#med life
VERYSmooth Muscle
i♡histo
Haven’t been here for a while now. Just a quick update: I spent the last 2 months preparing for the licensure exam. I built a study routine and I’ve been studying every day ever since. It hasn’t been easy. I don’t even know what’s after this, but I’ll just try to go through it one day at a time.
I’ve been more active in my study account in instagram. It has been amazing and I’ve found a lot of support from people everywhere. Although, I have to admit that Tumblr still feels very special to me as it contains the rest of my journey from high school to med school. This is still my safe space, and I’m glad I still have this to voice out my thoughts freely.
How is everyone? I hope you are all doing okay
ig:studyingdoc
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Keeping this drive despite the uncertainties of the future. I don’t know when I will become a doctor, but I’ll just try everyday to work towards that.
ig:studyingdoc
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I remember drawing all the branches of the abdominal aorta until its terminal branches back when I was a first year med student. Yet, I can’t seem to master them completely!
ig:studyingdoc
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Going back to biochemistry basics this week really helped me understand the various clinical diseases I’ve encountered throughout med school :)
ig:studyingdoc
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I’m gonna start rotating in the pediatric wards on Monday! I got assigned to Neurology subspecialty so here I am brushing up on some cases I might encounter. I also need to review on neuroanatomy really soon. Wish me luck!
ig:studyingdoc
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I’m done with one month of OB and I’m starting my pediatrics rotation tomorrow!!! I’m honestly excited, scared, and anxious all at the same time. I loved pediatrics back in clerkship and I honestly hope I’ll feel the same way.
I have a lot of backlogs in my asks right now and I’ll be answering them one by one in a bit! Hehe
ig:studyingdoc
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2 weeks down for my Obstetrics-Gynecology rotation! Being on 24-hour duties every three days has been really tiring. Nevertheless, I’m blessed to be in one of the best OB-Gyne training institutions in the country! So so thankful for residents and consultants who go beyond their ways to teach us medical interns. I’ve practiced my PE and internal examination skills multiple times in the ER, labor room, and delivery room. In just a span of 2 weeks, I was able to deliver babies and do episiorraphies while being supervised by my resident. I can really say that there’s never a boring duty shift when you’re in OB! My day is always action-packed and full of pregnant mothers celebrating the beginning of life with their newborns.
ig:studyingdoc
I love writing notes. I actually enjoy the process of summarizing pages of textbook information and ending up with a concise few pages that I can refer to for studying. One of the questions I’ve seen in my inbox quite a few times is whether I prefer to write or type my notes. It’s interesting to me because I actually recently switched back to mainly typing notes after writing for such a long time.
Because I’ve done and still do both, I figured there must be a reason I can’t choose one over the other. To solve this dilemma, I decided to make a pro/con list for each and share it as a way of answering these questions.
Handwriting
Pros
- Engaging my senses in the learning process by writing increases the chances that I’ll remember what I’m noting down.
- It’s faster for drawing things out - specifically processes and flowcharts.
Cons
- It takes me more time, specially because I try to be very neat.
Typing
Pros
- It almost always takes me less time.
- It’s easier to back up/share notes this way.
- It’s a more convenient way of adding in pictures.
- It’s easier to edit later on.
Cons
- Using a tablet/laptop provides easier access to distraction.
- Staring at the screen for too long gives me a headache.
There’s nothing like the feel of pen to paper… But I found that eventually, I still need to spend time revising by going over my notes whether I’ve handwritten or typed them. So it seems like a better use of my time to finish my summaries faster in order to be able to start “actually studying”. So why not do the thing that saves time?
My biggest reason for switching back though has been the following. In my last two years of medical school, I’m teaching myself a lot of theoretical information from books. But I also go to the hospital and see those cases, so I’m constantly learning new information and making new links that I didn’t make before (as in, when I was learning the information from a textbook). Because of this, I end up having to annotate notes a lot. At first it didn’t seem like an issue. But eventually when my notes were all over the place, it was starting to become disorganized and I didn’t like that. But that’s just me!
And as always.. Disclaimer: I do things this way because of my own priorities. By no means am I claiming everybody should do the same or that it’s perfect. I’m just providing ideas and I hope they help :)
Ps. I’m now on instagram! Where I’m trying to post daily stories and have a visual-based companion to this blog. Follow me here https://www.instagram.com/mindofamedstudent/
