Well, that escalated fast || FTM2, MSK, CPR1, CPR2 || SGU Term 1
Term 1 is over!
Shortly after my last blog, we were evacuated off the island because of COVID-19. It was so sudden. We were only a week into MSK. We were about to start wet lab (with cadavers) the following week. I was nervous but excited. I remember my dad told me a story about someone who dropped out of medical school because of wet lab. She had to walk back a human head to the freezer. The next day she quit. The wet lab seemed like a right of passage for medical students. I chose SGU over Ross partly because SGU still offered it while Ross only offered a virtual lab.
An email came in late at night stating passage home will be offered and is encouraged. I had to look up what COVID-19 was. I called home and everyone seemed confused about it as well. Then more emails came in. They became more adamant about committing to leave. We were bombarded with figuring out details about where to store our things, clean out our apartments or dorms, and sign-up for charter flights. SGU covered our traveling expenses and organized us into several charter flights to leave the island, but it was incredibly chaotic.
Kalbi and I were assigned to the first flight out. I only had a day to get Kalbi’s vet appointment, clean out my apartment, and hand over keys, pack all my things away, and say goodbye to everyone. Ironically, the flight was so delayed that my friends on the third flight left around the same time.
A wave of relief came over me when I saw them in the SGU crowd in the baggage claim area for my layover. We all missed our connecting flights ironically. 24 hours later, we were finally home to my small 300 ft apartment in California! And school was still in session, they added about 1.5 weeks to the schedule but really never stopped.
FTM 2: More of the same
FTM 2 is technically still part of FTM so it was still random biochemistry and genetics with hints of anatomy of physiology. I fell behind slightly in this module. I wasn’t as motivated by this content, but I made more friends and explored the island! I don’t actually remember much about FTM 2 other than I didn’t like it because it was overshadowed by the trauma of leaving.
MSK: Welcome to online medical school
Content
The first week was like an intro. We saw the large scale of how muscles and bones fit into anatomy, but also went to the most minuscule level with the proteins. For the next two weeks (now 3ish) we were scheduled to learn all the major bones and muscles excluding the head. Seems laughable when I write it, but it happened.
I didn’t get a lot out of lectures, because it’s just hard to learn anatomy from presentations. The lectures went through the muscles and bones section by section (i.e. upper limb, lower limb, etc). What was the most helpful was doing practice questions from Gray’s Anatomy textbook. There are several hundred and I wish I took the advice to do them at least twice. On the first pass you don’t really know what you’re doing. I made anki cards based on the explanations in the back of the book *chef’s kiss*. I made a summarized second pass and it was still challenging. I took too much time drawing muscles or making graphs. There are some great muscle charts made by previous students. At this point, I was still resistant and had to do everything on my own (ain’t no one got time for that). Looking back, I wish I prioritized practice questions, understanding the 3D relationship (rather than learning each muscle as bits and pieces), and the associated clinicals.
My excessive anatomy notes
Lab
I had a chance to attend one “wet” lab in person. We covered the bones. There were boxes of bones and ones laid out on metal beds. We had an allotted time with each station and facilitator. I was kind of star struck to be talking to some of the facilitators who I’ve only seen giving some of the lectures. I honestly never thought I’d be talking to a professor this individually. I’m not sure how much of tactile learned I am, but I liked being able to talk through concepts and actually see where bones meet and then compare to the model skeletons rolling around.
When we went online, labs were now visual recordings of a professor pointing out things on a cadaver. Sometimes the camera angle was awkward. An anatomy-noob like me had no idea what part of the body we were looking at.
Studying Online
I tried to maintain my study system online, but I quickly fell behind. Instead of a scheduled lecture, we had self-paced lectures. The lectures were recordings from the last term, but anatomy lectures were still hard to absorb anything from. Some small groups were cut. IMCQs which were traditionally held in a big group where you could collaborate was changed to very difficult multiple-choice quizzes. I mean the psyched the heck out of me. I did them with a group and we still only managed to get around the minimum required (50% correct to get the points).
The week before the exam, I found resources that worked for me. I took a free trial of Kenhub which helped with pre-made anatomy flashcards on locations, nerves, and blood vessels. I made my own mnemonics for muscle groups to help with quick recall. It was also helpful to drill what muscles produce which movements. I remember doing YouTube fitness videos and thinking about what muscles were activating.
