Thread: Just matched at Mayo!!! My MUA Experience

Well, I just matched in FP at Mayo in St. Cloud, MN. I have been waiting for match to be over with to be able to write this post. I want to write about my experiences through MUA so hopefully it can help future students. I started in Jan of 2002, and knew I would have to set things up perfectly to be able to make this years match. Once I got there on the Island, I was like what in the world did I do. I was just happy that my fiance and I were going to do this together. Anyways we started with:

1ST SEMESTER: Histo, Embryo, and who could forget Anatomy. I would advise to learn your anatomy as best you can. Most people say not much Anatomy on Step I. Lies!! I had probably 20-25 questions on Anatomy. Good thing it was one of my strong classes. Anyways, 1st semester feels by far the longest. If you can get through 1st semester, you will be fine. After 1st semester my fiance and I stayed there for the 2 week break. Her sister came to visit. This was a wrong move. After being there for so long, you need to go back home to stay sane. Needless to say, we never stayed on the island during our breaks again.

2ND SEMESTER: Biochemi, Physio, Psych, and Ethics. This semester was a little more chill. Biochem was a pain in the butt, but very doable. It is like a whole new language. Physio was the best. Dr. is a genius. I learned so much in that class, that to me Physio was a great foundation for medicine. This class teaches how everything should work in the body. This is the normal functioning of the body. If you know how the body should function , then when in clinicals, if you see something different, then you know something is wrong. I had quite a bit of all of these subjects on Step I. A lot of biochem, 10-15 Psych, a lot of Physio, and 4-5 ethics. Although an easier semester, very important for boards. Plus these professors were amazing.

3RD SEMESTER: Neuro, Genetics, Epi, Micro and Immun. This was a tougher semester. 5 classes and 5 tests on one day is not fun. This was Micro profs first semester, and things were rough at first, but then she got into the swing of things. Learn your Micro, b/c lots of it in clinicals (Inf Disease). Learn what drugs to kill what bugs. If you get this down, then it will help a lot on Step I and clinicals. I had about 20 Neuro questions, 10 Epi, 2-5 Genetics, and belive it or not, not a lot of micro. I was mad, because Micro was another one of my strong classes. If you don't totally get it all in Micro, don't worry b/c you will get it all again in Inf Disease in Path. But the key is to learn it, because a lot of clinicals, (Peds, IM, ID etc...) are all about bugs and what drugs to use. All in all, very imp semester.

4TH Semester: Path, PD, and Pharm. This by far was a very important semester. Path is broken up into 4th and 5th semester. There was a lot of Path and Pharm on Step I. I felt like every other question on my test was either Pharm, Path, or Biochem. The professors in this semester were amazing. I would say learn your Pharm for sure. Mechanism of Action and side effects is huge. And of course without PD, there is no way you will do well in your rotations. Every single encounter with any patient requires a full H&P. So get it down now. It is key for clinicals, and let me say for the CS, without it you will not pass. Pharm and Path are key for Step I, but for clinicals, PD is your key to success. You will get help from attendings in clinicals as far as Pathology and what drugs to use, but you need to know how to do an H&P to be able to figure out the Pathology. Buckle down this semester and learn as much as you can.

5TH SEMESTER: Path 2, and Clin Med. Another important semester. Clin Med was very important. I still use my clin med notes to this day. This breaks down mostly all the common diseases and how to diagnose and treat. This is what the real world is like. Find the Signs and Symptoms, Dx and differentiate with different tests, and know how to treat. After these classes, I can not emphasize how important it is to pay attn to the Kaplan tapes. It is the key to coming off the island and taking the test within a month. I wish I would've payed more attention. These tapes are excellent.
Once I left the island in late Aug, I took 3 weeks off to visit family and friends. After that , I studied for 3 1/2 weeks. I saw the Kaplan tapes again from 8 am until 6 pm. I picked which ones I needed to watch. I realized at this time that I had them for free in Nevis, and was stupid not to take advantage of them. Then I would study the Kaplan notes from 8-12. Then I would do it all again the next day for 3 1/2 weeks. I didn't have time to finish studying every subject and I decided to choose one class and not study for it, and take my chances that there will not be many questions on it. I chose Biochem. Wrong choice. I had a lot of Biochem. I didn't get to get through all Path or Pharm either. I just took what I learned on the island and took the test. I took it on a Thurday and started my Psych rotation on a Monday. I will write about my clinical experiences, CK and CS, and the match process, tomorrow. I will write about which rotations I did, where, with what attendings, and what I got out of each rotation that helped in CK. Also the match process, WOW!! what a headache. Anyways, until later.

