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Showing posts with label medical school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical school. Show all posts
2.12.2020
houston photo diary
Friday~
Nash and I woke up dark and early to be dropped off at the Indy airport. Thanks to my brother who helped me push my heavy luggage and the bag of carseat + base. I was prepared this time. Flying Southwest with a baby on your lap requires documentation that has baby's name + DOB. I had Nash's shot records and medical summary. A birth certificate or passport would also work but being baby #6, I don't have either one.
One of my very best friends from medical school picked us up and we drove straight southeast to Galveston beach. What a beautiful day. It was sunny but windy. We were pretty much alone at the beach being a weekday.
I found a complete, unbroken shell that I took home as a pasalubong for the kids.
Saturday~
My friends brought me to the Kitchen at the Dunlavy, a super cute french brunch restaurant. That place was instagram-worthy!
It was overlooking Buffalo Bayou park. WE went for a walk after brunch, enjoyed the fresh air and sun before heading back. We passed by the waugh bat colony. I did not look closely in the crevices underneath the bridge. I don't want to see the bats.
Houston Zoo was hopping! There was no place to park. The women and children were dropped off. We took the train around Hermann Park.
Dinner was at La Guitarra con Sazon. If you are looking for authentic Peruvian food, come to this place. I had lomo saltado and ceviche nativo (mango, avocado, shrimp and fish) yummm!
Sunday~
Nash and I went to Mass at St. Vincent de Paul. What a lovely church!
I made a premature turn and had to turn around in the neighborhood behind the church. Those houses are beautiful. They average around 1.2 Million so yeah, not going to afford that location with 6 kids.
Back to Mass: I finally parked at a public parking across from the church. I took Nash from his carseat and saw the blowout all over his back. It was already 9:02 and I still had to walk to church by crossing at the crosswalk. I did not want to jaywalk 6 lanes and a median.
I thought about just going back to the condo... just for a split second. I was already there and I committed. I may be late but my intentions were clear. I want to be at church. I needed that hour with JC more than ever (thank you blow out!)
I entered the church. It was already the responsorial psalm. what?! I went straight to the women's restroom. I stripped off his baby Gap button down shirt. The shorts were safe. The mess went up his back but not down his leg. I gave him a rinse on the sink. poor babe. He fussed but he needed it.
We entered the sanctuary and the gospel was ending. oh.... I totally missed the liturgy of the word, except for the homily.
We stayed after Mass to pray and admire the church. The stained glass windows were beautiful. The big case of relics was beyond amazing. I haven't seen that many relics displayed in a church in the US! In Europe, yes, but in the US ~ their "collection" was astounding. St. Rita of Cascia's relic may have been a piece of bone.
In the afternoon, we drove about 45 mins to NASA. I was geeking like none other. I have always been fascinated by the cosmos, planets, stars. Besides the human body and its intricacies and how the different systems work, studying the planets and stars have been a fascination for me. I like reading about astrophysics, albeit I may not even fully understand it. I am also into sci-fi (The Martian, Interstellar, Lost in Space, etc).
We took the tram to the mission control which was restored to the 1969 control center during the Moon landing. I sat at the chair where Queen Elizabeth II sat when she visited NASA.
We went to Independence plaza which showcases the now-retired Orbiter and the shuttle replica Independence.
There were alligators, turtles and longhorns in the NASA compound. There was another hangar and section that we did not get to tour. That means I need to come back. The next time has to be with the kids. The older ones specially will enjoy the Johnson Space Center.
For dinner, we went to Gerry's grill, way across the other side of the city. The drive was worth it and thankfully no stopped traffic. My friends were impressed. I went very basic with what I ordered. I got grilled squid (which my much smarter MDPhD friend told was in fact cuttle fish), bistek (beef marinated in soy sauce, garlic, onions and lemon), pork BBQ, lumpiang shanghai (egg roll), pancit bihon (stir fried rice noodles with veggies and chicken), grilled chicken and crispy beef. I wanted to order the crispy pata (fried pork) but I have friends who don't eat pork. The fried beef was still so, so good.
If you are in Houston, make sure you visit Gerry's grill (not paid to advertise for them).
How about that?
My first post of 2020 is a photo diary! I sure miss blogging and using my macbook instead of just typing on that tiny iphone keyboard and posting it on the gram. There's something about typing here that is very therapeutic.
