Internal Medicine Clerkship

     When I was picking my schedule for M3 year, I was a bit nervous to start off with IM as it's known to be one of the more challenging clerkships. But, I knew that it would be a great foundation for the rest of the year and that my knowledge from boards would carry me through. I'll be honest, I didn't think I would like IM, so another reason I wanted to have it first was so that I could "get it out of the way." But to my surprise, I was a bit sad to end my rotation.

What is Internal Medicine?

     

     I feel like for the longest time I didn't quite know what it was, but IM (internal medicine) is the medical specialty that focuses on the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of adult diseases. It sometimes gets confused with family medicine, but family medicine doctors also see pediatric and Ob/Gyn patients in addition to their adult patients. Although some family medicine doctors work on inpatient (in the hospital) medical services, a bulk of the doctors that see patients in the hospital are the internal medicine docs (the internists). Internists act as the team captain of a patient's medical care and call in specialty services for more complicated cases. This is due to the fact that internal medicine doctors deal with complicated patients, so of course, they aren't expected to be experts on every part of the body. There are specialists (e.g. Gastroenterology, Hematology/Oncology, Infectious Disease, Nephrology, Cardiology etc.) that handle those cases where the patient's care is outside of the internist's knowledge base. That being said, internal medicine doctors do know a ton and a majority of their patients have multiple active problems to manage, so they have to know how to treat the patient in a way to get these problems stabilized, so the patient can safely go home.

     After residency, internal medicine doctors can choose to do inpatient (as a hospitalist), outpatient (in the clinic),  a combination of inpatient/outpatient medicine, or do a subspecialty (like those specialties mentioned above). So, many doctors that know that they want to specialize in a particular area of the body will train as an internist and then continue their training with a fellowship in their area of interest. In that way, internal medicine is a great way to explore the medical subspecialties if you know that you want to practice adult medicine.

     Before discussing the rotation, there are a couple things that I think I should define for the novice med folk as well as the non-med folk. In inpatient medicine, "rounding" means that you go and see your patients as a team. Who is on your team depends on how the team is structured. At community hospitals, a team consists of at least a senior resident and two interns (as well as a teaching attending for some parts). And in my case, I was the medical student on the team. At an academic hospital, our team was pretty large. We had an attending, a third-year resident, a second-year resident, two interns, two sub-Is (4th-year medical students doing their acting internship), and two medical students. When we "pre-round" that means that you go and see your patients on your own prior to rounding as a team so that when you round with the attending doctor (the doctor that oversees the work of the resident team) you are ready to present your plan for the patient.

     Finally, the last term to define is "call." If you've watched any medical shows or have seen any of the jokes about being a doctor you've heard the term being "on-call." What it means in general is that you are the doctor or the team that is in charge of patients at a given time and that you are contacted to care for them. In internal medicine, what it means to be on call depends on your hospital. At my community site, Being on call meant that your team would stay past sign-out to care for the patients until the night team showed up. We were also the team that responsible for responding to codes and accepting new admissions from 3:00 pm until the night team came in at 7:00 p.m. (we didn't accept any admissions to our team prior to 3:00 pm though) At my academic site, we were on call from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. We accepted all new admissions, responded to codes, and if there were admissions overnight after our call, they would go to our team until the next team started their call the following morning. And being "post-call" means that it is the day after you are on call. If you did overnight call that means that you are just coming off being on call for the whole night and you probably didn't get much sleep if the night was busy. Thankfully, we didn't have to do any overnight calls as M3s, but it is something to look forward to in residency.

Rotating Through As An M3

          The specifics of your internal medicine rotation will depend on what your school requirements are, but I believe most internal medicine clerkships are between 8-12 weeks in duration. Our school happens to have affiliations with many of the community hospitals in the Chicago, so our IM rotation was an 8-week rotation split into 4 weeks at an academic center (our home institution or the Veteran's hospital) and another 4 weeks at a community hospital with one half-day a week spent in an outpatient clinical setting during the entire 8 weeks. For my clerkship, I started with 4 weeks at a community hospital and ended with 4 weeks at our home hospital. Personally, I had a great experience at both, but the vibe from each experience was a bit different.

     At the community hospital, the schedule was a bit more consistent and we only had one call day a week. On the weekends, I only had to come in when my senior resident was working. If she worked on Saturday, I was off on Sunday. Our weekend day usually consisted of us rounding on our patients together, I would work on my notes, and then as soon as I finished, she'd send me home. The goal was to get out early on the weekends and I'd say I was usually always done before noon. I definitely appreciated starting off with a schedule like that and I definitely missed it when I was on my second month of IM.

What my community month schedule looked like:

- Monday-Thursday (regular, non-call days)

• 6:30-7:00 A.M. - Get sign-out from the night team, look up labs, ask the night nurse if there were any events overnight, and jot down some notes for the patients I was following.

• 7:00-8:00 A.M.- Round with my team on our new/critically ill patients. Our teaching attending would come around to see the new patients and this is usually when she would pimp me (a.k.a ask me questions about my medical knowledge...I still don't know why they call it that lol)

• 8:00-9:00 A.M.- Morning Lecture. This was usually on a topic that the residents were learning.  Occasionally, we had our own student lecture instead, but either way, they were focused on teaching us a topic in medicine (i.e. EKGs, Treating a patient with heart failure, etc.)