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I don't go to mua, but found your post interesting and informative anyway.

I think your anat prof, i believe he teaches at St Matthews now. One of the first termers told me about a project they had to do based on a photocopy of a particular patient case, and on the side it said "Medical University of the Americas". So it must be the same prof.

Well, I couldn't sleep, so let me finish my original post. So I think I left off where I started my Psych rotation on a Monday in October.

PSYCH- Awesome experience. I went to Cherry Hospital in NC. My attending was Dr. J. If you want to learn a lot and see some crazy stuff, then I recommend being on her team. She is amazing. This rotation is the perfect rotation to start off with to get your feet wet. You will see a lot of pathology. This hospital is all Psych patients. It is separated from the city of Goldsboro. I was scared my first week. First of all you are now in the real world, and then stuck with a bunch of crazy people, WOW!!! what an eye opener. Of course not much with the steth, but you do get a lot of experience with doing H&P's and writing SOAP notes. It gets you used to all the stuff you will be seeing at any other hospital. Then for CK purposes, once you leave this place you will not forget the stuff you have seen here, believe me. So when you get a question on CK, you will easily be able to dx the pt, because you have probably see that type of pt. But the key for CK is know what drugs to give in Psych. I had about 20 Psych questions, and most of them were drug questions. After I was done here in early Dec, I took time off for Christmas, and this was probably my last break.

SURGERY- Well, in the first week of Jan I headed to New York and did surgery at Lincoln in the Bronx. Let me tell you, this is the best rotation ever. I loved it. Talk about hands on. I though about switching to surgery instead of Sports Med for a while, but then decided the lifestyle was too hectic. I was a little nervous, because I had only done Psych and not really done real medicine. But once there, the attendings and residents were awesome. They made me feel so comfortable. There are many attendings you work with, some of them were the best to work with. They love to teach. They do not pimp, but treat you as equals. That doesn't mean the other attendings were bad, but I just felt more comfortable with them. During this rotation you do 4 weeks in Trauma surgery which will be with a group of residents from Cornell, 2 weeks in the SICU, which was the best, 1 week of Hands and Plastics, 1 week of Urology, and 4 weeks of Gen Surgery. In Trauma, be ready to see some crazy bloody stuff. Guns shots and stab wounds all the time.Here you will perfect your foley insertions, chest tubes, triage and ATLS, as well as immediate acute surgery. There were days where I had one thumb stuck in the Left Ventricle and the other in the portal vein on the same patient. I loved the excitement. In the SICU is where you perfect your procedures. A-lines, Central Lines, ABG's Blood draws, etc... You also learn you fluid management. In Gen surgery you learn all the rest with OLM residents. These OLM residents are mainly FMG's. Depending on what residents you get and how confident you are, the more you can do. It came down to the point where I was closing most of my patients. I learned how to suture really well. Then if you want you can just hang out in the busy ER when on call and do as many blood draws, IV lines and suturing as you want. I was side by side with Cornell students, and let me tell you , they are the laziest students in the world. Most of the nursing staff hated them. They loved MUA and Saba students. They would go out of their way to help you and teach you. There is much more about this rotation, but it all comes down to how much you want to do. This rotation had some rough hours. Sometimes from 5 am to 11pm, and when on call, do not expect to sleep. This hospital is so busy 24 hours a day. One attending only likes students in his OR, and not residents. So some days it is just you and the Attending. So be ready and be willing to jump in there and do stuff. You will learn a lot better by doing. You will also write a lot of notes, so you will be ready for IM and Peds and every other rotation. This rotation gave me a lot of confidence and when I went to the rest fo my rotations, I haddone more than a lot of the residents I worked with. You get what you put in out of this rotation. Unfortuntately for CK, I did not get many surgery questions. Maybe 5-10

CHILD PSYCH- I drove on the Friday I finished Surg back to Cherry in NC and did 4 weeks of Child Psych. Another excellent rotation. I was still on a high from surgery, that this rotation seemed a little slow. But still, it was a great learning experience. These kids are all Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant. They just need a swift kick in the butt.

