Advice

Medical Student Resources 101

I’ve been thinking about this post for quite a while now, and I have finally decided how I want to approach it. If you have any suggestions, please comment or message me! So, when I started medical school 18 months ago all I had available to me was a crazy long list of textbooks recommended by the university. It has been an uphill battle figuring out what textbooks are helpful and which are less than helpful. So this is my masterpost of resources I’ve used for medical school thus far, organised by systems! 

Basics

You’ll need a good anatomy atlas, physiology text and pathophysiology book as a bare minimum. Most universities also guide you towards a clinical skills book of some sort.

Anatomy: 

Rohen and Yokochi “Color Atlas of Anatomy: A Photographic Study of the Human Body”

I used an old version of this book, and it was amazing for our human dissection block, I would strongly recommend it. 

Physiology:

Boron “Medical Physiology”

Guyton and Hall  “Textbook of Medical Physiology”

I used a combination of these two, Boron can be very heavy, so I only used it for topics I had a really good grasp of and wanted to know more about. I would recommend Guyton over Boron if you can only get one. 

Pathophysiology:

Robbins and Cotran “Pathologic Basis of Disease”

This is one of the best books ever written. I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

Clinical and Practical Skills:

Talley and O’Connor “Clinical Examination” 

This was recommended by my university. It is a good textbook, however I’ve recently discovered: 

Thomas and Monaghan “Oxford Handbook of Clinical Examination and Practical Skills”

and I personally prefer this, but it is much more concise, so Talley is great for all the background information. 

Cardiovascular

Lilly “Pathophysiology of Heart Disease” 

This textbook is fantastic, very easy to read and covered all of our cardiovascular block thoroughly.

Respiratory

West “Respiratory Physiology: The Essentials”

This book can be a bit hit and miss. I really didn’t like respiratory physiology, so I struggled a bit with this one, I used a combination of Guyton and Hall, and West. For pathophysiology you can’t go wrong with Robbins and Cotran.

Genitourinary

I didn’t use a specialised book for this block. For physiology I used Boron, which was insanely hard as a first year student. I also used Guyton and Hall at the end of the block, which was much better. So I’d definitely recommend Guyton and Hall for physiology and Robbins and Cotran for pathophysiology. 

Gastrointestinal

Chew “Crash Course Gastrointestinal System 3e” 

I really liked this book for this book, I thought it covered the hepatic system very well, overall it was very easy to read and understand. This book and Guyton and Hall if you wanted to supplement it would be great. As always, Robbins and Cotran for indepth pathophysiology. 

Endocrine and Reproductive

Porterfield and White “Endocrine Physiology”

This was one of my favourite blocks! The university recommended Greenspan’s “Basic and Clinical Endocrinology”, which for what we needed was probably too much. I found a fantastic little orange book at the library, which I will need to go get the name of, so keep an eye on this if you need a good endocrinology book. UPDATE: little orange book found!

Psychiatry

Kaplan and Saddock’s “Synopsis of Psychiatry”

This is actually a really great book for any psychiatry you might do. We only used it for four weeks, but I’d definitely recommend hiring a copy if you can! 

Neurology and Neuroanatomy

Yogarajah “Crash Course Neurology, 4e” 

Fix “BRS Neuroanatomy”

Young “Basic Clinical Neuroscience”

This has been an incredibly hard block to find a good text for, at a reasonable price. These two have been very helpful, and I find them easy to read. Only time will tell if it has been enough to pass! Update: Young’s book is also excellent!

Musculoskeletal

Jenkins “Hollinshead’s Functional Anatomy of the Limbs and Back”

This is the most amazing textbook for any block of all time ever. Literally. It is so good! I’ve used a combination of this book, and:

Moore and Dalley’s “Clinically Oriented Anatomy” 

for our musculoskeletal block. It’s been absolutely fantastic. I’ve enjoyed it so much! I would also recommend investing in some quality flashcards. I have:

Hansen “Netter’s Anatomy Flash Cards”

Which have been great, another really great resource has been WinkingSkull.com, which you do have to pay for, but it is helpful! 