// Commissions are made if you purchase using my links. Thanks for your support // // If you are not a subscriber, please sign up here. // Here's Where I link up
Thank you for reading! I can be found on: Instagram Facebook Bloglovin' Twitter Shop My Closet
Nash and I woke up dark and early to be dropped off at the Indy airport. Thanks to my brother who helped me push my heavy luggage and the bag of carseat + base. I was prepared this time. Flying Southwest with a baby on your lap requires documentation that has baby's name + DOB. I had Nash's shot records and medical summary. A birth certificate or passport would also work but being baby #6, I don't have either one.
One of my very best friends from medical school picked us up and we drove straight southeast to Galveston beach. What a beautiful day. It was sunny but windy. We were pretty much alone at the beach being a weekday.
I found a complete, unbroken shell that I took home as a pasalubong for the kids.
Saturday~
My friends brought me to the Kitchen at the Dunlavy, a super cute french brunch restaurant. That place was instagram-worthy!
It was overlooking Buffalo Bayou park. WE went for a walk after brunch, enjoyed the fresh air and sun before heading back. We passed by the waugh bat colony. I did not look closely in the crevices underneath the bridge. I don't want to see the bats.
Houston Zoo was hopping! There was no place to park. The women and children were dropped off. We took the train around Hermann Park.
Dinner was at La Guitarra con Sazon. If you are looking for authentic Peruvian food, come to this place. I had lomo saltado and ceviche nativo (mango, avocado, shrimp and fish) yummm!
Sunday~
Nash and I went to Mass at St. Vincent de Paul. What a lovely church!
I made a premature turn and had to turn around in the neighborhood behind the church. Those houses are beautiful. They average around 1.2 Million so yeah, not going to afford that location with 6 kids.
Back to Mass: I finally parked at a public parking across from the church. I took Nash from his carseat and saw the blowout all over his back. It was already 9:02 and I still had to walk to church by crossing at the crosswalk. I did not want to jaywalk 6 lanes and a median.
I entered the church. It was already the responsorial psalm. what?! I went straight to the women's restroom. I stripped off his baby Gap button down shirt. The shorts were safe. The mess went up his back but not down his leg. I gave him a rinse on the sink. poor babe. He fussed but he needed it.
We entered the sanctuary and the gospel was ending. oh.... I totally missed the liturgy of the word, except for the homily.
We stayed after Mass to pray and admire the church. The stained glass windows were beautiful. The big case of relics was beyond amazing. I haven't seen that many relics displayed in a church in the US! In Europe, yes, but in the US ~ their "collection" was astounding. St. Rita of Cascia's relic may have been a piece of bone.
In the afternoon, we drove about 45 mins to NASA. I was geeking like none other. I have always been fascinated by the cosmos, planets, stars. Besides the human body and its intricacies and how the different systems work, studying the planets and stars have been a fascination for me. I like reading about astrophysics, albeit I may not even fully understand it. I am also into sci-fi (The Martian, Interstellar, Lost in Space, etc).
We took the tram to the mission control which was restored to the 1969 control center during the Moon landing. I sat at the chair where Queen Elizabeth II sat when she visited NASA.
We went to Independence plaza which showcases the now-retired Orbiter and the shuttle replica Independence.
There were alligators, turtles and longhorns in the NASA compound. There was another hangar and section that we did not get to tour. That means I need to come back. The next time has to be with the kids. The older ones specially will enjoy the Johnson Space Center.
For dinner, we went to Gerry's grill, way across the other side of the city. The drive was worth it and thankfully no stopped traffic. My friends were impressed. I went very basic with what I ordered. I got grilled squid (which my much smarter MDPhD friend told was in fact cuttle fish), bistek (beef marinated in soy sauce, garlic, onions and lemon), pork BBQ, lumpiang shanghai (egg roll), pancit bihon (stir fried rice noodles with veggies and chicken), grilled chicken and crispy beef. I wanted to order the crispy pata (fried pork) but I have friends who don't eat pork. The fried beef was still so, so good.
If you are in Houston, make sure you visit Gerry's grill (not paid to advertise for them).
How about that?
My first post of 2020 is a photo diary! I sure miss blogging and using my macbook instead of just typing on that tiny iphone keyboard and posting it on the gram. There's something about typing here that is very therapeutic.
