6:25 this morning...

I am dressed, about to put on my coat, and walk out the door. I check my phone. I'm greeted with a text message saying I do not have to be at the hospital until 2pm. Well grand. Glad I'm not already wide awake. Somehow going back to sleep didn't quite seem like an option, so I parked myself on the sofa and proceeded to watch Kaplan videos.

I have also discovered that my DVD player that also plays Netflix also plays YouTube and any video files that I might have on a USB storage device. I have a ton from my days on the island (fr
equently that was the only way to access new stuff, pirating). 

Not All Medical Students are Created Equal...

...and some of them annoy the living daylights out of me.

Like every normal human being, sometimes other people just irritate me, no matter how hard I try to be nice and overlook the blithering idiots. Case in point, one of my rotation partners in Cardiology. This is a fellow MS4, yet has less professionalism than a middle school baseball game concession vender. She uses words like "thingy," "like you know," or "you know what I mean, that thing." Some days it's all I can do to not explode (I have to share a degree and profession with you, you dingbat). Other days I can be passive aggressive, and say things like "Thingy? That's so professional of you! Could you be a little more descriptive please." On top of that she insists on talking like a five year old. "Are you going to go poopy?" Gahhh, just shoot me!

We review EKGs every.single.day as part of Cardiology at Chicago Memorial Hospital. She still does not use the approach requested by the cardiologist. He requests that we first check the rate, then to see if the rhythm is sinus (negative p-wave in aVR, positive p-wave in I, boom. That simple). Then whether or not the rhythm is regular, or irregular. Last the morphology of the elements. Three weeks in she still hands him an EKG and simply says "T-wave depression." Great, what does that mean? One day he had given us several EKGs to take home. She came back with sticky notes with a diagnosis for each one of them. They were all correct, but she couldn't detail why for each diagnosis, which means she just looked them up and compared to an EKG catalogue. One of the ones she had been given was Dextrocardia, a condition where the heart is reversed from it's normal positioning in the chest. Given eighteen hours of course she came across the diagnosis, but when questioned, her response (in a very squeaky voice) "because it is!" Then, after probing and pointing out that she probably didn't have the firmest grasp as to what she was saying, he confirmed that the diagnosis was indeed correct, to which she said, in a squeaky voice "Yaaaayyyy." Shoot me. 

I'm glad I only have the rest of this week with her. First thing in the morning is too much to put up with an adult who insists on acting like a child. Give me an asshole any day.

Cardiology Update

Cardiology at Chicago Memorial Hospital has been a pretty intense challenge thus far!! We only meet for a few hours a day, but a lot is packed into those days. I knew going into this that my knowledge of EKGs could use some improvement, and I have been given a crash course in EKGs. Apparently not one to baby us, the attending gives all of about thirty seconds to review and EKG, which has really made me realize how much sharpening I need! I have gone home every day reviewing the days topics and researching the homework assignments, and some of it is starting to make a little more sense. Some of it is going to take a little more review. But that is why I chose this rotation at this point in my schedule. I knew that going into my USMLE Step 2 CK there would be plenty of cardiac cases, and an intense Cardiology elective would only benefit me. During the Basic Sciences part of my curriculum EKGs were certainly introduced, but mostly the theory behind them. Very little was discussed regarding the interpretation of them. Obviously that is of equal or importance to the theory. Until this week I hadn't received much instruction in it.  

We have also reviewed a lot of echocardiograms, which I have had zero experience with. That has been an equal challenge as well!

It has been an interesting experience and odd feeling thus far being scheduled for electives and as an MS4. It means I've come a long way, and am on the "downhill" slope to my MD. It's a little overwhelming to think of everything that I've forced myself to do over the last few years!!