• 9:00-12:00 P.M.- Finish rounding on the patients we didn't get to see before morning lecture, work on coming up with plans for our patients, call consults, and work on notes. 

• 12:00-1:00 P.M.- Noon lecture. Same as above, but usually for these we had our own student lectures.

• 1:00-4:00 P.M- Finish notes and prep everything for sign-out to the team on call. Sign-out was scheduled for 3:30 P.M., but sometimes it happened later depending on how many patients we had on our team and whether it had been a busy day. As a medical student, they usually sent me home by 5:00 as long as I had finished my notes.

- Call days: Same schedule as above, but the day was longer and we were in charge of responding to codes.

• 3:30 P.M.- Get sign-out from other teams (there were 5 teams, so on-call days you were carrying all those patients until the night team came in)

• 3:30-7:00 P.M. - Take all new admissions, respond to pages for any of the patients we were caring for, and prep sign-out for the night team.  Any new admissions got distributed among the teams the next morning according to how many patients each team had, so even if we admitted them while we were on call, that didn't mean they would all get admitted to our service. We didn't really present patients to our attending, so post-call days were just like regular work days.

    As you can tell, an average workday was about 10+ hours depending on the schedule. On the days that I had clinic, I usually stayed until 6:00 p.m. And usually, I was at the hospital by 6:15 a.m. every morning (even on weekends). Our call day ended at 7:00 p.m. but I was usually there until 8:00 p.m. But, on an average day I was usually home by 5:00 p.m. Which wasn't too horrible and I really appreciated the fact that my weekend days were pretty light and consistent. That really helped me make it through the month, and as I was busy it really flew by. 

    During my academic month, the schedule was a whole other ball game. We were on call every four days which meant that most of the weekends during that month I was either on call or post call. And as we presented all our new patients on our post-call days. This meant earlier mornings in order to get everything ready to round at 7:00 a.m. (We'd typically come in at 5:30 or so to pre-round on our patients...These were the days I didn't get much sleep). As most of my days off were either a weekend day if we weren't on call or post call, I don't think I had a weekend day that was a regular work day. 

Our general schedule:

Non-call day: 

• 6:30-8:00- pre-round on patients, talk to nurses, work on your presentation.

• 8:00-9:00- Morning report. This is where the chief resident would do a case presentation for all the residents and we worked on coming up with a diagnosis. There was always coffee and for the most part. the cases were pretty interesting.

• 9:00-11:30- Morning rounds. We'd go see all our patients as a team, we'd present to our attending, and if time permitted, the attending would teach us something relevant to the patients on our service. If we had time after rounds, we'd start tackling our task list before heading to lecture.

• 12:00-1:00- Noon lecture. We went to the internal medicine department for a lecture presented by one of our attendings or professors.

• 1:00-5:00-Getting our work done. This was when we'd work on notes, call consults, help the residents with all the work that we didn't finish in the morning. If the day wasn't particularly busy and we had finished the work for our patients, the senior resident would send us home early (3:00 pm or so). 

Call-day:

    The same schedule as above, but we were on call until 7:00 p.m. and the day could get hectic as we were getting all the new admissions and responding to codes. I want to say the latest I ever left the hospital was 9:00 p.m. 

Expectations as an M3

     As this was our first rotation, the expectations were pretty lenient. At this point, we were more so expected to get used to working in a hospital setting after coming off of two years of being strictly academic. They wanted us to get used to talking to patients, working on writing effective notes, presenting patients to our attending, and getting comfortable working on a medical team. What we were allowed to do really depended on our site. At my community site, I feel like my role was more limited. I was allowed to see the patient and write progress notes, but I didn't do much else. My notes were also for my practice and didn't count as much for patient care.

     Since my home institution is a teaching hospital, we were allowed to do so much more. I was allowed to call consults, talk to families, put in orders/meds (they still had to be signed by the residents), and my notes were actually used in patient care. The residents would check over our notes, add in an additional information, and the attending would sign off on what everyone had written. As we were more involved in our patient's care, there was way more pressure to do everything well. As you didn't want to make mistakes in your patients care and look bad in front of your attending. But since they did give us more responsibility, it really helped me feel like I was a part of the team and for the first time what it felt like to be a doctor.

Prepping for the Shelf

   
      Unfortunately, at the end of each rotation, we have to take an exam to be evaluated on what we've learned. This meant that in addition to working a full-time job, we were also coming home to study for an exam. As the breadth of information tested on the internal medicine shelf mirrors that tested on our board exam, it was a lot of information to review. It was the first time that I was in this situation and I handled it as best as I could. It was definitely really hard to have the motivation to come home and study after a long day at work, but somehow I did it.

     As far as resources, most people recommended finding a review book (i.e. Step-Up to Medicine or Case Files) and reading that cover-to-cover in addition to doing practice questions on Uworld. Personally, I am not a textbook person and I found it really hard to get through reading a review book, so I just focused on doing practice questions. I believe there are 1,400 or so questions for internal medicine on Uworld and I got through about 1,000 of them. I used some online videos ( Online MedEd is a great resource) for topics I was weak in before my exam. But, throughout the rotation, I was looking up information on my patients on UpToDate every day and learning that way as well. For me, that was enough to do decently well on my shelf exam and in combination with a great clinical grade it worked out well for my overall grade on the rotation.

