How to Study Medicine

[Communications Officer]

As a public service to all medical students, I would like to run a thread that deals with how to approach the study of medicine. Why am I qualified to do so? I have taught medical students since 1962 and am still very active in teaching medical students. I have taught biochemistry, immunology, physiology, microbiology and a lot of clinical medicine. Students find me understandable and stimulating. I encourage medical students to do better, and they enjoy their experience with me. If five positive replies come back, I will begin with an introduction to the study of medicine.

[kryptik]

sounds like a good idea for a thread.....i have one question... people always advice to keep the "big picture" in mind when studying any course in medical school, what is this "big picture"?

[Communications Officer]

Ah, this is a very important question that requires a not-so-short answer, but I will compact it and incorporate it into my introduction to this thread.

[kryptik]

great........

[lifeAgift]

grasshopper here
waiting and taking notes

[kryptik]

......^^^......

[Communications Officer]

Enough said

[devildoc8404]

(Does the deleted comment count toward the five?)

Count me in. I'd like some insights for the Fall! Thanks...

[med etudiant]

Is this going to be a sticky?

[CoolChihuahuaChick]

Are you an MD, administrator or both?

[Communications Officer]

Medical is a little confusing. What is the key to get through it? I don't know but I got through it in all ways imaginable. Am still flying and love it. I am now 72 and enjoy both the medical school experience as a teacher, and being a father of a medical student who is in the process. What more can you want from the point of view of insight? Let's see where we go from that.

[Communications Officer]

Let’s have a look at how to study medicine. I will keep this posting fairly short as an introduction, then do my best to answer questions and comments that arise.
There is no single correct way to study. The study approach you adopt should employ your strengths and not your weaknesses. So if anyone tells you that a single way is the only way, then worry about their advice. I suppose that the two extremes are brute memory and all logic. No one uses 100% of one or the other. We use a mixture of the two. Memory of isolated facts is not my strong point and I do get the odd mental block. I enjoy learning why things are the way that they are, and this helps me to remember things. Another factor to consider is whether you remember words and lists, or pictures. I am better with pictures, but other people are better with words.
A major task for each individual is to adopt the approach that you are best at and enjoy the most. Experiment with different approaches. Do not assume that the approach you currently use is the most appropriate one for you. After all, you were not at the top of the class in premed; this is why you are in a Caribbean medical school. One can use more than one strategy. For instance, when exams are not imminent the logical approach may be better, if it helps you to remember longer. When exams loom on the horizon, memorization may be more appropriate. Many students are on a memorize it, regurgitate it, and forget it mode, but this approach often breaks down when you have to use large portions of your knowledge at once, say during USMLEs or during teaching rounds.
Then we have a question of what books to use and how to use them. Whatever book or books you choose to use, they must have an obvious pattern of organization so that you can discern the major points from the details. Get an idea of the major points first before tunnelling into the details, which you may save doing until the last minute cram. Cramming is not a bad thing, but it should not be the only thing. High yield textbooks tend to be long on memory but short on logic. This may mean that you need two books. Since I am no longer plagued by exams, I prefer books like Guyton, Gray, Robbins, and Harrison. They are like city maps with all the streets, but with clear distinctions between major and minor. Do not attempt to read them from start to finish but use them as references, reading the main points first. You would not attempt to read a city map section by section memorizing all the streets and highways regardless of size, so avoid doing the equivalent with textbooks.
In any medical school, there are helpful teachers and not-so-helpful teachers. Personal preferences also affect the interaction between students and teachers. For medicine, much of the communication of knowledge is oral, so do not become hermits with your books and deprive yourself of the oral and listening forms of communication. Stay awake in class by becoming actively engaged with the material being presented. This skill is worth cultivating because you will need it with your patients. If you find that you are taking dictation and not actually thinking about what is being discussed, find an alternate source for a permanent record so that you can think about the material when it is presented. Consider what characteristics make a teacher helpful or unhelpful for you, rather than labelling teachers as bad or good. This exercise will help you discover how you learn most effectively.
Lastly, enjoy the time studying medicine. Enjoyment is conducive to learning, while getting stressed out is a barrier to learning. Cramming tends to be stressful, while understanding and thinking about what one is studying tends to be enjoyable. If it is not, you may be in the wrong field.

[lifeAgift]

Thanks for the insight and advice.

For those of us that rely heavily on logic based instruction and learning would you reccomend reading/ reviewing the broader themes of the heavier topics before attending medical school?

As an auditory learner/ big picture thinker I also find that I learn better in conversation or at least just listening and visualizing as I go. Are instructors/ prof. receptives to students taping lectures for ntoation later, so that time spent in class can be for just listening and jotting down key points instead of dictating verbatim?

Again, thank you!

