Update
Today is the last day of my neurology internship.
For the past four weeks, I've been running around like a bloody maniac trying to learn as much about neurology as possible, seeing a hell of a lot of patients (Monday: FOUR in one day. New personal record for a normal day-without-being-on-call...) and trying to impress the neurologists. I like to think I've succeeded there, too: made a new stardard letter for the person who is the principal med-student-teacher, impressed the hell out of everyone else with my eager attitude and good contact with the patients and hella lot of knowledge. I had my oral exam yesterday evening, and after listening to a 15-minute monologue about how smart I am, how much I know and how much everyone, from the patients to the attendings, love me, I answered some questions about strokes, herniated disks and that was about it. Still, though, the attending who did my exam gave me an eight. That amounts to ... Idunno. An A-? B+? in American terms. (World Education Services equivalates an 8 with an A, stating 8,0-10=A) I would've wanted a 9. But anyway. I shouldn't complain. Soon, the other med students from my little group will be back and I'll know their grades. I know they'll pass, I just wonder what grade they got.
This morning, I saw two operations for herniated disks. Did you know that the operating field is not even 10cm^2? The neurosurgeon (cool guy by the way, a really nice Belgian man) let me put my hand on his shoulder and lean in to look every once in a while. He even offered to let me scrub in, but the scrub nurses asked the powers that be and they said no. :-( Just because nobody has showed me how to scrub in before. >_<
Why, you wonder, are you typing all this? Well, I have no idea. I have some time to while away before the passing on of patients to the people who are on call this weekend and I don't have anything better to do, I guess. I just saw a patient in the ER but he wasn't neurological after all. He had an Hb of 3,0 (normal for males >8), so he passed out.
Overall, neurology was fun. The atmosphere here is friendly, open and very conducive to learning. Whenever you ask a question, the other person will find time to answer it for you. If you want to do something, chances are you get to do it. Nobody talks down to you. Also, it's just very interesting! Apart from the fact that often you can't actually fix someone, you can often give them a diagnosis on the basis of a thorough history&physical. The attendings think I'd make a good neurologist, so they were sad (but understanding) when they heard I would be unhappy if I can't actually use my hands to fix someone.
Monday, I start psychiatry. I'll be in my parents' city for a month, so no more getting up at o-early-hundred every morning to catch a train. Ten minutes by bike ought to get me there just fine ;-) ... I'll need to let go of my happy-go-lucky straight up attitude, though. That won't get you very far with psych patients. Nor with psych doctors, for that matter. Psychiatrists are all very soft in their general bearing at work, I've observed. That'll be hard, not being able to humorously communicate with my patients. In neuro, I used to make a game out of the physical, but I'm afraid psych patients won't respond to that so well. We'll see.
For the past four weeks, I've been running around like a bloody maniac trying to learn as much about neurology as possible, seeing a hell of a lot of patients (Monday: FOUR in one day. New personal record for a normal day-without-being-on-call...) and trying to impress the neurologists. I like to think I've succeeded there, too: made a new stardard letter for the person who is the principal med-student-teacher, impressed the hell out of everyone else with my eager attitude and good contact with the patients and hella lot of knowledge. I had my oral exam yesterday evening, and after listening to a 15-minute monologue about how smart I am, how much I know and how much everyone, from the patients to the attendings, love me, I answered some questions about strokes, herniated disks and that was about it. Still, though, the attending who did my exam gave me an eight. That amounts to ... Idunno. An A-? B+? in American terms. (World Education Services equivalates an 8 with an A, stating 8,0-10=A) I would've wanted a 9. But anyway. I shouldn't complain. Soon, the other med students from my little group will be back and I'll know their grades. I know they'll pass, I just wonder what grade they got.
This morning, I saw two operations for herniated disks. Did you know that the operating field is not even 10cm^2? The neurosurgeon (cool guy by the way, a really nice Belgian man) let me put my hand on his shoulder and lean in to look every once in a while. He even offered to let me scrub in, but the scrub nurses asked the powers that be and they said no. :-( Just because nobody has showed me how to scrub in before. >_<
Why, you wonder, are you typing all this? Well, I have no idea. I have some time to while away before the passing on of patients to the people who are on call this weekend and I don't have anything better to do, I guess. I just saw a patient in the ER but he wasn't neurological after all. He had an Hb of 3,0 (normal for males >8), so he passed out.
Overall, neurology was fun. The atmosphere here is friendly, open and very conducive to learning. Whenever you ask a question, the other person will find time to answer it for you. If you want to do something, chances are you get to do it. Nobody talks down to you. Also, it's just very interesting! Apart from the fact that often you can't actually fix someone, you can often give them a diagnosis on the basis of a thorough history&physical. The attendings think I'd make a good neurologist, so they were sad (but understanding) when they heard I would be unhappy if I can't actually use my hands to fix someone.
Monday, I start psychiatry. I'll be in my parents' city for a month, so no more getting up at o-early-hundred every morning to catch a train. Ten minutes by bike ought to get me there just fine ;-) ... I'll need to let go of my happy-go-lucky straight up attitude, though. That won't get you very far with psych patients. Nor with psych doctors, for that matter. Psychiatrists are all very soft in their general bearing at work, I've observed. That'll be hard, not being able to humorously communicate with my patients. In neuro, I used to make a game out of the physical, but I'm afraid psych patients won't respond to that so well. We'll see.