FEAR ABOUT STARTING MED SCHOOL

How did you study in medical school?

Well, so we have these things. I'll show one to you. They're called books. And so you take out the book.

Hi, everybody, and welcome to the podcast. This is Generations md. My name is Stephanie, and I'm joined here by my colleague, Dr. Sarah Davis, who's also my mother. Hi, everyone. I feel like this is gonna be kind of a chaotic episode.

Well, that's a great way to start. I just.

I don't know, I'm kind of running all over the place. I'm just.

Got a lot going on.

I got a lot going on, but at the same time, I have nothing going on. You know what I'm saying?

You're like the busy people that are like, I'm so busy. I'm so busy. Even when they're really not that busy. Yeah, I guess.

But, I mean, I have to do a lot of things. But the things are all for fun.

You know.

It's not like I'm working or in school or doing anything important.

Yeah, well, you're entertaining your friends. You got that coming up.

Yeah, yeah. So I've just been traveling. I've been on a plane, I think, every week for the past, like, eight weeks or something. So.

Yeah, get all your airline miles in now. Yeah, that's good. Well, you kind of also have that feeling of like, okay, this. All this is coming to a grinding halt. What are you doing? Well, you know, like, you've got. You're kind of trying to get in a lot of this stuff, right? You're trying to see your friends and, you know, get a lot of these.

You know what also I'm trying to get in is I'm trying to. I'm like, oh, yeah, like, I'm gonna do all this stuff, and then I'm trying to get in my relaxation.

You gotta schedule your happiness, as we learned.

We learned that last week.

Yeah. But don't schedule too much.

Things will go downhill. Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to. I'm like, oh, well, I need to, like, relax. But I'm like, I. But also, I want to do a bunch of stuff.

So.

Yeah, I don't really know.

Well, these are some big problems.

Life is really hard right now, clearly.

Well, but, yeah, I mean, the. The countdown kind of continues. You're going to be starting med school in just a few weeks.

Yeah, just a few weeks. Yeah. So I'm starting to get nervous about everything. Yeah. So I made a TikTok about this yesterday that I. Some people, lots of people have been commenting on and Talking about it. And I'm getting nervous about starting because now it's finally hitting me. I've been so focused on, like, this year and trying to, like, improve myself and grow and enjoy life. And, like. And now I've been. Now I'm realizing that I had to, like, start medical school and do that.

Yeah. So it's just, like, it's been ramping up. So are you having some anticipatory anxiety?

Yes, I am. I am excited. I am. I feel like I've been in, like, this transition phase for a long time, so I am excited to, like, get started to, like, do it. I think it's going to be good. But also I have to, like, do work and stuff.

Yeah. You haven't really had to, like, study for a year.

Yeah. I did talk to shout out Lindsay, who is started PA School, and I saw her this weekend, and Lindsay and I were in a lot of the same classes. We had, like, a lot of the same study habits. I feel like both of us spent a lot of time studying, and I think both of us were kind of concerned about, like, starting graduate programs where you don't have time to study because you have, like. She has three exams a week.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. So it's like. It's very. It's just like, really quick and stuff. And, like, a lot of info. Really quick. So she's kind of like. But she's like, yeah, I mean, I don't have the time, so I just, like, I do as much as I can, and I. And she's been doing really good and getting as and everything.

Oh, good.

Yeah. She's like, I'm spending less time studying than I did in college because I literally don't have the amount of time that I had to stress and focus on this one exam.

Well, that is kind of good. It's like, okay, the exam's coming. You just do the best you can.

Yeah, exactly. And she was also talking about the difference between people who took time off before starting PA school and the people who didn't. She said there was a very.

She could.

A noticeable difference between people who had some more perspective on life and people who went in straight from college and still were in just, like, that grind mode and, like, always in the books and just, like, complaining about how hard it is and all of that. Definitely PA School is different than med school in a lot of different ways. Also, one of those being that they started in May, so people literally graduated and then, like, two weeks later started PA school.

That's super. Lame.

Yeah. So it's like they really had absolutely no time whatsoever. But so. But at the same time, you don't really have the same burnout thing because it is only like, two years. So it's like.

