in giving good service to Apple users here. Wonder why Apple gave them such privilege... at least they're not the only apple service center in the Philippines. There are iStudio and Ynzal. ;)

Full Course Exams!!!! :D

Pre-Finals weeks just ended :D yup, it was Pre-finals from March 12-16th :D I must say that March is an Exam month for medical students :D Just last March 8, 2007, we had our Gross Anatomy Grand Practicals! Yes, it was GRAND! Everything that we dissected from the start of the school year, we took it up again, in ONE practical exam! It even coincided with our NeuroAnatomy Practicals. The Grand Practical was a "fun" experience hehe. Doing it the first time, was nerve-racking but also a little exciting. Yes, i'm weird, but it was a nice experience. I didnt even know what to study for the grand practicals. There were 6 stations, 5 items to identify in each station, giving you only 2 minutes to answer. It was hard. The muscles were ROCK hard.. it was hard to identify them. The organs were deteriorating, the stomach didnt look like a stomach anymore. The nerves looked like muscles already, the blood vessels too. It was a nice new experience!

The next day, March 9, 2007, we had our Histology Grand Practicals. Just like Anatomy's, only in microscopes! We have to identify 30 slides too, 4 5 seconds for each slide!!!! Nerve-racking again! What was even scarier was that this will serve as our Pre-finals exam! Unlike Anatomy, the 30 points in the Anatomy grand practical is part of the FINALS exam.

after that, Pre-Finals Week! Everything we took up during the fourth shifting period. Which is lighter. This week is done. It's the Appetizer! hahah

For the FINALS week... EVERYTHING we took up from the start till the end of the school year. All in one exam, for everything subject! Physiology, Anatomy, NeuroAnatomy, Histology, Biochemistry, and Psychiatry. the Main Course of the Exam Month. Hope we can get through this week. Grabe, i can't imagine myself trying to "cram" everything, reading them all over again, from the very start. I guess this is the test of memory recall, how much have retained throughout the year. It's like a mini-revalida for us!

And this doesn't end there. There is a dessert! The last of the series of exams! The COMPREHENSIVE EXAM, on March 26! This is like taking the boards, all the subjects we took in first year in ONE exam! Sounds like fun huh!?

So.. i guess EXAMS are really part of a Medical student's life! We live for studying and exams!! :D

PLDT is getting into my nerves....

our telephone line that is being used with our DSL is out of service.. no dial tone, no DSL.. :(( this is the second day..

called PLDT yesterday and today to follow up the repair of our line.. And still NO LINEMAN... ang kupad talaga ng PLDT.. argh.. i have yet to download the powerpoints of the lab conference for review for the finals.. arghhhh!!! files are big, and they're sloooooow to download using dial up.. what to do.. what to do...

anyway, enough of that.. baka lalo lang akong maging hypertensive hahah

Pre-finals week was ok. I'm pretty satisfied with the scores that i got. the SCOFYL exam was hard... really hard... esp the anatomy part... argh.. and speaking of Anatomy... i'm not sure how i faired in that exam... hoping to pass it.. argh...

anyway, Biochem exam was easy, most of the questions asked were already given during the quiz, with some modifications :D I did well :D i deserve a pat on my back hahah Physiology was hard, but i did get a good score ;) Neuroanatomy was the hardest! But it was quite interesting. Though i had a hard time answering the questions esp the Cases part, it was interesting, trying to analyze the signs and symptoms given, and deducing which part of the brain had a lesion, which side, which artery etc. And thank God, i did ok in the exam :D hmm parang gusto ko na din mag Neuro specialty hahaha although Onco is still my choice hehe ;) maybe brain oncology? ;) i wonder if there really is a neuro-oncology specialty :D or sub-sub specialty :P