[gaboramen]

Shaking things up with typed notes directly from the book (not my usual style but I have a lot to get through today!) Today we're reviewing the single ventricle palliative surgical pathway in preparation for an intro lecture I'm giving on it this week.

[gaboramen]

Somehow, after being out of med school for 6 years, I am still learning glycolysis and the kreb's cycle 😭

[scribeherself]

the art of making it matter

light a candle when you work. put on lipstick for the grocery store. play that song that makes you feel like you're in a coming-of-age montage. take the long way home. write love letters to no one. read poetry out loud to your plants. the secret isn't that life is inherently romantic—it's that you can MAKE it romantic by paying attention, by adding ceremony to the mundane, by refusing to let a single ordinary day pass unloved.

[gaboramen]

Morning! I've been really enjoying being up with the sunrise. I've been up for a couple hours working now. As I've gotten older, I find it very hard to focus in the afternoon, so this is my only time to really be productive.

[epheralx]

chugging a thermos full of earl grey tea, close to tears, as i prepare to study: it is a privilege to have the opportunity to learn. you can't expect perfection from yourself, but you must try your best anyway, because you owe it to yourself. you will not understand the material on the first try and that's okay, but you must not give up. learning in itself requires repetition, requires practice, requires diligence, requires passion and enthusiasm. do not see studying as a task you have to complete, but rather something you get to do. studying is nourishment for the soul. do not let your anxiety, fear and perfectionism take this away from you. remember why you love this and use it as your guiding light

[gaboramen]

It's a beautiful day, so I migrated to the park to continue studying.

[gaboramen]

A slight change in scenery while my usual office space is having some work done after a leak from upstairs soaked into my walls.

Reviewing regional circulations today and studying with help of #ばんちゃん, who makes lovely videos.

[gaboramen]

Today's project, reviewing cardiopulmonary interactions 🫀

I realized that I'm taking my Pediatric Critical Care boards this fall, and I won't have a lot of time to study once I graduate. Time to get to work and at least give myself some study resources I know will work for me when it's go-time.

[gaboramen]

This is Momo. She helps. Today we're reviewing conventional mechanical ventilation, a huge topic essential for any intensivist to know in and out.

[gaboramen]

Preparing to give a joint neurology/critical care talk on Guillain Barre syndrome.

[gaboramen]

It's been a while. So much has changed. I've been out of med school for almost 6 years, and am almost done with my pediatric critical care fellowship. I've been looking through some of my prior posts. I was so young, so hardworking and dedicated to my medical studies. It's funny how much your past self can inspire your current one.

Nowadays, when not on clinical service at the hospital I'm hanging out with my husband and our three cats. I still find the desire to study anything really, and keep my mind stimulated. The sense of belonging I felt and feel with the studyblr community is something that keeps me motivated to stay curious and embrace learning for what it is.

More to come. I'm excited to share again.

-gab

[dxmedstudent]

My job as a doctor in today's NHS is draining me of humanity

I am sorry to the patients whose last experience before they die is a harried, overworked doctor, but I can’t allow myself to feel guilty

I’m sorry that you died before I got chance to hear your story. While I was fumbling around, trying to get blood from your dehydrated veins, you were trying to tell me about a special day you’d experienced 30 years ago. You were so proud and I promised to return some time later to hear about the day in full.

But I also cruelly cut you off mid-sentence because five other patients on my ward needed blood samples taking. My other 31 patients also needed critical and urgent tasks that I had to perform in order to keep them safe and help them heal. Right before you rapidly deteriorated and died, the last thing you experienced was a harried, overworked doctor interrupting your joyful reminiscence.

It’s so, so hard sometimes to make time for actual meaningful human interaction. It’s something we have to claw back, whilst we’re also desperately rushing around trying to keep everyone safe and alive. Sometimes we all have those shifts where you’ve kept everyone alive and safe, and given good technical care, but felt like you couldn’t be the doctor you wished you could be. And it hurts, because you want to be better. The best times are when we can go that extra mile. When I have the time to spend with patients who are lonely, or anxious, or suffering. When I can make people feel better, rather than just patching things up or fixing problems. But it’s hard to go the extra mile.

[mm-medical]

CENTOR score is a simple and easy way to assess the likelihood of a bacterial throat infection. Some places use the age modifier, some don’t. But the important thing is, once you know what you are looking for, it makes the job easier. 

Absence of cough

Tonsillar exudates

History of fever

Tender anterior cervical adenopathy

For a score of 4 or 5, it’s best to give antibiotics empirically, until the throat cultures come back. 

[thepersonalquotes]

[mdintraining]

Do you have any concept map drawings from embryology that helped you on Step 1? I am starting my dedicated study and panicking about anatomy and embryo (and micro and biochem and all of the things tbh...)

One of the things that I remember being important during Step 1 studying with regards to embryology is the pharyngeal arches/clefts/pouches. I have a concept map for these, but I can’t really take much credit for it because my drawing basically came from an awesome youtube video that you can watch here: https://youtu.be/r18fexJ-UnE (it’s worth the 20 minutes)

Hope that helps a little. I’ll try to think of some other things for embryo, but to be honest it’s just not that huge of a thing on Step 1. I felt that Uworld questions prepared me well for the embryology information I encountered on Step.

[redpenblackpen]

It’s flu season. GET VACCINATED!!! (if you can)

[funnydoc]

This is so great :)