Sunday, November 21, 2010

Taking exams in monkey suits one day, and being a salesman on another day

Medical school is an... interesting experience.

Penn Med tradition dictates that for the second anatomy exam (a team exam) the teams have to dress up in various costumes.  Most tend to wear costumes somewhat related to the anatomy class.  My learning team dressed up as the League of Lesions - i.e. the symptoms of the most common nerve lesions in our limbs.

I dressed up as an ape (representing the ape / simian hand that happens due to median nerve / median & ulnar nerve lesions).


... and then I proceeded to take the exam.  On a side note - my Penn Med class now holds two records for our anatomy class: we had the lowest average in the history of the new Penn Med curriculum (which is ~ 12-14 years old) on an anatomy exam (the first anatomy exam)... but we also got the highest average ever on an anatomy exam (first time it was over 90).  Go Penn Med 2014ers!

This, oddly enough, is one of the reasons I chose Penn and boy am I happy I did.  You always have to remember that life is more than just "doing your job" - be it an actual job in a cubicle, or being a professional student and studying your ass off.  It's about enjoying what you do, and remembering to stop and do the other things you enjoy doing while not losing sight of your primary "job".  And this sense really permeates into Penn Med's philosophy - which is really nice!

Makes my life easier... and I don't seem like (as much of) a slacker.

Switching gears:


We go through Doctor-patient courses.  These are (usually) with actors who play patients, and we are put in... interesting situations so we can improve our interviewing skills.  One of my recent Dr-Pt interactions was pretty hilarious.  My "patient" was non-compliant with her diabetes medications (i.e. she wasn't taking them properly).  She was pursuing more homeopathic remedies (lots peanuts apparently) because she didn't like the side effects from the medication.  I guess this is when my corporate world training kicked in and I tried to convince her that it's in her best interest to continue her diabetes medication.  Of course I start off with "our main goal is to make you feel better - and if you are feeling side effects from the medication - we should definitely see what we can do about that!  We want you to want to take your medications because it genuinely makes you feel better."

But the kicker was "I really think we can work with your homeopathic remedies - I don't see why we can't try both at the same time, especially if you feel better on those remedies.  I don't see why western medicine needs to be at odds with homeopathic remedies Would you like to give it a try, and see how it goes?"

At the end of the session, first thing the actor says?  "Used car salesman!"  But I took that as a compliment!  Especially since she kinda caved and accepted my suggestion.



I've got a long way to go, a lot to learn, and quite a bit more growing up to do (although, I'm pretty sure that last part will never happen...); but I am really glad to see that my experiences in the corporate world aren't completely useless.

P.S. - I really do want to get into blogging now.  I feel like putting my thoughts down somewhere can a. help me sort them out and b. be awesome to look back on (and laugh at).  Also - Anna inspired me to get back into it.  So if my bad grammar and sentence structure hurts your head, blame her.

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