Have I got a treat for you today. I am in a good mood. I have two days of class, a test on Friday morning at 7:30, and then I am off for 3 weeks (assuming I pass the test). I needed a little study break and you all are the beneficiary of said break. Enjoy 3 songs from today's artist, straight from Norway: Kings of Convenience.
We will start with the most silly and move to the more melancholy.
I'd Rather Dance With You
Misread
Cayman Islands
6.29.2010
6.10.2010
SDKJ Chronicles
Unwitting Participants
People have heard all kinds of awful things about how difficult medical school is, how high the divorce rate is, how competitive it is, and all manner of other things that I have found to be somewhat exaggerated. Med school is not too tough. The material is not too tough. It's just a lot. Volume is the problem, not difficulty. I think most med students would agree with that stellar assessment. That being said, the volume can overtake your life if you let it, which can cause mental breakdowns, difficulties in your personal life, etc., but that is only if you let the voluminous material run your life. I have chosen not to.
But, my med school does some perplexing things to its students, all in the name of better education and better preparation to be better doctors. We have precious little free time and precious little time to master all the material presented to us. Yet, they feel the need to pack on extra assignments and programs that seemingly have little value, but take up some of our free time. Today we will talk about one such program.
Let's face it baby boomers, y'all are getting old. Just look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and say it out loud. It will be cathartic. I do the same thing each morning. I look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and say "Man, you have razor sharp wit, dashing good looks, and an intelligence unmatched by anyone on earth". It really helps to say the hard truths to yourself sometimes. So, as future doctors it is our charge to take care of the health care needs of you geriatric patients (or "greedy geezers" as the Obama administration likes to call you). Speaking of which, maybe we won't have to take care of you because the Obamacare plan dictates that no money will go toward healthcare for the elderly, so all this training might be pointless. (Had to.) I digress. So, because there will be a great number of elderly patients in our future waiting rooms, my school has developed a little side "project" for us to do to help us learn more about geriatric health care - because it differs from regular health care.
We call it the SAGE program (something something Geriatric Education...I don't know...just call it SAGE like the rest of us for crying out loud). The program includes lectures during each of our classes talking about geriatric specific problems/issues pertaining to what we are learning. A few questions will inevitably end up on the test. No one really likes the lectures so no one really prepares for the test questions. They trip us up sometimes. Another part of the SAGE program is going to the home of an elderly person in the community and doing some sort of health-related assignment with them.
Website here for the truly bored.
Now, we will get to the meaning of the title of this post: Unwitting Participants. I have recently found out that the SAGE program is part of a federally-funded research project that a couple of our faculty members are doing on the effectiveness of geriatric education in medical school. In other words, we are the lab rats for the researchers. They are trying things out on us. Seeing what things work and what things don't work. Secondly, the geriatric patients that we go visit in the community are Meals on Wheels participants. They were kind of roped into letting first year med students into their homes by participation in a needed program for their daily sustenance. Hence, we are both unwitting participants.
That being said, I love our little old couple that me and my partner go and visit. They are so awesome and are fun to talk to. Other students have had great difficulty with their "patients" but I have had no such problem. The assignments are easy and it doesn't take too much time away from us. But, some of my fellow students think it's a huge waste of time. But, I think those are the same students who have to microwave their Pop Tarts in the morning. It's time to loosen up the schedule and enjoy the educational ride.
People have heard all kinds of awful things about how difficult medical school is, how high the divorce rate is, how competitive it is, and all manner of other things that I have found to be somewhat exaggerated. Med school is not too tough. The material is not too tough. It's just a lot. Volume is the problem, not difficulty. I think most med students would agree with that stellar assessment. That being said, the volume can overtake your life if you let it, which can cause mental breakdowns, difficulties in your personal life, etc., but that is only if you let the voluminous material run your life. I have chosen not to.
But, my med school does some perplexing things to its students, all in the name of better education and better preparation to be better doctors. We have precious little free time and precious little time to master all the material presented to us. Yet, they feel the need to pack on extra assignments and programs that seemingly have little value, but take up some of our free time. Today we will talk about one such program.
Let's face it baby boomers, y'all are getting old. Just look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and say it out loud. It will be cathartic. I do the same thing each morning. I look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and say "Man, you have razor sharp wit, dashing good looks, and an intelligence unmatched by anyone on earth". It really helps to say the hard truths to yourself sometimes. So, as future doctors it is our charge to take care of the health care needs of you geriatric patients (or "greedy geezers" as the Obama administration likes to call you). Speaking of which, maybe we won't have to take care of you because the Obamacare plan dictates that no money will go toward healthcare for the elderly, so all this training might be pointless. (Had to.) I digress. So, because there will be a great number of elderly patients in our future waiting rooms, my school has developed a little side "project" for us to do to help us learn more about geriatric health care - because it differs from regular health care.
