We are finally done with neuro! yipee! although the class was well taught and very relevant to patient car it was not one of my favorite topics. The final for neuro lab was this past Monday and it was difficult but not too bad…the final for lecture was today and that was a bear! it was pretty difficult but I did pretty well on both parts. The course was led by great faculty, three consultants and one resident. It was very much a la PBL style with the class (43) divided up into four groups. Each group had a faculty leader and they rotated among all groups. There were some lectures in lecture hall but most of the course was in our groups. I do not think that PBL is my style…sometimes we spent four hours in the small group and after a while I am ready to get out of there! it was a lot of problem solving with different cases and we had to localize the lesion. A lot of emphasis was put on the “basic four” (see above post) and this will be important when seeing patients with neurological deficits. I have this whole weekend “off” wow! nothing to study for because next week we start two new courses cardiovascular and nutrition. We were also just tested in how to perform a physical for intro to patient class. We had to do the full physicial in 30 minutes or less. Intro to patient is one of my favorite classes because we are actually learning how to interview patients, do physicals, and soon how to do the write-up. Our fourth year colleagues did extremely well in the match and rumor is that almost the whole class got their first choice pick for residency! that is amazing. The residency choices were at great places so they are all very very happy.
After neuro was over we started cardiovascular and this goofy nutrition course. I understand the relevance of this course but geez cram all this info into one week with a final on Friday right before spring break hellooo? I am not very fond of these jump through your arse type courses in one week with a final on the last day…these seem to be very popular right before major breaks. Cardiovascular is well taught the same style as neuro with the class breaking off into small groups and each class led by a faculty member. The faculty rotates so each class gets a different person each week. We have our first exam for this class this coming Thursday needless to say I have not touched the material during spring break so we will see what happens. This is one thing about medical school that is hard to get used to…there is always this nagging feeling that you “should” be studying and doing this or that but dang it we also need to rest! you feel so guilty though…oh well my family is also important and I was able to cook and be mommy for a whole week! I am happy to tell you all that my research proprosal has been accepted by the MAFP (MN academy of family physicians)! I will be busy working on this and hopefully will be able to get a paper out of it. They expect me to present this next March at a research symposium in the Twin Cities. This project will be very interesting and it is addressing issues of getting patients on an exercise routine and how family physicians have barriers when attempting to counsel patients regarding this touchy issue. The state of MN is considering different options to facilitate this for PCP and are thinking of implementing some sort of hot-line that PCP’s can call and get suggestions. I am very excited about this project and it will entail me calling various PCP’s and asking them about barriers to counseling/suggesting exercise to patients. Tomorrow classes start again and after this week long break I do not want to go back yet! I has such a great time staying at home and being a mother… 
the kids enjoyed it as well…back to the grind though… 
Cardiovascular was by FAR the best course for me! wow I love the material and the professors. It peaked my interest in CV, but I am still thinking of GI, and surgery is still an option. I am still sure of the ones I will not be thinking about ob/gyn/family med/general IM/PM&R. I did really well in this course although the lab part bit me in the arse…as usual. Labs are not my thing. We started renal which is interesting due to the high level of physiology in it. Musculo-eskeletal came and went by in one week… another of those high speed classes that I found to be relevant only to know how to perfom the msk exam when patients come in with muscle/joint issues. We are so busy right now, with award recognitions for research/scholarships/community awards, meeting with preceptors, and shadowing! my mother is coming from Spain soon woohooo! and will be staying with us for one month. I am so looking forward to seeing her again. Medical school at Mayo is long the first year and we will not be done until the end of June wah.
We took the renal final on Wednesday and we started endocrine the next day. This course seems to be a lot of fun and we are in class from 1:00 to about 3:30 so that is not bad at all. In the mornings we are taking turns and doing physicals on patients with the corresponding write-up. Many mornings we have off due to this alternating schedule for patient interviews and physicals. This will only last for one more week though and then we start digestive and respiratory (one in the morning the other in the afternoon. Time is going by fast now right now and we will be done before we realize it! my mom is here now and it is so nice to hang out with her and enjoy some of her great cooking! We were just told by our Dean that the second year will become pass/fail for a two year pilot program after which they will reasses how we did and go on from there. Our class was crucial and getting this approved and via our class reps and petition that we all signed it helped to implement this. The first year is now permanently pass/fail from now on (previously it was also a two year pilot program). We are so happy about this and we are also happy for the incoming MS1’s for they will also be pass/fail for two years! it really does help out and the environment is much less competitive and stressful. Regardless of pass/fail my classmates are still super bright and we all strive for the best! our class averages are in the stratosphere! at least you do not look like a dork when you are getting B’s and a good chunk of the class has A’s…with pass/fail it all looks the same on the transcript.