February 2012
9 posts
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Weary Traveler
We’ve started the journey back to the US. It’s definitely bittersweet. On one hand I’d love to stay and continue holding clinic, but part of me is ready to return to the world of running water and electricity!
This has been an AMAZING experience. Words cant begin to describe just how much the past two weeks have changed my perspective on not only medicine, but life in general. I...
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Ugali and Marriage Proposals
Another great day in Kenya! Today was exciting… after a 2 hr drive to set up clinic in a rural town, we saw ~50 patients. The people were so thankful for our help that they insisted on feeding us, so we had rice, lentils, ugali, and kale… it was really good! The ride home was not without incidence either. One of our vans ran out of gas at a very busy dirt road intersection and our van...
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Kenyan Transportation
You truly put your life in the hands of the driver in this country. Playing chicken with the oncoming traffic and dodging pedestrians and potholes in the road makes these roads a nightmare for those prone to motion sickness. Thankfully, we have something called “De-Vomit,” which was bought at a local chemist here in Bungoma. It’s actually Ondansetron, which we use frequently in the U.S. It’s over...
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MASH
I never watched this show, but I remember my parents watching it when I was younger. Holding clinic in the middle of rural Kenya with no electricity, no running water, and no refrigeration is probably pretty comparable to administering healthcare near a battlefield. Today we saw close to 100 patients in clinic. We saw everything from tungiasis and osteomyelitis to dysmenorrhea (painful menstrual...
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January 2012
4 posts
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EKG Help
Reading EKGs is a daunting task. I’ve learned the basics of EKGs on 20 separate occasions, yet somehow I never seem to recall the basics when needed. If you’re like me and need a refresher or a first time course here are some tools I’ve found useful.
#1. Watch these 3 intro to EKG videos: http://www.ems-ed.net/Video/index.html
#2 Take these quizzes....
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Overall a good numbness...
Sounds like a Pink Floyd lyric, right? This is actually an exact quote from my latest 3rd year evaluation.
When I was on Neurology, our hospital had just switched over to the electronic medical record system and the Neurology department was struggling… more specifically my resident who learned English as a 2nd language and who had no experience typing. I enjoyed working with him and felt...
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Internal Medicine Begins...
First day of medicine, check.
I’ve been looking forward to this rotation, but IM lost some of its appeal the first second I walked into my Team Room today. Everyone was quiet and serious. And very busy.
Hopefully my team will get closer as the days go by, so we can have a little fun! What’s the sense of doing anything if you can’t have a little fun while doing it? Keeping my...
December 2011
1 post
November 2011
7 posts
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My take on Neurology
Neurology is like an episode of House. The hospital patients have unusual presentations of diseases, the attending doctor is a poor communicator, and diagnostic tests are often inconclusive. Sounds fun, right? Well.. it is!
So here’s what I like about Neurology:
1. Diagnostics - many of your cases are puzzles and are intellectually challenging. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy a...
valueplus asked: I just read your post about your sexist Attending Dr (I'm a med student from Australia, and found it by looking at stuff with a med student tag). I'm just wondering if you called him out on his sexism? I've had to do this on countless occasions in lectures and on the wards. I made my mark as "the feminist one" within the first week of med school!
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Sexism in Medicine
I had a very unique and memorable experience this week on my Neurology rotation. Very memorable.
My attending began the conversation with us by discussing the news of the week - Penn State and Joe Paterno, the Herman Cain Sex Scandals, and the failing U.S. economy. Then he transitioned into discussing the US Healthcare System and how broken it is. He went on to say that women and their...
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“Cordless hair dryer…is there such a thing? If so, I want one. I’d...”
October 2011
6 posts
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Pediatrics vs. Ob/Gyn
The two big rotations I’ve completed so far are Ob/Gyn and Pediatrics (well, I finish Peds this week). I like both of them for very different reasons. Here’s my list.
OB/Gyn Pros
Surgery!
Love the straightforwardness of clinic - focused physical exam
Delivering new babies into the world
Working with healthy and happy patients (sometimes)
OB/Gyn Cons
Increased risk of maiming...
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Cardiology is the best!
I spent the morning in the Pediatric Cardiology clinic and LOVED it. As a 2nd year, I loved our Cardiology course…maybe this is a recurring theme. Perhaps I’m destined to be a Cardiologist.