PEDIATRICS- Well as soon as I finished on a Friday, I drove down to Houma, LA to do Peds, IM, OBGYN, elective in Family and a Sub-I in IM. Peds started on the next Monday. They staff was once again awesome. Chief of Pediatrics is so smart, that I would trust her with my kids in a heartbeat. Then you have the others. All amazing docs. This rotation was a little slow, because I was doing it during summer when there is not much pathology. Mainly rashes. There was a lot of pt contact in the outpt setting though. This rotation was a good way to get used to the hospital. I wish I would've done this rotation in the winter months, because there is a lot more pathology during those months. Still, all in all a great rotation. You have to do one week of Neonatology, and that was neat. Lot of fun. For boards, there is a lot of Peds. So if you don't get a lot of experience when you do this rotation, then make sure you read.

IM- After Peds I went straight to IM. Now this was by far the best IM experience you can get. There is a lot of pathology here. The strongest part of this rotation was being on Chief of Medicines team. I spent 3 months with a walking Harrison's. He is amazingly smart. He is the Chief of IM and basically the whole hospital. He runs morning report. Students at this hospital get a lot of responsibility and hands on. You get to work up your pt. from the time they come into the ER until they leave. You write up the H&P, you put the orders, and manage the pt from day to day. You present your pt's in morning report, etc... You are basically an intern. This rotation pretty much gets you ready for your intern year. I felt comfortable after doing surgery, but it can be overwhelming. If you get scared, don't worry you have backup there. She is the rock of the IM floor. She is a NP, with a lot of experience. She is the queen of porcedures, and if there is one that needs to be done and you want to do it, then she will walk you through it. I loved this rotation. I learned a lot. You will see in the 3 months, in morning report about 5-8 a day, WHich is about500-700 pts. Sometimes more. There will be a lot of DKA, CHF, MI, Asthma, etc.... You will see a lot of pathology, and you will get so good at diagnosing and treating them, that you will be ready for CK when you leave this rotation. The key is to listen in morning report, because that is where you learn everything. Then there is a didactic after each morning report. You will learn a lot in this rotation. I loved it, and the staff was amazing. As far as for CK, you will get a big part of IM. I can't emphasize how much you need to pay attn in morning report, because every question you get on CK, you have seen in morning report. Just go over it in your head, and what you did for that pt, and you will do fine.

OBGYN- Well once again done on a Friday and started on a Monday. Again another excellent rotation. Not much interaction with the attendings, but mostly with the residents form Ochsner. They have 2 groups. THey do 6 months in Houma and 6 in New Orleans. THey switch every couple of months. Lots of hands on. Very busy. You do 3 weeks fo OB and 3 of Gyn. I started with Gyn. I was dreading this rotation. On my first day I did 5 PAP smears. I had never even seen one, and I was broken in real quick. They became second nature. In the 3 weeks, I probably did about 50. During Gyn you are in surgery and clinic. You spread the cases with the other students on you team as far as surgery was concerned. The clinic is so busy. They schedule about 90-100 a day. When you finish your case in the OR, you go and help in the clinic. You get a lot of hands on. You also follow and write notes on the pt you scrubbed in on. Then OB was more lay back. It is just a waiting game, to see when the baby is coming. You scrub in on a lot of c-sxn. In my 3 weeks, not too many deliveries. I wish I could've deliverd more, but you have to share with your other fellow students. Also you have to be there ready, becuase the baby is coming without you or not. The residents have delivered so many, that they welcome the students to deliver them, as long as you are confident and ready. Great rotation, and you can do as much as you are comfortable doing. For CK, I had a lot of OBGYN. My questions were either Peds, IM, or OBGYN.

FAMILY MED- This was a real laid back rotation, but a very good one. I worked in the clinic at the same place in Houma. This is the rotation that gets you ready for CS. You learn a lot. Lot of DM down here, so you learn how to treat that real well. But the key to this rotation is to just do it. The clinic is run by the students. There are usually 4-6 students. There is usually 20 pts scheduled for the morning and 10 for the afternoon. They put them in rooms and you just get the chart and go at it. Just like CS, the chart will tell you why they are here and their vitals. Then you go in and do a quick H&P. You write in your assessment and plans ane then go to the attendings offfice and present the case to him. Tell him you A&P, and he will say yess or no and change stuff, THis si a good rotation to learn how to make a differential dx and how to proceed with a plan. You get a lot of freedom, and this rotation closely mimics CS. I would recommend you do this rotation pior to CS.

As far as the rest of my rotations are concerned, I did a Sub-I in IM, Cardiology at Ochsner, ,and am currently doing Endocrinology at Ochsner. If you remember you are responsible for setting up your own electives. All you have to do is get in contact with the hospital via phone or internet, and fill out the proper paperwork. I am scheduled to do an elective in FP at Mayo for 4 weeks and then 4 weeks in ER back in Houma. THen I graduate in Worcester, MA on May 21. Then I have June off until I start residency in July.