// Commissions are made if you purchase using my links. Thanks for your support // // If you are not a subscriber, please sign up here. // Here's Where I link up
Thank you for reading! I can be found on: Instagram Facebook Bloglovin' Twitter Shop My Closet
6.28.2018
ten years as an M.D.
outfit details~
Crochet top, Dottie Couture boutique
pencil skirt, nordstrom rack, exact one
halogen flats, thrifted via eBay, similar
le Specs sunnies
9.19.2016
P = MD
// how about this look? //
skirt, Nordstrom rack
sandals via zulily
Louis Vuitton Vernis leather
earrings, old
My alma mater adopted the pass/fail grading system for the first year medical students who started in August.
When I was in their shoes years ago, we were graded Honor, High Pass, Pass and Fail system.
This change has been in discussion for a couple of years. Finally it's implemented.
It's interesting that the driving force to change from the H, HP and P, F system to P/F system is the wellbeing of the student doctors.
10.07.2015
stethoscope stories {physicians blog hop vol 3}
Welcome back to our blog hop party!
If you notice, we have a new blog hop name... That's because Christy and I have a big announcement this month. We are extending our link up party to ALL physician bloggers and physicians-to-be (aka med students) out there. Physician moms are still invited ,of course, but we would like student doctors, residents, fellows and attendings whether you're a mom or not, dad or not to join the fun.
What best way to start this change but with this month's prompt:
Here goes my "what I wish I'd known" thoughts.....
-- residency hours: I did not watch ER or other medical shows during highschool or college. Even if I did, they are not real representation of what residency hours are like. I wish I had shadowed a resident for a week. but if I did, would I even go to med school? Those 80 hour weeks are tough.
-- loans: I had an idea about how much debt I will be in...but you won't really fully understand until you have crossed that bridge right?
-- the amount of stuff I have to learn: again, this was a no brainer for me. I knew there will be tons of studying and memorizing. But the amount of info presented to us and expected to learn -- it's like drinking water from a fire hydrant. You just have to keep drinking even though you are drowning.
--balancing life: it took me a whole semester in med school to really figure out the best studying strategy. I was effective in college and I thought studying ALL THE TIME was the thing to do. Because that's what I used to do before. I got tired easily because of that. Then I finally decided that even med students need breaks. I learned that I was a more effective student when I gave myself a break and let myself have Friday nights off to unwind. Then come Saturday and Sunday, i was back on the books.
How about you? what have you wish you'd known before entering medical school?
The link up is live until the end of the month. I am excited to read your posts.
Here are a few "rules" of the link-up.
If you notice, we have a new blog hop name... That's because Christy and I have a big announcement this month. We are extending our link up party to ALL physician bloggers and physicians-to-be (aka med students) out there. Physician moms are still invited ,of course, but we would like student doctors, residents, fellows and attendings whether you're a mom or not, dad or not to join the fun.
What best way to start this change but with this month's prompt:
Here goes my "what I wish I'd known" thoughts.....
-- residency hours: I did not watch ER or other medical shows during highschool or college. Even if I did, they are not real representation of what residency hours are like. I wish I had shadowed a resident for a week. but if I did, would I even go to med school? Those 80 hour weeks are tough.
-- loans: I had an idea about how much debt I will be in...but you won't really fully understand until you have crossed that bridge right?
-- the amount of stuff I have to learn: again, this was a no brainer for me. I knew there will be tons of studying and memorizing. But the amount of info presented to us and expected to learn -- it's like drinking water from a fire hydrant. You just have to keep drinking even though you are drowning.
--balancing life: it took me a whole semester in med school to really figure out the best studying strategy. I was effective in college and I thought studying ALL THE TIME was the thing to do. Because that's what I used to do before. I got tired easily because of that. Then I finally decided that even med students need breaks. I learned that I was a more effective student when I gave myself a break and let myself have Friday nights off to unwind. Then come Saturday and Sunday, i was back on the books.
How about you? what have you wish you'd known before entering medical school?
The link up is live until the end of the month. I am excited to read your posts.
The dates and prompts of our future linkups are:
November 4 - birth stories. As med students and residents, we all have OB-GYN birth stories to tell. If you're an OBGYN blogger, even better! Please share your most memorable birth story. {be mindful of patient's privacy when sharing... we don't want to get in trouble}
December 2 -Tips on how you handle work or call during the holidays. How do your loved ones/child(ren) handle you being away?
December 2 -Tips on how you handle work or call during the holidays. How do your loved ones/child(ren) handle you being away?
