Saturday, September 22, 2012

Lots of Labs!

We have had so much going on already this semester and it is exciting to finally be hands on!!

So for the semester we have just finished up our neurology module in clinical medicine - we have an exam on that this coming Friday.  We are about half way done with our pediatrics lectures, and we have our first pharm test on Tuesday. 
On top of all that regular class stuff, we have been a lot more hands on in the labs already this semester :)  Our third day back was our first lab for special populations.  We learned how to do male and female genitalia exams as well as breast exams.  Then, the next week in medical procedures and surgery lab we started learning how to do sutures!  So yeah, this last semester is already lots of fun!

Ok..let me now relax and actually put in an organized fashion how everything is going :)

So for our special populations class (includes geriatrics, peds, and women's health) - we have started with pediatrics.  We have focused solely on that so far besides that one lab I mentioned above about the male and female exams.  We did this the first week with our realistic models because throughout the next four weeks, groups of 4 at a time are going to the lab at our nearby medical center and actually practicing on live models.  Basically these are people in the profession or people who have been trained to know how a genital exam should feel like and what it should feel like when you palpate each internal structure (cervix, ovaries, etc.).  The first group from my class went this past week and I will be going the second week of October to work with the live models.  I am looking forward to it, I have heard it is a great experience and that you learn a lot and gain confidence doing the exams so that will definitely be helpful. 

In medical procedures and surgery we are learning mostly about wound healing and suturing so far.  It is a lot of fun!  The first lecture was taught about how a wound heals and how to know if someone needs sutures or not and when to not give sutures, etc.  The first lab we did was learning how to do hand ties.  These are mainly done in surgery in areas where it is too deep to give sutures (think internal abdomen).  So we did those for the first week - I have to say, reminded me a bit of when I did cat's cradle when I was younger (sorry if that is dating myself lol).  Then this past week we learned how to do a simple stitch and a "vertical mattress" stitch which is actual suturing with a needle through the skin.  We also received practice pads to be able to go home and practice becauseee.....on Monday we go to the cadaver lab and practice on the bodies!  I am very excited to have this opportunity to be able to practice on these people who have so generously given their bodies up for science and for us to be able to be better practitioners.  So I am very excited to tell you all how that goes.  But, until then, here are some pictures of me working on the practice pads - not perfect but getting there :)
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All set up and ready to start!
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First throw done
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Trying to stay even...
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Not too bad
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If this does not get you excited for PA school, I do not know what will :)

But other than that we are plugging a long here.  We had another orientation to clinical on Wednesday and it looks like I should get my schedule for my  entire clinical year by October 1st!!! So maybe next time I write I will already know where I will be going for each and every rotation of clinical year.  I hope so!
Until next time, happy fall everyone!!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Wow...Hello Again!!

Hello again everyone!!
So sorry I ignored this blog for a bit.  We finally ended the summer semester that ripped me to shreds on August 9th (and by ripped med to shreds, I mean that it took all of my free time and all of my energy to finish). 

Summer semester was the most time consuming time I have ever had in school.  I can not imagine having to go through it again and am thankful that it is over.  We had a 16 week semester crammed into 12 weeks including the same number of exams, quizzes, practicals, and projects as a normal semester.  And, to top it all off, we finished with 4 final exams in a row that were all (but one) cumulative from the semester.  BUT...I can thankfully say that I finished with an even better GPA than I got my first semester.  So for that, I am extremely thankful and just happy to have had the past 3 weeks on vacation.

This past week we got to start choosing our clinical rotation sites!! I can not believe I am already at the point in my program that I am starting to think about rotations..only one more didactic semester left.  So for our choosing sites we choose based on counties in the New England area.  You rank the counties you would want from 1-10 of where you would like to be placed for each rotation.  Then a computer goes through and makes a selection for each person in the class taking our ranking into consideration and trying to get as many top choices as it can for each student.  I have chosen mostly close to home and a couple near my undergrad college where I still have many friends living so I know I would have a place to stay during my 5 week rotation.   We do nine 5-week rotations for clinical year (lasting from January till December) with 3 one week breaks scattered throughout the year.
The rotations that we do are: 
    2 General Medicine
    1 Primary Care
    1 Emergency Medicine
    1 Women's Health
    1 Surgery
    1 Psychology
    1 Pediatrics
    1 Elective (Ortho Surg is my chosen elective)

Choosing the sites has gotten me really excited for the next semester and learning a lot more clinical hands on procedures.  The college definitely chose the right time to get us excited and ready for classes again :) 
These are my classes for this semester:
Pharmacology III
Clinical Medicine III
Health Care Issues III
Medical Procedures and Surgery
Special Populations (which include Peds, Geriatrics, and Women's Health)
Emergency Medicine

I have already received a few e-mails from professors with our schedule for the classes and I am getting excited to see what we are going to be doing, especially in medical procedures and surgery (NG tubes, injections, IV lines, suturing, etc.).  We also already learned that on the 24th of this month, we will be headed to the nearby medical school to use their cadaver lab to practice suturing. 

I am getting very excited to start this coming semester.  I also have hopes that it will not be as crazy as last semester was so that I can continue to update this blog as frequently as I used to.  But thank you all that have contacted me privately to wish me well and for the continued support! 
Please feel free to ask more questions and I will write soon!