MSK Advice
Pick your resources early. Most people (me) were scrambling to understand how to learn anatomy. I didn’t find what worked for me until a week before the exam ;(
I like Sam Webster’s videos on YT because he teaches anatomy on different physical lab models (but videos can be long so always 2x). Noted Anatomist is also gold!
Anatomy app: I bought a subscription to an iPad anatomy app which was really helpful to understand spatial relationships because we don’t have access to wet lab
Kenhub: I bought a month subscription and I liked how they walked through every muscle, nerve, and blood supply along with flashcards for repetition
***disclaimer: you don’t have to buy anything to be successful in MSK! I would find resources that help you understand the 3D structure of the body and help with repetition
Organize your muscles and don’t forget about the big picture
Whether it’s through thinking about muscles with who they run with or their common actions, it’s important to not memorize tables and be able to understand if ____ nerve is damaged, what muscles are affect and what would this look like?
Don’t sleep on blood supply, sensory, and lymph!
Grey’s, grey’s, grey’s for practice, practice, practice
CPR 1 & CPR 2: Getting my groove back
I was foolish when I didn’t believe upper termers say by the time you get to CPR, you’re just exhausted and want to get through it. I’m writing this a week after my last exam and I feel I still need some time to recoup! I’m grateful to have the summer to get that hunger back.
CPR 1, cardio!
I took physiology classes in undergrad and it helped a lot, but there were concepts that I learned sooo many times before that I struggled with because 1-2 more things were added. I can’t understand what it was, but it felt like a brand new problem and I was using old wonky tools. To add insult to the injury, Embryology seems like it won’t be leaving me any time soon. Cardio embryology is so complicated. Pictures didn’t seem to do it justice. I made a Youtube playlist with all the helpful videos I watched. This includes a clay animation of heart development.
I started to use Board & Beyond in this module and found it helpful for physiology. However the videos are very long so if you’re running low on time, it may not be the solution. Again, doing practice questions through MOTO questions or what the school gives became key to getting it. I liked making Anki flashcards for questions I got wrong. I ended up using Anki to remind me of concepts I didn’t have down, but I feel like that was an underutilization. The premade decks tagged for SGU, were actually super helpful in teaching me things that I disregarded as not important. Still don’t have that high-yield filter down. By the end of the module, I felt like I was scraping by and memorizing anything that might get me one more point.
CPR 2, renal and respiratory!
CPR 2 the last 3 weeks of the first term of medical school! I think my brain melted here.
It’s a little mix of everything: histology, biochem, anatomy, and physiology. For respiratory, the physio was strong and had a lot of clinical correlates. Boards & Beyond videos were super helpful.
For renal, I loved the Ninja Nerd nephron videos. I drew it out and made a blank outline if you want to follow along with them.
I finally found a method that works for me (at least in this online format)! It only took the rest of term 1. Once a week, I spend 8-9 hours watching as many lectures as I can at 2x speed. Then I spend the rest of the week post-reading (making one-page summary sheets), making Anki cards, and doing practice problems. I felt like this really worked for me because I need to spend more time practicing and watching more videos to nail down concepts. Some additional questions in the MOTO series were very helpful.
I hope to have time to go back and polish up my summary notes which was actually high yield during the break. Since we take a cumulative test in the BSCE, I’m sure I’ll need all the tools I can get.
And we’re done!
Life Updates
I’m moving to my first home at the end of June! Currently, I’m living in a tiny 300 ft apartment with my boyfriend. It’s been hard to separate space for him to work from home and take calls while I’m trying to study. We sectioned part of the living room as my “office”, but when he gets done at 5 PM and wants to wind down and watch TV - it’s so tempting for me to join him. I’m excited to spend this summer doing home improvement, learning to garden, spending time with Kalbi, and hopefully get my hands on Animal Crossing. I plan to spend a couple of weeks now and a couple of weeks before class starts just being human.
An upper termer posted a summer study schedule, I plan to follow a modified version. I also have to clean up my notes on Notability and notate my First Aid. I plan to work a bit since the school invited me to facilitate the MSAP program this summer. I started this blog during my own MSAP journey, I don’t think I’d ever be in the position to be a facilitator. Hopefully, I learn to be a good teacher!