My Take-Aways

     As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed my time on internal medicine. I will say that something that I know really contributed to my experience was that both of my teams were great. I had so much fun with them when we weren't busy practicing medicine that it didn't feel like we were at work. I know this wasn't true for some of my classmates on IM, so your team can really make or break your experience. It was the first time that I really got to experience medicine full on and I loved it. I enjoyed taking part in a patients care and when I was able to get really involved, it confirmed that I had chosen the right field. I won't sugar coat it though, there were some days that were really rough. I spent most of the two months just feeling exhausted by the long hours and worried that I wasn't studying enough for my shelf exam. And the learning curve from being an M2 to being an M3 is pretty steep, but eventually, you do get the hang of it. By the end, I was so tired and ready for a much-needed break (hence the laid-back past five weeks), but sad that I had to leave my team. 

     Overall, I realized that I really enjoy inpatient medicine (clinic is not my fave). I don't mind long days or rounding and rounding will be way more fun when I'm the attending that gets to ask all the questions.  As I had just taken Step a couple weeks before starting this rotation, it was really cool to see the things I had studied in practice. I felt so smart and like I mentioned above, it was the first time in the past years of schooling that I actually felt like I was becoming a doctor and not just studying for another class. And actually working with people was so rewarding when you could see them get better under your care and witness that you are making a difference. At this point in time, my heart is still saying pediatrics (even though my teams were trying to convince me to choose IM...It might possibly be my back up), but IM will hold a very special place as it was where I started my journey as an M3 and where I learned that I do really enjoy this field. It was certainly not an easy rotation, but I learned so much, I had so many great experiences ( I got to do my first arterial blood gas draw on a patient) and I feel ready to take on the rest of my M3 year.

     I know that was very long, but I wanted to give a detailed account of my time on IM. I start my Ob/Gyn rotation on Monday, and I can't wait to share my experience at the end of that.

Take care,

- Gen<3

How to Spend Your Summer After M1 Year

    One thing that you'll realize shortly after starting medical school, is that it is a bit like undergrad all over again. Of course, you have already started in the profession of your choice (hopefully, your dreams), but the notion that at the end of your four years you'll be putting out your residency applications definitely hits hard. And of course, just like undergrad, your grades won't be the only thing that residency applications will be looking at.

     I don't want to scare you. In medical school, the need to have your C.V. filled to the brim with activities isn't really necessary, and a lot of what you have to do depends on what specialty you are thinking about going into. If you already have your heart set on being the next Cristina Yang, you might have to start thinking about how you can get yourself involved in research. But, if you know that your specialty of choice isn't as competitive, you have a bit more laxity in what you can do. 

A couple areas that I think are worth exploring over the summer are: 1.) Leadership 2.) Shadowing and 3.) Self-care.

Leadership

     

     As a physician, you are often going to be the head of a team, so being able to show residency programs that you are able to do that is really important. For me, I have quite a bit of leadership experience from this past school year (that will come in a separate post), but for this summer I am helping coordinate the summer program I participated in last summer. I can already tell you that come residency application time, I have plenty of examples for when they start asking me the, "Tell me about a time..." questions. But, just because my leadership opportunity is within the realm of medicine, doesn't mean that yours has to be. You can always seek leadership in other areas, such as your community. The most important goal is just to prove that you can take responsibility and how you handle your responsibility. Also, that you can work on a team. The medical field is very team-oriented and residency programs will want to know that you have the ability to be a team player, so being able to prove this works in your favor.

Shadowing

     If you have the free time, this is a great time to look into the things that you are interested. Have you always wanted to be an emergency medicine doctor? Go shadow one! The unfortunate part about your 3rd and 4th year rotations is that you only get a brief glimpse of things before you make a a decision about what you'd like to practice for the rest of your life, so if you have the chance to get exposure to your field of interest early on, that's great. You'll already have an idea of what to expect, but you'll also start building connections for the future. That and like medical schools, residency programs what to see that you know what you are getting yourself into. Being a doctor isn't easy and each specialty has it's own unique challenges. So, having the opportunity to get to know what your future job would be like can give you a bit more certainty about choosing a specialty and will allow you to confidently speak about why you are choosing it come interview time.

Self-care

    

     Medical school is hard and making it through a full academic year takes a lot out of you. So, if you want to take the summer to recuperate before prepping for M2 year, that's totally okay. I know that there's always pressure to do everything that you can to make yourself a competitive candidate, but at the end of the day, you won't be able to do your job well if you're burned out. One of my favorite quotes is, "You can't pour from an empty cup." And I feel like this is so true in the medical field. If you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to effectively take care of others, so remember to make it a priority. If residency programs ask you what you did for your summer, all you have to say is that you took the summer to focus on self-care. I would say that anyone in this field will understand that this is completely necessary. So, don't be afraid to keep this as an option.

     Regardless of what you decide to do, remember to enjoy your summer. I know the pressure to add things to your C.V. will be there, but if you are going to spend your last "summer break" being miserable, is it really worth it? So, remember to keep that in mind when you are planning out your summer following M1 year. 