Yeah, yeah.

But I thought that was interesting, just her seeing, like, the difference between people who took time off before starting PA school and med school and the people who didn't. Yeah.

Well, did she think she got rusty at all as far as her studying skills?

It was funny. She said something like. She's like, yeah, I feel like I'm not even trying that hard, but I'm doing really well.

I was like, good.

Good for you. Which also made me feel better about. Because we, again, we were in a lot of the same classes and, like, had the same professors and both went to Clemson and, like, you know, so that made me feel a lot better about starting a graduate program to make me feel like, okay, yeah, like, I. I went to a proper. I'm properly educated.

Properly educated. You are prepared.

Yeah. Again, it's different things, but it's still. But she said. I don't know, she didn't seem like she was rusty on studying and stuff. I mean, some people take years and years off and then go back. So.

Yeah, somebody who's gonna be in your same med school class. She had taken two gap years, but she's down there this summer now doing some sort of program for people that have taken off time, which I was like, two years. I mean, I understand if it was like, five or six years or something. Two years doesn't seem like that long.

Yeah. And I don't know if I have heard about those programs. I was under the impression that it was, like, taking classes to, like, refocus. I don't think it is. It might be like learning how to study again sort of thing.

I feel like you wouldn't forget that two years after. Good God. All that stuff in undergrad and studying for the MCAT and all that. Like, oh, wait, how do I study? I mean, seriously, not just kind of like, in your bones now.

How did you study in medical school?

What do you mean? You just went to the lectures? Some of them took notes. Studied. Studied what?

What did you do? Like, now we have Anki. We have, like, flashcards. We have, like. We have different, like, resources to, like, U world that we take practice tests on. And, like.

No.

So what did you do to study?

Well, so we had these things. I'll show one to you. They're called books. And so you take out the book and you Read the book.

But, like, how did you. Like, you just read the book? Like, what do you mean?

No, and actually, we honestly didn't use the books all that much. It was. So we had lectures, and then you had, you know, you took notes at the lectures. But also there was. We. There was one person in the whole class who was on note service. And so they recorded the lecture and were supposed to write really, really good notes. And then copies of those notes got distributed to everybody. So that was. So that's the main way you studied was through the lecture notes. Now, sometimes some people did not do a very good job on the lecture notes. And there was a lot of griping, you know, because you knew exactly who it was. You know, there was just a whole calendar. And so you had your different time. So anyway, they. So you would, you know. So you had, like, all those lecture notes that were. Oh, yeah. And then we had to type them up, too, I think. I can't remember. Like, if you had. I guess you had. You were responsible for typing them on your typewriter when it was your turn to type, have it anyway. But then sometimes the professor had drawn diagrams and stuff, and so then you had to write those in the notes. And, you know, again, you didn't want to do a poor job on that. But so anyway, you had all those lecture notes, and then you would study those notes. And so what I usually would do is, like, I'd read through the notes, and then there. Like I said, sometimes there was something on the textbooks to look at as well. But, like. And I'd, like, highlight stuff, like, you know, whatever I was struggling with, and then I'd go. Then I'd finish the whole thing, and then I go back through it again, and then, like, go through all of it. And then I'd, like, had a little piece of paper and the stuff that I was having trouble with, I would, like, write down on this piece of paper. And then that piece of paper was kind of long for a while, but then I would study that again and I'd shrink it and shrink it and shrink it until the day of the test. I had this very small piece of paper that I was studying, like, as I was walking to the test, like, looking at that piece of paper for those, you know, those few things you were having trouble with. Now, we did have old tests that, like, from that same professor a lot of times were from that same class. And so you could study the old tests. And that was a good way of practicing. And invariably some of those same questions appeared on The. On the next test. Oh, so that was always like, oh, are you studying the old test? Oh, did you see that one was the same one as they had. That is on the old test. So the old test. And there was one class, pharmacology, where they had these computers that you could go in to use. I mean, you didn't have one at your house or anything, but there were some computers that were set up in this one area, and you could go there, and they had a bunch, like, thousands and thousands of test questions on those computers. And so you could go through and take practice tests on it.

So you did have them?

