#medical student

When I first started clinical rotations, I was in Internal Medicine, and on my first day of outpatient clinic, I followed a 4th year student who was back for an elective. We did all our vitals, and complete history and physical to present to our preceptor. As I watched the 4th year student talk to some of the patients, I thought to myself, wow, kind of a showoff maybe? He was telling patients how to change their lifestyles, and why they were taking certain medications. I was thinking to myself, but that’s the doctor’s job, he should be explaining all this and we should wait for him.

But looking back, he was absolutely right. As I ended my Family Medicine rotation I realized that’s what I’ve started doing automatically as well with time - I just didn’t realize or notice until recently. Because as you get better at your H&P, and learn as you go, you are essentially the patient advocate. Patient’s ask you questions, and you answer them. Essentially, that’s what OSCEs try to teach us too - we explain what tests we are doing while doing them, and what we are looking for.

My friend was saying that in our FM clinic, one patient asked her why she was doing a Neer’s test, and she explained she was looking for a rotator cuff impingement. Plenty of patients come in with diabetes and hypertension, and it becomes somewhat automatic to help them with their lifestyle. Are you compliant with your meds? How is the exercise regimen going? How’s it going cutting back on all the red meat?

Because basically, the patient spends more time with the student. We will present to the preceptor/attending, who will come back in to the patient room, quickly glance and say our notes are well, and make sure everything else is ok. The patient get refills, etc, but we as students are counseling and educating. The doctor doesn’t always have all that time. And you get better at it as time goes, and soon it’s just a normal part of your routine.

We make jokes that friends and family will ask us medical questions, but that we’re just students.

But that’s exactly it. We’re students.Always learning. Always teaching. Always advocating. And soon it becomes your life and you do it without even knowing. The role of the student is an important one - and except for the occasional patient who wants nothing to do with a student, most of them really do look up to you and appreciate you (especially if you have wonderful bedside manner)!

Late night quesmed :)

13 April 2022

Another study day in library

Signs and symptoms of burnout

Physical

▫️ Feeling tired and drained most of the time

▫️ Lowered immunity, frequent illnesses

▫️ Frequent headaches or muscle pain

▫️ Change in appetite or sleep habits

Emotional

▪️ Sense of failure and self-doubt

▪️ Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated

▪️ Detachment, feeling alone in the world

▪️ Loss of motivation

▪️ Increasingly cynical and negative outlook

▪️ Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment

Behavioral

Withdrawing from responsibilities

Isolating yourself from others

Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done

Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope

Taking out your frustrations on others

Skipping work or coming in late and leaving early

‼️ Dealing with burnout requires the “Three R” approach:

Recognize - watch for the warning signs of burnout

Reverse- undo the damage by seeking support and managing stress

Resilience - build your resilience to stress by taking care of your physical and emotional health

✍ Reframe the way you look at work

Support your mood and energy levels with a healthy diet (check my guide - Nᴜᴛʀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛɪᴘs ꜰᴏʀ sᴛᴜᴅᴇɴᴛs)

Reevaluate your priorities

Talking to a mental health professional may help you discover the strategies you need to feel your best

Also, don’t be afraid to talk with your family and friends

11 March 2022

Another lab day

28 February 2022

Today I received Body Buddies hearts They are so cute

focused thinking vs diffuse thinking

focused thinking

▫️ targeted, concentrated and narrow thinking

▫️ need for a specific tasks

▫️ essential for acquiring knowledge and understanding

▫️ active

The strength of focused thinking lies in its ability to analyze and solve problems in a sequential manner

diffuse thinking

▪️ general, broad and conceptual thinking

▪️ creates connections and links

▪️ essential for consolidation of memory

▪️ passive

Rather than being focused on a defined path, diffuse thinking allows your subconscious to make unexpected connections between disparate ideas

The trick is not to choose between the two approaches, but rather to cycle between focused and diffuse thinking for the most significant impact

Want to learn an unfamiliar and challenging concept ❓ Study it with focused thinking, then let your brain shift into diffuse thinking. The combination will allow your conscious brain to investigate the idea while your subconscious mind forms new links and connections to embed it into your memory and thinking

6 February 2022

Study weekends On Tuesday I will do the covid test again and hope to be free I enjoy spending time at home, studying and watching YouTube, but I want to go back to the hospital (to practice)

Antidepressant food

Dietary pattern and food choice may play a role in the treatment and prevention of brain-based disorders, particularly depression

❕ Many nutrients are implicated in the pathophysiology of depression, for instance: the long-chained omega-3 fatty acids, B-vitamins, zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D. Deficiencies of these nutrients can cause depressive symptoms

