September 2011
5 posts
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an open letter to med school.
Dear med school,
There are a lot of things I’ve sacrificed for you. I’ve given up sleep in favour of seven-thirty ward rounds and the excitement of having fifteen doctors ignore me every morning. I’ve said goodbye to normal relationships, finally acknowledging that not only do these need time, but most intelligent people recoil at tales of surgery gone wrong and how you scored...
4 tags
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my journey.
I recently became involved in a young people and technology research project, and we had a workshop where one of the tasks was to reflect upon how and why we became involved with the organisation.
So, this is my journey.
It’s hard to pick a point where my story really begins. The defined point would be the first time I cut, but I know that wasn’t the first time. It was the insomnia...
August 2011
3 posts
8 tags
med school and loneliness.
On my first day of clinical placement, I met a patient who was going to die. I found myself speechless. What do you say to a patient resigned to his own fate? To a patient with rapid-onset cancer and for whom living months longer than his prognosis is his achievement? Are there words for such a situation?
On my second day of clinical placement, the intern I was with made a MET call for a patient....
6 tags
the hard truths of med school: i'm no superman.
Firstly, let’s play homage to the ultimate cliche—I have referenced the Scrubs theme song in a post about med school.
Med school is competitive. You’re ranked according to your performance. You’re constantly compared to your colleagues and studying becomes a matter of keeping up with the standards rather than learning medicine because you want to be a good doctor or...
July 2011
9 posts
9 tags
doubts and med school.
Anonymous asked: Hi! Your blog is really awesome, I spent the whole morning poring over it, just so you know :) I’m supposed to be geared up for med school, and reading your blog comforts me a lot, since I have grown increasingly doubtful of my position as a pre-med student for the past few months.
I’m still having those doubts, though. I can’t get rid of the thought that...
5 tags
the real med school.
Med school isn’t about the grades or the assignments or even about strutting around with a stethoscope around your neck playing pretend doctor.
It’s the afternoons spent eating m&ms and reading DamnYouAutoCorrect in the computer labs (that’s for you, mushrooom). It’s the breaks spent in the clinical labs with your friends, working out the nicest, politest, most...
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something to never forget.
Remember this when you’re struggling in med school and your grades aren’t what you want them to be and things pretty much suck: everyone in the hospital wants you to succeed.
Your tutors and seniors and consultants aren’t out there clapping their hands with glee every time you take a hit. They aren’t laughing every time you fall into bed at one am, almost crying from...
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good days at med school.
You know you’re having a good day when not one, but several patients compliment you on your outfit.
Now, only if that were examinable material.
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sage advice.
From a patient during ward rounds: “Now, don’t you go to too many discos this weekend, girls and boys!”
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reasons why my little sister is awesome.
Me: [insert bad joke here]
Little sister: That's humourous! [points to her radius]
Me: [cracks up lauging]
Little sister: [looks confused]
Me: That's not your humerus!
She gets brownie points for trying. And it totally made my day.
6 tags
help-seeking and med school.
Okay, storytime. When I was fourteen, my best friend tried to kill herself.
I was the one that she called right before she did it. I didn’t do anything. I sat and waited and hoped for the best, but I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know what to do.
It’s easy to say that I was only fourteen and that maybe I can be forgiven. But I regret it almost every day. (For the record,...
Anonymous asked: Why did Izzie Stevens cut Denny Duquette's LVAD wire?
June 2011
8 posts
5 tags
the different types of pre-med you will meet
The lovely caristeenaaa pointed out this website to me, and I think you should all go and check it out. After all, it’s a parody of the different sorts of pre-med students and who doesn’t enjoy mocking stereotypes?
The Different Types of Pre-Med You Will Meet
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confessions (you are not your degree).
Up until recently, when introducing myself, I would almost inevitably say Hi, my name is JD and I’m a med student. And then whoever was listening would ask me polite questions about my course and my year and the things that people generally ask about medicine. Even in high school, people knew me as the girl who was going to do medicine (apart from my history teacher, but that’s a long...
6 tags
people you meet in hospital: the stereotypical...
The pathologist is a bit of a mystery—you know that the hospital has a pathologist (someone has to write the path reports, right?) but you’ve never actually seen him.
Wrong. You have.
He’s the unassuming-but-formally-dressed man scurrying down the hallways, most likely wearing glasses. He’s always in a rush and walks with his head down, a quiet talker who seems almost...
4 tags
the irony of medicine.
No matter how sick you are, if you’re supposed to be at the hospital, you will turn up and pray that you don’t infect any immunocompromised patients.
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the many faces of med students: the one you...
It’s bound to happen. Spending ten hour days with the same people over and over and over again—you start seeing them differently. Some will have tiny quirks that eventually drive you mad, while you’ll inevitably warm up to others a little too much. There won’t be any distinct turning point; one day there won’t be any awkward feelings, and the next—the next day...
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things i've gained from med school.
A coffee addiction.
The inexplicable ability to race up four flights of stairs in order to keep up with the consultants on ward rounds, but the inability to climb a flight of regular stairs without getting very short of breath.
A respectable head nod in the corridors from surgeons I’ve met, but who have no recollection of my name or where they met me.
A constantly-changing speciality....
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things not to do in med school.
Drunk text your colleagues.
Wish the surgical fellow luck on getting into the surgical training program he’s already graduated from.
Annoy the nurses.
Not ask any questions.
Walk into the toilets of the opposite gender. (I think this one applies to life in general.)
Laugh at patients, especially if you’re laughing at their “adiposity”.
Claim that you...
6 tags
what i learnt about medicine (and life) from a...
