Where's the awesome???

Fourth year of medical school is supposed to be the promised land after years of slogging through the pre-reqs, the pre-clinicals and the core clinical rotations. My EM rotations over the summer were PHENOMENAL and I will share my stories when they're not subject to search and seizure by the programs that I've applied to...not that I'm paranoid much in due time.

However, Geri put the brakes on the momentum of the year, subsequently derailed by the neurosis of residency applications, Step 2CK studying and the onset of acute lack-of-time-and-money-itis. So instead of being that cool and confident 4th year who's partying and putting his ducks in a row, I'm just that mildly out-of-shape dude in scrubs who looks perpetually over-caffeinated and sleep deprived from checking his email constantly and only talks about USMLE World (TM) questions and interviews. (Maybe they'll give me some cash for dropping their name???).

I stuck out the rest of Geri without very much effort difficulty but managed a generally positive performance review from the course director and attendings. I think the most educational part of the rotation was a peek of what a visit from the medical marijuana associates JCHAO does to the flow of a hospital. I think the floor of my unit was buffed twice daily for 2 weeks straight (so much that I got to know the guys by name), the patient's call bells were answered in a timely manner, the residents washed their hands obsessively, the food in the cafeteria was markedly better and the demented old people who were usually restrained were all magically on 1-to-1. Oh, and everyone was on edge...for like 2 weeks straight. I thought the unit clerk was going to lose it when she found out that the hospital started spreading rumors that JCHAO was in house when they really weren't coming until the following week...it was a pretty slick move by the admins.

So now I'm slacking my way through a week of Anesthesia (actually lot of fun!) and a week of Rehabilitation (Physiatry) before my Step 2CK exam in the middle of October. If you remember, I'm a big fan of preparing for standardized exams. Fortunately, I have a couple of hours to distract myself in the clinic before pounding out 2 hours of questions every night. I'm about 1/2 way through my prep and my scores are pretty much all over the place still...depending on how tired I am while taking it...but I'm consistently sucking in Peds and Psych. My current plan is to focus my studying on the weaker stuff in hopes of picking up easy points, but we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I'll continue my infrequent and vague postings as my life rolls along, I hit the interview trail and tick off the days left in medical school. I'm sure there will be some fun stories to share...