Nutrients such as the long-chained omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, magnesium, and several phytonutrients promote the expression of Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) and thus influence neuroplasticity

Antidepressant nutrients are folate, iron, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (EPA, DHA), magnesium, potassium, selenium, thiamine, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, and zinc

Antidepressant plant food with high antidepressant food score

▫️ watercress

▫️ spinach

▫️ mustard, turnip, or beet greens

▫️ lettuces (red, green, romaine)

▫️ swiss chard

▫️ fresh herbs

▫️ chicory greens

▫️ pummelo

▫️ peppers (bell, serrano, or jalapeno)

▫️ kale or collards

▫️ pumpkin

▫️ dandelion greens

▫️ cauliflower

Antidepressant animal food with high antidepressant food score

▪️ oyster

▪️ liver and organ meats (spleen, kidney, or heart)

▪️ poultry giblets

▪️ clam

▪️ mussels

Gut health is critical for brain health. Eat healthily, stay healthy ☝

3 February 2022

Yesterday I started a new online course about mental health and food They mention so many interesting articles to read, and one of them is about antidepressant food

1 February 2022

Some study vibes with my favorite pastel highlighters Happy lunar new year Also, wish you a productive February

Bioprinting is an additive manufacturing process similar to 3D printing – it uses a digital file as a blueprint to print an object layer by layer. But unlike 3D printing, bioprinters print with cells and biomaterials, creating organ-like structures that let living cells multiply.

Study: Leaded gas caused American adults to lose 825M IQ points. Leaded gas was banned in 1996, but exposure to the poison cost Americans born before then several IQ points on average, researchers estimated.

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

Pacritinib (Vonjo, CTI BioPharma) is indicated for use in the treatment of adults with intermediate- or high-risk primary or secondary (post-polycythemia vera or post-essential thrombocythemia) myelofibrosis with a platelet count below 50 × 10⁹/L.

Pacritinib is a novel oral kinase inhibitor with specificity for activity against Janus associated kinase 2 (JAK2) and IRAK1, without inhibiting JAK1. The recommended dosage is 200 mg orally twice daily.

I’m feeling so lost. What is my role here? In life? Why did I move out of California and have to leave the home I knew in Chicago? What purpose am I meant to fulfill? In college, in California, in my future career. Why? I’ll have days or even just hours where I feel super motivated to pursue a goal but there’s always some doubt in the back of my mind. I’m never confident in myself, or not confident enough I should say. Not confident enough that I’ll make it through the struggle of the 3-4 years of college and get into medical school. And if I do, by the grace of God, get into medical school will I be able to make it through that?

Thinking about medical school and the long path of education that I’ve chosen makes me think of other aspects of my life too. Like my parents and how much they’re sacrificing to pay for my education right now and how it’ll probably be like a decade until I can start paying them back. There’s so much I want to do for them. I want to buy my mom a big house. I want to buy my dad a ping pong table and a nice car. I want to send them on vacation. I want to let them visit relatives on the other side of the world. And also about starting my own family. I’m almost 20 years old now. The 20s sound like the start of becoming a real young adult, finding someone that you can see a future with, getting married, starting a family of my own. I want all of that, but it seems to conflict with my dreams of becoming a doctor because medical school is another 4 years after undergrad, then there’s residency. How do you even have a relationship through all that stress? I’ve never even been in a relationship before. I think that scares me the most. I’m almost halfway done with college right now, and if I graduate in 3 years that literally means I have 1.5 years left to find someone. I’ve never even kissed a boy before. Like most people have at least had a relationship, serious or not it doesn’t matter. I have never even confessed to anyone if I had feelings for them. And clearly no one has confessed to me lol. There’s kind of someone on my mind right now but there’s so much doubt in me that I just keep going back and forth. Every time I see him, I see a possibility. But also a possibility for him with others too. Like I’d probably be a terrible girlfriend. I’m so bad at communicating. And with college and medical school, it would be long distance for like at least 6 years. He deserves someone who can spend time with him. And I feel like I know or at least recognize everyone at school right now so it feels weird to date any of them. Ughhhh. I just need some guidance from God. Some days I feel like I can deal with having a casual, fling but other days I want to have a serious relationship. What do I want? Helppppp. Can anyone relate lol? I ramble so much. Sorry about that, just had boba and I feel the caffeine running through my veins. Anyways, if you followed me this far, thanks. You’re pretty awesome. If you ever wanna chat or vent like me - I’m here :)

Day 204 of 366

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