Bright and early at the Chico Immediate Care Clinic this morning and I met the doctor who runs the place and who is also the orthopedic specialist. I was told that due to HIPPA mandates they can't really let me shadow the actual providers as they treat patients. HIPPA requires patient consent when a non-medical person is present during treatment, and given the number of patients who come through the clinic, it would slow things down too much. However, the load apparently lightens during the summer, so I may be able to work out some proper shadowing during that time.
Meanwhile it looks like Monday mornings and Thursday evenings are going to be my regular hours for a little while.
Today one of the certified medical assistants graciously stood in as a practice patient while I tried to take their blood pressure. I'm quite horrible at it. If only we read blood pressure by way of calculating the percent mass composition and then deriving the elemental and molecular formula of something. I can do that just fine!
Mar 8, 2010
Mar 5, 2010
Medical School Preparation: Day 12
In my second week of doing chemistry book problems, I realize I've memorized parts of the periodic table and some of the molar masses of elements. I suppose that's the point of doing similar problems over and over.
My volunteer time at the Chico Immediate Care last night went quite well. By the end of the evening, I was by myself cleaning rooms after patients left them. The medical assistants keep moving fast in there, but the work (that night) wasn't overwhelming. There were two medical assistants and two providers, and then me. To my great fortune, the night medical assistant supervisor is an able explainer and capable of quickly doing his duties while verbally walking through every step.
I'm due back next week. I think this will end up going to good places.
Today I learned the words distal and proximal. Literally, distal means distant and proximal means near. Specific to orthopods, the distal part of a bone is the part furthest from the center of the body, and the proximal part is closest to the center of the body. When wrapping appendages, always wrap distal to proximal.
My volunteer time at the Chico Immediate Care last night went quite well. By the end of the evening, I was by myself cleaning rooms after patients left them. The medical assistants keep moving fast in there, but the work (that night) wasn't overwhelming. There were two medical assistants and two providers, and then me. To my great fortune, the night medical assistant supervisor is an able explainer and capable of quickly doing his duties while verbally walking through every step.
I'm due back next week. I think this will end up going to good places.
Today I learned the words distal and proximal. Literally, distal means distant and proximal means near. Specific to orthopods, the distal part of a bone is the part furthest from the center of the body, and the proximal part is closest to the center of the body. When wrapping appendages, always wrap distal to proximal.
Mar 4, 2010
Medical School Preparation: Day 11
I polished off the final 5 questions of the practice MCAT tonight. I got two right and three wrong.
I'm happy to discover the practice MCAT Web site presents a detailed score and analysis of the completed test. It even breaks down individual questions into easy, moderate, and hard categories. I missed almost all of the 'hard' questions.
Unfortunately it looks like the essays are discarded in the test. They don't appear to have been saved.
My scaled score for the test is a 6 in Physical Sciences, 10 in Verbal Reasoning, and 7 in Biological Sciences. Those are all out of 15 -- I'll need to get 15 in everything and write two stellar essays to get the high score.
I've got a long way to go! Now I'm off to the Immediate Care clinic to order scrubs.
I'm happy to discover the practice MCAT Web site presents a detailed score and analysis of the completed test. It even breaks down individual questions into easy, moderate, and hard categories. I missed almost all of the 'hard' questions.
Unfortunately it looks like the essays are discarded in the test. They don't appear to have been saved.
My scaled score for the test is a 6 in Physical Sciences, 10 in Verbal Reasoning, and 7 in Biological Sciences. Those are all out of 15 -- I'll need to get 15 in everything and write two stellar essays to get the high score.
I've got a long way to go! Now I'm off to the Immediate Care clinic to order scrubs.
Mar 3, 2010
Medical School Preparation: Day 10
30 minutes on the MCAT yields for me 16/24 correct, or 66%. The biology questions are hard because they use vocabulary I don't understand.
Take heed and bear witness to the truths that lie herein, for they are the last pieces of knowledge I learned this day. There is a war that rages on, even now, beyond the chemicals that we know, between the structural engineers of our most rigidly developed body parts, and the deconstructive enzymes of our oldest foe. This war is known as Osteoporosis, and it has raged and burned longer than any homo erectus has walked upon the earth. Neither side ever gains sway for long as the forces of Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts constantly vie for control over all calcium.
ahem, osteoblasts promote bone formation, and osteoclasts break it down. Awesome names. Hat tip to Blizzard and ocremix, etc. etc.
