Do No Harm

As a medical student and future health care professional, these past few days have been disheartening. The actions of Republican politicians have been rocking the news with updates on dismantling the Affordable Care Act. My medical school is widely known in the UC system as the medical school leading in primary care. With programs like the Accelerated Competency-based Education in Primary Care (ACE-PC), the San Joaquin-Valley PRIME, Rural PRIME, and TEACH-MS, my medical school is deeply rooted with the interest of serving the underserved communities. Being located in the capitol, my medical school brings people who are passionate about public health and health policy. Upon hearing about the threats to the Affordable Care Act, students in my school started a petition to announce our concerns and stand in solidarity with those that will be affected.  We stand in solidarity with the national movement, #ProtectOurPatients, a movement created by medical and health professional students standing for access to health care.

I am disheartened by the recent news: Congress’ move to dismantle the ACA and the divestment in Planned Parenthood. The most basic human right to the access of health care is threatened with no real robust replacement plan.

As a medical student, I swore to “do no harm”; I took an oath to serve the vulnerable communities and to take care of people. As a medical student, I have the privilege and responsibilities of being a voice to the communities I care for. I will stand in solidarity my patients and march with my peers and colleagues to show Congress the importance of health care.  Will you?

Thanks for reading,

D

Lottery Day: Choosing Clerkship Rotations

Clerkship Rotations — this is the year that excites most medical students: we get to go in the hospitals, the clinics, and the OR, we get to see patients, we get to interact with other physicians and health care professionals, and we get to practice being a doctor! I’m super excited for rotations! There are 6 rotations that we have to rotate through: Psychiatry, OB/Gyn, Pediatrics, Surgery, Internal Medicine, and Family Medicine. At my medical school, we undergo a lottery to pick our rotations. Basically what happens on Lottery Day is: each student receives a number from 1-84. The student with #1 goes first and picks their first rotation in any rotation slot. It doesn’t have to be in the first rotation slot (for example: Surgery during the 5th rotation).  The next student with #2 will go and do the same, and so on, and so forth. After student #110 chooses their rotation, a random number is drawn between 1-110 and that new number is the next starting point (for example, #43 was chosen, they will pick their second rotation slot then #44 will go and pick). This happens until all 84students have a rotation schedule. If there are any conflicts, then trades and swaps happen.

My rotation schedule ended up looking like this:

1. Psychiatry
2. Surgery
3. Pediatrics
4. Internal Medicine
5. Ob/Gyn
6. Family Medicine/Elective

Not too shabby! I was able to pick all of my top choices . In the end, it doesn’t really matter too much about what rotation you do when, because all the rotations are equally challenging. They have some differing aspects about them though. Internal Medicine has been rumored to be the hardest rotation, but it’s because the hours are long and the breadth of knowledge is more than the other rotations. Family medicine, Ob/Gyn and Psychiatry have weekends off while you’ll most likely be on-call for Surgery and Pediatrics. There is not magic rotation schedule for honoring because honoring in a rotation is based on your performance and your test scores.

I’m super excited for rotations now, but I gotta pass Step 1!!

Thanks for reading,

D

Finishing up Year 2

We’re back in school again after a restful Winter Holiday break. I spent my time with friends and family, eating, laughing, watching movies/T.V., playing board games and video games. I feel super rested and recharged to finish up Year 2.  In the next two months, we’ll be finishing up Nephrology and the GI system. I actually enjoyed learning about the kidney during my first year physiology course, and the GI System was pretty straight forward. So, for the next few months, I’m going to try to work on building a routine for my Step 1 study period: waking up earlier, eating a healthier breakfast (rather than having a granola bar or buying a breakfast sandwich at school), working out every day and accomplishing my review questions on Firecracker.

My study space currently is super tiny; I’m using a small desk or the 4-top kitchen table.  I would love to have a large office desk space. Here are some pictures of some work space ideas that I pinned on my pinterest board:

Image via Pinterest

Image via Pinterest

I’m trying to keep my study space neat and tidy, but I’m still working on my handwriting. It’s definitely not the neatest, but these Muji pens I’ve been using make my handwriting look amazing. I discovered Muji a few years ago while I was strolling through Downtown San Jose and found a storefront near SJSU. I bought a cute pack of 9 gel pens and I never went back to my G2 Pilot pens.