We call it the SAGE program (something something Geriatric Education...I don't know...just call it SAGE like the rest of us for crying out loud). The program includes lectures during each of our classes talking about geriatric specific problems/issues pertaining to what we are learning. A few questions will inevitably end up on the test. No one really likes the lectures so no one really prepares for the test questions. They trip us up sometimes. Another part of the SAGE program is going to the home of an elderly person in the community and doing some sort of health-related assignment with them.
Website here for the truly bored.
Now, we will get to the meaning of the title of this post: Unwitting Participants. I have recently found out that the SAGE program is part of a federally-funded research project that a couple of our faculty members are doing on the effectiveness of geriatric education in medical school. In other words, we are the lab rats for the researchers. They are trying things out on us. Seeing what things work and what things don't work. Secondly, the geriatric patients that we go visit in the community are Meals on Wheels participants. They were kind of roped into letting first year med students into their homes by participation in a needed program for their daily sustenance. Hence, we are both unwitting participants.
That being said, I love our little old couple that me and my partner go and visit. They are so awesome and are fun to talk to. Other students have had great difficulty with their "patients" but I have had no such problem. The assignments are easy and it doesn't take too much time away from us. But, some of my fellow students think it's a huge waste of time. But, I think those are the same students who have to microwave their Pop Tarts in the morning. It's time to loosen up the schedule and enjoy the educational ride.
Chanson du Jour
I'm gonna try and rattle off a few of these songs of the day for a while. I have an ever-growing list of bands that is somewhere in the 150 bands range, so I better get crack-a-lackin'. Well, here is today's meager effort. I'm assuming the name of the song is a take on the hilarious Stanley Kubrick film, but I have not talked to the band about it, so I'm not sure.
Harold T. Wilkins or How To Wait For A Very Long Time by Fanfarlo
Harold T. Wilkins or How To Wait For A Very Long Time by Fanfarlo
6.09.2010
Chanson du Jour
Discovered this guy yesterday when I should have been studying. I really like him. This song isn't too representative of his body of work, but it is great. Now back to studying about gram-negative bacterial infections.
Take Me Home by Sad Brad Smith
Take Me Home by Sad Brad Smith
6.08.2010
Chanson du Jour
Listen. I'm no dummy. Let me rephrase. I am not an idiot. Nah, that's not right either. I guess what I am trying to say is I am self aware enough to know why all of my many reader comes to this blog once a year. To hear some weird crap. Today, I will oblige. Not only is today's song weird, it is also a little spooky. But, I really like it. I don't like too much of their other stuff, but I really like this.
You Are The Blood by Castanets
You Are The Blood by Castanets
6.03.2010
Chanson du Jour
Sorry that it has been a long time between songs. See I have this little problem. I cannot login to my blogs from my school laptop. I don't know why it won't let me do it. It just won't. So, I now have to go up to our upstairs computer to make posts, and I am just way too lazy to make that trip very often. But, I am here now, making sure a baby clad only in a diaper does not destroy anything and allows her mother to get a little work done. I love having "days off" at school.
Here is today's song(s).
Shake Shake Shake by White Denim
I Start To Run by White Denim
Here is today's song(s).
Shake Shake Shake by White Denim
I Start To Run by White Denim
5.25.2010
Chanson du Jour
I don't think Anonymous will make it to the end of this one.
Planes Like Vultures by Le Loup
Planes Like Vultures by Le Loup
5.24.2010
SDKJ Chronicles
I get asked a lot of questions about school and the goings on there. That gives me lots of opportunities to talk about what students do as they train to be doctors. Even if I don't get asked questions, I am usually more than happy to tell my stories anyway. Why? Because if I kept them all in, I would explode.
What kind of stories are these? Stories about my classmates, stories about my curriculum, anatomy lab fun, shadowing doctor fun, etc. So, we are starting a new segment on the blog called Student Doctor Kevin Jensen (SDKJ) Chronicles. These stories will be engrossing or grossing to those not in the medical field, and boring and insignificant to those in the medical field, but it should be fun anyways. Since the first year is almost over, we are going to have to do some retroactive posts, but I don't think y'all will mind too much. And if you do, tough. I don't really care. How's that for future doctor compassion!
First up, I will talk generally about the anatomy lab experience. Many of you have never been in an anatomy lab. Let's just say it's an experience. Our lab is one really long, skinny room with "tanks" (metal coffin looking bins with the bodies in them) on both sides and an aisle down the middle. Each tank has an iMac on the wall next to it as a reference and guide for the dissection and identification of body parts. There are about 40 tanks in the room, 20 in a row on each side.
