New year, new blog post (finally)
Well, apologies up front for the long hiatus from blogging about school. But in general since my last post things with school have largely remained the same. My classmates and I are still seeing patients in clinic and still taking classes. The spring semester just started this past week and that exciting part about that is this is our final full academic semester! The light in the tunnel is almost here… Come May, we transition into 4th year where we primarily are seeing patients full time instead of a couple times a week like we do during 3rd year. I’m certainly excited for that and to not constantly have homework to do every weekend.
In the meantime though, I am busy starting my studying for part 1 of national boards. This section of boards covers all of our basic science knowledge over the last 2.5 years. So, it’s quite a lot of information to remember and go over. Slightly stressful is an understatement. Although I’ve really only been studying now since the start of the year, I am starting to be amazed about how much of the information the professors have thrown at us since the start of 1st year has stuck. I think that’s really highlighted to me how well Ohio State prepares us (see our first time boards pass rates – they’re pretty good) and not just for boards either. Over the last couple months I feel like I’ve started to hit my groove in clinic. Procedures, thinking about prescriptions, and managing diseases is starting to feel more natural and come more quickly. In general my exam times are coming down and I’ve develop some good efficiency. Obviously there is still much to be learned during 4th year but I’m looking forward to the challenge.
Speaking of 4th year, back in November we got out externship site assignments! I’m happy with how mine came out as I’ll be in Columbus for my 6-month in house rotation first and then leave in November to go to the Hefner VA in Salisbury, NC. Having never lived outside of Ohio for any prolonged period of my life, I’m looking forward to the change of lifestyle and the opportunity to live somewhere I’m unlikely to live after graduation. After completing my 3 months there, I’ll come back to Ohio for what we call our Advanced Practice externship with Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons in Kent, OH. I’m especially excited for that one because I’ve heard great things about the site and I already know a couple of the doctors there – one of which I graduated college with back in 2011. Maybe we’ll have to have coordinated Denison days in the office.
Beat TTUN in double overtime? Rush the field of course.
Besides school though, this fall some of my classmates and I got football tickets and went to a handful of the games this season. Of course, none nearly compared to the amazing game between Ohio State and Michigan. It felt like that game really had it all. #2 vs. #3, two classic programs, missed field goals, double overtime, etc. Being the first Ohio State-Michigan game I’ve ever gone to, it was just incredible. Oh, and yes we rushed the field.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, we are in our last full semester of classes – ever! It’s exciting and certainly been a long time coming. We are taking a class this semester on Low Vision and Gerontology and this past week in lab we were given our very own pair of goggles to simulate what a low vision patient experiences. It’s a really interesting thing wearing the goggles and makes you really appreciate how much vision contributes to how we navigate and interact with the world. It’s not just that the acuity of the vision is reduced but so is the contrast of things making things that use to be easy, like walking around easily and avoiding running into objects, quite difficult. Additionally, we have to wear them out into public for part of an assignment, so that ought to be an interesting experience. I think I’ll see how my grocery shopping goes.
The googles are clearly quite stylish too.
That’s a brief summary of what’s been going on the last few months and I’ll hope to pick the blogging back up on a more regular basis.