What Medical School Has Taught Me
I often go through unfortunate events in my life where I wonder if what I am doing is the right thing to do. I got into medicine because I felt it could provide me with a lot in terms of opportunity. I also felt it would be rewarding, eventful, and something I would like to do. And the truth is, it really has been all of those things. I am so thankful to be where I am career-wise, I feel I am well on my way. Someone once told me, “Hope for the best, plan for the worst.” There are too many variables beyond our control that play into our daily lives. It is always better to be prepared for any eventuality.
For all that I have ragged on medical school, there will also be times where it is mind numbingly awesome. Think about it, you are a human learning about what it means to be human. In medical school, you see life at the beginning and at the end, you will see the internal organs of individuals of the living and dead, you will see people from all walks of life and the wide spectrum of human emotions they experience. Just by paying attention you will become acutely aware of the innumerable components that make up the human experience. It is pretty amazing. And, this only happens in medical school. Medical school is the only time in your life you will get a glimpse at the big picture before you are categorized and stuck in certain specialty, left to forget 99% of what you learned, while constantly learning about your ultimately small, yet extremely important and complex area of the human body.
So, here’s the summary of what I learned during my journey as a medical student.
Read a bit of everything, but mostly anything, everyday
The only way to learn is to read. In our generation of technology, podcasts, YouTube tutorials and medical software programs have become our favourite ways or channels of obtaining knowledge. I know many medical students who were interested in doing law degrees, but who “did not like to read,” so ironically chose medicine instead. I can confidently say that the overwhelming majority of things you need to know is written down by those who went before us. And the only the way to absorb this is to read, and the only way to make this an automatic and easier task, is to do it for an allocated time every night. Even if there is no impending need or deadline pressuring your choice of material, make it a daily habit.
Join a Study Group of PEOPLE YOU HAVE NEVER MET
Study groups are fantastic and their value can be easily argued. My experience has been that study fatigue and the company of friends can easily dissolve a functioning study group into a social clique with a good excuse to meet up. Therefore, I advise, that you form a study group made up of people that you have never met. Ideally, if you have access to higher and lower year levels, mix the study group with students from each year level and of different abilities. Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.
Attend Everything
I know this sounds fairly self-explanatory, if you don’t attend lectures and tutorials, not only will you not make your attendance hurdle requirements and probably fail, the other disadvantage will be you would not learn anything. But it is so much more than that. Firstly attending classes, especially early in the course, is just as good an opportunity to meet and make friends within the course as are social events. Secondly, it is empowering to not only to be aware of where everybody else is in their studies, even if you just get the titles of the lectures and sleep through the rest, but to have a feeling of the zeitgeist within your cohort, and the entire university. It is this connectedness that keeps you part of the herd, and not feeling left behind.
Try not to compare yourself with other medical students
If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. One of my biggest worries in medical school, was that I could not compare or measure up to all these intelligent and talented individuals. It was not until the final year of the degree where I developed the acceptance that I never could compare, but more importantly, I didn’t have to, nor should I. Have confidence in the competence and experience of the interviewers that awarded you a place in medicine, and have a healthy dose of self confidence in your own ability. Everybody has their own path to tread, and everybody will do it at a different pace and with different strides. The most important thing is that you keep moving down the path because the end comes quicker than anticipated.
Source: www.medicalschoolsuccess.com
Think outside the “medicine box”
It is so easy to become completely preoccupied by medicine as you study for exams or worry about upcoming clinical placements. One of the reasons students are successful in their entry interviews into medical school is because of widely diverse backgrounds of various interests and talents. This, I feel, is also not limited just to interests we had before studying medicine, but to interests developed while studying medicine. Keep an open mind, try new things and importantly include non-medical books in your daily reading regime.
All I can say is that medical school, if experienced in a full manner, provides you with all the skills you need in your future clinical practice. Your life as a medical student will be like a roller coaster, there will be ups and downs. But it is your choice to scream with agony or with enjoyment.
D’Dyanna Lajamin is a 4th year Sabahan medical student currently studying in Kursk State Medical University, Russia. Know more about her under the Young Columnist tab.