- Gen<3

The End Of M1 Year

As always, I feel that I'm constantly apologizing for being absent on the blog, but hey, I'm a medical student. I'm not perfect and I'm trying to balance everything on my plate as best as I can. So despite not being the most consistent, I certainly love to check in every now and then. Like now:)

Let me just say that the first year of medical school feels like a blur. Fall semester seemed to trudge along, but then it picked up in full-force spring semester, and in the blink of an eye, I was in the midst of finals. It's actually a tad frightening because it makes me realize that before I know it, I'll be graduating and going into the world to actually take care of patients, which at this point in my training, seems crazy. But yet, somehow it'll happen. 

Looking back on M1 year, I can say it wasn't exactly what I had expected. When I imagined medical school, I envisioned being constantly miserable, overwhelmed, and possibly having regret over making this decision. I'll admit there were some trying moments, but for the most part my experience was positive. I do believe it has a lot to do with my approach to school. You see, our curriculum is pass/fail. So, at the end of the day I always told myself that as long as I passed, I was okay. I would always set my standards as high as I could, but if it didn't go as planned, I wouldn't beat myself up over it. We all have our off days and medical school isn't easy. So, if you don't get an amazing score every time, it's okay. I'm incredibly thankful to say that I passed all of my exams this past year. Sometimes I did incredibly well and some exams got the best of me. Regardless of the outcome, every exam was a step closer in my journey. Another tally I could etch onto my sheet of accomplishments. And having successfully come out on the other side of the year, I know that I have it in me to keep going. 

Now that I have the chance to look back, I'm pretty content with the year. Of course, there are some situations I wish I could've approached differently, but I think overall I did a decent job balancing what I could, especially second semester. I always tried to make time for myself, squeezed in time for my friends and family when I got the chance, and I made it a priority to keep myself healthy. I'm not going to say doing all of the above was easy, because it wasn't. There were many times that I would rather have spent with my friends at our Sunday dinners or at home enjoying time with my family. But, I know that the profession that I have chosen will come with a lot of sacrifices, yet will yield many rewards. So, I held on to that notion and kept pushing through. And somehow, it has worked out. 

Getting to the end of the year felt amazing and you better believe we celebrated accordingly. Our class rented a boat for us to cruise around Lake Michigan, and let's just say that mixing an open bar and medical students can lead to very interesting times. But spending time with my classmates and some of my closest friends celebrating the end of the struggle was a great way to close out the year and get ourselves set for our last summer break.

Looking forward, I know that M2 year is going to have it's own challenges (ahem, Step 1), but I'm excited to see what the next phase of my medical training will bring. From what the upperclassmen have told me, it'l be way more clinically focused. We will be learning all of the skills that will be put into use during our clinical rotations come M3 year and we will also be tested on how to perform a physical exam, diagnose patients, write prescriptions...you get the idea. It'll be scary because doing things for the first time can be nerve wracking, but exciting because this is exactly what I signed up for. Hopefully, by the time I finish step I will feel more like a doctor-in-training and not just a student, but I still have plenty of time before that time comes around. 

So, if you like following me on this crazy journey, stay tuned. It's about to get way more exciting. 

August Recap 2016

     Hello! The month of August has been a busy one for me. Moving to the city, starting medical school, and getting into the groove of my new life has definitely put plenty on my plate. Sadly, the moments that I did have the opportunity to sneak away, I didn't happen to snap a pic (I promise I will try to be better about that next month!). So, I'll just update you on what's been going on thus far.

    The beginning of August marked the beginning of my med school career. It was crazy to be able to finally start and when classes started, they kept us pretty busy. I just had my first exam this Monday, so the week leading up to that was pretty hectic. The main challenge of Medical school thus far has been trying to figure out what works best for me, so that I can set up my routine. It's the beginning of week three, and I feel like I'm still trying to sort that out, but hopefully as we go on, I'll be able to figure it all out. 

     Eventful Moments

     Following orientation week and White Coat, I had the opportunity to catch up with my girls. One of the best parts of being back in the city is being closer to them, and although my time is more limited than it was before, it's so nice to know that I am able to see them when I have the chance. My first Saturday in the city we went out and explored Lakeview a bit and of course that had to include delicious drinks and yummy food. 

They are too adorable:)

     The following week was our first week of class and that was a little hectic. We still had quite a few orientation sessions, so the days seemed to drag on. Thankfully, Sunday dinner at Meg's recharged me for the following week. G and I brought our roommates and we had our own little potluck dinner. It was a great way to break away from studying for a bit and to also have everyone meet. My roommate Mallory and I also went out for a bit on Saturday. The part of the city that we live in is called Little Italy and they were having their Festa Italiana festival. We just walked around for a bit with one our friends from school and tried out some of the local Italian food. I stuck with the Italian theme and had gnocchi and cannoli, so you better believe I left pretty happy and full.

     This past week/weekend had been dedicated to school. I did attend some extracurricular meetings, but as the weekend approached, the studying got intense. Mallory and I pretty much lived in our school's study rooms for the weekend, but Sunday I broke away for a bit to have dinner with my family. I felt it was a nice way to remove some of the stress and get myself in a good mindset to take the exam.

