So you’re crazy enough to spend the next fabulous four years of your life with an exceedingly critical and demanding fiance who will require your heart, mind, body and soul before you can actually use his prestigious “surname” that only comes in two consonant letters. This guy will test your limits and your sense of worth. He will make you cry, angry and exhausted. He will give you sleepless nights. Your fiance might even ask you to choose between him and your friends, sometimes.
As Dr. K has said, medicine is a terrible lover. However, unlike a real critical boyfriend with a tendency to stray when unsatisfied, Medicine will never leave you unless you decide to let it all go. It won’t give up on you unless it sees you throwing in the white towel. It is always loyal and it expects the same from you. Medicine does not promise great wealth, yet it offers stability and security. It gives you the opportunity to make this world a greater and healthier place. Do you have what it takes be his partner forever?
It takes quite a while to adjust to the crazy and chaotic life in medicine, at least for me. It took me a year to finally get the rhythm I needed. Too long? Maybe. I used to blame my long hiatus from the University for this; however, I realized that each one adapts to changes differently. One must maximize his or her resources to keep up.
I’m not one of the most brilliant students in the batch. I’ve had my bad days when I didn’t know how to get it all done within the given limited time period. I’ve had tests where I was always left with 2 choices and I chose the wrong one, in most numbers (it’s always painful). However, the dream to be a good physician and the goal to save the lives of my future patients have been my driving force for me to go on, no matter what.
There are too many to share, and so I’ll be listing my top 10 must-have insights to survive and thrive during your first two years in medical school.
1. You are not Doctor House.
Your parents, friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, neighbors and boyfriend/girlfriend may think so. Your mom might actually announce to the entire baranggay, on a fiesta given in your honor, that you are his caliber. Your dog may even agree with your mom. But, I repeat, you are not Doctor House. I have to say it again as a study revealed that about 17% of first year medical students have a case of narcissistic personality disorder (second only to the military which has a percentage of 20).
The first two years is a humbling experience. Maybe you were the best during your pre-med course, but being in medical school is an entirely new game. It does not matter what university you attended. Your Latin honors, although a great feat, is only impressive until the first exams. You all start on relatively equal footing.
It is important to accept the fact that there are a lot of things yet to learn and that there are students who will outsmart and outperform you (yup, the same ones who said they weren’t able to study because they were too sleepy to function lol; do not use this to comfort yourself that is okay not to study – their neural circuits may be wired differently). This is not an advice for you to lower your standards, but people who think they know more learn the least. Acceptance of one’s vulnerability can be a strong driving force to learn more. Condition your mind that you are not invincible. You must thirst for knowledge.
And oh, even if you think your professor is a dumb one, think again. He or she has an M.D. and passed the medical licensure examination. You are yet to pass your Biochem course 🙂 Have a little respect. Forgive his or her grammar imperfections, if you are a Grammar Nazi.
2. Make it a habit to read your book – every day.
Stay away from transcriptions, and read your very expensive books every day. Hey, your parents spent a lot of money for those books! Use them! Transes are good to read before the exams as they highlight the essential points and details, but if you want to see and learn the big picture, again, read your books. I, myself, struggled with this dilemma, especially during the last 2 weeks before exams. Books give a lot of details, which can be more than difficult to absorb if you are mentally tired. However, they are your best resources for a satisfying patient care in the future. This habit prevents backlogs and increases your chances of earning better grades. Trust me.
3. Make a schedule.
You must have the discipline to stick with it, as much as you can. I found it a challenge to stick with my schedules before medical school, but once you’re inside this jungle, you must do the necessary to survive and to achieve a bit of balance in your life. I won’t give you the details as to how to do your schedule. Each one functions differently. Know thyself and the courses involved for you to learn which “strategy” works best for you. (Personally, I find it best to deal with the heavier tasks involving mental focus during the first 2 to 5 hours of my day. If there are morning classes, I function best after a power nap. This is discussed in item 5).
It is essential to read the topic concerned before attending the lecture. Although the books are the best sources of details, there are some areas that you may have a hard time understanding. You just don’t get it. Lectures given by the experts are a great time to verify what you’ve read and to ask for further explanations, if needed.
When making a schedule, make sure to allot time for enjoyment, too. Do not overload yourself! You will be studying your entire life. Anything in excess is never good for the brain, for the body, and for the soul.
