things you hear when talking to people who usually wear scrubs or jeans

student 1: epic wipeout on my way in for interview, sprained my finger and probably my ankle
student 2: oh no! Is your suit OK?

student 3: Gah! I can't believe they want us to eat this breakfast! All I can think is "don't spill on the suit".
student 4: Maybe they're watching us - like a test in dexterity ...
student 3: Thank goodness I don't want to be a surgeon.

student 1: how the hell can I be expected to walk in these shoes!!?!?

student 4: teeth check! any breakfast left?

conversations you wouldn't hear in a law school

Our classes run on a weird schedule compared to the rest of campus so we can be almost guaranteed to have the washrooms to ourselves during break.

student 1: are you peeing?
student 2: yes, but a little number 2 as well, just a warning
student 3: oh good! It's about time for you to finally poo!

More med apps I like

iMurmur 2:
"Your Guide to Heart Sounds". Offers a reference to review the heart sounds you can expect to hear when patients present with specific conditions. The sounds are subtle, like in real life, and to my naive ear, sound realistic. It tells you where to expect to hear the murmur best and at what point in the cardiac cycle. You need to use it with your headphones for best effects. Descriptions of the pathophysiology are included. It's been useful when preparing for my OSCE and trying to remember what kind of murmur I should be looking for with specific conditions. I will never be an expert murmur hunter so it's nice to know that I have this to help me determine what I'm hearing when listening to a patient's heart.

Easily worth the:$4.99

General Medical History
This was a goofy app. I must have been desperate when I downloaded it. It starts with "Greet patient: shake hands and eye contact".
Really?
Shocking.

There are some basic ROS questions that I sometimes forget but I haven't used this since my first week on CTU. I actually forgot it was on my iPhone.

But, it's free.

PALS Advisor:
Pediatric Advanced Life Support, for dummies.
Pick the problem in front of you. Neonatal Resusc? Got it. Brady or Tachy? Asthma? Tox? Anaphylaxis?
All there for you

Then it walks you through the steps to get the kiddo back from the white light. It provides you with a series of algorithms to help you make the choices you need to make until the child returns to a state where it can be left with just the Peds Nurse.

It's fun to work through scenarios on my own then compare them to what the PALS advisor would do. The format is incredibly user friendly and every scenario I've wanted to play with has been available.

if you plan on doing pediatrics, family or emergency medicine, worth the $4.99

Physical Exam Essentials
The history with this app is a bit more helpful than the one mentioned above.

For each aspect of the physical exam, the app goes through the general principles, clinical correlate, special tests and presentation tips. It also includes relevant photos.

My favourite "general principle" suggestion is in the breast and axillae section:
"Avoid using words that may be misinterpreted as inappropriate such as 'looks great' or 'looks nice'. ..."

Really?

Anyway...

This app does cover most of the exams I needed to perform during clerkship (if not all). It includes the following categories: hx, general survey, skin and nails, HEENT, thorax and lungs, breast and axillae, CVS, PVS, abdo, male genitalia and anus, same for female, mental status exam, cranial nerves, neuro.

more than worth the $2.99

Back to Class

It's shocking to us how tiring it is to be back in classes for hours at a time. Some folks are here for 9 hours of class per day, no breaks. Gah.

After 2 hours, I fuzz out and have a difficult time concentrating on what is going on at the front of the class room. For example, right now I am in class. Half the class is reading the newspaper (on their laptops or paper versions), the rest are sometimes paying attention to the lecturer.

The OSCE last night went well enough. One of the downsides of being involved as heavily as I am in curriculum and the medical community, is that my examiners were all people I know from outside class. It's one thing to humiliate yourself in front of strangers, but another all together to do so in front of people you have been working with as a colleague for four years.

This morning I had my first residency interview. One of the out of province schools came to us to interview which is wonderful. I get to save money on a flight out there to apply, though, I have dumped all my out of province offers. Applying in the first place was terrifying and I was sure that I would be the person in the class who didn't get to match because I let the interviewing committee know that I'm just an impostor and don't really deserve to be here. Then I got interviews everywhere I applied. Not everyone did though so I realised that I really was a competitive candidate.

I've decided to save my money from the flights and go south on a cheap vacation while the rest of the class continues their interview tour around the country. This had the dangerous effect of making me feel *too* comfortable in my interview and talking quite loosely rather than following any sort of clear plan when answering questions. I hope I'll stay competitive anyway.

I feel a strong draw to the oceans of the Maritime provinces. There's something magical about practising medicine on the coast. The hospitals in the small communities are run by family doctors with other specialities acting as consultants only. This seems like real medicine to me. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman real medicine. I would be able to learn an enormous amount of medicine in the short two year residency.

When the rank list is due, I'm going to have a very difficult time choosing how to rank my choices.

OSCE tonight

It seems so unfair. We've gotten this far, I know how to use a stethoscope. It makes me think they want to make sure we don't really screw up.

What I should not do if I want to past my OSCE tonight:
call my female patients sir
put my stethoscope on backwards
forget to wash my hands
fart
call any patient sweet heart or dear
ask the Pt to remove their underpants to do a head and neck exam
use my reflex hammer to accentuate all points I make
sneeze in my patients' face
say "whoa, that ain't right" loudly when looking at a patient's belly
suggest pregnancy be on the differential during the geriatric station
forget to ask for the vitals
wear jeans and a t-shirt
tell the patient they're wrong
forget to FIFE

maybe I'll pass after all...