Yeah.

People in that original viral video were just like, well, they didn't have the same resources as, like, you do now, and all of this stuff, like, okay, like, whatever.

Well, right, but everybody has those, right?

Yes, exactly. So percentile wild.

You can't really change that. But, yeah, so. But I mean, similar thing of like, okay, you. You never feel like you're totally ready for the test. There's always something more that you feel like you should be learning and. But the test is there, and so it's time to just take it.

So you never made flashcards?

I sometimes made flashcards. I think there were certain things. Yes. In fact, I think we did make flashcards for, like, anatomy.

So much paper all around.

Could burn down a whole forest. For just studying for one year, I.

Used to take, like, pieces of paper, like computer paper, and, like, I had colored pens, and I would kind of just write. Yeah, I would, like, concept. Like, concept map stuff kind of. But I would really just, like, write stuff down. And then I. When I'm taking the test, I would think about, okay, like, in. Like in that little green spot on my piece of paper, I would. You would visualize. I'd visualize. But I would make, like, a cheat sheet like, that I would, like, kind of just like, memorize in my brain. And then when I'm sitting there taking the test, I could think about, okay, like, that's the. Like, the pathway that was in green on, like, the left side of my paper.

Interesting.

Yeah. But now I have my. Which I still realize then when I started studying for the mcat, I switched things over to my iPad, so then I could do it on my iPad and stuff.

But it still.

Sometimes it wasn't the same as that piece of paper.

Sometimes it's nice to just write it. Like. Yeah. Like, it's funny how, like, you. You write down, like, all the stuff you don't know on a few pieces of paper. Or something. And then you go, you're going back through it, and then you're like, oh, my gosh. I totally know that. I can't believe I didn't know that yesterday. Yeah, today I know that.

Honestly, the reason that I started doing that cheat sheet thing was that during COVID for chemistry, because it was Covid, they, like, told us we were allowed to have one sheet of paper to put stuff on. And I think even before COVID one of my psych professors had that as something. He was like, either you guys can choose. Do you Want to have 10 points of bonus? Or do you want to be able to bring a cheat sheet onto your test? And so because of that, we. We all decided we wanted a cheat sheet. So he made us have, like, half a piece of paper or like a note card or something. And once I started doing those, then I. I did it for every other test because he said, like, this was a psych professor. He said, if you make this cheat sheet, I promise you, you're not going to use it on the test because, like, you're going to need it. You won't need it because you spent so much time. Because he only gave us, like, yeah, a certain amount of paper. So you spent so much time, like, writing it down all on this little piece of paper and trying to fit it all in, then, like, you won't even use it. And then it was the same thing for chemistry again during COVID because they, like, felt bad for us and stuff, because it was like online learning. They let us use one piece of paper. And even the chem teacher was like. And I realized that I would make this whole sheet and, like, try to fit everything on this little piece of paper. And then I wouldn't even use it on the test because I just knew it.

Yeah. Yeah, I remember that.

For.

I remember being able to bring in cheat sheets at various times. I don't remember if we did that in med school ever, but I remember that from college. Sometimes we do it and same thing. Yeah, you just. You don't really. You don't need it. But I do think doing practice questions, that was. That was helpful. But even dad used to always tease me because sometimes I would skip going to lectures because sometimes if you're just sitting there in lecture and you're tired and you're not really listening, you're not learning it. And so just sitting there and not paying attention doesn't really help you learn it. So sometimes I'm like, you know, I'm better off sleeping in. And then Getting the notes and just studying it from the notes on my own time and apparently lots more.

That's what everyone does now. No one does lecture.

See, that's what dad used to tease to me now sometimes then I didn't know how to pronounce certain things.

Wait, that's gonna be me.

I feel like. Yeah, but I was listening to a podcast of like some like kind of semi favorite famous cardiologist, and he was talking about having had that same thing. So I was like, okay, it's. It's not just me.

Yeah, for sure. Well, that is one of the things that I guess I'm worried about when starting. But even having this conversation, I realized that I did have good study tactics in college that I will be able to bring in.

So this is helping you. This is a therapy session. I'll send you my bill.

