Surgery Rotation | How to Prepare + Tips

I can't believe I'm already about to start the 2nd week of my 4th rotation (Emergency Medicine)! My previous rotations were two family medicine rotations and surgery.  A lot of students, including myself, are nervous for their surgery rotation. I actually really liked my surgery rotation, except for the early hours (I had to wake up at 4:15AM every weekday morning). During my surgery rotation, I was able to scrub in on many surgeries (laparoscopic appendectomies, lap cholecystectomies, bowel resections, gastric bypasses, lipoma excisions, etc.), suture lap port sites, and maneuver the camera during laparoscopic surgeries. It was a great experience! Here are some tips and things you can do to prepare for your surgery rotation:

1. Brush up on your suture skills. // Practice simple interrupted subcuticular and running subcuticular sutures since those are most likely the types you will use to close lap port sites. Make sure to practice suturing while wearing gloves to mimic the real thing!

2. Practice tying surgical knots. // Make sure you can tie one-handed and two-handed surgical knots. Again, wear gloves while practicing! I used this video to learn two-handed knot tying and this video to learn one-handed knot tying. You can start out by practicing with shoe strings and then move on to sutures. You just need to tie the shoe string or suture to something stationary. 

Didactic Year of PA School | 5 Tips

I can't believe I'm done with my first year (aka didactic year) of PA school! It went by so fast! I'm starting my clinical rotations in less than 1 week (exciting, but also nerve-wracking...eek!). I did very well in my didactic year, so I thought I would share some of the tips that helped me!

1.) Find your own groove. // Some of my classmates didn't study on the weekends (unless there was an exam on Monday). Others took one day off a week from studying. Don't try to do what everyone else is doing. Do what is best for you! Personally, I studied a little everyday for the most part. There were a couple rare weeks where we didn't have an exam, so I would take a break from studying then. This tip also applies to how you study. Some students like to make study guides. Others just study from their notes and PowerPoint slides. I started out trying to make study guides, but it ended up being too time-consuming for me. I ended up just studying the PowerPoint slides and my notes. Sometimes I used the Quizlet app as well.

This is literally what PA school feels like most of the time.
Source: Pinterest

2.) Share notes/study guides! // If you do make study guides, make sure to share them with your classmates! My class created a private Facebook group in the very beginning, so that we could share notes, study guides, etc. This is not a competition, so make sure to help out your fellow classmates!

Planners for 2016!

Hi everyone! Every year, one of my New Years' resolutions is to become even more organized than I already am (weird, I know...but I feel like there is always room for improvement!). One of the best and easiest ways to stay organized and manage your time is to use a planner or agenda. I already have a planner that I purchased back in July, but looking at all the cute planners that are out there makes me want to buy another one (I won't though because #PoorPAStudentProbs). If you are looking for an inexpensive option, definitely check out Target! Here are some cute planners for varying budgets:

1. Sugar Paper Planner Weekly/Monthly (Target), $9.99

2. Erin Condren Prism - metallic platinum - LifePlanner, $60

3. Sugar Paper Planner Weekly/Monthly (Target), $9.99

4. Lilly Pulitzer Wild Confetti Agenda, $34

5. Kate Spade 2016 17-month large agenda - gold dots, $36 (on sale for $30 right now!)

6. Emily Ley The Simplified Planner 2016 Daily Planner - Gold Pineapple, $58

Which planner is your favorite?

-C

How to Pass Gross Anatomy

Gross Anatomy can be a challenging class, especially if you have a tough professor. Here are some tips that helped me to do pretty well in the class!

1. Quizlet - This website and app helped me so much, not only for anatomy class, but all of my other classes as well! I would sometimes use other classmates' Quizlets as well as ones made by the second year students. It was even more helpful, though, for me to make my own with only the information that I was having trouble remembering. It actually helped me to remember information just by going through the PowerPoint slides and creating a Quizlet. 

2. Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards - These flash cards are good for memorizing locations of bones, structures, etc.

Image: Amazon.com

3. Use Mnemonics - Mnemonics are so helpful when you are trying to memorize different information for anatomy! This blog has a list of the most common anatomy mnemonics, and I often referred to it. I also came across this Brachial Plexus parody YouTube video that is so catchy and helped me to remember the terminal branches of the brachial plexus.