     As I posted about the beginning of the month already, this post looks a bit sad. The majority of August I honestly just spent getting myself acclimated to being a medical student and those moments aren't necessarily the most exciting, but I will try to include as much as I can.

     As we move forward, I will be trying to update you guys as much as I can, but unfortunately, I do get busy and I don't always get the opportunity to blog. I will be trying my best, though! 

I hope you had a fabulous month and I will be talking to you soon!

~Genesis<3

     

Advice For M1 Year From An M3

      I know that navigating through your journey to medical school can be daunting and I am so thankful that I never really had to go through it alone as I had my friend Alissa to ask for help. Alissa and I actually met in undergrad and went through a few premed classes together. We were in the same year, but as she graduated a year early and I took a gap year after college, we ended up with a two-year gap between our medical careers. Alissa just started her M3 year right after taking Step 1 this summer (Whoo hoo, Alissa!). Naturally, as someone who is about to start their M1 year, I wanted to know if there were any tips and as she's made it through the struggle, and she had some great advice to offer.

Advice for First Year Medical Students: Guest Post by Alissa Z.

1. Enjoy your time off!

     Your time off will slowly start to dwindle away the farther you progress in medical school, so enjoy it while it lasts! During first year, it feels like you have no time, but you really do! Use some of your time to have fun. (P.S. I was told this advice my first year too, and I didn't follow it because I felt like I was sooo busy. But it really is true, so try to have some fun!)

2. Choose efficient ways to study

     Going along with #1, don't choose a study technique that is very time-consuming (aka notecards). You might have enough time to continue studying with it first year, but as soon as second year rolls around, you will not. It is better to try different, more efficient study techniques your first year when you can afford to take the extra time to study. Pay attention to what you like about each study technique so that you can optimize your studying. As a bonus, if you find a more effective study technique first year, you will have more time to have fun!

3. Learn physiology very well

It will be your foundation going forward.

4. It is okay if you don't like your anatomy class.

     Personally, the cadavers really bothered me, but I have loved observing and assisting in surgeries on living people. Being disturbed by a decomposed and dissected dead body does not mean you can't be a good doctor-it means you are human! (Although if they don't bother you, that's fine too. Everyone is different.)

5.  Your medical school experience changes as you go along

     Everything in medical school gets more interesting as the years go by because you begin to learn more clinically relevant information and get to practice more medicine. Keep that in mind as you are studying biochemistry first year because it gets better! It also gets must harder and more time-consuming, but because you will like what you are learning, the time you spend studying will be more enjoyable.

6. Don't throw people under the bus!

     I'm sure everyone has heard of gunners (people that study constantly and actively try to put people down in order to get ahead. I will let you in on a little secret- it doesn't help them get ahead! When you put people down, your classmates won't want to help you, and that can have a big impact on your performance in medical school. Collaboration helps everyone, and medicine is a field that relies on it because that is how doctors take the best care of their patients. Your professors, residents, and attendings will also notice if you are putting people down, and really, no one likes that.

7. Know Your Place

     Don't be entitled because as medical students we literally don't know anything. There will always be many more people who know more than you. Just keep that in mind and don't be arrogant (or a gunner- really, don't do it). 

8. Graciously accept Advice---See #7. 

     You can always learn from someone who knows more than you. Even if you're not planning on going into a certain specialty, you can learn something important from that clerkship (that advice is more applicable to third year, but keep it in mind!)

9. Don't Start Studying for Step 1 Your First Year

     

     You won't learn the majority of the information on Step 1 until your second year, so you won't be able to study effectively for it anyway.

   That's about it! Basically, medical school is all about being able to adjust to different situations. Every time you start to feel comfortable, things will start to change and get more difficult. In third year, you will constantly have to adjust to different clerkships, residents, and attendings. It's hard, but it's good practice for life because life is change. With that in mind, I think #2 is the most important piece of advice because to excel in medical school, you need to be able to adapt. While you are adapting, try to stay true to who you are and take time for yourself so you can stay as sane as possible. 

Good luck!

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         I wish anyone that is starting medical school this week ( or around this week) lots of luck! We've made it! Have a fantastic week and I shall talk to you soon! 

~ Genesis<3

What Do I Want To Specialize In?

     Ever since starting this blog, I've had this post in the back of my mind and as I start my medical school journey next week, I felt it was the perfect time to write it.  Something that was a common theme during SPP when meeting future and current medical students was inquiring about their specialty of interest. At this point, it's not always a hundred percent certain that we'll actually choose to go into that specialty at the end of our four years, but typically we have a specialty in mind when going into medical school. So, before I am influenced by what I will see in school, I want to write about what specialty I have in mind before it all begins, so that I can come back and compare it with my choice at the end of my fourth year.

What Would I Choose?

