How to Enjoy maine from an upperclassman.

To all of my fellow classmates and underclassmen: 

Enjoy Maine!!!!

I hope that you can look back on your time in medical school with fond memories, as I know I will.

Remember to see everything you can while you are here. I know that the weather may not be great but Portland is a fantastic place. 

For those of you who are coming next semester there are many places to ski.

There is an outdoor ice skating rink at one of the local recreation centers. I think the one in Yarmouth. 

The nightlife is eclectic and artsy. Go to Matthew's- tell Mike and the bartenders, "Amy Jones the med student sent you in to say, 'hello'". 

Go to Oasis, check out the life size beer pong, jenga, and connect four. They usually have great entertainment. Upstairs is a dance club with a Dj, and outside (in the summer) is live music.

Amigo's. They have pool (billiards) and real Mainers go there. It is the place where real men with beards hang out. Most of the women have tattoos and piercings. Just throw on some jeans and throw back a beer. 

There are a multitude of other little pubs and clubs and bars. Most have their own feel and regulars. I enjoyed hanging out in the old port with buds after a long day of studying "a million and one diseases that will make you feel bad when you get old".

Have a PBR (Papst Blue Ribbon)- PBR is to Maine as Carib is to St. Kitts. 

Never wear high heels to the Old Port.

Go to Reggae fest after breakfast. Reggae fest is on Peaks island in the summer on sundays. It is awesome! Trust me. You will love it. 

Try to spend less time at the Maine Mall than I did. 

Macaroni Grille has half priced bottles of wine on Thursdays. 

If you get the chance to eat at Four Street - the restaurant- it is the best food you will eat in your life. 

Also, check out East End cupcakes and Duckfat. 

There is an Imax 3D theater less than 30 minutes from portland. 

There is also a water park if you are here in the summer. 

Get a tour-guide book of maine and it's attractions. There are tons of lighthouses and some pretty spectacular sights to see up the coast, if the weather is nice enough. Great photo ops.

There is a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Hannafords, and Shaw's for groceries. Most of the time you can find a Hannafords and Shaws. The Hannafords is located across the street from where you have class. That was a no brainer for me. 

Transportation by bus is possible but would be a pain. Bring a car or rent from Hertz. Some have found pretty good deals if you buy your plane ticket through something like priceline.com they usually have a rental car deal.

Some people live in Old Orchard and I think they love it. I prefer to be closer to the city and classes. 

I think this about sums up what I can think of right now. I hope that I haven't created a post like this one before. In preparation for my board exam, I have returned to Maine, and I was reminded of all of the great places I went when I was here before. Studying this time is different and I haven't even been to one of the places I mentioned. With my estimated test date at the end of December, I really have put off all things for another time. I have one more blogpost to write and then I probably won't write for a while. I hope you will join me again, when I post about my first USMLE board exam experience. 

Thanks for continuing to read my blog. I wish each of you all the best. 

Until next time, 

Amy 

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Quick Update

A quick update-

All apologies for not updating you all sooner. I am sure you all were wondering if I passed the exit.  It is challenging to come from studying for two years and then study harder ( trust me it is much more intense than studying for that final block exam or even more intense than studying the first block exam in Med 1.) than you have ever before.

I have been asked multiple times for advice about the exit. Here is my advice. Refer back to this post for my thoughts on advice. Take away what you want.

• I went to all of the ICM classes. 

• These are really good for helping to make the information that we learn on the island tangible. The information becomes a little more 'real', if you will. So some of the cases, especially the one where I didn't get the correct diagnosis has burned primary adrenal insufficiency into my head. I didn't really understand it completely before my virtual clinic case. 

• I went to all of the ICM lectures and small groups. 

• These are great for learning the labs. I never knew enough about labs, and it is more memorization than concept in some cases. Each small group discussion will be different, but for me it was fantastic to have that interaction. I used that information for my virtual clinic patients. I tried to ask myself "what labs should I order to confirm my diagnosis?" and "what would I expect the results to be?". These lab values can be very helpful when studying pathologies that have minute differences where the lab values can be a very quick way to differentiate between two different diseases.

• I went to grand rounds.

• Lets face it, no one really wants to go. Sometimes the discussions are interesting and useful. It is also good practice for the future. As a physician we should continue to learn and be well educated in medicine and health care. The best way is to read studies and keep up with research. That is basically what grand rounds help to do for physicians, residents, and medical students. 

• I enjoyed virtual clinic.
 

• Virtual clinic is the place where you get to practice doing what most of you will probably be doing for the rest of your life. Obviously there are branches of medicine where you may not see your patient alive or in person-pathologist and radiologist-are the two that come to mind. I used that time as a time to understand how all of the systems work together which gives me a fuller understanding of the process of disease. Also, writing the SOAP notes helps to show illustrate where some improvement could be made. Getting first hand feedback from a physician was priceless for me. In most cases it was confirmation that I was created to be a physician. 

• I tried each Kaplan professor and attended the classes that I felt would be most beneficial to me.

• I decided to take control of my life and make a choice. I went to most of the Kaplan classes, but there were a few where after I attended the first lecture I knew that I could read the book myself in shorter time. I made a decision based on what my midterm score said I needed to study and based on the amount of time I had left. I don't regret my decision. I am not suggesting you do this. Many of kaplan instructors will help you decipher which information is tested every exam. That is a good way to make sure you know the basics and the most important facts. I have began my intense board exam study now, and I make sure to highlight those and at the very least have a list of "I know that if I get a question on this subject matter I will get it right". 

• I studied my weakest subject the most and for every organ system. 

• Phsyiology. It was my weakest subject area, so in the beginning when we did organ systems, I read my physiology BRS for each organ system as we covered it in ICM. I tried to link physio with every other subject during Kaplan. For example: in biochem we discuss metabolism which deals with hormones and control of metabolism. I reviewed the endocrine physiology behind the secretion of these hormones. I believe that made a huge difference. 

• The night before my final exam I read up on the subjects that we had not covered at all. 

• We did not discuss embryology or behavioral science or anatomy. So I read First Aid for those subjects. I just read. I didn't make notes. In fact, I was in my bed relaxing trying to fall asleep. 

• Plus I made sure to do all of what I did for the midterm as far as sleep and food and breaks. 

Clicking the end test button was somewhat forced and if it had not been, I am not sure that I would have ever clicked it. I signaled for the proctor to come over to ask a question which was interpreted as I was finished (my test was complete). She went to get my score sheet, so I had to click the button which would reveal my fate.

I had a complete Sympathetic (ANS) reaction. My heart was racing and my blood was pumping. You can figure out all of the other actions of the sympathetic nervous system, suffice to say it was a very intense moment.

And then I saw my score - 53%.

I had passed the exit. I would be allowed to sit for the USMLE Step 1 as soon as I felt ready. I was deemed competent and in that moment, the grade confirmed that I had some small gift, talent, or knowledge that would allow me to become a doctor one day.

For those of you who are in Maine now, I know that this post is a little late, but perhaps you can glean something from it.

To all of the Med 4's still on the island and coming to Maine next semester, I wish you all the best.


Until next time,
Amy

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