No, but I just like the workload, the amount of work they say. It's like. So I, I made a TikTok about this. I think I said this earlier about just the things that I'm worried about when starting medical school. And some people have been replying to it and just being like, yeah, these are all valid concerns. And yeah, one of those things was just the amount of work that there is. They say it's like drinking out of a fire hose. At first, just a lot of information, but again, just talking about, like talking to Lindsey and then knowing my study habits. Lindsey was like, I don't have time to worry about it. It's kind of like I have to take the test. I don't have enough time to study. But it's like, okay, like, just gotta go in and do it.

Yeah, that's good. What are the other things that you're worried about?

So I said, one, losing my identity.

Oh, wow, this got deep.

Two, toxic people. Three, balancing relationships. Four, workload, five, success. And six, social media.

Okay, I feel like we've talked about some of those other things on this podcast. We've talked about toxic people. You gotta avoid those people, blah, blah.

We just talked about the workload.

Yeah. Okay, wait, but five and six. Wait, what was five success?

Succeeding.

You're afraid of succeeding.

Yeah, just still the imposter syndrome thing of like, okay, yeah, I got into medical school, but like, what if I fail?

Yeah, that's dumb. Thanks, Mom. I mean, there's no way you could get in if you couldn't do it. You know, that's just like. That's just not even everybody there can absolutely do it.

Yeah, but what if I can't? Like, what if I fail? What if I. Yeah. What if I'm really not cut out?

No, no. I mean, that's just.

Yeah. I don't think I really believe that.

No, you don't. You're great. You know it.

Thanks, Mom. I wrote about also, and I talked about this in my video. Just being judged for doing this, the social media thing.

Oh, really?

Yeah, because so I was just kind.

Of reflecting and thinking back, or not that famous. Just so you know.

That's the point.

Oh.

But it's still. I was just reflecting and thinking about it because I have had two past social media accounts with a large, subjective, large amount of followers that I've stopped when I'm in transition periods because I'm afraid about continuing to do it. In middle school, I had that vine account. You did.

You were famous.

I had, like, 20,000 followers on vine, which was a lot at the time. Like, it was a big thing. But then, I mean, this was, like, multifactorial. Like, I. Vine was also kind of dying, but I could have, like, worked to, like, transition that into an Instagram account or into something else. But I was just, like, embarrassed. I was starting. I went from middle school, starting high school, and I was embarrassed to continue, like, doing the social media thing because it's of kind. Kind of like. I don't know, it's taboo. It's like a. A thing. So I. I quit. And then same thing for.

With TikTok.

Me and my friends had a TikTok account that we just, like, made little dances on, and it had, like, 30,000 followers.

And you said some viral ones on that as well.

Yeah, and I quit that because I was going to college and I was embarrassed about starting to do that.

Oh, that's okay. That's interesting, because I thought, like, in both those cases that you either kind of lost interest in it or you just kind of didn't have time for it.

But, I mean, I think it's both of those things. I think, especially with the TikTok thing also, it was just like, it was me and two other friends, so it wasn't like I could. And I was going off to college, so it was kind of the end of that. And also our thing was cheerleading, and I stopped doing cheerleading, so then it was kind of the end of that as well. But, like, I could have worked to transition that into something else because I really. I've always really liked doing social media, and, like, I've always really enjoyed it, and I've always want. Even, like, when I was a kid, I had like that flip camera and I would just make videos all the time and like, I always wanted to just like post on YouTube and like do that sort of thing. So I have always wanted to do it.

But.

Yeah, I don't know. But then it's just like kind of. I'm at that point where I could have. You used that following and kind of like shifted it to something else. But I was like scared of like making that shift and then I kind of would have to do a little start over thing again, which I was like embarrassed about.

Wow. Okay. Okay. Well, you shouldn't be embarrassed.

Yeah, I mean, I don't really. That's a success. I don't really care that much. But again, it's like I don't have that many followers and stuff, so. People also are kind of just judgy about the people who do the sort of like med school life thing.

Are they really?

Yeah. And somebody commented too. They're like. Cause I talked about just like people being competitive and like surrounding myself in a competitive environment. And they're like competitive people are also the jealous people too. So people might like secretly resent you because of it.

