Chinese whispers.

Learning in post-grad medicine is a lot like Chinese-whispers.

It's assumed that as post-grad entrants we're all adults and have also completed a previous degree and are therefore capable of studying the concepts of medicine on our own with as little direction AND correction as possible from the university staff. The direction that we do receive is through our PBL-sessions - twice-weekly meetings with five or six other students where we're presented with a medical case (ie. Patient X presented to hospital with symptoms-X and a past-history of...) and given a set of learning objectives.

'Learning objectives' is a broad term used to describe a list of anywhere from five to twenty concepts which we're expected to research and study, such as "Identify the pathology, clinical features and investigations of Endometrial Cancer". As I was saying - broad... very, very broad.

Although this is a fantastic way to learn - as it allows for adequate communication between students regarding the topics we're meant to be covering, it is also the FULL extent of involvement that the university has in directing our learning. This therefore means that our understanding of this topic solely relies upon the resources that we look up and the information that other students bring to the table during PBL. This means that should one student look up wikipedia for their information and the other looks up MD consult, regardless of the reliability of this information - it becomes fact.

This happened the other day in the hospital.

Registrar: Tell me about the eye-symptoms of GRAVES disease
Student A: Lid lag, lid retraction, proptosis and exophthalmus. Student recounts exactly what was learnt in PBL last year.
Registrar: Not quite. Graves Disease leads to exophthalmus (protrusion of the eye) and ophthalmoplegia (limited eye movement and double vision). Thyroid eye disease covers lid lag, lid retraction and proptosis.
Student B verifies this in the book...

Major PBL fail, because both students were from different PBLs but had both received the same information from their PBL group and because of the lack of regulation of the resources available to students by the university or the lack of regulation of what material is learnt...

I can imagine the following scenario taking place.
In PBL:
Student A: Ok - so Student B was going to tell us about pregnancies.
Student B: pregnancies... blah blah blah... can happen in men.
Student A: Hang on a second! Where did you find that?
Student B: In book C, page X, paragraph J.
Student C: Oh well, it must be right then...
In hospital.
Doctor: So tell me about pregnancies.
Student A (Thinking: they said male pregnancy is right): Pregnancy can happen in both MALES and FEMALES!

Stethoscopes

There's a quote from the book 'The House of God' that describes a doctor's stethoscope:
"He wore a butcher-length white coat and a long old-fashioned stethoscope wended its way across his chest and abdomen and disappeared mysteriously into his pants. A question flickered across my mind: WHERE DID THAT STETHOSCOPE GO?"

I remember watching a movie or a TV episode or seeing a picture about wearing stethoscopes and how wearing them in a certain way told a lot about the individual.

There was this doctor at my hospital who wears his stethoscope, so that the ear pieces are around his neck and the diaphragm dangles down to his waist. I specifically remember this position being considered the 'bastard' way because it's meant to draw attention to the crotch of the individual and I have to agree.

Whenever men wear stethoscopes which dangle of their crotches, I wonder, "Do you feel the need to listen to your penis?"

As a med student, having your stethoscope on display is a debatable topic. On the one hand, wearing your stethoscope around your neck is the most comfortable and accessible place and makes it easy to use BUT also gives the actual Doctors the wrong impression that you're actually capable of using it, which, let us be honest isn't true about any of us. Most of the time, if mines around my neck I spend my time adjusting which side is audible and then low-and-behold when I come to use it, I can't hear anything because I've switched diaphgrams. Useless. On the other hand, wearing your stethoscope around your neck is considered 'dicky' by other students, like you're showing off so a lot of students store it in their bags or their pockets and as a result above-mentioned doctors criticize our lack of commitment to the practice.

It's a conflicting situation.

I wrote a list a while ago of things that had happened in the hospital recently which seemed like good topics to blog about, but which I was too lazy at the time to write about. Writing that list has made me realise quite how unorganised I am. Now, I knew it was in one of the notebooks I wrote in, but upon looking for said notebook I realised that in my effort to become more 'organised' as I probably put it to myself - I had purchased and used around 10 of those notebooks.

I eventually discovered the list on a random page in the middle of an un-used section of the notebook. 'Because really, Caitlin, who wouldn't think to look there..."

Dear Medical School,

5am starts are not cool. Neither is the lack of left-overs in my fridge and therefore my having to eat 2 minute noodles for lunch today.

I fart in your general direction.

Dear Life,

You always happen at inopportune moments!
Today I hope to spend my Sunday studying furiously, doing a small amount of grocery shopping and completing the several loads of washing. What I instead did today was:
- A small amount of studying
- A tonne of grocery shopping
- And, two loads of washing, one of which I only hung out a couple of hours ago and am thus unable to make my bed.

I also went to the football with my Dad, one of his good friends and the good friend's son, who is also my best friend. Soon after hearing that my friend (we shall call him T) was going, I received this text.

T: Yay rugby tomorrow? Twill be fun
Me: Haha you can explain most of it to me.
T: Is rugby the one where all the players have sticks?
Me: I thought they had horses?
T: No you retard that's golf.

And thus began the theme which was played upon the following afternoon.

Me: But really? It's the game with rackets right?
T: Dad, Caitlin wants to know if rugby has rackets?
T: Do you even know who's playing?
Me: The REDS! *I tell him proudly*
T: Against?
Me: ... The blues? *I replied hopefully*
T: That's league. The force, Caitie. The force.

Which I proceeded to mistakenly call The Storm for the entire rest of the day.

T: I only know it's the Force because I decided to read up on it on the internet.
Me (thinking): Does he mean The Storm?
T: Anyway - if you want to pretend that you know what you're talking about, I have the best piece of random information about this game.
Me: Oh yeah... *Please tell me, and let me be the impressive child*
T: David X is an ex-all black player who... blah blah blah. So if you just randomly use this piece of information in front of our dads, they'll look at you with respect.
Me: I have this terrible fear that you've made up this story and you're just waiting for me to turn to my dad and say "David X is an ex...." and then he will turn around and be like, "Caitlin, I have no idea what you're talking about. David X is a soccer player who played for South Africa..."
T: ...."And is now dead."
Me: Exactly! ... Hey?
T: Just trust me...

But, as I was saying - life is just too busy at the moment and it's just not right. I need to start culling activities and events from my life but besides dinner on Friday night with med friends, I have been spending all my weekend with family. And who can say no to good company and a roast lamb. So Life, it is time for you to become dedicated and gain some direction.

The end.

Today I witnessed my first ever birth. It was a normal vaginal delivery and I'm sure it wasn't as gross as it could have been since I've heard stories about women peeing and poo-ing throughout delivery. But all I could think as the woman was pushing, was:

- How on earth is THAT going to fit through THAT?

Midwife (to woman in labour): Now a big push because we can see the head.
Mother of WiL: I can see its head, it's got a lot of hair.
Me (thinking): THAT'S THE HEAD?!

I've also got to remember to breath while watching births as it seems I have a habit of holding my breath while the contracting mother does. It makes one a little short of breath at the end of the whole process.

When asked what I did on my weekend I replied - I fell asleep on two different couches.

Boy, do I live a life of adventure!

I also learnt how to do squats right so as to tone my thighs. The essential things, obviously.