Last weekend I got to go home for Alicia and Eric's wedding, which was wonderful. Their wedding was beautiful, I still got to help decorate a little and be there for my best friend, see all my family and close friends while I was home AND I got to experience some true fall weather. I also got to stay in Shippensburg and meet Matt and Christian's crazy new kitten. I really didn't want to leave.
Exams were spread out over a week and a half, with at least 2 hours of testing a day. It was worse than finals week at Shippensburg, I didn't know it could get worse than that, plus we have exam weeks twice a semester. We have 2 major multiple choice exams that we take on the computer about all of our cases from the previous 8 weeks. We also have a Molecular and Cellular biology exam and practicals covering anatomy, histology, pathology, immunology, parasitology and microbiology. Then to top it all off, on the last day when we're super worn out we had a written exam called the ACT which is a new case derived from any disease process we covered, or a differential for any case, on any species, and we have to describe the pathophysiology of it, all of the supporting and nonsupporting information, what diagnostic tests we would run, and the results of those. Luckily we had hip dysplasia and I knew that like the back of my hand, except for some of the diagnostics that they were asking us about. On the same day as the act we also had clinical skills exams which this time was anything from blood smears to physical exams and fine needle aspirates The practicals were probably the most nerve racking since we never know what they will ask, I ended up making up words for the pathology section, that's all pathology is anyway, made up words.
All in all, exams really helped me realize how much I learned in such a short amount of time (as well as how much I have yet to learn). I really think this curriculum is great, aside from it being a little disorganized or frustrating when they won't just teach you something. It really does work. Plus, since our class of 107 is all in the same boat, have the same cases and work so closely in groups, we really have a lot of support from each other, along with support from the second year students since they have the same cases as us and help guide us.
Last week since I took off two days to be home for the wedding I missed half of the avian case that we are expected to know everything about birds from. This week is a GI physiology case with some renal thrown in. It's really hard to find the motivation to start whole new systems and species after exams. We also got new PBL groups and facilitators (faculty members). My new group of 8 plus my facilitator seem good so far, my room mate Christina is in my group, and although it's our facilitators first time in his own group, he is super nice, knowledgeable and respectful. My last group was very loud and I could never get a word in edge wise but this group is actually quiet, I fit right in. Our facilitator also shares some insight on his clinical experience which is really helpful and fun.
I had my ovine (sheep) rotation today, I love sheep. Tipping them was a lot harder than I expected though. You flip them in order to do anything you need to to them such as hoof trimming and they tend to stay still once they are "tipped" on their hind end. Getting them there is a different story though, I got a work out.
I still can't wait to get back home, but California is starting to grow on me a tad bit. The weather has cooled down a lot (for now). It's been in the 70s and 80s this week but it's supposed to return to 90s by next week. We recently got some rain and hazy days. It was hilarious to see what native southern Californians consider pouring rain. I got to wear some sweatshirts and use the seat heaters in my car, it's amazing how much I miss cold weather, and am so looking forward to being home for 2 weeks over Christmas.
 |
| Finally tipped my ewe! |
No comments:
Post a Comment