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9.14.2015
internal medicine wards {a day in the life series}
This was my first rotation as a third year med student. Needless to say, I was in for a shocker.
5:30-6a wake up and get ready for the day. I learned soon enough that dressing comfortably is the key. Comfortable shoes and professional outfits. No low v-cut necklines. No micro mini skirts for me. I wore a lot of black pants in the beginning. Then as i got more and more depressed, I realized I need to wear what I want to wear. Not what I think 'the wards' want me to wear. Halfway through, I started pulling out my skirts (below the knee, or just a little bit above) and wore my pinks and bright colors.
7a meet the team for sign out. As med students, we listened in during sign out of the on-call person to the day team.
7:15-7:30a we received our patient list from our interns/upper level residents.
7:30-8:15a pre-round. Time to look at charts, look at significant events overnight. Talk to nurses about the patients and actually see and examine them. The number of patients per student depended on how fast a learner a med student is, or how many the residents think one can handle. In the beginning, one or two is plenty! At some point, I might pre-rounded on 4 patients. There were 4 med students in my team. I was the only female. We had 2 interns or pgy1s and one upper level resident.
8:15-8:45a morning report. This is a learning opportunity led by chief residents for the students and residents. Usually, a case is presented. Typically a patient case from overnight. History and physical exam findings are discussed. Then differential diagnosis and work up listed. At the end, there will be a few announcement. Sometimes updates given regarding old cases discussed on past morning reports.
8:45a-9a meet up with our interns to discuss our assessment and plan. Our interns were so awesome. They made sure we look like we know what we were doing in front of our attendings. That's something I gave back when I was a resident. I made sure I touchbased with my students and gave them pointers for their plan.
9-10:30/11a table rounds and bedside rounds. Student doctors present the SOAP format.
Subjective: what happened overnight. Any significant events or crosscover issues.
Objective: vitals, Physical exam. Meds. labs.
Assessment: one liner with patient's age, pertinent history and working diagnosis. This is the perfect time to wow your attending with your long list of differential diagnosis.
Lastly: plan. It's not expected for med students to know everything about the plan. It's definitely a resident level to know all work ups. (Even at the resident level, management is a learning process) But it will help you get that honors in the wards if you have an idea or at least thought about what you want to do. That's why talking with your interns and residents before rounds is important. they will help guide you.
11:30-noon: write orders if not done yet, talk to families, discharge patients, call other teams for consults, call social work or case manager etc.
12-1p noon conference
Another lecture format geared towards residents. But usually med students are also invited. Unless there's a lecture just for med students that day. It's basically eat lunch and learn.
1-4p continue writing orders, check up on your patients, call consulting teams, talk to nurses, read notes from OT or PT or consulting teams and implement their recommendations. Write daily notes.
If our team was the admitting team that day, part of the afternoon is admitting folks from ER. The ER resident will page the intern for the admission. The intern then gives the med students the patient's info. I've gone down to the ER quite a few times to see a patient, interview them, do an exam and come up with my impression and plan. I then presented the history and physical exam to my residents. A lot of times I presented again to my attending. If I admitted a patient, that's another note to write.
I had an amazing upper level resident during my internal medicine month. He always made sure to give us mini lectures in the afternoon. Even if it's just 10-15 minutes.
He also let me perform a lumbar puncture, help collect sputum (not so glamorous), perform I/O catheterization, intubation and other procedures.
4-5p sign out. If the resident or med student is not on call, this time is closing time! As a med student, I didn't have to give changeover to another med student on call. I usually gave updates to my resident if something came up about my patients that he didn't know yet. Then he signed out all of our patients to the on-call/overnight resident.
As an MS3, I was required to take 4 calls. But they were not overnight calls. I stayed till 10p until I was sent home.
When on call, I saw patients at the ER who needed to be admitted. Basically I repeated what I have been doing since 7a and kept doing that till 10p. See patients, write notes, call consults if needed.
In our institution, staying till 10p is called short call. It's not an overnight call so it's short. I didn't like those nights bec I still had to get up early the next day. And there was also no time to study during those short calls. I ended up sleeping around midnight and then only getting 5 hours of sleep.
For books: I used the following:
Step-up to medicine
Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics
Case Files
MKSAP
I used pubmed and OVID for my literature search and evidence-based medicine.
For textbooks: there is Cecil's or Harrison's.
