Sunday, September 21, 2014

Special Guest Post: Medical School

             Sometimes one of our guest writers will appear on this blog to write about his experiences in medical school. This is the first installment of many future posts (we can only hope there are many but we will see what happens when clinical rotations and residency start).

First two weeks are in the books here at Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) in Dominica (Not to be confused with the Dominican Republic) and I can’t tell if it has been fast or slow. All I know is that tomorrow at 8am I have my first exam, or as they call it at RUSM “Mini 1,” and I feel okay about it. They weight the first mini less for the first semester students so that mistakes can be made and it won’t count too much against your grade, as this one will only be 10% of it. So 50 questions stand between me and a day off. I won’t get my score till Thursday so I can enjoy the rest of the day tomorrow no matter what happens on the mini.

This first mini is based on biochemistry, microbiology, anatomy and some behavioral science material. If it seems like a lot, that is because it is. I’ve heard two analogies about the amount of material that you have to intake while in medical school. One is the the idea of drinking from a fire hose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXc5ltzKq3Y I think you get the picture. Four hours of lecture everyday with an expectation to learn and know it all before your mini. I felt like I have been drinking from it at an okay rate but there is a lot that gets past me (maybe not what you want to hear about your budding physician).


The second analogy that I have heard is about eating two pancakes everyday. Say you are given 2 pancakes to eat and digest each day. For a couple of days you eat all of them, but one day maybe you don’t finish one and leave it for tomorrow, but tomorrow you have to eat the two from the new day and the one from the left over. So you have three pancakes and maybe you get through them all or you don’t. As time goes on you feel a little sick or off your game and you don’t finish one of your pancakes so you save one for the next day. And before you know it you have 10 pancakes to eat and the next day is the pancake championship. You get the picture. http://giphy.com/gifs/hiQndt1hi1Lva  So I have the challenge of eating pancakes everyday and drinking from the fire hose of information to quench my thirst.

The other day was the White Coat Ceremony. It was a nice ceremony; one with some pomp and circumstance. The President of Dominica was there, their PM, and their director of Tourism and Legal Affairs (I don’t know why the director of tourism is also their legal affairs director..oh well), the dean of the campus as well as the dean of the school. So pretty official, except I don’t think the President’s secret service detail got the memo on the dress code for the even since they came in jeans and bright button down shirts. I liked the ceremony once it started but I was really apprehensive about going because I felt like I hadn't achieved anything that merited the honor of wearing the white coat. I also dislike the attention, a little.  I think, or I thought at that time, that it would be  nicer to dawn the coat after the initials MD are attached to my name. Before the ceremony I told Michelle, through texts, about my feelings and she was nice to calm my concerns about the whole day. So before the ceremony I was apprehensive and as the ceremony started I started to feel better about life, thanks to Michelle’s help and realizing that the ceremony was to celebrate the commencement of the journey rather than mark the end of Medical School. When I realized that, I thought about how this related to baptism and how it was in fact a type of baptism. A baptism into a different life and the same way that baptism is the first step in the gospel, it only marks the first step, so now comes the step of enduring to the end.

So now I leave you. Hopefully those that are reading this are doing well. I had a nice day off from studying today, it was good to feel like a dad again instead of a drifter who only came by to eat. It was nice to relax, focus on family, and faith. Not necessarily in that order. I think Michelle appreciated the extra help too. My mission president went through medical school and said that he probably didn't get to be the valedictorian because he didn’t study on Sundays. But, what he lost in study time he gained in strengthening family relationships. I don’t think I am valedictorian material but I hope to emulate that lifestyle and give my family the time they deserve. And although the kids are small now and may not remember me not studying, I will.

“No other success can compensate for failure in the home”- David O. McKay

Jason

P.S. We found out the reason why we had so many ants on our floor. Two dead small lizards under one of our couches. Try to make that a selling point, mister director of tourism.

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