I’ve been inspired by my friend Josh over at www.medhopeful.com and his recent challenge for 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge. Another post on Youtube Success also pointed out the importance of consistency.
So in light these recent inspirations, I am committing myself to at least one post a week, with a goal or 2-3 posts in a week. I have no clue what I am going to write about right now, but I feel that by setting a standard, I will rise up to the challenge of writing consistently. Now, I might slow down during Carms season or if I’m on a particularly busy rotation but I have a now set a minimum of one post a week.
Future posts will probably still be focused around life in medical school, patient encounters and personal experiences, med school admissions, studying tips, book reviews, interesting health care topics. I am less inclined to write about the MCAT (despite it being the reason for over 50% of visitors to this blog). It’s just it seems so removed from my day to day experiences.
It’s been almost 4 years since I have written the MCAT. I can only remember the most basic of organic chemistry. My general science knowledge has been replaced with clinical knowledge. I haven’t written an essay in over two years. I would probably fail the verbal section on the MCAT. The MCAT is just a test that I haven’t done in a long time, and I feel it wouldn’t be fair to myself or my readers if I wrote about it.
I’m more than willing to answer questions about the application process, but questions like, how do I set up a schedule to study for the MCAT, or what’s the best question book to study physics from, just seem so… distant.
I’m happy to say that after struggling about the purpose of this blog a year ago, I am more at peace with the direction it’s going in. It’s self sustaining with what little ads and referral links that are here. I have more day to day experiences to write about and there’s less pressure for me to post on this blog, which has surprisingly lead to me posting more.
So let me know if there are any posts, topics, questions you would like me to write and post about. I’m always open to suggestions and good ideas.
I think it’s difficult to write about things you just can’t relate to anymore - such as the MCAT. Our interests and ideas evolve over time and I think it’s good that you aren’t forcing yourself to write about something you just don’t want to.
One thing I’d be interested in hearing are your thoughts on your medical education. What was it doing well and where was it really lacking? What direction should we be headed in when it comes to educating medical students?
Hey Josh,
Good things: early patient encounters, anatomy lab (I think every school should still have it - unfortunately, this “rite of passage” is becoming a thing of the past, systems based blocks, small group teaching in moderation, excellent preceptors, well-organized rotations that provide patient care opportunities and independence to learn
Lacking: evidence based medicine (a lot of it was textbook style learning), knowing how to form research questions and find answers (we had way too many weird library assignments and not enough practical applications), smoother transition to clinical years, a smaller class size would provide more opportunities
Direction: training complete doctors, not just a person good at x surgery or medicine. We need doctors who can be leaders, researchers, advocates, teachers, etc. a lot of time is spent on being a medical expert and reasonable so, medical students know so little, but remembering that being a doctor is more than just being a textbook.
It would be really great if you could post about your experience through the carms process … a lot of blogs focus on medical school applications and the the life of a physician, but there are hardly any that really shed light on the little details about carms. Thanks medaholic!
P.S. I love your book reviews
Sure thing. I’m sure it will be something that becomes more and more stressful as this year goes by