Reading is still fun

I'm so glad that I was able to complete med school in Canada. In particular, that I was lucky enough to do so at a time when the schools have a pass/fail system.

It means that this column is completely foreign to me. I have never felt the need to hide in my books for fear that I will fail out of med school. Well, moments of terror the night before exams, but not often enough that my partner would have to consider chinese take out in front of the TV for ten minutes a "date".

While I know it makes things a bit more difficult to distinguish candidates from one another during CaRMS based solely on our ability to complete an exam, it allowed me to take part in many political, social and research based extra curriculars. If I had been so inclined, I could have joined some of the many intramural teams my classmates were part of. By removing the grades from our transcripts, we were allowed to develop as people and future leaders while learning medicine. I'm not sure I would have been able to get more from the classes if I had been forced to spend all spare minutes studying.

Instead I studied what I felt was most relevant or interesting and went back to pick up more as I reviewed for exams, clerkship, electives and the MCCQE. Trying to drink from a fire hose of information has never worked for me. Most details are lost on me this way and I just end up feeling stupid and wet.

There is so much to learn when we decide to pursue medicine; physiology, anatomy, pharmacology, pathology. I think one of the most important things I've learned is how to find the information that I need to help my patients in a timely manner.

This system prepared me well for residency. I still take "sips" of information in my spare time, preparing for rounds or formal teaching, reading up on a case that I've seen that day or will see tomorrow, looking up things that I never really got around to learning in my medical degree. The knowledge sticks because it is quickly applied to real life situations. I don't feel a need to run and hide from my books because they ruined the past four years of my life.

At least this is what I tell myself when I'm reading at 4 in the morning instead of sleeping like a normal human being.