Feb
22
Things You May or May Not Need: Part 1
February 22, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Save Your Money As you can imagine, medical school is a fairly expensive undertaking. It will also consume huge quantities of your time. With this in mind I’d like to go over a few things that you do and do not need either because they are expensive or because they will complicate your life rather [...]
Feb
18
For God’s Sake, Don’t Be a Tool
February 18, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Is This Person a Tool? 1. Asks questions during lecture, especially near the end when everybody else just wants to get a break. Folks, lectures are mostly a passive affair more often than not delivered straight from the Power-point slides. This is why most lectures are sparesly attended. In the old days we relied on [...]
Feb
18
Scrubbing In: Part 2
February 18, 2006 | Leave a Comment
All Dressed Up, Nowhere to Go Are you essential to the running of the OR? Will your skills be of any value? Of course not. On the other hand, just because you don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to surgery does not mean that the team does not [...]
Feb
15
Scrubbing In: Part 1
February 15, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Yes, the Scrub Nurse is Laughing at You The dreaded day has arrived. You are on your first surgery rotation. After a brief orientation you are told to report to the operating room to “scrub in” for your first surgey. Get ready to run the gauntlet. You have the potential, in the next few hours, [...]
Feb
10
First Day on the Wards: Part 2
February 10, 2006 | Leave a Comment
You Are Worthless and Weak What is rounding? At it’s most basic, rounding is the process of visiting hospitalized patients as part of a team. The team usually consists of an Attending Physician, a collection of upper level and junior residents and medical students. The Attending Physician, or the “Attending” is the boss. He is [...]
Dec
29
First Day on the Wards: Part 1
December 29, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Are We Healing People Yet? So there you are, on the first day of third year about to start your clinical training. Two years of lectures behind you, thousands of facts disintegrating in your brain every day, and you are standing sheepishly in your new short white coat at the nurse’s station about to start [...]