First full week of anatomy down, lots more to go

Written on Wednesday August 19, 2009 somewhere between dinner and bed time…

I am officially overwhelmed. Getting a passing grade in medical school is a LOT different then getting A’s in undergrad. I have taken anatomy before but that course was apparently just a small 1/34590 tip of the iceberg compared to the material I am learning now. We have lab every morning and lecture in the afternoons and I am sure I smell all day. I came home today and the cat was smelling me for a while, he then ran away. This could be because he really doesn’t like me (im never home) or I smelled like preservatives. Either way it was sad. I need to slow down and just take one lecture at a time, one day at a time, one hour of studying at a time. Our first exam is a week from Friday (Aug 28th) so it looks like this weekend is going to be a fun filled time spent in the lab with our deceased friends and books. SWEEEEET. Don’t get me wrong, im not complaining. Just wishing I could absorb this information faster….

So far in lab this week we have chiseled out the vertebrae of our cadaver, revealed the spinal chord, skinned the arms, revealed A LOT of arteries, veins and nerves, and given a mastectomy (removed the breasts) to expose the anterior muscles. Tomorrow I will be using a saw to cut out the clavicle to expose the vasculature underneath. To many details?…..sorry ☺ All have been very cool, though they may sound gruesome, it is the absolute best way to learn anatomy. I learn soooo much more in lab then I do sitting in front of powerpoints and lecture notes.

Our first simulated patient encounters for Essentials of Clinical Medicine are tomorrow afternoon. We are doing patient ‘drills’ in groups of 6. Each group sees 12 patients and each person gets to ‘meet’ with 2 people in a span of 2 hours. We obviously are incompetent in the medical aspect and couldn’t diagnose a headache from a seizure, but they are starting us out early to begin working on our communication. My fear is that they will smell all of us walking into the room and immediately vomit….hence no communication. Then what? At least I get to wear my white coat and stethoscope around my neck (even though Im not really sure how to use it effectively)!

To note, in lecture yesterday my anatomy professor said this during lecture:
rub your hands together, what do you feel? heat or friction. well they put bursa's into joints like the glenohumoral joint to reduce this friction.

Made me wonder who is this ‘they’ he refers to? Haha