Well, those are the people you don't care about anyway.

Yeah, true.

In la. I mean, honestly, if people think that this is. Is dumb and how could they think that? Because this is so cool. Those are not the people you want to be around.

Yeah.

So.

And, and somebody else commented, they're like most people are not gonna ever see your TikToks.

Right.

Which is so true.

Right. Yeah, they're not gonna see it. And, and the people who like you, they would be like, oh, that's, that's fun or interesting or useful. And if it's not any of those things, then they're not gonna watch it.

Yeah. Yeah, true.

I mean, really, I think that. I don't know. Now you do have to be careful with social media and which, I mean, obviously, you know, you've grown up with social media. I mean, you know, you don't want to be putting any personal information out there once you're in med school about anything. You don't want to be like mentioning your professor by name. Like, you know, I think about some of the nicknames we had for some of our professors that we really disliked and you know, that's not. You don't want to be doing that type of stuff, but you're not going to be doing anything like that. That's going to like get you in trouble with the med school.

Yeah, I'm not Really worried about that. I think they have bigger fish to fry.

You certainly hope so. But, yeah, I think that would be. I think those would be the only things that could be trouble. But, yeah, I think it's. Again, there's always judgmental people, but who cares?

Yeah, no, yeah, I guess I don't. Yeah, I don't really care that much.

But it was just thought, yeah, that's. No, that's. That's an interesting thing. Just kind of thinking about those transitions and just having that be like, okay, well, I'm embarrassed. So now I'm not going to do this thing that I enjoy doing now, again, if the subject content is changes. And I think whenever you put yourself out there, I mean, I. It's always embarrassing. I force myself to listen to each of these podcasts, and it is so painful. Sometimes I'm like, okay, then the latest pod is dropped. I'm gonna try to listen to myself. And I'm like, I don't feel like doing it right now. I gotta. I gotta get in the right headspace. Okay, I'm gonna listen. And there's just, you know, makes you cringe. And all of that does bring up about trying to continue to do this podcast and how it's going to evolve once you are so busy with all of the things that you need to do in medical school and just trying to create that content. I feel like it would be very useful for our listeners, especially people who want to go to medical school, to hear some of those times. And, you know, there might be times when you're just like, man, I'm just. I'm down. This has been a rough week.

And.

But, you know, maybe we talk through, like, how you're getting through that, what coping mechanisms you're using. And there's also gonna be times when you're like, oh, my gosh, I had the best day ever, and I'm having so much fun and I'm making new friends. And I think there's gonna be a lot of those times in there, too. You know, we don't want to show just one side or just the other side, but I think if. If we have different episodes that show those things, I think that could be helpful to people. I agree.

And I'm excited for that transition, for this content. I'll have more to talk about when that time comes.

In a couple weeks.

Yeah. Yeah. So maybe after a couple weeks that I'm in med school, I'll go back to these six topics and we can touch on that.

Oh, that would be good.

And See how I'm doing with all of these things.

Perhaps we could have a guest of a toxic person that you've met. Would you like to be a guest on my podcast, People to Avoid?

Yeah. Number two on my list.

Toxic people.

No. So somebody actually asked a question. Somebody texted me about this and somebody.

Who'S going to remain nameless.

Yes. Yeah. So they text me and asked, is a DNR tattoo actually seen as a precedent for EMS to not resuscitate someone?

No, that is not really legally binding documents.

There was a. So there was a. A New England article about it that was, like, unclear because it said, do not. The guy had a tattoo on himself that said do not resuscitate, and they. It was unclear about what to do.

Hmm. But was that the only. I mean, this person was, like, found down or something?

Yeah, yeah.

My friend Jay from med school had a bicycle helmet, and he actually had on the top of his head, helmet, dnr, Which I was like, jay, that's not really a great idea. But his point was, like, if he got into, like, a bad accident, bad head injury thing, he's like, yeah, just let me go.

Yeah, but that's a little bit more nuanced. Like, it's like, yeah, I don't know, but you could probably get more information also. I. What I said, I was like, people who have do not resuscitate aren't normally people that you're just, like, finding down.

