First Week of Med School

Yes, I survived my first week! So far it has been great getting to know my classmates and teachers. The class is bonding really well and the staff says overall we seem very relaxed and excited to be here. The curriculum is problem based, which is very interesting. Basically each student is a part of a tutor group that meets M, W, F from 8-11. Each week we get a new "case" that we get to explore, research, try to diagnose and learn all of the underlying anatomy, physiology, histo, biochem, immuno, etc, etc, etc..... It really incorporates teamwork and cooperative learning. So far my whole group is nervous about what we should and should not be trying to learn. It is hard to know exactly what to study. We also have resource sessions that supplement each case we get. They start next week with some biochem, molecular bio, child development, immunology, and genetics. We also have histology labs in there too. We will be starting gross anatomy on Sep. 12th. Another cool thing is the clinical focus here at SIU. Every Tuesday we have clinical sessions. Our first session was to take a complete history on a classmate. We did this in a "fake" doctor's office. There is one-way glass and someone is watching and listening in on us and critiques what we do. This Tuesday I have to do it on a standardized patient. We must get the following info: patients chief complaint, history of present illness, past medical history, social history, family medical history, and do a review of systems. It's a lot of questions to ask and info to collect! It is really good practice for 3rd year and beyond when we are out seeing pateints!!! In a couple of weeks we will be paired with mentors and go out in the hospitals and clinics to shadow them and to take histories ourselves (and maybe other fun stuff).

Now it is Friday and I am done with class and unsure of what to do! It is nice to know I can relax for a little bit and still have the whole weekend to do more studying before Monday rolls along. I hope to go to my new Gold's Gym (I miss Layne and Isabel!), get my Direct TV set up today, figure out how to use my printer, and I guess maybe some studying at Panera. I have been doing most of my studying in my living room so it is about time for a nice change of pace.