     For as long as I can remember wanting to be a doctor, I always had one specialty on my mind and that was Pediatrics. I've always had quite a bit of admiration for pediatricians because I feel that they play a very influential role in how we first experience healthcare and to this day, I can still remember the different pediatricians that I had over the years. As a pediatrician, you also have a different type of relationship with your patients as you get to see them grow up. I bet it's really incredible to be able to start seeing a patient when they are just a little baby and then potentially see them until they become adults. Also, there is something quite unique in the pediatric environment. Of course, it holds all the common elements that a regular healthcare place would have, but the nature of the patients make for a whole different experience. When I think of this, an Arizona Robbins from Grey's Anatomy quote comes to mind: "These are the tiny humans. These are children. They believe in magic. They play pretend. There is fairy dust in their IV bags. They hope and they cross their fingers and they make wishes. And that's what makes them more resilient than adults. They recover fast, survive worse, they believe. In Peds., we have miracles and magic. In Peds., anything is possible...".

I absolutely love this quote and as someone that has spent quite a bit of time volunteering in a pediatric hospital, I can tell you that Peds. has a certain magic to it and that magic attracts me. 

What Would Hold Me Back?

     Up until this point, it is pretty safe to say that my mind is set on Peds., but I know there might be things that could dissuade my choice. I really do love kids, so I don't know if seeing really sick kids might be too much for me. I didn't have a problem while volunteering with them but of course, being their doctor is a different situation. Something that I frequently hear about Peds. is that the parents are worse than the kids. The major factor that could change my mind would be having to argue with parents all the time, but I still feel like I should be fine. I know that if I really do love it, nothing will change my mind, so that's also something to keep in mind as I am going through the next four years.

     Thankfully, I have plenty of time to make my final decision and also a ton of rotations to experience. Who knows, I might find that I love something way more than I love Peds. and that is just as awesome. I can't wait to see what I decide, though.

Have a fabulous week and I will be talking to you soon! 

~ Genesis<3

Apartment Planning

     

     As of Sunday, I have two weeks left before moving into my new apartment! So, you can imagine that I've been spending quite a bit of time thinking about how I'd like to decorate my new space. The only issue is that I don't quite remember how big my space will exactly be. When we went in for a tour, we saw quite a few places and the apartment that we chose was furnished when we toured it, so it makes it a tad difficult to visualize the space. Regardless, I love interior design, so I've been throwing around some ideas of what I'd like to do.

Bed Area

How dreamy is this bedroom?!?

     I've been a pretty big fan of the white bedroom trend and that's what has been on my mind for my new space. I love the simplicity of a white room. White tends to make a space feel so bright and open, but I also love that it serves as the perfect backdrop to add in other elements. I just bought this really pretty white comforter, so that'll be perfect for the look I am going for and will work really well with the coral sheets that I already have. I plan to keep the bed overall white but bring in coral and turquoise elements. 

Desk

     I LOVE desks. I know it probably has to do with my love of stationery, but this is where I've been planning/daydreaming a lot. 

I love this desk space! I also thought it was cool how the gallery wall had my initials:)

     

     I know I want to go with a simple, white desk but I want to dress up the area above it with a gallery wall of sorts. I've been wanting to make a gallery wall for a while and I've seen hundreds of ideas on Pinterest, but I'm still trying to think of what elements I'd like to incorporate. I have a little canvas that I painted one of my favorite quotes on, and I'd love to include that among white frames.

This has been the main inspiration for what I'd like to do.

     Another must have for me is a comfy chair. Sitting for hours at a desk really takes a toll on your bottom if you don't have something comfortable to sit in. My mom has a chair almost identical to the one pictured above in our spare room, so I'm hoping it works well with the desk that I have picked out. It would be perfect to just sit back and study in, that and it just makes the room look a little bit more elegant than a regular desk chair would. 

Other Spaces

     I am sharing the rest of my apartment with my roommate, so I really haven't put a lot of thought into our communal spaces. We'll both be bringing stuff, so I'm sure it won't exactly all match, but it's a grad school apartment, so that's assumed. The bulk of my kitchenware is turquoise and some of the furniture I am bringing is gray, but I don't know what else my roomie will be bringing.

     I do get my own bathroom, but I don't exactly remember what color scheme they had in there. I'm honestly just waiting to move in, so I can plan out how I'm going to decorate everything else, and also to see what else I need for storage. I do have a closet in my room, but I know I have tons of clothes, so I have to find a way to make that all work for me.

Inspiration

    My main sources of inspiration come from Pinterest (as you've noticed from my screenshots), but another place that I like to check out is YouTube. You can find a ton of room/apartment tours, but I recently came upon a channel called Mr.Kate where an interior designer shows how she decorates different spaces and I've been pretty obsessed with her videos. To be honest, her style can at times be too eclectic for my taste, as I tend to like more of a classic look, but she incorporates a ton of DIYs into her designs, so it's really cool to watch the things she creates. 

     For now, that's as much as I have planned out. Once I move in, I'm sure my creative juices will be in full force, so I'll share what I come up with. I can't wait to check out my new canvas. 

I hope you guys had a fabulous weekend and I will talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

Being A Gunner In Medical School

    During SPP, while reviewing parts of the cadaver, our rising M2 stated, "If you really want to be a gunner" before continuing to add in details that we weren't going to be tested on, but would certainly need to know in the future. My roommate and I chuckled at his statement to which he responded, "Being a gunner isn't a bad thing. Wanting to know more doesn't make you a bad person." When he said that, It really got me thinking. 

