Almost officially a 3rd year!

I'm done with Step 1 (as of Thursday)!!! I won't say much, just that I'm glad that it's done and that the studying is over for at least a little while. I won't find out how I did for 3-6 weeks, but right now I think that it went okay (really hard to tell though). At the end of this post I've included my schedule, for anyone interested.

So, what have I been up to since then? Mostly doing nothing while pretending to pack up the last 2 years into some boxes and suitcases (I'm moving tomorrow). Other than that, I had a meeting the day after my exam... ran home to take my brother to the hospital (everything is okay)... and went to IKEA with my mom and her best friend (who came back to town for some speaking engagements). That and watching an absurd amount of TV online.... oops.

What's next? Well... as mentioned I'm moving tomorrow into my first house. Super excited! I am also meeting with some doctors about research opportunities for next year (tomorrow at 7 am... yikes!). Everything else is gearing up for 3rd year. Getting hospital IDs, getting oriented, etc.

So, short summer (hmmm 5 days maybe) and then the 4th of July weekend before I hit the hospitals and begin doing something resembling real work and real life. It's going to be quite a transition... (I'm trying to cram 250 Biggest Mistakes 3rd Year Medical Student Make within the next few days, we'll see how that goes... but from what I've read, I think it will help). For a bigger picture on what I'll be facing, MedZag had a nice post about the transition: here.

Orientation starts on Wednesday. Hospital Orientation is a week from tomorrow... and we officially start that next Tuesday. Getting excited, but also kinda nervous. Should be fun though... I've heard that Ob is actually really good to start on, so I'm getting a little more excited about that...

Anyways.... still have lots of packing to do (hence the procrastination here). See you all soon.

Study Aids for the Med Student

Before I go into hibernation I thought I would share a few study tools (as it is study season)... both of which I've at least reference before if not shared before. Here goes...

1. Evernote

"Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere." - evernote.com

Evernote is a free program that I mentioned earlier in the year with a video link to the 5 ways a medical student was using the program. I also mentioned that I hadn't really figured out how I wanted to use it.


Since then I've become enlightened. Besides using it for saving funny pictures I find on the web and clipping articles/quotes to read later, I've found my new favorite way to use the program for board studying.

I've been typing in the First Aid and Step Up mneumonics... and since it's searchable it means that I can easily find what I'm looking for... and fast.


2. iFlash

"iFlash is a virtual flash-card program built for Mac OS X. If you want to learn almost anything, from a foreign language to the ten-codes police officers use, iFlash is for you.

iFlash includes many great features to help you study. You can record audio and attach images directly into any flash card, create an infinite number of card sides, use categories, print your cards, quickly search, and more." - loopware.com

Yes, the program is still as good as it was before... but in my opinion it got even better! The new updated version has an export to iPhone and iTouch option!!!!! (The free app is available through iTunes Apps Store)


When you click the "export" button it opens a window that searches for the open app on your iPhone/iTouch wirelessly*. It connects and you got the deck ready to go!

For more images go check out the website or apps store.

*A little story about wireless updates: I had to mess around in order to first get this to work because I was on my school's internet which has firewalls, etc. We tried a few different things before determining that if you make a "computer-to-computer" network (go to your airport and "create a network") you can connect through your iPhone/iTouch. This makes the network only your computer and device.... and Viola, updated!

The One in Which Katie is a Meanie..

The rest of my class finished 2nd year yesterday. Please note the qualifier of "rest" in the last sentence... Me? I don't finish until tomorrow morning.

Jury duty has officially served it's purposed... I've served, done my civic duty, and an now punished for doing good.... with an exam and a shortened board study time.

Last night I felt kind of bad, but every one was happy (mind you I did nothing last night but work on a website for a school group and finish Arrested Development) and talking about the end of second year. Right before going to bed my roommate and I were talking and she says, "So, I'm starting board study tomorrow." My reply, "I'm not and can't." I just wanted to say, please throw the dagger in a little further... yes, you get an extra few days and don't have meetings every other Friday all summer.... But that's okay...