[Communications Officer]

Thank you for your appreciation and thoughtful questions.
With regard to reading/reviewing the broader themes, definitely, but do not short-change yourself on areas of your education that enlarge your general appreciation for knowledge and culture. In North American medical schools one has the summer for this these kinds of intellectual activity, but one does not have this luxury in the Caribbean medical schools, including IUHS, which go year round with short breaks.
In the medical school in Canada where I taught before retirement, my most memorable student came in with no sciences (she had a literature background). When I first met her, she did not know the difference between a protein and a cell. By the time she was in the second year of the curriculum, she was the top student in demanding medical sciences. It was breath-taking to see her advance in these first two years of the medical curriculum. Therefore, some students can learn the sciences for the first time in medical school.
In my live lectures in other medical schools, I allow both recorders and videos. At IUHS, the broadcasts are put in an archive which students can access during the whole of the medical school training, so there is no need for taping. Again, the students see and hear the teacher and read the questions in the chat room of the archived material. They can watch the broadcasts as often as they want and can email questions to the lecturer throughout the undergraduate medical education. My last slide contains my email address and the textbooks that I have used for preparation of broadcasts.

[Communications Officer]

To help students prepare for lectures in live classrooms, I provide PDF files of all the slides shown in the lecture. I do not give out much material in text form because students will skip lectures if they are given all material for independent study. The oral/listening tradition is important in medicine. The PDF files are all made available to students prior to the lecture series.
For the two-directional IUHS broadcasts, the students get the PowerPoint file that is used in the broadcast. All PowerPoint files are available prior to a broadcast series, so that the students have the opportunity to go over the material prior to the broadcast. The broadcast deals with the main concepts in an oral/listening mode, so students are advised to attend the broadcast when it is given. All material is made available in the archive to allow students to go over the material as many times as they need.

[lifeAgift]

Thanks for the response.

I just received a new comp copy of Harrison's 17th Ed., though about skimming it so that when I needed to study from the text in the future I wouldn't be overwhelmed.

I'm an Allied Health Instructor and often give my students copies of typed outline notes or power point slides to enhance their learning and supplement my lectures. I hate being taped but if it helps the student then I will permit it.

Looking forward to medical college, just need to work on the discpline of actually studying. Hmmmm. I definately have my work cut out for me.


Thanks again!

[Communications Officer]

Harrison's 17th is a good textbook. One problem is that the distinction between the major and minor points is not based on print size but on the language employed. Usually the start of most paragraphs gives you the main message. I can skim it, but students and faculty with lesser reading skills may have trouble.
If you can get access to Harrison's Online have a good look at what it offers, including podcasts, videos, and electronic chapters (a number of which are clinical atlases).
Good luck in your studies, and post messages in this thread or PM me any time you have comments or questions.

[anucool143]

waste to join and your life ends , when we join

[xalaros]

Dear Mr. Communication Officer....

I have finished a bachelors in Business, a Masters in Environmental Sustainability... and have always had an itch to know how life and the body works.. .which I figure that the best way to learn and know is by learning how the body works and the systems in our body. It is something that I feel I need to know. At age 28... living to make money and acquire material does not spark any motivation in me. The only thing that I care to know is How, and Why.. and in this quest... I have outgrown my family and many friends and have had to relearn how to live among people.

I state all this because I have do not have a guide into this direction other than inner self. So, according to my understanding... I have to take the required biology, chemistry classes, labs, etc, then take the MCAT to get into a school. (Hawaii or Carribean) However I ask myself do I see myself working individually with people once acquired this knowledge??? And my answer is yes.. if I am needed... but my focus is basically to acquire also a phd.. or masters in public health... and use this knowledge to understand how nature inside us and outside works... to provide solutions on a more global level.

Do you have any feedback for me.....???? hope to hear from you! thanx

[Drdiego]

Uhhhhhhhhhh, What?


Dear Mr. Communication Officer....

I have finished a bachelors in Business, a Masters in Environmental Sustainability... and have always had an itch to know how life and the body works.. .which I figure that the best way to learn and know is by learning how the body works and the systems in our body. It is something that I feel I need to know. At age 28... living to make money and acquire material does not spark any motivation in me. The only thing that I care to know is How, and Why.. and in this quest... I have outgrown my family and many friends and have had to relearn how to live among people.

I state all this because I have do not have a guide into this direction other than inner self. So, according to my understanding... I have to take the required biology, chemistry classes, labs, etc, then take the MCAT to get into a school. (Hawaii or Carribean) However I ask myself do I see myself working individually with people once acquired this knowledge??? And my answer is yes.. if I am needed... but my focus is basically to acquire also a phd.. or masters in public health... and use this knowledge to understand how nature inside us and outside works... to provide solutions on a more global level.

Do you have any feedback for me.....???? hope to hear from you! thanx

[LeMonsterCookie]

This is a great threat! Thanks for the introduction; I have referred two of my friends already!

[mark_p]

quite general question...You pretty much have to take chemistry.
Studying medicine involves an interest in chemistry.
Perhaps some other area in health would be better, such as psychotherapist, psychiatrist, nutritionist, etc.?
Psychotherapy and nutrition specifically involve a very high reliance on patient rapport.