First run for the half.

My first run was planned to be a 10-12K light 1 hr run. But, I was running with a friend, and when you run with a friend, both time and distance quietly creeps up. We ended up running 18K in about 1hr 50min.

A day later, I have developed a "limp" or tight hammies. =) Thank goodness for Runner's pose!

Summer time Intro.

Its horrible that only one post made it through to the internet, before the clamor of school, and the multitude of "worries" crept up to take my mind off this blog. However, I still hope to document as much as I can, and there is plenty more school coming up.

So the next question then is where should I even start. The last few months have passed by in a flicker, and never did I have a chance to slow down and ruminate.

This summer has been particularly difficult to plan out. Unsure of whether I wanted to immerse myself in clinical medicine, travelling, or in research, which provides both an intellectual challenge, and helps with future competitiveness.

In the end, I could not resist working with one of the top scientists in Toronto. A month in, and I wonder when I will actually learn from this top scientist. Fortunately, even if I do not directly interact with him, he has been able to recruit top notch post-doctoral fellows who are each have their own credentials. As such, many of my summer days have been rich with the dialogue of two diametric post-docs, both with their own individual personality, beliefs, and research style. So that is where I will re-start the blog:

How to be successful in research.

Every so often, I will also throw in interesting insight and tibbits that I have gleaned off books that I have recently read: including:
"When the air hits your brain", "Complications", "Power of Focus", "Six Thinking Hats"....

Aiming to run a half-marathon in September, I will also post the routes that I run everyday, and any interesting recipes that I try out.

Look forward to more posts to come!

C

First Year of Medical School - Why we study.

Inspiration from one of the blogs I follow: Wake up to the morning commute, made me rethink my blog. I havn't done this in a while, and found a gaping hole in my life. Likely, it is from the lack of reflection and opportunity to express in words any thoughts and ideas that pop into mind.

Medical school. Before medical school, there was always an ultimate goal in our studies. Not to satisfy any romantacized interests or ideas about enjoying what you are studying, but rather, to get the right marks into medical school. That didn't change whether the subject was musical theatre or laboratory microbiology. The ease in which information is retained might change, or the enjoyment of attending class might change, but you always knew, marks were important.

Probe. Now that medical has begun, has any of that changed?

Scapel: The answer is, well yes and no. On the one hand, marks don't really matter any more. As long as you achieve a mark above 70, you are considered a "pass" and that is all the CARMs will ever see. However, marks do reflect the level of understanding you have on a subject. Even though, what we are studying right now has very little to do with clinical information (anatomy,embryology,physiology,histology), having a strong grasp of concepts would always be beneficial.

Furthermore, having a strong foundation will make understanding concepts down the road much easier to digest. So working hard to learn is something we are more-or-less called to do, what we pay to do, and what I should have been doing since day 1.

I am remiss to say however, I had not kicked start strong learning habits until two weeks prior to an exam! So much time was wasted on romanticizing medicine, and dreaming of future careers. Looking so far ahead at this time is pretty useless I must admit, having no idea what will occur.

Adding more to my shame, is that I had all the best examples of a wholeful students around me! A dear friend of mine, impressed early in my undergraduate career how studying should be done, and how automatic it is! My unofficial doctor-mentor, a neurosurgeon, describes to me how he spent over 120 hours/wk. in the hospital during residency to learn everything he needs to. Such diligence should have imprinted on me early on, before the prompting of an evaluation. Which is in fact a chance for others to view my ineptitude. That drive to hide my ineptitude is likely the drive for the final flury of studying I have seen in the past week.

However, a thought came to mind as I wrote the exam. I should leave MC questions that ask for what I am unsure of blank. I should do this to expose my ineptitude, since later on, in life-and-death situations, when would we get to rely on "educated guesses?" But, as I think about it, we always would, since medicine, is never exact.

Anyhow, the best suggestion I got: "Study like you will never get a chance to look at this stuff again." Take it as encouragment, or take it as a warning. But, I'd hope your doctor studied like that!