I felt even worse when she asked me where I was studying today... at which point I just replied that from here on out I'm going to rooms/places where I WON'T run into other medical students. I know, mean... But I just need to get away... from everyone... and everything... and be in my own little world.

For the next few weeks I'm SERIOUSLY going into hibernation... I'm deactivating Facebook tomorrow after my exam, removing my "procrastination" tab from the toolbar and removing Tweetie from my applications bar. Even further, I'm turning my phone to off unless it's lunch or dinner.
So, I might show up randomly here or on Twitter... But for the most part (minus one more study aids post), I'll see you at the end of June just in time for Ob/Gyn.

Etiology of Cardiac Tamponade?

Hahaha..... This is what med school does to you. BTW, my friends are awesome.

Twitter as Step 1 Study Aid

Boards are on their way... and that means it's time to ramp up the questions! During board study I plan on using a Qbank to do the majority of my question-based studying (which is super important)... But I thought I would share some extra resources on Twitter that I found great!

1. First Aid Team
That's right, from the makers of the Bible for Board Exams (First Aid). They put up new questions about twice a day. And as you can see, they reference the book so you can look up the answers.

2. #step1 (which tags a tweet as "step1")

Now, I just recently found these people and started following them... But I really like what they're doing. They are posting random questions tagged as "step 1". They @reply each other with answers occasionally, but at least try to post answers to their own questions later in the day. Lots of questions per day... (I have a search for #step1 saved in my Tweetie for quick reference.)

3. @OslersNode just put up a list of Medical Student Twitters... Some of the other second years are throwing out random comments/mneunomics... It's more of a search... But it is there.


On that note... time to jump back into GI - the last pathophys unit of the year.

Jury Duty... FAIL!

"Apparently you morons didn’t understand me the first time. I CANNOT take time off from work. I’m not putting my familys wellbeing at stake to participate in this crap. I don’t believe in our “justice” system and I don’t want to have a goddamn thing to do with it. Jury duty is a complete waste of time. I would rather count the wrinkles on my dogs balls than sit on a jury. Get it through your thick skulls. Leave me the f–k alone."

My mom just sent this to me, and I had to share it as it actually relates to a bunch of crap that's been happening lately.

To put it simply, I've gotten called for jury duty 3 TIMES in the last 6 MONTHS!?

Now, it's not really 3 individual times... it's more like 1 got called 1 time... and postponed (cause I'm a student that doesn't currently live in the same city/area as my permanent address). Then they sent me a "new" date that happened to be in the middle of a test week with 3 exams... I postponed again and even had a few emails with the people about being a student and not being in the area.

Well, this past week I got another summons... Mind you, I'm still a student and still not living at my permanent address as I'm still IN SCHOOL!

Needless to say, I'm jumping through hoops at my school to get them to write a letter to the court people from hell while my parents send me the real summons (they technically wouldn't write the letter without the real summons, but seeing as how the court has to have it by Monday and i got the scanned copy on Wednesday... they had to work with me).

This is getting ridiculous though. Why the eff are they calling me?! And why are they stupid to the point that they cannot understand.... out of the area, medical school, exams every two weeks?! I mean, there are enough people with real jobs (or no jobs for that matter) that could do it... why are they so persistent in getting students?

If I cannot get out of jury duty it means that I'll be missing 2 exams. Which means that I will have to take the make-up exams, which means that I won't be able to take my board exams on time... Which means that I won't start 3rd year on time.

We're not talking missing a few days of class... We're talking I'd be starting 3rd year 2 months late... In September.

I'm so pissed right now.

I'm calling them this week to yell at them... but I thought I'd wait until my school has a chance to at least draft the letter to these idiots.

Panda's Follow-Up

Sorry, couldn't resist... clearly suffering from some ataxia.