I’m pretty comfortable giving advice on scribing since I used to teach scribes. And I’m comfortable talking about my experiences in medical school. Although I will let you decide on how helpful they are.
What I would like to discuss today is how scribing has (or hasn’t) helped me in medical school (so far). I’m writing this on the last few days of my winter break before I dive head first into my second semester of my first year. So that definitely means it will be posted way later… It also means I have many more semesters to go to see how scribing has helped me. But we will stick to what has helped me so far.
In general, we hope that our pre-med experiences help us out in some way, shape, or form by the time we get to medical school. Or nursing school. Or PA school. We are hoping to not have to start from square one or get thrown into a situation head first without any context to draw from. Because let’s be real: as humans, we react to situations, especially new situations, by drawing off of previous experiences. So we hope as medical students that we have some context to help us out. Mostly because we have no idea what we are doing most of the time anyways. So a little bit of help is amazing!
I’m also hoping for this post to be much shorter than some of my other, very lengthy posts. I really like to talk, and surprisingly when I think I have nothing to write about, I still end up with a long post. So if you aren’t in the mood to read a lengthy post today, you are in luck!
How it as helped: Anything related to interacting like a future doctor
In general, I would say my scribe experience has helped me the most in my PCM course (or Principals of Clinical Medicine/How to be a doctor course). Mostly because doing charting and seeing interactions between patients and physicians or physician-extenders was something that would occur multiple times a day, all day, for many years for me.
I’m comfortable here. I’ve seen how a physician asks questions, helps guide their patients along during their conversation, and they types of exams to choose for their complaints. I’ve even thankfully had some interaction with medical decision-making and ordering certain things for certain issues. It’s very different being on the other side though, so that part does make me a bit nervous. But overall, I’m definitely a lot more chill than some of my other classmates when it comes to this part of our education.
Here are some more specific points for you:
Knowing how to write notes. They don’t really give you a great grasp on how to do this in medical school. But they do teach you all of the necessary components of the chart and how to get information for those parts.
You are more comfortable with being in a room with a patient
You know and are comfortable with so.many.terms!
You are comfortable with the outline of how to do an exam. You may not know how to do something specifically, but you are learning why you do it in medical school and how to actually do it. But from being as scribe, you’ve seen your physicians run through this like the back of their hand. You could probably give a run down of how to do one or a good order to perform one in before they actually teach you. (Doesn’t mean you are good at it though).
You will utilize that same “on the fly” learning ability to quickly pick up things/research them. Remember when you had to do so much searching and figuring out on your own to get the information you needed? Same thing applies here. Use it. You can thank me later.
This “on the fly” learning transfers to other courses; not just in your ‘how to be a doctor’ course.
Trouble-shooting. This one is interesting for me. I would do this all the time as a scribe and then try to figure out the best way to fix my problem before asking for help from the doctor. But turns out it works great here too when you are learning so many things.
What I’m expecting it to help with in the future:
Mostly in my rotations. I expect to feel pretty at home in a variety of clinics. My last scribe job had me starting up clinics and I would work in several different clinics throughout the week. I’m hoping that having to be thrown in and learn my way around different clinics will help me feel more comfortable.
Putting my ability to ask other staff for resources in my rotations. This one was hella helpful as a scribe. I fully intend to utilize every resource possible during my rotations.
Charting on new EMRs. Well using an EMR in general.
And I will see how much more I can come up with in the years to come!
What it hasn’t helped with:
I’m still a little nervous. Check out my “What Still Makes Me Nervous” post from last week to see more in-depth and specifics on this!
It doesn’t mean I will pass on everything I do. Especially skills wise. I failed a few things my first semester. One of them being a competency for taking vital signs. To be fair, I wasn’t allowed to touch patients as a scribe… so handling patients is definitely a new skill I’m learning!
Multitasking isn’t as helpful. What I mean by this is multitasking is needed and very helpful with scribing. But honestly, in medical school you are learning difficult concepts at lightening speed. So it’s actually easier to pull all your focus on that one concept than trying to spread yourself thin.