I was at the bus stop today (cool story, bro) and this guy started talking to me, as you do when you’re a sociable fellow with half an hour to spare. He told me about his life, and hitchhiking, and travelling with monkeys in Southern Africa, and swapping booze and party drugs for massages (he’s a qualified masseur, or so he said) at festivals.
Maybe he was making it up. But the...
May 2011
24 posts
4 tags
you know you're a med student when...
You know you’re a med student when eight pm rolls around and you’re trying to justify going to bed.
Sleep would be incredible right about now.
theonlyfearisfearitself asked: You should really get into plastic surgery!! from my experience as a plastic surgery patient (pediatric one) I think they do fantastic jobs! I had to have a Craniotomy with included my plastic surgoen giving me stitches from ear to ear across my head. May I say I still have my long blonde curls 6 weeks since surgery :) they really seem like they do a good job and inspired me to become a nurse when...
4 tags
the best thing about senior doctors.
The best thing about senior doctors is that they can afford to shout everyone coffee. And who doesn’t love free coffee?
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Me: I keep getting bruises all the time... I must have leukaemia. That's the only possible diagnosis.
Mom: At least we know you don't have haemophilia.
Me: Unless I had some really messed-up genetics...
Mom: You could call it HERmophilia!
Anonymous asked: What colour are your scrubs?
jacobrohde asked: You go to Med school, what do you plan on doing when you are finished?
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make mistakes in med school.
Answer questions incorrectly. Say stupid, ridiculous ideas in your PBLs. Be willing to make a fool of yourself. Volunteer to take the patient notes and be corrected a million times by your seniors. Confuse osteoporosis and osteopaenia.
Every mistake you make now is one less mistake you make when you’re actually a doctor and when your decisions actually matter. We learn from our mistakes.
zemc asked: Hey Mrs. Med Student... i only recently started following you so i dont know if you have already touched on this but what are your "credentials" :P what uni? what year? current future specialty (i know we all change this every week but im talking right as you read this what r u thinking about??)??
--- for me: im a 1st year at UNCLE so of course being a first year wanna be a...
--- for me: im a 1st year at UNCLE so of course being a first year wanna be a...
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why we do this.
Thirty contact hours a week. Constant exposure to infectious disease. Hours spent walking on ward rounds, holding charts and trying to stay out of the consultant’s way. Coming to terms with the words “terminal illness” and “palliative care”.
But we do it anyway. We study hard and go to hospitals and then spend more time studying.
Because it’s worth it....
6 tags
be thankful for your health.
Can you imagine waking up one day and being completely short of breath, unable to even walk to the bathroom without gasping for air?
Can you imagine being a young woman in the prime of her life, suddenly crippled by a stroke and being stranded in hospital for indefinite periods of time?
Can you imagine finding yourself alone in a hospital with no family and friends to visit you, and only the...
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the many faces of med students: the sharply...
Seven-thirty am ward rounds. The perfect excuse to rock up to hospital bleary-eyed and in your least formal formal clothing, all while clutching a cup of coffee to your chest and praying that you remembered to brush your hair and your teeth before leaving for the hospital.
Unless you’re the sharply dressed med student that always (regardless of time, place, or rotation) makes sure that...
4 tags
you know you're a med student when...
When you have a day off and your first thought is “maybe I should go to the hospital and try and clerk a few more patients instead.”
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things that med school ruins.
Number one: any medical-based television show.
In hospital, elevators aren’t actually magical places where you find yourself stranded with your hush-hush lover. Staircases are not the hallways of deep and meaningful conversations. Your seniors, no matter how attractive you are, will not enjoy your romantic inclinations. Surgeons do not form empathetic relationships with their patients, and...
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the many faces of med students: the highlighter...
Her lecture notes are enough to induce an epileptic fit, they’re that colourful. And every single word on the page is highlighted—in three colours, no less. Instead of a pen, she carries around her favourite highlighter attached proudly to her ID badge. Her love affair with the adorable doesn’t cease with raindow-adorned papers, though—her list contains smiley faces next to...
4 tags
theme hospital. →
Why study medicine when you’re qualified to run a hospital and to cure fictional dieases?
6 tags
the many faces of med students: the proactive one....
Ward rounds are over, and you’re studying in the common room (read: surfing YouTube and watching parodies that aren’t really contributing to your studies at all). Do you know who isn’t in the common room? The proactive one. They’re off clerking patients, cannulating patients, catheterising patients, or, if nothing else, they’re actually studying (most likely in the...
6 tags
patients tell amazing stories.
Next time you’re on the wards and you want something to do, go talk to a patient. No, don’t take a history or perform an examination, actually talk to them.
They will tell you everything you need to know about being a good doctor. Learn from the mistakes that other doctors have made with them. Ask them what they want from health care.
For some people, all they want is to be heard.
Anonymous asked: do you think it's easy to balance a family and a career as a doctor/surgeon? Or do you think it's easier to choose?
5 tags
the number one rule of med school.
Never be rude to anyone. It’s okay not to like someone, but a good attitude and a simple “good morning” in the common room goes a long way.
Remember: the people you meet in hospital now will be your colleagues in ten years’ time. Respect that.
6 tags
patients are people, too.
“Never forget that patients are real people and not just part of your job”
Advice received from a cardio patient.
Anonymous asked: I'm thinking about pursuing medicine as a career, but I'm worried that I'm not smart enough to be accepted. I'm currently in Australia too, and have heard and read that to get into med school straight out of high school, you need to have received an OP 1. Is this true? And if so, without having an OP1, would you have to enter med school as a postgraduate?
Thanks...
Thanks...
April 2011
67 posts
Anonymous asked: not med related, but just out of complete curiosity, are you male or female?