     Typically when anyone talks about someone being a gunner, it has a negative connotation because a gunner is someone that tends to go above and beyond in their pursuit of knowledge, and this often includes bringing people down in the process. When you hear of gunners in medical school, these are the students that sabotage their classmates in order to get the highest grade. I am certainly not suggesting that you become this type of gunner, but I do think being the type of gunner that our T.A. was describing is something that you should do.

     When I think about being a medical student, I think about how much of an honor it is that I've been selected to pursue this career and how it is a privilege to learn all the things that I will be learning. While in cadaver lab this summer, something that frequently crossed my mind was how incredible everything I that I was seeing was and that many people would never be able to see it. Of course, I know looking inside a body cavity would be the last thing many people want to do, but just the sheer fact that I got to do it blew my mind. If I've been given this incredible opportunity, why wouldn't I want to make the most of it? 

     So, in your academic pursuits, gun away. Take advantage of every learning opportunity, push yourself to acquire as much knowledge as possible because not only will it make you a great student, but it will also make you a better doctor in the future. One thing, though, never do any of this at the expense of another. Something that was incredibly evident while in SPP is how important it is to have a positive connection with your peers. After all, we are all enduring the very same struggle. One of my favorite quotes is "A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle." I believe this also holds true in the sharing of knowledge. If you understand something well, it won't hurt you to help a classmate. If anything, you are just reinforcing the knowledge. Also, something that might happen when people see that you work hard is that they give you a hard time. Let them say what they want. You are doing what you need to do, to become the person you want to be and not everyone is going to understand that.

     Hopefully, I have inspired everyone to get out there and slay whatever it is that needs slaying. Have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

     

June Recap 2016

     Hello All! I'd be lying if I didn't say that June was for sure a crazy one. As you may know, the bulk of my month has been made up of my SPP program ( Which I've kept you updated on!) and when I wasn't in class, the rest of my time was spent studying or doing normal human things. On occasion, I had the opportunity to break away from my everyday routine and do something somewhat fun, so instead of my normal week-to-week breakdown, this post will be more focused on this month's highlights. 

Highlights

     The first weekend in June, I had the chance to meet up with my Chicago squad. We hadn't had the opportunity to see each other in May, so it was really nice to catch up for a bit. We ventured out of our normal areas and checked out a little Tiki Bar in Logan Square called the Lost Lake. I was so glad that I stumbled upon this little place on Instagram because the drinks were amazing and the atmosphere was great. The place itself was small and intimate, but I think that made it all the more enjoyable. After a hectic first week, I was so glad to "get lost" for a bit with two of my best friends.

Our drinks were so pretty and obviously, so is G:)

My ride-or-dies

     The following weekend, my escape from studying was meeting up with my work friends in the suburbs. It had been quite some time since I had seen them, so it was nice to be able to see what everyone has been up to since I left. We celebrated Shay's birthday at Maggiano's and it was a great night filled with yummy food and lots of laughter. I feel that it was one of the first times that I felt what it might be like next year because although I was having a great time, at the back of my mind I was thinking about everything that I needed to study. Of course, my advice on that is to not do that to yourself, but we all have our moments. 

The Birthday Girl!

My work fam!

      The following weekend was Father's Day, but I also had exams to study for, so the most that I had the chance to do was go out to brunch with my parents. It was so nice to spend some time with them and we've really come to love this little place downtown. They make some amazing green chilaquiles, but the ricotta rhubarb pancakes I had were amazing as well!

     This past weekend was also spent studying hard for Anatomy and Physiology, but I snuck out to spend some time with Megan. We checked out Jeni's ice cream shoppe in Wicker Park, and it was AMAZING! They have some pretty creative ice cream flavors and they are all delicious. I happened to pick three different scoops: Atlantic Beach Pie ( a lemon version of key lime pie that had pieces of saltine crackers), Lemon and Blueberry, and Lavender. They were all amazing, but my favorite was the Atlantic Beach Pie. Wicker Park is one of my favorite areas of the city, so it was so amazing to have the chance to explore it a little more.

Meg all smiles because the ice cream was delicious

Best friends + Ice Cream = Pure Happiness

My delicious concoction

     I hope you enjoyed getting a little glimpse into what I've been doing for June. I've heard that M1 year offers way more breathing room that I've been given for this program, so hopefully my monthly recaps won't have to continue being in this format. Also, the good news is that next week I'm officially done with this program! So, I will also have a bit more freedom. I'll be combining the recap for the last two weeks into one post and that should be up next Friday! I'll be in exams Tuesday/Wednesday so I won't have time to write it until Thursday. 

      Hopefully, you guys had an amazing month! I can't wait to share what I get myself into for the month of July!

~Genesis<3

SPP Update: Week Three

     Wow, so I can't believe we are already at the half-way mark for this program. I am hoping that the last couple weeks fly by so that I can enjoy a bit of my summer before starting my M1 year. This past week felt rather hectic for me. I had a lot of unexpected responsibilities thrown into the mix, and I was feeling the stress. The weekend was packed with things I needed to do and studying was a very large portion of that. I just trudged through and after testing on Monday, I was super exhausted. So, I'm sure you noticed that I didn't post on Tuesday and that had a lot to do with just being crazy busy this past weekend. I'm thinking that I might go ahead and stick to a once weekly schedule just because it will be less stressful for me, and I won't feel obligated to post something just to ensure that I have a post. If I do have anything additional to post, I'll try to post Tuesday. If not, you can for sure expect something from me on Thursdays. Anyway, other that being really busy, this week has been very revelatory that I am doing exactly what I should be, so that's what we'll discuss next.

