Stevens Admissions: Julia

Service Learning Update

We start the Cardio-Pulmonary module today. and I really look forward to learning about these systems because heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Our professors keep reminding us of this fact, and that no matter what specialty we choose our patients are going to be dealing with these issues.

Today's lesson-plan for Service Learning is Cardiovascular Health. We also plan to incorporate blood-pressure measurements and smoking cessation counseling into the lesson.  As I've mentioned before, my Service Learning group works with the Tenant Empowerment Network in DC. For each meeting, two members of the group plan to teach a certain aspect of medicine/general health. My lesson was about nutrition and the keys to leading a healthy lifestyle. While it'd be pretty easy to teach a lesson about healthy eating habits to a group of my peers, we really had to think about other questions:

- Where is the nearest grocery store?

- Can public transport get you there?

- How much money can you spend?

- What time of the month do you get your food stamps?

Being involved with the program, we have learned so much more about certain patient populations. My groupmates and I have realized how fortunate we are and how much we take for granted. We're trying to provide any kind of service/education to which these people would not regularly have access. 

Happy Monday, everyone.

Home is Where the Stuffing Is

Oh my goodness it is so nice to be home. My Washington Deluxe bus ride took around 5 hours with a stop in between DC and NY. I used to Amtrak from Georgetown to NY, but the bus is a lot cheaper and picks up/drops off at Dupont Circle.

On Wednesday I caught up with friends from Stevens and then headed into the city. One of my friends from medical school decided to spend her break in the city, so I met up with her and showed her NY. This was her first time in NY, evident by the fact that she wanted to buy matching "I <3 NY" shirts. We started near the East Village (Dumpling Man, Pommes Frites, T-Kettle etc) then walked all over. She was blown away by the Window Displays at Macy's Herald Square.  

Luckily, my favorite Stevens 5/5 was in the city helping to inflate balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We made our way all the way uptown and had dinner with a big group of parade volunteers from Stevens. It was so nice to see fellow alumni and catch up. 

I hope everyone had a delightful Thanksgiving.

Homeward Bound

I apologize for the dearth of blogging, it has been a crazy week. But I am done! I cannot describe how great it feels.

Today was the first day that we had a morning written exam, and then an afternoon practical exam. For the practical exam, we all sat in the lecture hall while questions were projected onto the big screen. It's a lot harder to identify and orient yourself when you're looking at a picture instead of the actual body part, but it's over. Hooraaaaay! We were told that this was going to be one of the hardest months, and it lived up to expectations. 

But I want to say thank you to my friends and family, who kept me smiling the whole month. And to the inventor of stuffing, which has kept me drooling for the past 5 days.

Anyway, last week we had "Grand Rounds", during which we were paired up with fellow M1s and given a partial case. We then were paired up with M2s, with whom we worked on the complete case. We finally took the case to the panel of doctors in the lecture hall, and were called on to defend our answers. Though the M1s didn't get very hard questions, it was really exciting to see the way the M2s answered. To think that in a year we're going to be as knowledgeable is incredible. The juice will be worth the squeeze.

Shoulder to Shoulder

Today we heard a presentation from a doctor who is involved in the Shoulder to Shoulder organization.

"Shoulder to Shoulder has been working in the Intibucá Honduras for more than 20 years working with communities to reduce poverty through programs in health, education, nutrition and environmental hygiene.  A long-term sustainable relationship opens possibilities for continuity of care, health promotion and disease prevention. Ongoing, dedicated, consentrated and unwavering commitment to one area has made tremendous improvements in overall health and well being of our service area."

Georgetown offers students the chance to participate in Global Health Electives during the 3rd and 4th years of school, as well as during the summers. The speaker brought up a bunch of good points I had never considered. While it's great to count the success of a trip by the number of people you're able to treat, it is also important to consider the rest of the population that you're not seeing. Poor water quality is a big problem in rural Honduras, and the resulting diarrhea has been the cause of death for many children and adults. The trips to Honduras are not only aimed at healing the current sick, but also preventing sickness by implementing water filters.

The speaker also mentioned that while many of the Shoulder to Shoulder volunteers are physicians and medical students, the organization would love to train volunteers from any and all professions. So if you're interested in Global Health, please check out the website and spread the word!

One. More. Week.

I am SO excited to get through this week and go home for Thanksgiving! The past week has been very busy, and this coming week looks like it may be even busier.

This week we will start our Physical Diagnosis class, in which we will learn to perform a physical exam. At the end of the year we will have to perform a physical on a standardized patient (actor trained to be a patient), and review our performance with our peers and advisers. 

We have our last two labs of the Limbs module this week, our Profession of Medicine class, our Patients, Populations and Policy class, Grand Rounds, our normal lectures, and I'm giving a tour on Friday. But by 3pm next Monday, I'll be done. And by Tuesday night I'll be home :)

Just one more week! 

 

See One, Do One, Teach One

There's an idea in the profession of medicine, that the best way to learn is to see a procedure, to be able to competently do a procedure, and then be able to teach the procedure. Our first hint of this practice is in anatomy lab. Each lab session has a set list of items to identify in the limb, and ends up taking around 4 hours. A group member is assigned to be the "student teacher" for each lab session, and must be able to lead the group in the dissection, teach them the ideas that are important for that area, and be able to answer questions.

Today was my lab session, and interestingly enough, it happened to be the first day that the "group quiz" was implemented.At the end of the dissection, and instructor comes to the groups and asks each member to identify a structure in the body.

Point system

1 point:  If he or she can answer the question on his/her own.

1/2 point: If a 'lifeline' is used and the correct answer is given by a fellow groupmate

The student instructor of the session gets a higher level question. While it's kind of nerve-racking to be in that position, it really does motivate you to learn the session information as best as you can. Today's dissection was the hand and the joints of the upper limbs... so I needed to know the information like the back of my hand, literally.

The dissection and quiz went really well for our group, and we're starting to become a stronger unit. 

Clinical Correlate: Median nerve injury results in a loss of the ability to flex the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints of the 2nd and 3rd digits. Upon asking the patient to "make a fist", the 2nd and 3rd fingers remain extending, giving the "Hand of Benediction"

http://academic.amc.edu/martino/grossanatomy/site/Medical/Lab%20Manual/musculoskeletal/Answers/hand%204.htm

 

Back to the Courts

There really isn't much free time during this module, but it seems like the weeks before Thanksgiving are always some of the most hectic ones. I was told by a couple of M2s that if I can make it through this month, I can make it through any of the following months. My favorite fall images of the changing colors of the leaves, pumpkin-carving, and apple-picking, are being trumped by the site of watching students wheel huge model skeletons around the library back to their study rooms. Yes, our library offers rental skeletons, we don't bring our own from home.

But as busy as things have been, I have found a new high point of my week: intramural volleyball. I thought that I would not have time to play at medical school, and that I would be too focused on my studies to miss the sport. Last week we had our first match, and I immediately remembered why I love volleyball. Now, the level of play isn't exactly the most competitive, but it's still so much fun to get a group of people together and create a team dynamic that works. By the 5th point of the first set, we were high-fiving after every play and creating team cheers. Maybe I missed the cheering more than the volleyball, but it was still such a nice break from studying. Oh and by the way, WE WON.

Here's a picture from Halloween: