Today, I realized something: I have no idea what I'm doing in medical school. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know why I'm here (to 'help people' -- duh ;) ), but actually having the skills to put that into action...well, let's just say I'm at step -1.
At UT Southwestern, we have this thing called Colleges. Basically, what happens is the entire class of 240 students gets separated into six different Colleges (named after previous distinguished UT Southwestern faculty) by an impartial third party observer. (If this sounds familiar, please see below).
We're separated into small groups within our college and each group meets with a mentor every Wednesday to go over clinical skills. My small group met with our mentor today to go over basic vital signs, in particular, how to take blood pressure measurements. Let's just say I had no idea what I was doing. Sure, I've 'volunteered' before in places where I had to take blood pressure readings for patients, but those experiences were few and nothing compared to the anxiety I felt for having to do it in front of a real doctor. Plus, it didn't help that no matter how I oriented the stethoscope/sphygmomanometer (the blood pressure cuff), I couldn't hear anything from the volunteer's arm (..."it's amazing...you're alive, but I don't hear your heartbeat!").
Well, turns out that I just wasn't pressing down on the arm firm enough. Who knew?
As luck would have it, I ended up volunteering that afternoon at a back-to-school sports physical check up event for a local middle school. It was the perfect opportunity to practice my new skill (or lack of skill). But it didn't really work out, since there were a lot of other stations. I did learn how to listen to the heart/lungs, do a musculoskeletal exam, and an eye exam though! I felt really proud. Almost like 1/10 of an actual physician.
Next goal: find the heartbeat when measuring bp. I will work on it.
Well, turns out that I just wasn't pressing down on the arm firm enough. Who knew?
As luck would have it, I ended up volunteering that afternoon at a back-to-school sports physical check up event for a local middle school. It was the perfect opportunity to practice my new skill (or lack of skill). But it didn't really work out, since there were a lot of other stations. I did learn how to listen to the heart/lungs, do a musculoskeletal exam, and an eye exam though! I felt really proud. Almost like 1/10 of an actual physician.
Next goal: find the heartbeat when measuring bp. I will work on it.
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