Other

So, there are a few other resources I’ve used that have been very helpful. Mostly online databases and websites but I thought it would be handy to have them. Many (most?) universities have subscriptions to them so try your university library website! 

UpToDate: www.UpToDate.com 

Everything you ever needed about anything in medicine

Best Practice: www.bestpractice.bmj.com 

This is my favourite resource. Ever. It goes through signs, symptoms, risk factors, diagnostics, differentials, everything. It is a small slice of heaven in medical school.

Lancet Review Articles 

There were a really great series on Immunology in The Lancet, I would strongly recommend trying to find them for a concise overview of immunology

Life In The Fast Lane: www.lifeinthefastlane.com

Great series on ECGs!

Radiopedia: www.radiopaedia.org

These guys are great for understanding what you’re actually supposed to be seeing on any radiological film. I’ve been using it a lot for musculoskeletal, looking at Le Fort fractures, etc. 

Toronto Notes

So I just borrowed a friend’s copy of Toronto, but I believe there may be online access. Maybe an online version. It’s great for an overview and is a little more clinically focused. I really liked it for gastrointestinal, psychiatry and neurology.

Anatomy Zone 

There’s a website and a YouTube channel with great tutorials and information for anatomy, particularly musculoskeletal. I’ve found it immensely helpful whilst studying for this block! 

I know I’ve probably missed a few things, I’ll add them as I think of them but I hope this helps a few pre-clinical medical students out there! If it’s helpful I’ll keep you posted as I move into my clinical years on new texts and resources I find helpful! 

college note taking 101: how i take notes and use them to study for exams

in lecture:

i like to take quick/shorthand notes because i think learning to discriminate between what is and isn’t important material is a good skill to have so i’m not drowning in useless information when it’s time to study for a midterm or final.

i like to bring my ipad and use the notability app. it’s easier for me to just carry an ipad mini and stylus than it is for me to lug around a heavy notebook/binder and several pens/pencils.

if the professor makes lecture slides available to students online (via a class website), i like to download them onto notability and annotate them as the professor goes along. that way, i can focus more on what the professor is saying and less on merely writing everything down.

if lecture slides aren’t available, i type out my notes as i find it faster than handwriting them.

at home:

once i’m home, i take out my ipad and copy down my lecture notes into a specified notebook for that class, explain everything more thoroughly, make them neater, and organize them in a way that makes more sense to me (as opposed to copying them down exactly as how they were presented in lecture).

i like to use lots of colors, highlighters, and etc. and make them as pretty as possible so i actually want to use them to study from in the future.

integrating reading notes:

normally, what professors will do is assign reading from a textbook and base their lectures around the reading (or have the reading be based on the lectures). usually exams/tests will rely mostly on what was said in lecture instead of in the reading and this is partly because they overlap so much. what the professor says in lecture, you should consider the “important points” in your reading. sometimes, though, there are things in the reading that seem important and weren’t mentioned in lecture.

what i’ll do if this is the case is take post-its, write the piece of information down, and stick the post-it in my notebook in the corresponding section (i.e. where it fits best with my notes)

i like this method as opposed to taking notes directly in my textbook or having a separate notebook for only reading notes because 1) i’ve consistently found that reading material is not as heavily focused on in tests as lecture material and 2) i like to have all of my information in one place

using my notes to study:

when an exam is coming up, what i like to do is take all of the information in my notebook and condense it into a study guide that i can use to study from.

the format of my study guide varies depending on the class and which type of study guide and method of studying i think will help me best. my study guides range from flash cards to mind maps to sheets of paper with a bunch of condensed information.

if i come across a concept on my study guide that i can’t completely explain to myself/don’t fully understand, that’s when i’ll look back in my notebook for a better and fuller explanation of it.

i also like to give myself some time before an exam to completely read through my notebook and look at all the notes i’ve taken (not just what i have on my study guide) because i think it’s a good refresher of all of the lecture and reading material and all of the information will be brought forward in my mind.

[* a few of you have asked me for a advice on note taking: how i take notes, methods i use, how i study from them, and etc. i hope this post was helpful to you! feel free to message me if you have any other questions. happy studying! ^_^]

everything is actually a mess

what tips would you give to someone who wants to learn a new language, or continue learning a language over the summer break?? any apps or websites, or ways to stay motivated?

