studying

seen while studying out and about today:

Be your own dragon as well as your own hero. You must save yourself from yourself.

How did I live without you?

Next step: ask everyone I know if they have a lesion that they want removed. Acquire patients. Stitch on them. Get honors.

I think I’m high on minor surgery. 

Today I have bot med, otherwise known as botanical medicines. As a naturopath, I know that bot med is something that I want to be very skilled at, and an area that I’d like to focus in. For the past three years, I’ve also been hearing that the teachers are disorganized, that there are gaps and overlaps in the material, and that the teachers run through things at about a million miles a minute. What’s a girl to do? 

Well, the first thing I did is think about how I want to be able to pull the information up later on, studying for boards or in practice. I want to be able to pull things up to study by the individual plant name, by the family, by the type of plant that it is, and finally by condition.  This means that I need all of that information as a scaffolding before I ever get in to class. I’ve been working on getting that set up in my little vdp wiki for botanical medicine. Next, I added pictures of all of the plants that we’re supposed to cover for the entire quarter, so if a slide comes up randomly I’ll have a shot at getting to the right page even if the teacher doesn’t start off with the name “because everyone already knows what This is, right?” . 

This gives me several advantages: 1, I already have a plan. Having a plan is critical for synthesizing information in this quantity. 2, I already have the scaffolding for notes for an entire quarter. Adding details to a plant is only clicks away. Even if an herb comes up randomly weeks early or late, is talked about twice or not at all, all of my notes have a designated place to be and I already have a decent amount of information written down about each plant. 3, it will be easy to see where the holes are, to study in my own time. 

Sometimes we forget that as students, we can only get out of a class as much as we’re willing to put in. Having a wonderfully organized and eloquent teacher makes getting a lot of information and learning out of a class easier. Having a good work ethic and plan gets a good framework even with a bad or disorganized teacher. 

We’re playing for keeps, folks. This isn’t about passing classes anymore, it’s about helping people live the most healthy and best quality life that they can have. 

This program (for Mac iOS) is a game changer for my study habits. Today I was reviewing syllabi and organizing, and on a whim I decided to start a document for my botanical materia medica class, which (like pharma) is a lot of rote memorization. On my index page, I put categories of herbs- demulcents, carminatives, adaptogens, ect. Each of these pages I then gave a description of the class of herbs, the list of plants that was on the course planning list, and a subtitle for when to consider. 

Each of the botanical medicines then got its own page, with common names linking to the formal latin. No matter how I search it, I’ll always see the common name with the latin name, so that’s helpful right off the bat. As I go through school, I’ll be able to detail more information and link similar plants together, add pictures of the plants to their pages, add similar pharmacological agents, biochemistry patterns, and all sorts of other goodies. 

Basically like a study guide that will evolve with me and be useful in clinical practice, too. Easy to pull up in other classes, so it won’t be a folder hunt to add information from other teachers. All in one place, simple, neat, and easy.  I highly recommend acquiring this program. 

Well, I know it’s only the first of December, but I’ve already got a good feeling about this month. As November closed out, my husband left his hospital to see a double rainbow extending towards our apartment. My car is finally out of the shop, and not only did they fix more than was caused by the fender bender, they detailed the inside. I won the apartment bingo and got a giftcard to starbucks (which I normally avoid because there are so many more deserving, local coffee shops in the area, but hey, free finals week coffee.) 

I have totally finished all papers and projects associated with two whole classes in the last 24 hours, which is refreshing. I feel like I can breathe a little more. I’m really proud of the clinical black book entry I created regarding the treatment of hypogalactia- I feel like it’s better than the up2date article, and that’s a gold star for me on the calendar.  

This is the first year that I haven’t decorated for Christmas on the 1st, but the feeling of relief that I got from deciding to put it off spoke for itself. Now I just have a couple more big study projects to complete, and then a small break to prepare myself for returning to school full time (and leaving the baby at home, sob!) 

Anyone else totally relieved that it’s finals? We’re almost there, guys!

- eavesdropping on legit polyamorus gold diggers at the next table over.

-wondering why there are so many male model types casually lounging on all the couches

-thinking about getting a little strawberry tart

-the internet is balls. No flashcards for me. Still rereading all my notes.

-gyn notes make for awkward faces on the people who screenpeek me. Serves them right, too.

I just got an 75% on a qbank practice test. Maybe I do know things.

• My fever is now higher than my baby’s.
• He feels terrible, and tells me about that by screaming at a decibel level I previously thought that only jets could reach. Naptime is the worst. He also got too long/mobile for his bouncer and really, for his rocking crib, and also his swing this week. In case naptime was too easy before.
• Step 1 is 6 days away.
• I’m now just putting review lectures on in the background and hoping that I’ll be able to logic my way through because I’m functionally incapable of doing anything else. I really hope I get better before the test.
• I still have to move in a week. 90% of my house is not packed.
• doctor’s appointments on top of moving on top of studying for boards. 

So, what I’m saying is, I could use some good juju, wishes, light, prayer, and a bottle of felix felicis. And a snack. And a nap.