Island Med Student

“To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

“And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

“I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

“Sometimes you just have to dance the polka to get things done.”
- Kendra Campbell

There are a million reasons why I love psych. Actually, probably over a million. But don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you to tears with all of them. Instead, let me use an example from today to explain.

As I was just walking onto the floors of the hospital to begin my endocrinology rotation today, I heard the sounds of polka coming from one of the halls. Of course, I had to explore this wonderful anomaly, so I hurried down the hall to find the source of the music. What I found was so very, very extraordinary.

I found three nurses and one physical therapist dancing in the hallway with an elderly patient wearing a hospital gown. One of the nurses was holding out her hand, with her cellphone playing some polka tunes. It was definitely a party. I definitely had to join. Without thinking, I jumped right in and started dancing with the crew. We all had entirely too much fun grooving the the music. Afterwards, I found out that the patient was demented and refusing his physical therapy. One of the nurses knew that the patient used to play in a polka band, so she had the incredibly brilliant idea to use polka to draw him out of his room, and onto his feet. It worked beautifully.

There is so much room for creativity in medicine. But sometimes it seems to me that psych might have the most room out of all specialities. And not only that, but understanding how someone’s mind works can help you in any field. This is the stuff that gets me excited. This is the stuff that drew me to medicine in the first place.

Understanding the human (and non-human) mind and behavior has always been a passion of mine. It’s what motivated me to get a degree in psychology. As a psych tech, I put all of my knowledge and education to good use. You want a very delusional patient who doesn’t believe he’s sick to take a psychotropic medication? You HAVE to get creative. You have to understand people. You have to have a desire to understand behavior and motivation. And this is a worthwhile skill in any profession. And yes, this is why I am so excited to be soon starting my residency in psychiatry. I can’t wait to develop more skills, and more understanding. And I love putting those skills and knowledge to good use. And not just in medicine, but in my daily life as well.

Perhaps we would all be a little happier if we took the time to dance the polka with a stranger every once in a while. It certainly worked for me.

Photos: From my “Improv Thanksgiving Dancing Routine” with friends, two years ago.

Check out my post on Medscape to read my thoughts on the importance of bedside manner.

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Yesterday (my birthday) was great! I got tons of happy birthday wishes (thank you, everyone!), and I got to do one of my most favorite things, lay in bed all day, pig out, and watch movies. It was very relaxing, and just what I needed.

Today was long, and wonderful. I just got home from 13 hours at the hospital for my pain management rotation. I’m too tired to share all the juicy details, but I got to see a lot of great cases and meet some wonderful patients. One of them was an ex IVDA (IV drug abuser), whose veins were all shot from years of abuse. He told me that he’d be a hard stick, so I spared him my poking, and got the anesthesiologist to place his IV access. I ended up talking to him for a while before his operation, and afterwards. He really opened up to me and shared some of his most intimate details. He told me how guilty he felt for abusing his body for so many years, and I pointed out to him that the most important thing is that he now takes care of himself, and has grown as a person. Eventually, he was in tears and I held his hand and tried to support him. Those are the moments that make long days completely bearable, and even more than that, meaningful.

Tomorrow I have a residency interview in Brooklyn. But now, it’s time to feed my calorie-starved body!

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

Check out my post on Medscape to read about my medical Spanglish.

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Check out my post on Medscape to read about some common med school myths dispelled!

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I’ve been thinking about this issue a lot lately. When I told everyone that I had decided to go to a Caribbean med school, some people thought I was crazy and said to me the “but you’re such a smart girl, why would you do that?” This post I wrote pretty much sums up my reply. But the gist is that prestige is not my goal.

Now I’m seriously considering a career in family medicine. When I told a doctor friend of mine he said, “but you’re such a smart girl, why would you do that?” I plan on writing a post to explain my thoughts on this, but I have a million reasons for wanting to pursue family medicine, and not a single one of them involves a desire for prestige.

I’ve been interviewing at different hospitals’ family medicine programs. Some of them are at more prestigious, university affiliated hospitals, and some of them are at financially challenged community hospitals. I’m finding myself drawn more to the community hospitals for many reasons that yet again I will write soon in a blog post. I told a friend of mine about this and she said, “but you’re such a smart girl, why would you do that?”

UGGHH! I just don’t get it. What difference does it make if I am the most brilliant girl on the planet?! I want to be an exceptional doctor. I want to provide excellent, compassionate care to anyone who needs it, and I’m particularly drawn to underserved populations. I just don’t understand why prestige is so important to people. I don’t care about winning a nobel prize or publishing a million articles in prestigious medical journals. I just want to be a great doctor and make the world a better place. The only opinions I really care about are my patients’. I want to give them the best and most compassionate care possible. And I doubt I’ll ever have a patient say, “but you’re such a smart girl, why would you do that?”

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

This is the very bestest.

Check out my post on Medscape to vote on whether or not doctors should wear white coats!

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Check out my post on Medscape about taking time to reconnect with the important things in life.

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Check out my post on Medscape to learn some interesting stuff about researching doctors online.

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