ALL DONE!

With my first semester that is :)  I can't believe it's been more than a week since I last posted.  I guess I've been caught up in getting ready for today.  Lots of time spent in the anatomy lab and library.

I've got to catch you up though before I talk about today.

First, only one person took my CT diagnosis challenge.  I must say that I'm disappointed in you nurses.  I thought I would get at least a couple more attempts. :)



Here are the answers...
Thick white: Epidural bleed
Thick black: Subdural bleed
Thin black: Subarachnoid bleed
Thin white: Intraparenchymal bleed

Basically, there is a bleed at every level within the cranium.  So, by my count, Kaitlin, you were 2 for 4.  Yeah, there is huge midline shift, but it's secondary to the bleeds.  Ventricles are still clear, no blood there.  As for the etiology, I'm not sure.  We weren't told what caused all this, but it was most likely severe trauma of some sort.  If I could switch to bone windows, I would be able to tell if there were any fractures as well.  Anyways, the rules of the contest clearly stipulated that all 4 had to be correctly identified to win the illustrious prize.  Sorry Kaitlin :)


Last Thursday, I was able to volunteer at the Equal Access Clinic.

 
Equal Access is a completely student run free clinic here in Gainesville.  They just opened up this brand new building last month.  It's super nice.  There are residents there and (typically) at least one attending physician, but it's the med and PA students that do the bulk of the patient interviews and exams, along with proposing a diagnosis and formulating a treatment plan.  Since it was my first night and all I really know how to do is conduct a patient history interview, I was assigned to a 3rd year med student.  Together, we went to see our patient, who had a whole host of problems.  I asked about half the interview questions and then the med student did the physical exam.  Then we went and presented the case to the resident.  Then he asked us what we thought was wrong with the patient.  I told him what I thought and he agreed with me!  And I haven't even studied physical diagnosis yet.  Then he asked what meds we should prescribe.  I gave him my idea and he said that the med I suggested is, "unfortunately, probably the most underused antibiotic out there"...as in, I got the right answer again!  And I haven't even taken pharmacology.  It was really cool.  I felt bad for our patient though.  She had all sorts of heart problems that we couldn't do anything about because we lacked the resources.  It broke my heart to send somebody away without being able to address their biggest concerns.  But, let me say that it was very cool to be in an actual clinic setting treating a real patient.  I felt totally at ease.

Oh yeah, I was also elected Webmaster for my class.  I kinda wanted to be Secretary, but somebody else wanted to do it, so I kinda withdrew myself from that election.  So, I'll be managing our FB page, updating the class officer page on the PA website, and generally taking care of any webby-type concerns the class may have.

OK, fast forward to this week.

Radiology
We took our Radiology final on Monday.  It didn't go as well as I thought/hoped it would.  None of us really gave it much thought, since we were all gearing up for the Anatomy final.  I got an 80%, giving me an 83% for Radiology.  It's no biggie though, because Radiology only makes up 20% of our total Anatomy grade.

Anatomy
Well, I passed!  And, if my calculations are correct, I not only passed, but got a 90% in the course.  Here are my scores on the exams today...

The first score is out of 85 points and the second is out of 35, for a combined score of 93.8%.  I made a few dumb errors on the written test, but I am not complaining one bit.

I can't believe the term is over.  The last six weeks has gone by so quickly.  Next semester is going to be a killer, but I'm really excited to be learning what I will be learning.  Somebody please remind me of that come October...which is lovingly termed Sucktober by the 2nd year students.

Well, I'm off to Utah for the break.  Not sure if I'll update from there.  If not, I'll post sometime at the start of next semester.  Take care y'all.