I love using my Passion Planner. My Passion Planner maps out every day of the week and helps me plan out my study schedule to keep myself on track. The Passion Planner I have is printed on the academic calendar, which is really helpful for me since my med school still runs on an academic calendar with the undergraduate campus. Using a planner has really helped me organize myself for studying; I list out the topics I want to tackle on different days and write in goals I have for each week.  I even plan out my meals and breaks throughout the week!

I’ll be using my Passion Planner to organize my study schedule for Step 1 and write a post about it soon (what my study schedule looks like, what a study day consists of, and what resources I’ll be using). So, stay tuned for that post coming up in a few weeks!

I’m off to work on my research presentation now: I’m presenting at a conference at the end of this month and I have a poster presentation in March! Med student work never ends.

Thanks for reading,

D

Winter Break Goals

I’ve been on super winter break mode – sleeping in, lounging around in sweat pants, hanging out with friends and family, and watching lots and lots of Netflix. (I’ve recently got C hooked onto Sense 8 right before the 2-hour Christmas special!) But here’s a quick update of what I’ve been up to these past few days. This is a picture heavy post, by the way!

Just leading up to finals, I turned 24. My birthday was right in the middle of finals, so C and I didn’t really plan anything special. But we decided to make the best of what time we had and celebrate it the best way we know: with donuts. We went to this little mom and pop donut shop in West Sacramento called Marie’s Donuts. Unlike most donut shops, they open at 11PM. Fresh donuts were being fried right in front of us and iced in huge trays.

Marie’s Donuts – they have these amazing blueberry donuts.

After finals was over, C took me to a bottomless mimosa brunch at Land Ocean at the Roseville Galleria. The service was great and the food was delicious. Bottomless mimosas were only $8 with a purchase of an entree; C got a spinach and sausage frittata and I got chilaquiles. Our glasses were never empty and our stomachs were so full as well.

C and I went last minute Christmas shopping at our new favorite store: TJ Maxx. I’m so glad I discovered TJ Maxx after finals, because I would have spent hours in there looking at all the home decor items, skin care products, and tons of other goodies they have to offer. I was particularly stuck at the stationary aisle. There were shelves of little notebooks, colored pencils, desk organizers; pretty much my dream come true. I told C to just leave me there and come back when he was ready to go.

I loved these little notebooks– they were about $5-$7! Simple gold and black.

I wanted to purchase a notebook to use during my USMLE Step 1 studying – just to jot down some notes, helpful mnemonics, common mistakes I make, or tricks/tips from the Kaplan Q bank and the UWorld Q bank. This was something that I did during my MCAT studying, and I found it extremely helpful.

 

I ended up purchasing a leather bound notebook with sturdy pages and cute gold leaf decals and a pencil case. I love the golden accents on the notebook and pencil case. They go perfectly with my headphones.

Since winter break, I’ve been taking time to go study for a few hours (2-3 hours max). Just a few hours each day going through my First Aid book and through Firecracker. I’ve also been working on my oral presentation on my research project and working on my papers. Things are busy, but I’m trying to find time for friends, family and my blog. It’s all about balance!

Thanks for reading!

D

Hello. It’s me.

Hey! I’m Donna and welcome to my blog. I am a second year medical student based in California. I started this blog as a creative outlet for myself: a place to share my thoughts, my everyday inspiration, and my experience in medical school.

My hopes for this blog is to debunk myths about med school and to reach out and connect with others. During my time in undergrad, I was always looking for mentorship; I wanted to go into medicine and become a doctor, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know where to look. Reading blogs and talking to other pre-med students helped me to believe in myself and feel less alone on this journey. Now, as a medical student, I hope to do the same and share my experiences. Join me on this crazy journey and I hope to learn more about you, too!