Road to White Coat

Navigating premed life.

[gomedorgohome]

#MOTIVATIONALPOSTERMONDAY

[vanesastudies]

How I Use OneNote for University

Hey, all! I thought I’d share how I use OneNote, for any students who might want to use it for school organization. I have used this since the beginning of my university career and have found a method that works for me, after nearly three years.

I provide templates for what I use as .one files that can be imported into OneNote, and you’re free to use & modify them however you wish. 

Semester Calendar Template: Download

Customized Syllabus Template: Download

Cornell Outline Template: Download + Outline inspired by How to Use Cornell Cornell Note-Taking Method on OneNote by @strive-for-da-best​

As a student with learning disabilities, I found that using a computer, rather than writing everything out, is the best method for me to learn. I type up notes in class so as to not worry about keeping up with a professor, handwriting, or neatness. OneNote is my favourite note-taking application for this, because it’s essentially an upgraded version of Word that’s free and syncs automatically across devices. When my computer crashed, I was still able to access my notes online.

OneNote isn’t all typing. You can use it on a tablet or use a drawing tablet, in my case, to handwrite notes for a more natural feel. A very efficient way of taking notes is to import the lectures slides in OneNote and to write directly on them. I found that very useful in math-heavy courses, such as statistics and chemistry. The equation tool, while nifty, isn’t efficient.

By no means whatsoever is this the only way to use OneNote! In fact, I’d recommend you find a way that works for you, because while this may be highly organized, it takes a bit of set-up time and is tailored specifically to my needs. You can use my example as inspiration, but play around with it! The beauty of OneNote is that it can be used in a variety of different ways.

Download OneNote for Windows | Download OneNote for Mac

[doremifah]

[whatshouldwecallscribelife]

I just fell in love with this MD/DO

[premed4life]

Gap Year

I have been wanting to start a blog for the longest time. After so much time, I have finally gotten around to it...It’s better now than never right? Especially since I have more time now that I have graduated from university. 

It has only been a couple months since graduation and I applied to be a scribe not knowing what I was in for. I just knew that I just had to find something to do after graduation. All my friends had a job or an internship, but what was I going to do? I decided too forego this application cycle because I knew I wasn’t at my best. Believe me when I say this took a lot of thought and self reflection. All the people around me were either applying to med school or got accepted. This killed me inside. Thoughts I had were: Am I good enough? Can I make it? What does the future hold for me? Am I a lost cause?

 I hadn’t heard a lot on scribing, just some mentions here and there in the premed circle at university. Well, I got hired in June at a clinic and I had a very bright outlook. I was thinking “yes, I have something to do and I actually like learning from the people around me.” Now it is the end of July and I’m still “training.”  The first two weeks, I had shadowed the lead scribe for 3 days out of the week for 3 hours. Then I was shadowing a scribe that I could potentially work with and her provider. 

The clinic is fast paced and the EHR program was difficult to get used to. After a week of shadowing that scribe, I got to practice working on my own for a day while she watched. I was still having a hard time because this was my first time practicing in an appointment. The lead scribe and the scribe I worked with sat me down for a talk that entailed describing how my work is slow and that I was missing a lot of details. At the end, they implied that I would get fired. I tried to take the criticism well but I ended up going home and crying. 

They let me have another chance at preparing charts and alternating with the scribe with appointments. I started to improve a little but I was still slow. One day of the second or third week, I was told that I would basically be working on my own and see how it goes. The other scribe was still in the office in case I needed help, but I went into the appointments alone. It did not go well, I could not find a way to finish the charts during the appointment. This was a must since the provider would want to finalize the chart right after. 

So the lead scribe and the other scribe sat me down for another talk. They told me I had been training for too long and that they wanted to switch me to another much slower provider. If I couldn’t handle that, then termination would be discussed. 

I am now shadowing the scribe for the slower provider. I also like the provider a lot. However, I am still very slow since I have only chart prepped 3 times and only practiced in real time for a couple days. I went home and cried again. I literally went on SDN and reddit to read the posts about scribing. Everyone said they had a hard time and to stick with it.

Thoughts: Why can’t I get this? Why can’t I get the hang of this? Am I incompetent or inadequate? How did the other scribes do this? Can I still be a doctor? Should I stick this out? 

I’ll update with what happened with this job. To be continued.