Monday, December 28, 2009

Damn You Embryology...Damn You

Today I woke up and took a good long look at my embryology text book. I thought, "gee, wouldn't the holidays be a great time to really cozy up to that chapter on formation of the gut tube"?

No. No it wouldn't.

Am I going insane?

Well, yes and no. My anatomy prof is obsessed with embryology in a major way. He also loves lymph drainage, to an almost unnatural degree. He likes to constantly point out the fact that if you know your embryology inside and out then you will also automatically understand all the drainages for lymph, the visceral vs somatic innervation of things, and blood supply.

From my very cursory knowledge in the matter, he does seem to be on to something. It's just a matter of learning all this somehow on top of everything else that I have the difficulty. I spent mucho time on embryo studying and there were absolutely ZERO questions on the multiple choice and long answer exams. Only a smatter of questions on the spotter. I do not want to get into that irritating mentality of "am I going to need to know this for the exam" but when the volume of info is massive you can't help but let your mind wander there. I try and think of it in the practical way, "how is this going to present itself clinically and how will that matter?" None of my patients are ever going to ask me how I did on my anatomy spotter in 1st year, but they may want to know why a drug works, or what the complications of a procedure might be, or what causes an auto-immune disease.

I know, I know. I have already had my rant on this recently. I'll stop.

I wonder sometimes what the massive nerd-go-getters do over the holidays. Am I lazy for having taken the last 10 days off to cook, read, sleep in, watch movies?

One last tangent...a classmate of mine recently got me hooked on a BBC television series called "Bodies". If "ER" had been realistic, set on an obs/gyne ward in the UK, and everyone had had Irish/Scottish/English accents it would have been this show. (Oh, and if the sex scenes/O.R scenes had been a little more graphic.) It's a cringingly realistic med-drama. Quite good. And I usually stay away from that kind of 'entertainment'.

4 comments:

OMDG said...

Wow you're working over break?? Now that's dedication.

Embryology and me? Not so friendly with one another. Fortunately there was like ONE question on the subject on step 1, and it was about branchial pouches I think.

Enjoy the rest of your break!

Albinoblackbear said...

Oh...noo...not working yet. I took a good long look *at* my embryo text, not *in* my embryo text. It was a stare down and I bailed. Good to hear that there was only one question on the step 1 (that exam is already striking fear in my heart).

Hope you're having a great break too!

Bostonian in NY said...

Keep in mind that your anatomy is being taught by anatomists and embryologists who studied that stuff for YEARS...it is not exactly clinically relevant.

I had maybe 2 embryo questions on step 1...Branchial cleft and a Rathke's pouch question.

Keet said...

All this talk of pouches and exams is making me nervous. I'm glad you're enjoying the holidays!
See you soon!