4. Do not get lazy.
The level of stress is increasing and you got this one free day from class because of a coming typhoon. It’s tempting to watch Mockingjay, yah? H&M has just opened, and it is giving away free gift certificates (those coats)! But, you have this study schedule. Should you go for it? Well, well, well. Extreme rigidity is not good either. Analyze the entire situation before giving in to laziness. Have you been lazy the past few days? Are you on track? Are you done with all your readings? Is there a sufficient free time in the next few days to make up for your H&M shopping spree? There are things to consider. This is part of being in medical school. This is not your undergraduate course where you can go YOLO.
You can have a lazy day, but only as a reward. If you weren’t lazy the last few days and have surpassed your reading goals before the lazy day in consideration, then you can be lazy.
Why am I torn about this item? I guess short and acute episodes of laziness is part of human nature. Chronic laziness is a no-no!
5. Get some sleep!
I was guilty of this one, countless of times, in the past. My Anatomy practical final exam during the first year was the turning point. I identified a deltoid muscle as a biceps brachii muscle, although I knew it was a deltoid muscle. Nothing could be more severe than this one. Maybe I was in twilight zone! I only had 2 hours of sleep before taking that practical exam.
I realized that the best way to score higher exam grades is to get at least 6 hours (for me) of sleep the night before the exams. It is during sleep that the brain processes the information acquired during your waking state. Memory consolidation is achieved through the behavior of specific brainwaves, which only takes place during sleep. No sleep = no memory consolidation = unstable memory during exam = you cry during the feedback scores
If the going gets tough, get a power nap. Power nap is an art and a science. It is all about getting the timing right! The goal of the power nap is to enter the REM sleep phase and to wake up as soon as the phase is over. If you go over the REM phase, deeper phases of sleep is achieved, which will make it really, really hard for you to get up and read (the struggle is real!). You may start by sleeping for 30 to 35 minutes, and then reduce it by 3 to 5 minutes, until you do not feel exhausted after sleep. Get the perfect timing as you go along.
6. Repetition is the key.
Others may or may not agree with me on this, but my brain does not have the ability to absorb and memorize all the important details just by a single read. I need at least 3 readings before the exams to get it right. Spread the timing of readings. Practice makes perfect!
7. Be a team player.
I cannot stress this enough. No one is an island in medical school. One cannot graduate without the help from another. I spend each day with about 180 unique individuals. Some are easy to get along with; others can be difficult have around and may suck the energy out of you. A few can really have a huge ego. However, you must be flexible when dealing with your classmates. Find ways to co-exist in peace. Medicine is a stressful course; do not aggravate it by having unnecessary negative feelings for another.
Climb the ladder together, and pull one another up. Do not put anyone down for your own advantage. It may work for a while but it will not take you to great heights, in the long run. Kindness and understanding are important if you want to make it through the tough years. If these are not enough to convince you, remember that these people are the ones who will make referrals to you in the future.
8. Make time for family and friends/boyfriend/girlfriend.
It is difficult, but you need balance in your life to keep your sanity. It requires effort, a lot of effort, to keep up, but making time for your loved ones is a great way for you to be in touch with reality. These people believe in you; they will always root for you. You need to cherish and nourish your relationships as you go up. Spending a lot of time with your books and long lecture hours can take your heart away from the core. You need heart in this profession.
If you are out on a dinner date, please try hard not to fall asleep even if you are as tired as an old worn out shoe. It can be taken personally (of course, they do not know how much of a beating you got during the case study in the morning and that you made two patient histories in the afternoon). Have coffee 30 minutes before meeting up. It will keep you awake and alert for the next 2 to 3 hours. Creating and maintaining meaningful conversations can be hard, but the key here is to be genuinely interested with the person/s you are with.
9. Do not limit yourself to medicine.
Easier said than done, but there are ways to nourish the brain with non-medical information. Keep in mind that this profession deals with people from different backgrounds. You need to build rapport, too. Read the newspapers, watch the news or anything on cable, or make a Twitter account and follow accounts that interest you, even if it is TMZ. You need to be diverse too. You are not just a physician to-be whose knowledge is limited to the clinics. You are also a thinking citizen of the world!
Make time to do what you love. That’s the reason why I’m back to blogging 🙂
10. The only way is up.
If you failed, promise yourself that you’d go up, and live by this promise. If something or someone brought you down, you get up and then go up without looking back. If someone broke your heart, pick up the pieces, leave the past behind, and go up. Going down must not be a deliberate choice in this field. You just can’t when you’re dealing with lives.
Medicine does not look for perfection. Intelligence is not the sole deciding factor. Medicine stays loyal and true to those who have the heart and the strength to make the hard choices and sacrifices needed to surpass the perceived limitations.
Keep calm, and carry on future doctor! Do not forget to have fun even in the most unusual places, just like this one!
Photo by my classmate Angelo Panelo
Harriet, M.D. in 2017
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