One week down

Hello everyone!

Okay, so the first week of classes is officially over and for once, I'm not feeling overwhelmed, amazing. I think that honestly it's because I'm able to study every night for a few hours, review what I learned, then read ahead, so that by the time I have a class I have read the material three times (pre-read, lecture and review lecture). Then I review all the information on the weekend and then I will do so again before the first mini exam in three weeks. One doctor'd philosophy is that you have to read material at least 5 times before you can fully remember it - I'm trying it.

Yesterday I had my white coat ceremony, which was actually very nice and very insiring. We had the chief of surgery from a hospital in Cape Cod (Dr. Brooks) come down to speak and his insight were interesting. He works with a lot of Ross students and he mentioned that in his experience they tend to work harder than other med students because for some reason we feel we need to prove ourselves to everyone who went to school in the states, but it allows us to become great doctors because we focus on feedback more, etc. That was a new way of looking at it. He also mentioned that his biggest lesson throughout his career was that yes, you must know the information, but more importantly, learn how to be kind and how to listen. He told us a story of a guy who came in for surgery and in recovery the Dr, Brooks checked on him, checked his vitals, etc. Then when his daughter was allowed to come back in, he said she didn't ask her father if Dr. Brooks had changed his bandages or took all of the vital signs and didn't miss anything, no, her only question to him was "Was he nice to you? " That kind of stuck with me.

I also learned about the history of medicine and how it is actually very much related to the art of hairdressing. Apparently in the old days, hairdressers used to not only cut hair, shave beards and other typical hair dresser jobs we think of, but they also pulled teeth, did minor surgeries and wore lab coats as well. So interesting. Not until 1993 did schools start doing white coat ceremonies and today about 90% of them in the US do, so some don't at all - I think it's a shame because it gets you pumped up and it makes you feel good that you've made it at least THIS far. And the white coat came from the discipline of science of course because doctors believed that because medicine's roots are science, they should wear lab coats just like scientists did. However, traditionally science lab coats were beige so shortly after the idea was adopted, they changed the color of white to represent cleanliness and sterility - things a doctor should elude when dealing with the human body. I had no idea, now I know and apparently so do you :) Oh, and that when graduate in 2013, the graduation ceremony is held in Madison Square Garden in NYC - HOW TOTALLY COOL??!!!!

Other than that, nothing too exciting on this side. Im sitting in the "barn" which is just a large study space that's in the shape of a barn and I'm getting ready to get back to studying and reviewing. Tomorrow is river tubing so I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Enjoy the weekend!
Barbara