Here is a picture of a really rinky dink lab (not ours) but it gives you an idea of what the tanks look like and what the bodies look like under the shrouds inside the tanks.
On each tank is a small notecard with a brief description of the person(of course, leaving out the name) that includes age of death, cause of death, gender. There were 5 of us assigned to each tank which contained one body.
For about 2/3 of the first year, we were in the lab at least once a week dissecting some part of the body. It was very systematic, because once you cut a part of the body, it will never be intact again, so we kind of had to work from the outside in and work on one region at a time. Then, we would move on to the next section. We will get into specifics later, for those of you interested, but I just wanted to give a flavor.
FAQ Answered...
1) No, I never saw anyone vomit
2) Yes, we got grossed out by some stuff we found - those stories will come later
3) Some people wore masks because of the horrible smell, but I did not
4) Yes, you smell like the lab for most of the semester
5) Yes, it is a mess inside the body
6) Yes, dissecting the body and learning more about it made me want to be healthier
7) Yes, I really truly enjoyed being in there
8) Yes, I do miss it now that we are done
If you have any questions, please put them in the comments and I will answer them. More to come on SDKJ Chronicles.
What kind of stories are these? Stories about my classmates, stories about my curriculum, anatomy lab fun, shadowing doctor fun, etc. So, we are starting a new segment on the blog called Student Doctor Kevin Jensen (SDKJ) Chronicles. These stories will be engrossing or grossing to those not in the medical field, and boring and insignificant to those in the medical field, but it should be fun anyways. Since the first year is almost over, we are going to have to do some retroactive posts, but I don't think y'all will mind too much. And if you do, tough. I don't really care. How's that for future doctor compassion!
First up, I will talk generally about the anatomy lab experience. Many of you have never been in an anatomy lab. Let's just say it's an experience. Our lab is one really long, skinny room with "tanks" (metal coffin looking bins with the bodies in them) on both sides and an aisle down the middle. Each tank has an iMac on the wall next to it as a reference and guide for the dissection and identification of body parts. There are about 40 tanks in the room, 20 in a row on each side.
Here is a picture of a really rinky dink lab (not ours) but it gives you an idea of what the tanks look like and what the bodies look like under the shrouds inside the tanks.
On each tank is a small notecard with a brief description of the person(of course, leaving out the name) that includes age of death, cause of death, gender. There were 5 of us assigned to each tank which contained one body.
For about 2/3 of the first year, we were in the lab at least once a week dissecting some part of the body. It was very systematic, because once you cut a part of the body, it will never be intact again, so we kind of had to work from the outside in and work on one region at a time. Then, we would move on to the next section. We will get into specifics later, for those of you interested, but I just wanted to give a flavor.
FAQ Answered...
1) No, I never saw anyone vomit
2) Yes, we got grossed out by some stuff we found - those stories will come later
3) Some people wore masks because of the horrible smell, but I did not
4) Yes, you smell like the lab for most of the semester
5) Yes, it is a mess inside the body
6) Yes, dissecting the body and learning more about it made me want to be healthier
7) Yes, I really truly enjoyed being in there
8) Yes, I do miss it now that we are done
If you have any questions, please put them in the comments and I will answer them. More to come on SDKJ Chronicles.
Chanson du Jour
Well, I think a three month break (exactly, btw - not planned, but awesome nonetheless) is quite enough. I know, I know. You were getting the "ridiculous band shakes", but don't worry...those will go away. NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We'll pick up right where we left off. If you are new here, yous gots lots of catchin ups to do. This is a Seattle band.
Last Dance by Math and Physics Club
Oh, what the hay. In honor of my two favorite things (not people mind you), 1) the $1 Mickey D's double cheeseburger and 2) the $.99 Wendy's double stack, let's make this bad boy a double, just as a "welcome home son" to me. This band is not from Seattle, but they are from Finland. So, that's good.
Higher Ground by Cats on Fire
We'll pick up right where we left off. If you are new here, yous gots lots of catchin ups to do. This is a Seattle band.
Last Dance by Math and Physics Club
Oh, what the hay. In honor of my two favorite things (not people mind you), 1) the $1 Mickey D's double cheeseburger and 2) the $.99 Wendy's double stack, let's make this bad boy a double, just as a "welcome home son" to me. This band is not from Seattle, but they are from Finland. So, that's good.
Higher Ground by Cats on Fire
2.24.2010
Chanson du Jour
A little break from learning about the adrenal gland. Fascinating stuff. Today I bring you a fairly good song with a pretty awesome video.
The Weakest Shade of Blue by Pernice Brothers
The Weakest Shade of Blue by Pernice Brothers
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