I survived!! Our first super intense week is over and we only have 2 tests this week (yay?). Before school started, I was definitely a little nervous about getting back in the swing of studying and the whole school routine, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I must say that not having a job definitely helps.. We all pretty much eat, sleep, and breathe PA school.
The beginning of the week started with a nice trip to Sunny Sky’s, an AMAZING little ice cream shop in Angier, NC. They make yummy homemade ice cream and it’s so cheap! Apparently people drive from miles around to eat at this place. They have tons of flavors, even one called “cold sweat” that you have to sign a waver to even sample it. Spicy ice cream just sounds gross to me but whatever.
Lately we’ve been studying cardiology and on Tuesday.. (wait for it)… I get my first real patient!!! I know this seems incredibly soon, I can’t believe it myself. This will be our first OSCE (or Objective Structured Clinical Examination). A standardized patient comes in who has memorized a script about a particular medical condition. We then have to get a history of the problem, give them and exam, and do our best to come up with a plan. No, they’re not expecting us to diagnose the patient yet or do any crazy procedures, but just to get comfortable with the patient-provider interaction. Last Friday in lab we got to have some time with Harvey! He can open/close his eyes, his pupils dilate, has a pulse, can cough, and has heart & lung sounds (and probably more than that). This week, one of our professors would control his heart sounds and we all had to try and guess what they were. We still need a LOT of practice but at least we know what “abnormal” sounds like.
Have a great Monday friends!