I’m going to request the Cardio service while I’m on my Internal Medicine rotation. And maybe even request CardioThoracic Surgery while I’m on my Surgery rotation. I’m so...
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September 2011
6 posts
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The Unintentional Zing
I received my first critical evaluation by Ob-Gyn Intern.
Overall, she gave me a satisfactory eval with nice comments, but with some constructive criticism. She said that I was an excellent student, but timid and did not demonstrate enough confidence in my plan of care for patients. Then she gave me a B- for Interpersonal Communication.
I truly did appreciate her honesty and her kahones to...
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Ob/Gyn Exam in T-5 days!
I’ve really enjoyed this rotation. Obstetrics and Gynecology just may be my calling. I’m not willing to commit just yet though! I’ve still got lots to see this year.
Although I’ve enjoyed Ob/Gyn, I’ve managed to procrastinate studying for the exam… mostly because the hours are long and by the time I get home all I want to do is SLEEP.
Lots of studying to do...
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Little feet, little hands... little baby!
Ob/Gyn has proven to be a very busy rotation. Long and weird hours coupled with bodily fluids from every orifice = gross.
But then out comes this beautiful and perfect baby! Every time I see a delivery, I can’t help but think that I’ve just witnessed a miracle. Their sweet little hands and feet are just precious!
I LOVE Ob/Gyn. One of the 4th year medical students advised me to not...
August 2011
6 posts
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Don't Cry
Week 2 of Ob/Gyn Rotation. Day 1 of Gyn Tumor Surgery Service. And 1st day I teared up at patient’s bedside.
It’s probably bad form to cry at a patient’s bedside. Thankfully, tears didn’t stream down my face!
Being careful not to mention specifics (ala HIPAA)… our sweet patient is dying from gynecologic cancer. Unfortunately, the kind of cancer she has is very...
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Just Play Nice
I was officially and royally gunned yesterday.
I haven’t had the time or energy to blog about my new rotation (4:30 wake up calls come WAAYY too early)..but I’m on OB/Gyn. Currently I’m in my 1-wk rotation in benign GYN surgery, which is mostly hysterectomies and tubal ligations. Next week I’ll be on GYN oncology surgery.
To properly explain how I was gunned by a fellow...
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Family Medicine, part 1
I’m back from vacation! On Monday I started my 2-wk rotation in Family Medicine. Although there’s no Call and the hours are great, I’m exhausted! Maybe it’s because I just got back from a two week vacation that involved sitting on my butt 24/7.
This week is the first time I’ve felt like a doctor… with responsibility, but without the competence. Although...
July 2011
5 posts
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Step 1 is officially behind me!
Seven weeks of studying, roughly $1000 for the test & study materials, an episode of sciatica, and many days of very, very bad skin all came down to that little pdf that I downloaded from the NBME website today.
The board examiners must realize the anxiety and mania that medical students experience opening that document, so they dumb it down for us. The first line of the score report just...
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Scrubbing In
I scrubbed in for a surgery for the first time! It was a Glaucoma surgery for placement of a shunt. I found this picture on the web that shows the shunt inside the anterior chamber of the eye. Isn’t that cool?
Thankfully they didn’t expect me to do anything except observe and occasionally squirt some water on the eye. But I was sitting right there through it all!
I’m still...
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Rotations and Anticipation
My very first rotation of 3rd year is an elective I chose - Ophthalmology. And so far I’m loving it. I’m not yet sure if my appreciation of Ophtho is due to my laid-back resident with the dry humor or due to the fact that I leave every day by 1:00 in the afternoon. Or perhaps I really do like Ophthalmology.
Next week I will get to see several surgeries, which I’m REALLY excited...
June 2011
19 posts
How to Marry A Millionaire
Watched this Marilyn Monroe film for the first time ever. (Thanks for the loaner, Ashley!) This may be one of my favorite movies ever.
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Step 1, check
Oh.My.Goodness. What an exhausting experience… my brain is toast.
Overall it wasn’t the worst experience of my life (assuming I pass). In hearing some of my friends’ experiences, I was prepared for the worst. And by that I mean, prepared to be absolutely clueless about 15+ questions per block. Fortunately, a vast majority of the material was familiar. Don’t let me fool you...
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“Favorite pen just ran out of ink. Kind of appropriate timing… must mean...”