Right.

Like, there are more people who are in a home or already in the hospital or, like, have had that more, like, conversation. It's not just somebody who's out and about.

Yeah. I mean, not that. Yeah. I mean, I don't think that's really.

Like, has a caregiver or has somebody that has, like, had, like, can actually say, you know.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. I mean, now, the short answer, though, is, like, honestly, almost nobody should be resuscitated. That's not entirely true, but really, like, there are some cases where resuscitation actually works, such as when Ryan's buddy on the soccer field collapsed. And, you know, that was. That was a case where this was. Kid playing soccer. Well, teenager playing soccer and collapsed. And we actually got out the AED and was able to shock him back, and he did just fine. Which is, you know, every time I see him, I'm always just like, oh, my gosh. It's just amazing that he's alive and fine. So that's an example of when resuscitating somebody actually works. But that's when you have a young person, you had a specific cardiac event. You had the shock, the AED available to shock them back. I mean, that's great. That's what it's supposed to happen. The rest of the time when we resuscitate people, it's honestly mostly like those people should not be resuscitated because the reason that they're coding and just to explain what resuscitating really is, so somebody. You get a code blue, and that's because somebody's heart has stopped. And then this whole team runs into somebody in the hospital a lot of times and starts doing chest compressions and, you know, puts a tube down to breathe for them. Well, but the problem is, most of the time, that doesn't happen from a cardiac event. It happens. Their heart stopped beating because they had, like, they were septic or they had some other underlying cause. Well, you start their heart again, you haven't. The underlying cause was so bad that it made their heart stop. And so you're just. It's very, very rare that you're actually going to bring them back and have them have some sort of quality of life. So just all that to say that most of the time when people actually die, it's because a lot of things have gone wrong and you should kind of just let them go. If you ask most doctors, would you want to be resuscitated, particularly after we're a certain age, or if you have a lot of underlying conditions, most doctors are like, oh, no, I would never want that done. You could go ahead and resuscitate me now. Again, if I just drop. But if it goes on for too long, okay.

But. Okay, someone drops down and back to the. Back to the question. They have a tattoo on their chest. Do not resuscitate.

I don't know. I wouldn't. I would probably just give whatever standard care that that scenario requires. And then. And then once you get them stabilized, then you can see, like, was that, you know, was. I just don't think a tattoo is a legally binding document.

So originally, they initially decided not to honor that tattoo, and they went through efforts to try to resuscitate him. And then after reviewing the patient's case, the ethics consults advised us to honor the patient's tattoo. They suggested that it was reasonable to infer the tattoo expressed an authentic preference. See, this could be an MMI question.

Yeah, it honestly is a good question. You know, you assume when you get these do not resuscitate orders, and if you. If you do them, if the. If the person can't speak for themselves. Then you have to have two doctors sign, like a dnr. Or if the person can sign, then, you know, the doctor signs it as well. But you kind of, you know, you've got all the. All the fancy lawyer lingo in there, and you assume that you've really gone over and they understand what that means. I guess it's just what you are kind of concerned with something like that is, you know, did the person really know what exactly they were doing? And what if somebody tattooed them against their will?

Yeah, it sounds like this guy, they were unable to bring him to a level of consciousness to, like, have an adequate discussion of goals of care. So it sounds like they brought him back, but he was like. Like on life support or whatever, and then.

Then they kind of withdrew support.

Yeah.

Which honestly is regardless of the tattoo, that's kind of what you have to do anyway.

Right.

So. But it's a. It is an interesting thing because if you really want that, it's not like you carry your DNR paperwork with you everywhere you go. Yeah, but hopefully, I mean, the main thing that you want to do in those things is have information of some sort of contact who can speak. Speak for you and who they can get ahold of eventually and then say, no, you know, they don't want that done.

Yeah. Well, on that note, I got places to be. I got a heart out.

You got socializing to do, so that's fine. We ended on a real positive note.

Well, so thanks for listening, everyone. We'll check in next week. I think maybe by that time I would have move to Houston. Yeah, I think maybe.

We'll see.

But again, thanks for listening, and we will talk to you next week. Bye, guys.

Bye.