Well winter break has certainly been very interesting. Now
that I have a new phone, I can post pictures on my blog. And it has been a very nice and relaxing break that
I needed. I have been exposed to many things regarding the medical field
including and excluding my senior project. I was able to go to mentorship with
my doctor much more in winter break than I have before. I researched how to
take good notes while shadowing from a few websites. Apparently what I do with
Dr. Muthiah in my mentorship is what medical students in residency do: clinical
observation (except that I don’t prescribe or even try to give or suggest any
medications XD). So I am really glad thank God that I have this opportunity.
While I was doing this research, I found out that I could use my journal of
notes from shadowing possibly for writing my personal statement for medical
schools. So I decided to search up what the prompt is. It is: “Use the space
provided to explain why you want to go to medical school.” It’s pretty vague,
so it will be interesting once I actually start on it. I looked a little
further into medical schools and it is quite competitive and tough to get in. The
reason is because you have to have a very high GPA, MCAT score, and really well-written
personal statement. And if that is good enough, then you are invited to an
interview which is the ultimate deciding factor.
Well other than that, I was able to finally start on my
independent component as well. I was able to do an hour in the Cath Lab. I was
able to 8 hours in the Cardio-Pulmonary Physical Rehab center. I made new
friends, gained new connections, and good advice for my future and senior
project. This one college graduate named Hoang was a volunteer here and he gave
me a lot of great advice. He told me the key to success for entering graduate
school: it’s research. He told me that everyone would have 4.0 GPA and high
MCAT scores, but medical schools like to choose people who have done research
and have their names on academic papers. They want to know which students know
how to make money. It doesn’t matter what kind of research you do, as long as
you get your name on many papers possible; but don’t spread yourself too thin.
Hoang told me an interesting thing that many pre-med students do in college to
raise their GPA; they take 1 unit kinesiology sports courses to boost their GPA
to make up for an A- or a B. He also told me the sad and cruel reality of
college and the world of today. He told me that it is all about money nowadays.
No matter where you go, it is about the money. Hoang wanted to tell me this
because he said he didn’t know this as a high school student, so he wants to
pass this knowledge onto me.
For connection-wise, I will be able to shadow a nurse named
Kathy for a few hours in the future. She is the nurse for patients that are
about to go into open-heart surgery. So that will be an interesting experience.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to watch Dr. Kaiser or Dr. Jane do open heart
surgery because I am not a 4th year medical student.
Gloria and Cecilia who worked in the physical rehab center
helped me narrow down my senior topic. They told me that I should focus on
open-heart surgery and how to treat patients who have undergone it. Several
answers for my EQ would be: 1. Quit smoking. 2. Change lifestyle. 3.
Medications. 4. Attending Physical Rehab. 5. Exercise. I am really glad because
I have finally narrowed my topic down.
And finally one of the biggest things I was able to do in
winter break was watch two cases (surgeries)! In the first one, Dr. Discepolo
was changing the battery of the pace maker in his patient. And in the second
surgery, Dr. Merla was doing an EP Study (Electro-Physiology Study) and also
inserted a new pace maker in his patient.
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| Me in scrubs right before entering the surgery room |
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| A souvenir I received: the box for a pacemaker |
Well other than that, today marks the day that I got my driver's license exactly one year ago. Happy New Year to all of you!