And that’s all I’ve been able to come up with! If you are thinking about scribing and want to know the benefits and pitfalls to your future in medicine, hopefully this helps. Also, check out my scribing section on my blog if you are interested in scribing. Lots of information on there.
As always, let me know what you liked, didn’t like, and what you would like to see next in the comments!
I thought I would try something different with this post this time around. If you are interested in my thoughts as I progress through the course, this will be in the first half. The second half will be detailing more of the course like the rest of my block posts have been.
Pre-Midterm Thoughts…
Hmm… This block.
This was has been a swift kick in the butt that said less “Welcome Back” and more “Are you off your ass yet?” type of course. But that’s okay. I really wasn’t sure why I was expecting rainbows and rose petals and all that jazz when returning to medical school from winter break.
I feel like I’m staying on top of things, but who knows!
I’ve definitely had a rollercoaster of emotions again (like I do with every block really…) while going through this course. Part of it was getting back into the swing of things, and part of it was anatomy lab was another balancing act to add onto my plate. The last lab component that we had wasn’t all that difficult in cardiopulm. In fact, it was pretty straight forward as there weren’t a shit ton of things to remember and dissect out.
This one is a little closer to how our musculoskeletal lab was. I think we have like 6 pages of structures to know? I’ll have to take a closer look before I take the practical as hopefully there are some repeat structures.
Anyways; I’m a bit cranky this morning. Probably shouldn’t be typing this up right meow. Will check back in on another day for more thoughts.
Giphy.com
Post- Midterm thoughts, pre-final thoughts:
So. It’s currently MLK weekend and I have an extra day for studying. I have one more full week until my final happens and I have to really kick my booty into gear.
Right now it’s Sunday, so today and tomorrow I can try to fit some studies in. I have my cat ear headband on; I need to kick some butt today!
I have my coffee from my current fav coffee shop, have my smoothie, and am all set up. Currently, I’m set up in our mock patient rooms. It’s a nice personal space that has a movable table, chairs, a semi-comfy patient bed that I can lounge on, and a nice big window! Anybody else love having a window to look out of while studying?It’s also not the “typical” study room, so I don’t have to sign it out.
AKA I can be here all day without having to move.
I’m glad I currently feel positive, but that may fade fast. I was really annoyed at myself for basically doing nothing the past 2 days. I went to class on Friday, but unfortunately for me I wasn’t in the mood to actually pay attention. So even though I was there physically there, I wasn’t mentally present. The rest of my Friday I hung out with E, doing coupl-ey things. Like date night!
And Saturday. oof.Well, I was having a day yesterday. I was angry that I wasn’t motivated enough to do anything even though I had a shit ton to do. I was mad that all I wanted to do was lie down in bed and play on my phone and cuddle my cat. And every time I attempted to look at something, I would just get distracted and get more angry at myself for being distracted!
Yesterday was a mood for sure. Hopefully today won’t be one. Will check back later.
[Later]:
It is freaking freezing in this room. How do I change this temperature? I’m gunna turn into a snowman. And not a cute one.
[Mucho Later]:
Welp I definitely didn’t get through nearly as much as I wanted.
Merp.
At least I got through two anatomy lectures. I half-assed my way through part of a histology lecture and did some physiology reading. But really Joyce, I wanted to do more. Will try again tomorrow!
Weekend before the final exam:
Ahh. It’s hitting me now. The panic is setting in. The performance anxiety. The ‘do I know enough’ anxiety. The ‘will I actually get a higher grade than the average so I look smarter than everyone’ anxiety. Actually scratch that.All the anxieties are setting in right about now.
I can feel my stress level about to bubble over. I’m not feeling super motivated to do much; but at the same time feel like I’m drowning in material that I still need to learn/master. I feel like I have no time given that the anatomy lab component of this and in general, the way our schedule has been this past week hasn’t left a ton of time to review or learn material. I feel like even though I’ve gone over a lecture 2+ times, I’m not retaining any of it.