Classes and Studying

     As I began to tell you last week, the latter half of the week was very anatomy oriented and I LOVED it. I had my teach back on Thursday and it was the first time that I really got a chance to interact with the cadaver. It was like a flashback to high school biology because I jumped right into it. I can't exactly tell you how crazy it feels to be able to just be all up in someone's body learning all the things that allow us to function the way that we do, but it was an incredible feeling. I think in that moment, it helped to clear any of the hesitation that I had working with cadavers and anatomy lab has become one of my favorite places. Anatomy is by no means easy, but I think that is the most hands-on experience that we'll have as med students for a bit. So, it is important to enjoy it. They often say that the cadavers we work with are our "first patients" and I can see that. Obviously, I am not practicing my bedside manner, but I am learning many of the things that will allow me to become an excellent physician one day and that is super cool. 

     Studying has been alright. I was kinda stressed because I felt like I didn't have enough time to study the way that I wanted, but it worked out well. So, I shouldn't have been as hard on myself. It was definitely a different feel because we had just come off of studying for one set of tests and had to jump back into it, so I think that made a huge difference. My motivation has been pretty good, and I have been a pretty hardcore morning person the past couple of weeks. I'm usually up by 6:00 to get some studying in before class starts at 9:00. It's not exactly my favorite, but I'll do what I have to do.    

     This week, I'll be preparing for my second histology and biochemistry exam, so that will comprise my studying for the week. 

Outfits

     Thursday: I wore my olive linen jacket over a black striped high-low tank, black leggings with a zipper detailing at the ankle, and my black sandals.

     Friday: I wanted to go for a girlier vibe, so I paired a white lace dress ( I got this one at H&M forever ago) with a chambray shirt and my nude sandals. 

      

     Monday: I was so tired, so not a lot of consideration went into outfit planning. I just went for a casual look. I wore my favorite pair of Gap ripped jeans with this light blue top ( I love the back detailing on this top!) and my camel sandals.

     Tuesday: I finally brought out my shirt dress! This was super cute, but sadly it wrinkles like crazy, so I was kind of annoyed by that. Regardless, I was feeling really classy. I paired it with my nude sandals and threw on a navy cardigan when it got a bit chilly in class.

     Wednesday: It was super hot outside, so I opted to go for some white linen shorts and a navy striped tank from the loft. I also brought along a chambray shirt and I threw that on when it got a bit chilly in class.

     Something that I've noticed as I've been doing these posts is that a lot of the pieces in my wardrobe mix and match really well. I haven't done an official capsule wardrobe, but I feel that for many of these outfits I have been incorporating that. 

     Like I said earlier, the remainder of the week I shall be studying hard for biochem and histo. Nothing too crazy over here. If you read my post last Tuesday, you'll know that I had been apartment hunting. Well, my roomie and I found a place! We still have to finish the paperwork and what not, but I can't wait to show it to you and talk about decorating it:) I hope you guys have a fantastic week! I'll talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

The Hunt Begins!

   
      With the beginning of my M1 year quickly approaching, something that has been at the front of my mind has been looking for apartments. I love interior design, so this is something that I really enjoy doing. Now, I don't think that I'll document the entire process, but I will try to give some updates here and there (maybe thrown in with my SPP updates?...not sure yet), so you can know what's been going on.

     When I first began thinking about what I would like my living situation to be next year, my first thought was to live on my own. I lived in a studio the last two years of undergrad, and I was incredibly happy and thought that I should try to go for that. But as I've been spending more time around campus, I've realized that I really love the neighborhood and I'd like to be able to live here. Unfortunately, this part of the city isn't really comprised of high rises, so a majority of what you find is 2-bedroom apartments. I gave it careful thought over the weekend and decided I'm taking my chances and going the roommate route. Ironically, I told my friends the opposite on Friday. But, come Sunday, I changed my mind.

     Living with my SPP roommate has been really great, so I figured that I might be lucky trying that for the school year. Back in April, when I came to visit the school for second look day, I met some girls that would be M1s and we exchanged numbers. I reached out to one of them over the weekend, and she is still in need of a roommate, so it works out for me. I've begun the process of looking for places and there are quite a few available, so it'll just be a matter of picking the one that works for us. Just for backup, I did check out a studio so far to have an option available in case I change my mind, but I think It'd be better to have a bigger space.

     I'll admit, I'm a bit nervous. I've never lived with anyone that I didn't know beforehand (except my current roomie), but I am thinking that since we will be both be a part of the same program it should go pretty well. If not, it would only be for a year. We are checking some places out this weekend, so hopefully, that goes well!

     Sorry, this post is rather short! My current schedule has my mind all over the place, but I love checking in. So, I figured I'd give you guys a little update:)

     I hope you guys are having a marvelous start to your week! I can't wait to show you guys what I've been up to on Thursday's post! Talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3