You all should check out the blog at http://jaewonjoh.com/. He’s currently a medical student at Baylor College of Medicine and the latest post (as of 1/25/10) is a fun read (link to aforementioned post). He also tweets, so if you are a social media fan, go ahead and follow too.
How to Date a Med Student
January 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Fox News published a story in their “Love & Marriage” section online by Marissa Kristal entitled “How to Date a Med Student. Here are a few selected nuggets of wisdom (a link to the full article can be found below):
6. here will be weeks you’ll forget you even have a boyfriend—friends will ask how he is and you’ll say, “What? Who? Oh….right. He’s well…I think.”
3. Learn to hide your “ew, gross” reactions when they tell you all the stuff you never wanted to know about your bodily functions.
1. Don’t expect to see them. Ever.
TED Talks: Mirror Neurons
January 4, 2010 by 1 Comment
@kwdodd posted this video on his Twitter feed and I just found this short 8 min clip fascinating. We briefly heard about these things called “mirror neurons” in neuroscience class but Dr. Ramachandran does an excellent job of explaining what these things are and why they are so amazing.
Hopefully some of you enjoy this.
Dreams
December 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Just woke up from a strange dream. It was a pretty convoluted “storyline” that started off with me running away from the “authorities” in some old-time setting. And by old-time setting I mean a couple hundred years ago. At least that’s how it felt because the people who were chasing me were doing so with swords.
Anyhow, the dream ended in a modern day setting where I was at a party. There were movie stars and I was some new person to the “scene.” My manager was worried about me and the press coverage.
Suddenly one of the ladies at the party started flying. But we knew she was on some sort of harness and it was all part of the entertainment. Something went wrong, though, and she slammed into a wall and dropped like a rag doll. I rushed to her side and started assessing the situation.
We didn’t want to mover her.
I believe I managed to intubate her.
It was a blur, and a flurry of action because along the way some good-natured person slipped her a pill while she was unconscious in hopes of helping her. I’m not sure when this happened but it must’ve been while I was otherwise occupied. This pill was causing her airway to close up and the reason I had to intubate her.
I just had to write this up because it seems like dream-me is progressing through my medical education faster than real-me. Which is alright, I suppose. Because at least real-me doesn’t have to run away with armed guards equipped from swords.
Change The World
December 24, 2009 by Leave a Comment
I’m not in the habit of adding music to my blog posts. So this is a special occasion — or just an opportunity for me to hunt down and try out a new plugin for my blog.
Yesterday I drove back to Loma Linda (from San Fernando) to get my H1N1 vaccine and to pick up some other things. This vaccine was the main reason. I received an email a couple weeks back saying that all students at Loma Linda University would be required to have the vaccination in order to register for Spring quarter. Last week (during exams), I received an email from one of my deans stating that I had not yet received mine and they wanted to know why and when I would get one. So, taking advantage of Christmas break (a time when the I’ve-got-to-study-every-minute-I-can feeling is slightly diminished), I decided to get my shot.
On the drive back I selected shuffle on my iPod and placed Apple in charge of my driving music. I frequently download music, add it to my library, and never listen to it. So there are plenty of songs that have a zero play count. But eventually I do get to hear some of the songs when my iPod shuffles to it.
Somewhere around Pasadena this song started playing (lyrics below). I think it was the first time I’d ever listened to it.
As the chorus played I thought about medicine — about the practice of it. I thought about the current healthcare reform debate. I thought about the seeming futility of trying to make a difference. I thought of all the practicing doctors who started out hoping to change the world but who have since become filled with cynicism. And I thought about Loma Linda University’s motto: “…to Make Man Whole.”
Can we make a difference on a grand scale? I don’t know. Through the optimistic lenses of my medical student glasses I’d like to hope that we can. I want to believe it’s possible.
But at the very least, we can start on the path towards changing the world by making a difference in the lives of one patient at a time.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.
If you’re a medical student, or any other student, I hope you get well-rested, refreshed, and ready to attack a new quarter come January.