As far as CK was concerned, I started studying during FP. I would go home and eat and relax a little and then study for CK for about 3-4 hours a night. I started that my last 3 weeks of my FP rotation. I then took the test 2 weeks after my FP rotation. What I used to study was Kaplan. Those books were awesome. I did Kaplan IM, OBGYN, and Peds. I then did Blueprints OBGYN and Peds. Blueprints IM was not helpful at all. I then did about 800 Kaplan Qbank questions. Not helpful at all in my opinion. I then did about 600 USMLE World questions. Those were hard, but almost identical to CK. I think some of my questions came straight from there. I suggest you do those. I took CS one week after FP and then I took CK the week after. So all in all I studied 5 weeks at night mainly for CK. For CS, I just went and took it, because I think FP and PD on the island is all you really need to pass. 2 days prior I read boards and wards. That is what I used to cover Psych and Surgery. I didn't study anything else for those 2. I think I got a good enough rotation in them to do well on CK. My final suggestion is to get Boards and ward early in the rotations and read each section of your next roation prior to your rotation. That way you have read it at least once. Also I wish I could've gone through Secrets, but I didn't have time. I looked at it briefly after I took CK, and I wish I would've looked at it. Very helpful.

Well, I hope this post and the previous one answers a lot of questions about MUA, and how things work. By the way, the clinical coordinators were very helpful in setting up my rotations back to back knowing my situation of starting MUA in Jan. I send them many THanks. As far as the match goes, it is a year away, but if you look on the residency mathc forum, I have posted there as well as a lot of other students as how to go about that. If there is anything else I can help anyone with, just post it up here and I will try and respond. This forum has helped me a lot, and I just hope you will someday post your experiences.

could you email me and let me know what to expect about ochnser? i was automatically matched there for my PGY1 year in prelim medicine without interviewing and have no idea what the program in IM is really like... i understand it to be fairly cushy and a place that would give me time to read and get ready for ophtho residency... you can email me @ brendangirschek@hotmail.com... thanks bro.

What is "secrets"? Thanks

It is part of the Secrets series. This one is called Step II Secrets. It is a book that is in a question answer format. Real good study material. It is broken down into specialties and important topics. (Alcohol, Smoking, Diabetes, etc...) It is quick and easy to read and hits the important stuff. There is also other books in the Secrets series, like Medicine Secrets, Inf Dis secrets, etc..., but I didn't buy those. They are easy, because of the question answer format. I only have the Step II secrets, but didn't have time to read it though, but I did skim it after the test, and I wish I would have.

i used step II secrets and boards and wards as my primary sources for step 2... that is essentially all you need... get the two books when u start ur clerkships.. thats what ive been telling my friends behind me...ull get a chance to read through em several times by the time u finish your cores... and then u wont have to take too much time off to study for step 2 ...

Just wanted to send an update!! I am now doing 4 weeks at Mayo in St. Cloud where I wil be starting in July. In my opinion I think when you are looking into programs, make sure you do an elective there before or even after you match. This way you can get used to the system and how things work. Believe me, not all programs run the same. I am glad I am here now, because by the looks of it, I am going to be OK!! I was a little scared about starting residency, but then I realized it is not so bad. I do not feel inferior to any of the residents here now, and I have actually done a lot more than a lot of these residents. When you do your rotations, do as many procedures and as many H&P's as you can. It will help in the long run. The good thing about the hospitals that we rotate in is that you get a lot of hands on, and you feel confident and proepared. Good luck!!

Originally Posted by jflores20

Just wanted to send an update!! I am now doing 4 weeks at Mayo in St. Cloud where I wil be starting in July. In my opinion I think when you are looking into programs, make sure you do an elective there before or even after you match. This way you can get used to the system and how things work. Believe me, not all programs run the same. I am glad I am here now, because by the looks of it, I am going to be OK!! I was a little scared about starting residency, but then I realized it is not so bad. I do not feel inferior to any of the residents here now, and I have actually done a lot more than a lot of these residents. When you do your rotations, do as many procedures and as many H&P's as you can. It will help in the long run. The good thing about the hospitals that we rotate in is that you get a lot of hands on, and you feel confident and proepared. Good luck!!

Congrats and take some time to explore Minnesota. beautiful place. Go down to Browerville (not far away) and have a tenderloin..ha ha......Good to see someone doing well and you are definitely in a superior training situation.

thanks for this awesome thread -W