Me trying to get at that material. (Giphy.com)
Joyce has gotten on the struggle-bus to struggle-town and she’s not sure when she is getting off.
It’s definitely interesting when medical students and pre-med students post on the internet all of the amazing things that they are doing/experiencing and all the positives. Positive is good. But positive is only a fraction of what actually happens in medical school. And since I’m a realist, Imma show you the real shit. Like now, when things aren’t rainbows. Because honestly feeling inadequate and stressed and overwhelmed and not smart is a really large chunk of what you go through in medical school.
giphy.com
I’m also writing this right now because I’m in a really down mood, and letting this out is weirdly therapeutic for me.
[The next day]:
In case anyone is curious how my day was going, I put my scrub top on backwards.
No. Not inside out.
Backwards.
With the front “v” and pockets on my back. Maybe I should just go to bed early tonight and cut my losses.
Post Final exam:
Well fuck.
Ugh.
Maybe one day I will eventually walk away from taking a test and be semi okay with my score. But I guess this was another block where I was not. I’m getting really annoyed with myself and how different topics are being taught compared to how they are asked on the exam. I can’t really seem to grasp it how I want.
Which is weird. Because I was acing majority of the practice questions I was doing…
AND I had a super false sense of confidence and being positive while taking the test. Totes thought during the final exam that I was KILLING IT.
And then my score came back.
The worse part is I’m pretty sure most people did okay on this test or fairly well. I won’t know for sure until our scores are up and I can see the average, but I’m pretty sure I’m below average on this one. Which means I won’t get as great of a boost from the curve.
Whatever. (I’m not salty at all…)
Maybe next block will be my bitch. But really, it seems like every block is not my bitch. You know, while scribing I would cross off specialities that I knew I didn’t want to do. Like ER. Or family medicine. Or Ortho.
Why? Because I mostly didn’t like the environment. Or the content wasn’t as interesting to me. Or I was bored fairly easily or was jaded too fast while working in that speciality.
It also could have been the type of people but ya know, that is very variant on where you go.
So I thought to myself, “Joyce, when you get to medical school you will SURELY find topics that interest you! We will find other possible specialities to consider besides just neonatology!”.However, almost every block so far has also caused me to cross off topics that aren’t interesting to me.
I’m really really hoping that it’s just the way our curriculum is. Maybe second year when its more pathology I’ll be interested. Or maybe I won’t get a good feel until rotations.
Either way, I’m feeling very stuck and unhappy with my performances.
Merp.
Oh well. Guess I’m gunna go clean my apartment which I’ve been neglecting to do for a few weeks.
Block Breakdown:
Okay. There were a lot of different classes this block around. Different disciplines involved included:
Biochemistry– we had one biochem lecture this whole section. It went along with the physio lectures we were having. In pasts sections we had pretty easy biochem questions: they were obvious. This time not so much. So make sure you look at this.
Genetics– There is like one genetics lecture that we had. Again, it coincided with some of our physio lectures. But just like biochem, they were not as obvious as I was expecting.
Immunology– We had one lecture. It is different from the information that we learned in COB as it was more medically related and just focused on the gut. But in general, having Dr. Shynra previously in COB is always more helpful than those who did not have him.
Pharmacology- I really didn’t understand the need for this one. This is the same content (almost identical really) to the lecture and DSA’s we were given for cardiopulmonary. I also think we got a similar one in MSK. HOWEVER, don’t punt this bitch. It was like 9 some questions on my exam and I think I got all of them wrong…
Histology– There were a few histology lectures this time around. Majority of it we were tested on during the midterm. Less so on the final. BUT, we had histo show up on our lab practical.
Embryology- we only had one embryo lecture this whole section. We were tested on it on our midterm. However, there were embryo questions (that weren’t necessarily just from this block) that popped up on our anatomy lab practical. The practical wasn’t until the day of the final exam.
