2nd Year Med

This time last year I wrote about my experience in 1st year, so I thought I would do another post about 2nd year.

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this year particularly being able to build on the knowledge and skills we learned in 1st year. I absolutely LOVED learning all the procedures (cannulation, catheters, skin lesion excision, intraosseous needles, intubation, etc). We certainly had a lot of fun in our clinical skills labs! I took LOADS of photos this year in our clinical classes, some of which are quite memorable!

I was very lucky again to be placed with the most awesome group of people for PBL! Everyone was so supportive of each other and so knowledgeable! We had no issues the entire year and worked really well together, often doing study groups and extra sessions here and there. I will really miss these guys as most of them are going to different clinical schools to me. But for those staying in Sydney I will at least get to see them on our 'back-to-base day'. In addition to the other students in my PBL, our tutor was fantastic! He was so inspirational and was such a great teacher. I learned so much from him.

This year I wasn't overly stressed and got into the swing of things very early on. It feels like just yesterday that we were starting 2nd year! I stuck to my goals of doing broader reading (which really helped!) and cracked open the textbooks much more often. I paid more attention to PPH and PPD - I don't think I could have passed the exams without spending the time in those areas. Unfortunately I was not so great at applying myself in the clinical skills area -- I didn't really practice all year except in the clinical skills sessions and towards the end of the year! But I managed to pick up my game in time for exams.

Towards the end of the year the stress of it all hit me pretty hard. One minute I would be really relaxed and fine and the next minute I would be panicking about not knowing enough! I got it together though and found a happy medium, knowing from 1st year that it is never as bad as it seems!!

So what did I do well this year?
- Continued with my weekly summaries but this time did them on computer and printed them out. There was way too much to have time to handwrite! I did a table of every disease we covered this year with its pathophys, pathology, clinical picture, treatment and prognosis and this really helped!
- Took time off to (try to) relax and made sure that I had other interests outside of med
- Did lots of PPH and PPD study


What shall I do better next year?
- Keep practicing CCS skills
- Read, read, read, read, read!!!!!!


Next year will be different, being in the hospitals. I'm not sure how that's going to go! I'm sure I will be saying, "I have no idea" a lot next year, but I am quite comfortable with that! I know I will be laughed at regularly, but I'm there to learn so I will do my hardest to absorb everything and anything.

This time last year I also commented on what specialties I liked the sound of...

I am still loving the idea of physicians training or GP... My major favourites are:
- Oncology
- Palliative Care
- Haematology

I still have a big interest in emergency medicine as well.


I repeated the Medical Specialty Aptitude Test -

I'm not surprised about #1, #2 or #3... Glad to see Med Onc at #13!

Phew!

Exams were about 2 weeks ago and I am thoroughly enjoying having a life again!! It's really nice to just be able to sit back and relax to do even the simplest things like watching a movie or going to the park without feeling guilty that I should be studying or feeling stressed that I'm 'wasting time'.

The dogs are having an absolute ball going to the beach regularly and spending lots of time with me. It's so nice to be able to just hang out with them all day!





I haven't written about the exams yet because some people deferred their exams until early next year and we have been asked by the uni not to say anything about our exams. They were fine though and I haven't received notice that I need to sit the supplementary exams, so that means I've either failed miserably or passed! I don't think I bombed the exams, so I'm pretty comfortable thinking that I am now a 3rd year! Woooh!

I can't wait to get into the hospitals next year! It's going to be great!

Finished!!!!!!!

WOO HOO!! No more exams for 2nd year!!!!!

I'll write more later about how exams were and about the year as a whole... For now - I am going to bed. I don't plan on waking up for at least 12 hours... :)

So the year is over... again!

I can't believe it. We've finished all our classes for this year, which means I am officially half way through my medical degree. WOW.

Let's just hope I can keep enough of it in my head for our exams in a week so that I pass!! One minute I'm feeling okay... The next minute I'm freaking out. It's an emotional roller coaster and I will be very happy to get off!!

The study coma begins.

I'm still alive..

So I haven't dropped off the face of the earth - I'm still here! It's been so long since I wrote anything but I've just been incredibly busy!!

In the last month the following things have happened -

1. Jedi had his first obedience trial, which we bombed in. Well, that's a lie - he did really well (90/100) except he broke in his down stay so ended up with a fail. I would bet my life on his stays, but for some reason he got up that day. *sigh* So we were so close to a pass and 4th place... Our next trial is next weekend.

