Fall average: MASTER

Got my overall grade average for the fall semester: 87%

My highest grade was 92, and my lowest grade was 84.

While I was hoping that all of my exams would be above 85, I am thrilled with my performance this semester. I am exactly where I want to be - mastering the subjects, and still having time to do all the costuming things I want to do.

This, according to CHM's studies, puts me in a great place for Step 1. The reason they set mastery at 85% is because if you "master", you are almost guaranteed to pass Step 1 on your first try, with an average of 225 for you score.

Woohoo!

Medical School or Art School?

"Gosh golly, Dr. Brit! We haven't heard from you in a long time. What have you been up to???"

I'm glad you asked, gentle reader. 

This. Lots of this:

 And a lot of this:

And even some of this:

Now, what do pro-wrestling, silly looking dinosaurs, and Clint Eastwood have in common?

They're all part of my story pneumonics to help me learn and memorize some odd-hundreds of drugs, their use, and their side effects.

Now, medical school may look like just a bunch of fun drawings, but this is just a small portion of what I've had to learn. I am 3 days away from completing my third medical domain of the semester. I already finished with Neurology and Infectious Disease, and I am just wrapping up Musculoskeletal.

So far, things are going GREAT. I have really found my groove this year - so much that doctors I have literally just met are telling me the same thing. My grades are in the mastery range - I actually got an "official commendation" from the school on how high my last exam grade was. Clinical skills is making much more sense as we dive into more specific physical exams, and I just feel like this is my year.

It's about damn time.

Last Aeromed Shift!

Today is my last aeromed shift! I am going to miss it very much, but it has been a great experience, and has confirmed my interest in emergency medicine.

I'll talk more about my experience later, but here is a fun selfie of me in my flight suit for good measure.

Flight

Today I helped bring a patient to the same room where Tori died.

I noticed, and remembered, and I *cared*, but it did not bother me.

I think I have made some progress.

There was the potential for a lot of triggers today - my first medical flight, lots of coworkers talking about drowning rates over holiday weekends, bringing a patient to the children's hospital....

However, instead of feeling triggered, I felt POWERFUL. I enjoyed the actual flying, of course. But I really felt like "a doctor" - I knew most of what the actual medical people were talking about, I knew what was going on when the physician was intubating, I knew what to say to the parents to help explain what was going on, I knew how to read the CT. I felt on top of the world (literally, especially when I was standing on the helicopter pad).

I was able to take some sweet photos while I was in the air - I will post them later, but for now, I just feel GOOD. And that's pretty damn awesome.

Awesome new shadowing/volunteering gig....

Sculpture in hospital

For my Art Saves Lives elective, we had to find a piece of art in our daily lives and sketch it/form questions about it over the course of 5 days. This is the sculpture I choose, which can be found in a Grand Rapids hospital. 

Photos from my "Art Saves Lifes" elective