Tri-7 Wk1 Day 405, Friday

Looks like Dr. Sanders is back on Facebook! I had him listed as a suggested friend this morning and sent him a friend request. For Tri-7, Dr. Sanders teaches Endocrinology. Endo is a two hour class which, is somewhat misleading as far as study time is concerned because I'm pretty sure it's going to be one of those classes where I'll have to study as if it's at least a three hour class. Which reminds me, I was thinking of what Dr. Wittmer told us last semester about deciding what grades he wanted to get in what classes before his semester started. So far, I've always wanted to earn at least 80% or better overall in all my classes which, is what my GPA indicated I did this past semester. My two biggest classes are Dx Imag III and GI-UG which are both 5 hour classes so, if I were to pick which classes to get A's in, those would be the two classes.

Geez...the thought of A's in those two classes has me stymied. There are only two exams in Dx Imag III, the midterm and the final and you need close to perfect to get an A, not missing more than 1 or 2 questions on either exam. It's easier to wrap my brain around bumping my overall GPA to the point of say, 3.00 which is an 84% average or better in all my classes. There is a study skills seminar Monday at 11 which I have on my calendar, maybe that will help give me some ideas.

I did learn a few things about comp boards the day after we took them by Dr. Sanders. I had heard we can miss up to 6 pieces of the comp boards and still pass. Initially, I thought we had to pass everything. Then, I learned from Dr. Sanders that there are 5 sections to the comp boards and each section is graded independently and the 6 missed applies to the OSCE portion of the comp boards. I already passed 5 of those sections in Tri-6 which meant I only needed to pass 9 of the remaining 15 stations to pass OSCE. I'm rather certain I did that and think I only missed two sections of the OSCE.

The grading information would have been invaluable to me since I could have backed off on the amount of time I was giving OSCE and put some of that time towards the Diversified portion of the comp boards. As it was, I didn't study the Diversified portion at all. Without study I was figuring on passing at least one of the three diversified stations thus missing two and doing as well as I could to not miss any more than 4 stations throughout the rest of the comp boards ...anyway, my strategy was based on incomplete information. For the Diversified and Basic sections we needed to pass 2 out of three of the stations for each of those techniques.

The retake for diversified is next Friday on the 21st of Jan. and I'll plan on taking that part and studying in the interim just to be safe.

I've been making amazing use of the new iPad I got for Christmas. It's taking the best of computers and put it in the palms of your hands. It's quite unique. Ironically, the one person who most talked me into getting an iPad, Dr. Sanders, isn't allowing any kind of electronic equipment to be used in his class. I'm guessing he's probably had some issues with the iphones & laptops in the past. All I really need to do to sidestep using my laptop in class to take notes is to make my notes ahead of time from the powerpoint presentations and have them printed out before class, then jot down any pertinent things he talks about in his lectures then get that information typed back into my notes. Which reminds me, I still need to get up to Logan either today or tomorrow to print out things like Ben's Notes for each of my classes. There's just a TON of things to do.

40 Hours - that's what I have this semester. 35 of those hours are in-class lecture type of hours and there's another 5 hours minimum in the clinic. My clinic day is going to be on Thursdays. I also think the assigned clinic treatment room for me and my partner is room 177. My partner and I will alternate using that room in 1/2 hour shifts so, I'll be able to schedule patients at 11 and 12 then go to class from 12:55 to 3:40 then take appointments again at 4:15, 5:15 and 6:15 which means I can see a max of 5 patients on my assigned clinic day. Our overflow day is on Friday and there's also some way of seeing patients on non-assigned days but I'm not really clear on exactly how that works.

Two semesters ago I had a spreadsheet made up with all my classes along the top and every day of the semester along the left hand column along and filled in all our assignments accordingly. I think I'll be using my iPad to collate all that information for Tri-7. It's rather time consuming with all the classes. I'll need to enter information from our Syllabus for each of our 13 classes along with another tab I'll need to create for all my patients. That should workout pretty well. I'll have to be sure to back up my iPad on a regular basis because it's going to be the crux of everything I'll need to do.

In week 2 we'll get recertified for CPR and simple emergency medical training. I took the 25 question CPR written online exam yesterday and got a 100%. When I first took that exam in Tri-1, I got an 80%.

I'm getting a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking about everything that needs to be done ...I know the only way to quell that feeling is by taking action and knocking things out, one at a time. I'm considering my patients. Even, if say, I have 8 patients total, then we're looking at 43 hours per week for school but, each of those patients needs outside work and file reviews. We have a formal review for every patient called a CMR which, I believe stands for Case Management Review that we'll do in conjunction with one of the doctors on campus.

I know I need to get 85 pages read for Dx Imag III to be caught up for week 2. Hell, I still need to buy the rest of my books for classes!

Looking ahead to the immediate future ...I have 8 hours of classes lined up for Tuesday due to the 2 hour exam I need to give to my partner over my lunch break then, on Wednesday we'll swap roles and my partner will give me a 2 hour exam which means 9 straight hours. Opps, make that 10 straight hours on Wednesday because I have a CMR scheduled for 3:45 on that day with Dr. Montgomery.

My god ...during the first three days of class next week I only have two hours free, 11 a.m. on Tuesday and 11 a.m. on Thursday. ...alright, ...

On Thursday, we have the hands on portion of our CPR training then on Friday we have a LASER therapy exam so we can be certified for class IV lasers. That will put a nifty little red "IV" in the lower right portion of my intern badge. I'll have to scan that badge for one of my daily pics when I get it.

I'm also considering upgrading my activator gun. I wasn't sure what the difference was between the $175 activator (A2) and the $500 activator (A4) other than price but, the teacher for that class mentioned the A2 provides about 26 pounds of force and the A4 can provide up to 38 pounds of force. My brother has always used the A2 but he usually only uses it for sinuses which doesn't require that much force to begin with. I'm not sure he's ever taken the activator class but, if I'm going to put the time in then I'd like to be able to fully utilize my equipment. I'll have to check with him after he gets back from Vegas. Which also reminds me, I need to get an email out to my teachers to let them know I'll be heading to Vegas myself in less than three weeks.

hmmm.... I think I'm going to get the ToDo app on my iPad updated for the next couple weeks, then get moving on what I need to be doing. There's almost too much to spend too much time looking past the immediate week.

Today's pictures are of the Activator instruments. The silver one on the bottom (from my view) is the one I currently own, it's the Activator-2 model and the one on with the red body on top is Activator-4 model.