November 2018

Even with a week spent with my family in Nashville, TN, November still proved to be a heavy load from an academic perspective. We dove into the second half of the Cardiovascular (CV) block to begin the month and examined how to treat arrhythmias, benign prostatic hyperplasia, erectile dysfunction, and urinary tract infections. The antiarrhythmic overview was particular insightful as we tackled the topic in a problem based learning (PBL) exercise. By engaging each student in a discussion format, PBLs are effective at helping the students not only learn about how to handle arrhythmias but also gain an understanding of how their peers approach each case study. I believe this is an important skill to have as aspiring physicians because soon we will have to treat patients as a team, and its imperative to be able to combine multiple angles at a diagnosis to develop a personalized, appropriate treatment plan for each patient. Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Elma LeDoux, we also had the privilege running through a simulation of a patient experiencing a myocardial infarction. It gave us the opportunity to apply what we had been learning in the classroom to as close to a real-life scenario as possible. However, what I appreciated the most was that Dr. LeDoux understands the importance of bedside manners. She made it a point to teach us how to comfort the patient and assure him or her that they were in the right place and would be taken care of. If the situation was more complicated, she told us that we should take the patient's family members out of the room to explain any concerns. It is essential to keep the patient as comfortable and hopeful as possible no matter how dire the patient's condition is. I believe that physicians should be empathetic towards their patients rather than just see them as another number with a list of symptoms. I think that being a "good doctor" is more than just being smart and being able to retain information learned in lectures. I believe that your ability to understand your patient's emotions (fear, confusion, etc.) is just as important as your test scores.




Service hours in November: 15
Total service hours: 27

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 2018

Another month has flown by, and my appreciation for doctors bringing hope and life to patients swells everyday. The number of drugs, drug interactions, mechanisms of action, and any information that could complicate a patient's recovery are just a few components of what doctors must have mastered to be able to safely treat their patients. So far we have built upon the foundation established during the Basic Principles module with more common diseases like heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and many others with the ANS and CV/Renal modules. The ANS module has been particularly exciting as it has given me a new perspective on the vascular surgery research I have been a part of over the last three years at Vanderbilt Medical Center. There we have been attempting to develop a method to prevent vein graft failures after bypass surgery and determine the best solution to store veins during surgery. We also focused a lot of our research on the endothelial-dependent vasodilation of smooth ...
Read more

April 2019

Image
Finally, we are wrapping our year up with the last blog post! With MCAT preparations and job applications the past month has really flown by. In the next year, I hope to teach in underserved communities. I have always been so lucky to have a choice with my career path and my life because of my loving parents. Financial barriers can impede on a student's ability to actively learn, so I would like to create an environment that stimulates a desire to learn regardless of any other issues. I believe that places like KiPP and City Year would be a great starting point to help students in these underserved communities. I also enjoyed our Environmental Signaling elevator talks! It was a great way to learn what each of us are passionate about and work on our presenting skills. I appreciate everything that I have learned at Tulane during this Master's program, and I hope that I will continue to use and flourish this knowledge as I become a physician one day! April Service hours: 12 ...
Read more

February 2019

This month brought about the final two blocks of the year for Medical Pharmacology and Principles of Pharmacology. Neurology and Psychiatry were the final two topics discussed before heading into the final NBME exam at the end of March. I particularly enjoyed the Psychiatry block because of the light it shed on mental disorders. As I learned about the positive and negative symptoms that people with depression, schizophrenia, and other disorders, I felt a sadness growing within me. Millions of people worldwide struggle to cope with these issues on a daily basis yet so much is still unknown about these diseases from their causes to a proper treatment protocol. And the little aid we have for patients incurs such drastic side effects that make life even more difficult for any and all affected. These patients suffering from psychiatric disabilities are left to choose between fighting with their disease every day or tolerating the brutal side effects that accompany any drugs given to them to...
Read more