Take heed and bear witness to the truths that lie herein, for they are the last pieces of knowledge I learned this day. There is a war that rages on, even now, beyond the chemicals that we know, between the structural engineers of our most rigidly developed body parts, and the deconstructive enzymes of our oldest foe. This war is known as Osteoporosis, and it has raged and burned longer than any homo erectus has walked upon the earth. Neither side ever gains sway for long as the forces of Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts constantly vie for control over all calcium.
ahem, osteoblasts promote bone formation, and osteoclasts break it down. Awesome names. Hat tip to Blizzard and ocremix, etc. etc.
Mar 2, 2010
Medical School Preparation: Day 9
Today I had my meeting at the Chico Immediate Care clinic. I've been told that I can drop in during non-standard business hours "whenever is convenient." Weekends, evenings, early morning -- they'll find something for me to do whenever I show up and for however long I can stick around.
The rate at which I get volunteer experience and letters of recommendation are going to be limited by how often I can get down there.
A medical assistant's duties will start with showing patients to the room, moving clipboards from one place to another (more correct) place, taking the vitals of the patients, and assisting the medical provider. I may end up prepping casts, fitting casts, and doing things like that.
I go back on Thursday to meet with the medical assistant night supervisor to find out what I can start doing at first. I'll even get to order scrubs to wear while I'm on the job.
30 minutes on the MCAT saw me end with 15/25 questions right, which is 60%. That was in the Biological Sciences multiple choice section. Most of it was easy, but when they asked me about "lacteals inside the intestinal vilii" compared to "capillaries in the peritoneum" I lost all sense of where to go. I suppose I really do need to take BIOL 101!
Today I learned that when the human body breaks down its own structural proteins for energy, as during starvation, nitrogen levels in the urine elevate. Funny I should learn that today.
The rate at which I get volunteer experience and letters of recommendation are going to be limited by how often I can get down there.
A medical assistant's duties will start with showing patients to the room, moving clipboards from one place to another (more correct) place, taking the vitals of the patients, and assisting the medical provider. I may end up prepping casts, fitting casts, and doing things like that.
I go back on Thursday to meet with the medical assistant night supervisor to find out what I can start doing at first. I'll even get to order scrubs to wear while I'm on the job.
30 minutes on the MCAT saw me end with 15/25 questions right, which is 60%. That was in the Biological Sciences multiple choice section. Most of it was easy, but when they asked me about "lacteals inside the intestinal vilii" compared to "capillaries in the peritoneum" I lost all sense of where to go. I suppose I really do need to take BIOL 101!
Today I learned that when the human body breaks down its own structural proteins for energy, as during starvation, nitrogen levels in the urine elevate. Funny I should learn that today.
Mar 1, 2010
Medical School Preparation: Day 8
Over the weekend I took the two essay questions of the MCAT. I was given 30 minutes per essay but I only needed about 15 each. I'm still new to the practice MCAT site. It let me save my essay questions, and it even had a solution button that gave a perfect-score essay from an actual test, with commentary about why it was so good. I am hoping that the MCAT will let me see my essays after I finish the test completely, because when I clicked "done" with one essay it just moved me right along. I don't see a way to get back to it.
It looks like I have one more section of multiple choice before this test is done. It's "Biological Sciences" now! This is a long test...
Today I learned that it was President Franklin Roosevelt who signed the Lend-Lease Act, not President Theodore Roosevelt. I hope the MCAT essay-graders don't knock off too many points for screwing up names like that. I knew I should've just said "President Roosevelt."
It looks like I have one more section of multiple choice before this test is done. It's "Biological Sciences" now! This is a long test...
Today I learned that it was President Franklin Roosevelt who signed the Lend-Lease Act, not President Theodore Roosevelt. I hope the MCAT essay-graders don't knock off too many points for screwing up names like that. I knew I should've just said "President Roosevelt."
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