If you’re out of school and working, I hope the office Christmas parties will have made you smile at least a little — even if it was to laugh at the foolishness around you.
And if you are a bum, I hope the chaos of the season will not be too overwhelming for you.
Change
Performed by Carrie Underwood
Album: Play On
What’cha gonna do with the 36 cents
Sticky with Coke on your floorboard
When a woman on the street is huddled in the cold
On a sidewalk vent trying to keep warm
Do you call her over hand her the change
Ask her a story ask her her name
Or do you tell yourselfYou’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the worldWhat’cha gonna do when you’re watching t.v.
And an ad comes on
Yeah you know the kind
Flashin’ up pictures of a child in need
For a dime a day you can save a life
Do you call the number reach out a hand
Or do you change the channel call it a scam
Or do you tell yourselfYou’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
Don’t you listen to them when they say
You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
Oh the smallest thing can make all the difference
Love is alive
Don’t listen to them when they say
You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the worldThe worlds so big it could break your heart
And you just wanna help
But not sure where to start
so you close your eyes
Send up a prayer into the darkYou’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
Don’t listen to them when they say
Youre just a fool
Just a fool you believe
You can change the world
Oh the smallest thing can all the difference
Love is alive
Don’t listen to them when they say
You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
I was bored
December 9, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Edit (1/25/10): Office Max decided to take down the elf dances, but I’m leaving this post up because what I wrote below the really awesome elfing was an in-the-moment snapshot of how I felt at that time.
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Yeah. I was bored. And pissed off about microbiology. So I made this to cheer me up. Test week is next week and the everything is going crazy.
The dean’s office added two more exams. One for psychopathology and one for neuroscience because there are students who need the extra exam to pull their grades up.
So 8 exams in 7 days. Oh, joy.
After using Twitter so much in recent days I have noticed my sentences have become terse. Actually it might also have to do with school being a pain now. Well school isn’t really a pain. Just the schedule we have been on.
Hopefully I’ll be able to write something this weekend before exams, but most likely it won’t be until afterwards
The Game Plan
November 7, 2009 by 2 Comments
It’s been two weeks since we had midterm exams. I did alright; I didn’t reach my goal. But I can do better. Not getting down on myself at all — just trying to learn and improve.
I was talking to someone who I would call my coach. She talked to me about now moving on to Peak Performance.
What is peak performance? She gave me a few things to consider.
I told her that my final exams for the fall quarter would begin on the week of December 14.
She told me that she wanted me to be prepared for exams by December 10 and that the days between the 10th and the 14th would serve as relaxed, light, review. Furthermore, she wanted me to attack my studies with 100% intensity. Two weeks before the exams I am to drop down to 80% and then the final week before the exams begin will be down to 60%
That sounds great. But how do I do that?
Well she told me it would be tiring. She told me that I would be tired now. But it would pay off during exams. It’d pay off when, on the night before my exam, I can go to bed early and wake up refreshed because I don’t have to cram.
My coach is a big fan of sports analogies. And I think the analogies are pretty spot on — at least most of the time.
How do peak performers, people who are at the top of their respective games, prepare for the big day/game?
Well this is what she taught me of what Peak Performers do:
- Get ready way ahead of time.
- Strategize from day 1 — and in my case this means forming a study strategy for every single subject.
- Practice daily as if I am performing on the final day — For me, she wants me studying now at 100% intensity because that is the intensity I will need come test day.
- Go for the win; no other option is on the radar
- Be solution-focused. If they don’t perform well, peak performers reflect, learn, and then grow. they don’t stew/gripe over a misstep.
It’s a tall order. I’m a bit intimidated by it. But I want to. I see her this coming week and she is expecting me to give a study plan for each subject. I am supposed to look ahead in the class schedule and start planning backwards.
This weekend I will create a daily schedule — hopefully I will be able to stick to it. No, I will stick to it.
It’s 5 weeks ’till game time. And the preparation begins now.