2. Ahsoka got her Australian Championship for Conformation. Go Soaks!

3. We had Rural Trauma Week at uni which I was really looking forward to. I shouldn't have. We largely spent our time (two full days!!) listening to lectures on emergency management of trauma (ABCDE) and got not one, but TWO lectures on envenomation! I certainly know what to do when I'm presented with a snake bite! :P Thankfully the final day of scenarios made up for all the sitting around in the lecture hall. It was great fun and the rural GP tutors and ED specialists were all excellent!

Here are a few things we did...

Intraosseous Needles (on chicken bones)... That was fun!

Chest tubes


LOTS of ABCDE practice.


4. I've begun my study coma... Exams are in 4 weeks and I am freaking out!! If it weren't for clinical skills I would be feeling fine and dandy, but they've really raised the bar this year and I really hope I pass!! No longer are we expected to "just" know the respiratory examination, or the neurological examination, but we are instead expected to perform an examination to diagnose a specific disorder or illness (e.g. tension pneumothorax, congestive cardiac failure, alcoholic liver disease, etc). That means we need to know ALL the clinical signs for ALL of the illnesses we have studied this year (and last year). Joy. I've passed all the recent formative OSCE's but I just really don't want to have to sit a supplementary or at the very worst repeat 2nd year!

5. I ran in the 9km Bridge Run and managed a PB km time of 3 minutes!!! Wooh!

Meanwhile don't be surprised if I drop off the face of the earth again until after exams. Trying to keep up with study, attending uni, training the dogs and photography is almost impossible at the moment!! But once exams are done I have 3 months off to do whatever I like... The first day will be spent lying in bed all day watching DVDs. Bliss.

Project 365: September

Project 365: August

First for Life

I have always wanted to donate blood, but a fear of fainting has always stopped me. The first few times that I had a blood test, I felt dizzy and blacked out, so I always avoided blood tests. After attending ED after a car crash one year, I had blood taken by an amazing doctor who made me feel completely at ease. That was the first time I had no ill-effects. Since then I haven't had a problem and so I gradually built up the confidence to go and donate blood. I booked in to go with a few other med students and off we went! No turning back! In the end it was not as bad as I had imagined... Mind you, having a 16 gauge needle sticking out of your arm is a little weird... But it hardly twinged when it went in and the nurse I had was absolutely brilliant. I have to say, the free hotdogs and milkshakes are also a bonus! So, this donation will be the first of many to come from me. I plan to book in for another donation in 12 weeks time... If you don't donate already, I strongly encourage you to consider it, if you're eligible.

Best Day!

I had the best day today...

Woke up and immediately received cuddles from the puppies who are always very happy to see that we are awake! Managed a 30 minute sleep-in and still arrived at uni for study group 20 minutes early!

Study group was a success and I feel like we were quite productive in our revision for end of year exams. This followed by even more productivity in the clinical examination rooms practicing cranial nerve and musculoskeletal examinations. It all went really well, so the plan is to do similar revision sessions every Friday until exams.

Meanwhile, I was supposed to return to my running program today for the first time since C2S, but the dogs thought it was too hot to run further than a km or so, so we went for an hour power-walk instead. I topped this off with a 30 minute spin session (averaging 35-40km/hr).

The best part about this day is that I don't feel like I've been slack or lazy and have crammed as much as I can into the day as possible! I usually feel pretty shit at the end of the day, mostly because I've procrastinated so much that I've got NOTHING done! So today is a nice turnaround. To top it off I just had a lovely hot shower and now I'm off to watch SYTYCD with the pups over dinner.

The perfect day!

Race Plans for 2009

After my surprising result in City2Surf this year, I have decided to enter a few more fun runs to keep up the momentum. It's difficult finding runs that fit in my schedule, but I've managed to find a couple that suit.

Sunday 20th September, 2009
Blackmores Running Festival
Distance: 9km (Bridge Run)

Sunday 1st November, 2009
Balmain Fun Run
Distance: 10km


Next year the runs I have flagged are...

August 2010
City2Surf
Distance: 14km


September 2010
Blackmores Running Festival
Distance: 21km (Half Marathon)


September 2010
Triathlon Pink - All Female Triathlon Series
Distance: 200m swim/6km ride/2km run (medium length)


I am disappointed that I won't be able to compete in the Women's Triathlon (fundraiser for breast cancer) this year, but I have Jedi's first obedience trial and two conformation shows to take Ahsoka to that weekend. I'll definitely be doing it next year though - I have wanted to do this for a few years!

Meanwhile, I am finally feeling back to normal so I'm hoping to go on my first run since C2S on Friday morning. I can't wait to get back into training but my body needs some down time! Next week I'll be getting my new runners so that will make a world of difference. I hope I can find a suitable pair!