Physiology– So. Much. Physio. You will be doing a lot of physio in this course. If physio is for you; great. If not for you; pull up your bootstraps baby because it’s about to get wild.
Anatomy– There is also a fair amount of anatomy in this block as well. But honestly, there was definitely more physio to be concerned about.
Our lab practical also had not just anatomy on it, but histology and embryology on it as well (which is a mostly new testing breakdown for lab). They also upped the amount of stations from 50 to 60 questions in the lab practical (so more rest stops were taken away), AND everything for the practical itself was cumulative between the knowledge we learned in lecture for both midterm and the final.
But the lecture exams were not cumulative…
Midterm Breakdown:
23 Anatomy
7 Embryo
9 Histology
9 Immuno
14 Physio
62 Total
Final Breakdown:
26 Anatomy
5 Biochemistry
5 Genetics
5 Clinical Medicine
5 Histology
9 Pharmacology
37 Physiology
92 Total.
How I studied/What I found Helpful:
Well for lab, things need to be dissected out (just like what I’ve said previously) in order to actually learn them. Physically dissecting them out didn’t help me learn it. So going in like the half of week before once everything was dissected out (or mostly) was more helpful to me than actual lab time. With that being said, most of our GI sections were not embalmed well and so things were more difficult to find than say in MSK. And, that also means you do need to spend time outside of lab working on it just to make sure you can see the structures.
Remember, anatomy fellows will tag poorly if you don’t dissect out your bodies enough (or at least in our year they have).
For class, specifically physiology I read A LOT. A lot a lot. I know it helped somewhat since I didn’t miss a chunk of the physio questions, but you still need to make sure you go over that info several times. Do those practice questions. Unfortunately for me, I was doing well on the practice questions (in most disciplines) for the final but the questions on the test were not as clear/harder.
For anatomy, you just have to draw shit out. I watched both lectures (on KC and Joplin’s) campus for anatomy. Draw, draw, draw.
For genetics, Dr. Staudinger’s blue boxes are what you need to know. For biochemistry, Dr. Zaidi highlights things in red. You don’t really need to read outside of their lectures as they provide majority of the content you need in their powerpoint slides.
For Dr. Kruse’s lecture (pharm), IDK. IDK what to tell you man. I didn’t understand this shit and not sure I will ever just on the level they want us to. Pretty sure next year’s pharm is not structured the same way. But, with that being said, you actually have to spend a decent amount of time with this material too. It’s hard stuff and not always logically easy to get.
Sites that I found helpful:
For physio, this KUMC.edu site is a list of terms and some processes. It’s not pretty but it definitely helped me the first time around for the midterm.
For biochem, my professor gave us links to Handwritten tutorials which are a few minutes long and Osmosis. They were pretty concise and easy to follow.
For Histo, I’ve used Blue Histology , Histology Guide, and Chapman’s 3 minute Histo youtube videos. Chapman and Blue Histology were also recommended by my professor, but so far it looks like Chapman’s videos are mostly GI related. Not sure they would work well in other sections.
Teach me anatomy is a favorite of some of my classmates. And no, you don’t really need to login to get the information. I was able to a access what I needed without that. There are plenty of websites though for anatomy and anatomy apps. If you’ve found one that works previously for you, stick with it!
Lastly, There were some classmates who used online notecards from Brainscape or Anki that were made from previous years. Couldn’t get my hands on them. BUT, make friends with previous years, they can usually give you pre-made resources that will help cut down some time for you.
And uh yea, that’s it. I would apologize again for the long post but I think this is becoming the norm. I bet I could blabber on long enough to write a book at this point! See ya’ll next week.
I have my coffee from my current fav coffee shop, have my smoothie, and am all set up. Currently, I’m set up in our mock patient rooms. It’s a nice personal space that has a movable table, chairs, a semi-comfy patient bed that I can lounge on, and a nice big window! 