Previous post on the series: USMLE
Next up on the series: a day in the life of outpatient internal medicine
Thank you for reading! I can be found on:
8.31.2015
a day in the life series {USMLE}
I volunteered as a medical school mentor for our state's medical school. I have always enjoyed mentoring. I did peer mentoring in college as well as led small groups in Chemistry and Biology. Some opportunities even gave a small stipend.
Working with medical students is one reason I stayed in academia. I am impressed with every single one I meet. They are amazing and intelligent.
I had very good mentors during medical school and I want to give back. Also, I want to recruit for my specialty! Not a lot of student doctors get the exposure for child neurology. It is not a mandatory clinical rotation. Some do not even know that such a specialty exists!
I went to medical school wanting to go to pediatrics. When I was a college student, I did work-study program at a research lab. I thought about doing peds hematology-oncology. When I entered Medical school, I went back to general pediatrics ~ instead of pursuing heme/onc. It was not until my third year of medical school that I truly fell in love with neurology. I could not give up the children, so I took a 2-month elective my MSIV (medical school 4th year) doing child neurology outpatient and research in child neurology. That's when I solidified my career choice and decided to be a child neurologist.
I am starting this "a day in the life" series because I am sure my mentees will ask me about life in the wards as a third year and fourth year med student. I want to write them all down and not forget. It has been over 8 years so I am sure I have forgotten quite a few things... but I will try.
So to start this series, I want to start talking about USMLE.
USMLE is a three-part exam for medical licensing in the US. US - United States, M= medical, L = licensing, E=examinations. The first part aka UMSLE Step 1 is taken between 2nd year and third year. It goes over basic sciences and EVERYTHING learned during the first two years of medical school/classwork. Maybe I will write a day in the life of an MS1 and MS2... but it's pretty much: wake up, hit the books, read, study, lunch, read, study, workout, dinner, read, study, sleep. Repeat the next day.
I prepared for my USMLE Step 1 by studying and learning the materials well the first time -- which was during the first two years of med school. The review part started midway through my MS2. I used this book: First Aid for Step 1. And I used qbank of Kaplan.
We finished our first year early May. Therefore I had all month of May to mid-June to take Step 1. Some of my classmates took it the week after finals week which was second week of May. That was too soon for me. Since my birthday is June 1st, I chose the date May 31st to take the exam. I had the month of May to study. Then I had 2 weeks of freedom in June before I started my clinical rotations.
USMLE Step 2 has two parts. There is the USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) and Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS). Step 2 CK is taken generally in the beginning of MS4 (4th year). I took mine in August and used this book, among others. I also used my rotation books during review (I will go into these when I talk about different rotations). I used Qbank again from Kaplan. Some of my classmates used Ubank. But since qbank worked for me and I passed Step 1, I did not want to take my chances and use another question bank... Call me superstitious. I prepared for a month before taking the test end of August. I studied in the morning for 1-2 hours before heading to my 4th year outpatient elective.
USMLE Step 2 CS is taken in certain cities in the US. I took mine in Chicago in September. It's the closest city that offers it. Other cities are ATL, HOU, LA, and Philly. My match (I will explain that in future posts) was an early match so I wanted to take my Step 2 CK and CS right away before I traveled for interviews. I used this book for practice case scenarios. My husband played as my patient. It's easy to be a patient even for nonmedical folks. In the book, there are prompts for the patients and their answers to questions per case.
The last step, USMLE Step 3 is taken during residency. A lot of folks, specially those who want to moonlight and get extra money, took Step 3 during intern year. To moonlight in Indiana, a permanent medical license is needed. Since I did not have any intentions of moonlighting, I was in no rush to take my Step 3. I could have taken it during my PGY2 (post graduate year 2) but I just had Daniel so I postponed it to my PGY3. I used this book to study. I studied mostly internal medicine topics and skipped pediatrics. Since I was a peds resident, I was comfortable with those questions. i just had to review the adult medicine topics. Same goes for internal medicine residents, my advice is to study the peds section and don't dwell too long on the IM topics.
Remember this: 2 months to prepare for Step 1; 2 weeks to prepare for Step 2; 2 pencils to take Step 3. I did not quite follow that timeline. But I saw that I didn't need to study for a long time for the other steps. Plus all exams now are taken on the computer. I did not bring 2 pencils to my Step 3!.
important note, all Steps must be taken within 7 years (at least for Indiana) in order to qualify for Indiana medical license. If a physician takes one step outside the 7 years, all steps must be retaken (ouch!)
That's it for the overview of USMLE.
