Week 4

Almost through with week 4. Here's what's been happening.

Anatomy
Well, we had our first big exam of PA school on Tuesday.  It comes in two parts.  There's a written part.  Actually, it's on the computer.  It's 85 questions (multiple choice, true/false, and identification).  Then, we take a practical portion.  That's when you go into the lab and identify structures on the cadavers.  I had only missed one on the practice practical that we took on Monday, so I was a little bummed that I missed 3 on the actual test.  Oh well, I won't miss those again, that's for sure.

Anyway, here's how I did.

The bottom row is the overall grade which combines the written/computer portion and the lab/practical portion.  Being the competitive person I am, I wish I had done better.  But, I'm not arguing with a 90%.  Considering the incredibly intelligent people I'm in class with, I'm quite happy that I was able to get above the average.

Radiology
This week, we've been doing Abdominal radiology.  Every Friday, we do a radiology "lab" in the Harrell Center.  Remember, this is were we pair up and go over an automated Powerpoint presentation, then meet with a radiology resident and ask any questions.  And I misspoke last post.  Radiology is a 5 year residency plus a 1 year fellowship.  Crazy!  But now I see why.  Radiologists have to know quite a bit about all areas of medicine.  When they see something on an X-ray or CT, they have to not only understand the anatomy but also the possible pathology behind any findings (i.e. what type of mass would present at a specific place in the body and where that mass may have originated).  I was super impressed with Dr. Campbell.  The guy couldn't have been any older than me, but he had his stuff together.  Incredibly knowledgeable.  He said that because of how big Shand's Hospital is, he has about 300 films to look at right at the start of any given on-call shift.  Compound that over the 3 years he's been a resident and he has seen thousands of films.

In my opinion, the abdomen is harder to read than the chest was.  A trained eye can actually make something out of this amorphous blob in the abdomen.

Apparently, this film shows proximal small bowel distension with no gas distally, which is indicative of a mechanical bowel obstruction.  I don't see it.  Do you?  Sometimes the problem is very visible...but not all the time (to me at least).

But, I did get a 100% on my quiz yesterday, so that's good.

Medical Communications
Wednesday was our last mock-patient interview with our classmates.  Next week, we have to do it with a standardized patient (an actor).  Here's my group afterwards.