Columnist Emeritus and in-Training Staff Member
Loma Linda University Medical Center
A Taste Of Your Own Medicine is a column that gives you a taste of medicine. It focuses on important and interesting topics relating to medicine and being a medical student.
Valentina is a general surgery resident at Loma Linda University Medical Center. She graduated from University of California, Irvine School of Medicine.
The transition from the second to third year of medical school is like moving from adolescence to adulthood. Your first two years are relatively simple and you have few responsibilities beyond studying. Then, you begin third year and not only do you have to study, but you have to take care of someone else’s health. Most of the transitions only require a minor adjustment to your daily activities. For instance, you’ll finally be able to …
Awkward. is a witty TV show about the awkwardness of being a teenager and surviving high school. Sometimes I feel like the awkwardness of being a medical student and surviving medical school is worthy of a TV show. Medical school is particularly awkward when starting third-year clerkships. Depending on how prepared you are for the wards, you may not know where to go, what to do, or what to say. Some students will dive in …
The conversations among my fellow MS1s have evolved dramatically over the last three months. Mid-August, we were energetic and extremely excited to start this next chapter of our lives. For some, putting on the white coat was an expectation since childhood. For others, like myself, this was an unexpected, yet exciting, career change. We all walked into orientation ready to take on the world! Why wouldn’t we be thrilled? We beat thousands of qualified applicants …
It was 6:58 a.m. and it was my first day in the hospital as a third-year medical student. I was excited. I had my short white coat on and my pockets were full of little gems recommended by those more experienced than myself. As I found my team I saw the second-day-interns nervously preparing for rounds. I hoped my excitement was not too obvious. I could not believe I was about to round on real …
What a surreal feeling it was, to slip my hands — the same hands that pulled me across the floor as a baby, plucked worms from the ground as a mud-covered kid, collected E. coli-infested water samples throughout high school, flipped through MCAT study guides for an infinitesimal amount of time during college — into the sleeves of my white coat. They were the same hands, yes, but as they slid through those starchy sleeves, …
Every life is full of firsts. First steps. First words. First kiss. First love. First (and ideally only) marriage. For physicians in training, there is one other first that quite possibly ranks ahead of those other life milestones: the first real patient. Sure we’ve practiced on each other, on paid actors, and even on lifelike robot mannequins along the way, but at some point every medical student starts rotations. Rotations equal the first taste of …
Those who consider the nomadic way of life abandoned centuries in the past have not had the experience so frequently endured by the current generation of college students, recent graduates, and graduate school prospectives. The months prior to the first day of the M1 curriculum are a unique period of stress and anticipation, but adding fury to this already volatile mixture of emotions is the packing, unpacking, and re-organizing of multiple college apartments and the …
Contributing Writer Emeritus
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Katie Rodenbeck is a recent graduate from the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During her undergraduate career, she was an active member of the American Medical Student Association, a volunteer at Carle Foundation Hospital, and coordinator of the peer advising program in the School of Integrative Biology. Taking advantage of travel opportunities as an undergrad, Katie has visited countries including South Africa, France, and Turkey. As a participant in Global Medical Brigades, she has visited Honduras on two occasions, working with fellow students and volunteer physicians to set up free medical and dental clinics, serving those who otherwise have little to no access to health care. Her plans now include attending medical school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she is excited to become involved with health care justice and advocacy for the underserved population.