Next on the series is a day in the life of a third year student doctor in the internal medicine wards!
Thank you for reading! I can be found on:
Working with medical students is one reason I stayed in academia. I am impressed with every single one I meet. They are amazing and intelligent.
I had very good mentors during medical school and I want to give back. Also, I want to recruit for my specialty! Not a lot of student doctors get the exposure for child neurology. It is not a mandatory clinical rotation. Some do not even know that such a specialty exists!
I went to medical school wanting to go to pediatrics. When I was a college student, I did work-study program at a research lab. I thought about doing peds hematology-oncology. When I entered Medical school, I went back to general pediatrics ~ instead of pursuing heme/onc. It was not until my third year of medical school that I truly fell in love with neurology. I could not give up the children, so I took a 2-month elective my MSIV (medical school 4th year) doing child neurology outpatient and research in child neurology. That's when I solidified my career choice and decided to be a child neurologist.
I am starting this "a day in the life" series because I am sure my mentees will ask me about life in the wards as a third year and fourth year med student. I want to write them all down and not forget. It has been over 8 years so I am sure I have forgotten quite a few things... but I will try.
So to start this series, I want to start talking about USMLE.
USMLE is a three-part exam for medical licensing in the US. US - United States, M= medical, L = licensing, E=examinations. The first part aka UMSLE Step 1 is taken between 2nd year and third year. It goes over basic sciences and EVERYTHING learned during the first two years of medical school/classwork. Maybe I will write a day in the life of an MS1 and MS2... but it's pretty much: wake up, hit the books, read, study, lunch, read, study, workout, dinner, read, study, sleep. Repeat the next day.
I prepared for my USMLE Step 1 by studying and learning the materials well the first time -- which was during the first two years of med school. The review part started midway through my MS2. I used this book: First Aid for Step 1. And I used qbank of Kaplan.
We finished our first year early May. Therefore I had all month of May to mid-June to take Step 1. Some of my classmates took it the week after finals week which was second week of May. That was too soon for me. Since my birthday is June 1st, I chose the date May 31st to take the exam. I had the month of May to study. Then I had 2 weeks of freedom in June before I started my clinical rotations.
USMLE Step 2 has two parts. There is the USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) and Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS). Step 2 CK is taken generally in the beginning of MS4 (4th year). I took mine in August and used this book, among others. I also used my rotation books during review (I will go into these when I talk about different rotations). I used Qbank again from Kaplan. Some of my classmates used Ubank. But since qbank worked for me and I passed Step 1, I did not want to take my chances and use another question bank... Call me superstitious. I prepared for a month before taking the test end of August. I studied in the morning for 1-2 hours before heading to my 4th year outpatient elective.
USMLE Step 2 CS is taken in certain cities in the US. I took mine in Chicago in September. It's the closest city that offers it. Other cities are ATL, HOU, LA, and Philly. My match (I will explain that in future posts) was an early match so I wanted to take my Step 2 CK and CS right away before I traveled for interviews. I used this book for practice case scenarios. My husband played as my patient. It's easy to be a patient even for nonmedical folks. In the book, there are prompts for the patients and their answers to questions per case.
The last step, USMLE Step 3 is taken during residency. A lot of folks, specially those who want to moonlight and get extra money, took Step 3 during intern year. To moonlight in Indiana, a permanent medical license is needed. Since I did not have any intentions of moonlighting, I was in no rush to take my Step 3. I could have taken it during my PGY2 (post graduate year 2) but I just had Daniel so I postponed it to my PGY3. I used this book to study. I studied mostly internal medicine topics and skipped pediatrics. Since I was a peds resident, I was comfortable with those questions. i just had to review the adult medicine topics. Same goes for internal medicine residents, my advice is to study the peds section and don't dwell too long on the IM topics.
Remember this: 2 months to prepare for Step 1; 2 weeks to prepare for Step 2; 2 pencils to take Step 3. I did not quite follow that timeline. But I saw that I didn't need to study for a long time for the other steps. Plus all exams now are taken on the computer. I did not bring 2 pencils to my Step 3!.
important note, all Steps must be taken within 7 years (at least for Indiana) in order to qualify for Indiana medical license. If a physician takes one step outside the 7 years, all steps must be retaken (ouch!)
That's it for the overview of USMLE.
Next on the series is a day in the life of a third year student doctor in the internal medicine wards!
Thank you for reading! I can be found on:
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