Learning a new language or continuing learning is honestly something I struggle with simply because of my experience with bad teachers, BUT I can still give you some tips on what I’ve done to stay motivated so far.

Find a language you are passionate about!! If you’re burnt out on what you’re learning, find a new language to learn. It’s not ideal to start back in square one, but it’s okay to do so!

Make flash cards! Everyone recommends this, but you can make a game out of what you’re learning. If you’re on the go, I recommend downloading Tinycards. Since it’s owned by Duolingo, they have sets premade for your target language.

Watch videos. This has helped a lot with learning a new language for me. You can either watch educational videos where you’re being taught grammar or vocab or you can watch videos of people speaking in your target language.

Interact with the language! Watch movies, listen to music, etc. Find different genres you might not enjoy in your native language and try them your target language! You never know what new content you come across that you enjoy.

Google Translate is not your enemy. It’s okay to use it. It’s not what people want to hear, but it’s ok to use if you’re struggling with how to pronounce a word or if there’s a word you simply just don’t know.

Pace yourself. Work on your target language at least 15 minutes a day especially for new learners. It sounds daunting, but practice makes for motivation.

Some apps/websites I recommend:

Duolingo

Tinycards

Memrise

YouTube (Use this to learn the alphabet and numbers. Duolingo seems to not understand “beginner” means you’re a beginner.)

Leo

Google Translate

Spotify/Pandora

Netflix/Hulu

These are all pretty standard tips that I’ve seen, but I fully stand by all of them. More tips can be found at my Langblr @ess-tset under the tag #learning. I hope this helps!

5 Things to Probably Never Do on the SAT Essay

Qualifier: Rules are made to be broken, and those below are no exception. Having said that, here are some habits I’d recommend steering clear from on your SAT essay.

1. Probably never use the generic “you.”

Example: “You never know what kind of problems you might get into if you aren’t careful.”

Why this sentence isn’t great: It’s informal, and pretty general.

What to do instead: use “one” in place of “you.” As in, “One never knows what kind of problems one might get into if not careful.” Or, better yet, rewrite the sentence so you to avoid referring to an ambiguous, hypothetical person.

2. Probably never begin an essay with the words “Throughout history…”

Example: “Throughout history, many people have had many different beliefs.”

Why this sentence isn’t great: Again, it’s too general. There isn’t time enough to discuss all recorded history in 25 minutes. So don’t try.

What to do instead: Limit the scope of your argument. Start small, specific. (I’m not going to rewrite the sentence above, as it’d be better to delete it and re-think how to set up the thesis.)

3. Probably avoid generalizations and extreme language.

Example: “Horrible things happen to high school students all the time and they remember those things forever.”

Why this sentence isn’t great: Generalizations like this tend to be either impossible to prove or just plain wrong.

What you can do instead: Qualify your statement, which means to “limit,” “modify” or, as I like to say, “dial it back.”

Rewritten Example: “Certain negative high school experiences are likely to leave a lasting impression.” (Notice how “all” becomes “certain,” I’ve added “likely” and “forever” becomes “lasting impression.”)

A few more words on “qualifying” (because it’s really super important):

We tend to think of “qualifying” as “being eligible” for something. It sometimes mean that, but not here. In this case, I mean taking extreme words and limiting or restricting them. Examples:

Extreme word → Qualified version

“all” → “some” or “certain”

“everyone” → “many people” or better yet, “some people”

“always” → “often,” “in some cases,” “sometimes”

“never” → “rarely” or “seldom”

A few more examples: “My brother is always throwing things at people.” (or) “All men are evil.”

Why these sentences aren’t great: Because these statements aren’t true. And they’re impossible to prove. Read them again and imagine them literally.

Then imagine the evidence you’d need to prove them.

What you can do instead: Qualify ‘em! Dial ‘em back! “My little brother sometimes likes to throw things at people.” (or) “Some argue that all humans have the capacity to do evil.”

*Fun fact: Notice anything about the title of this blog post? #takingmyownadvice

4. Probably never use a hypothetical example.

Example: “When someone says something bad about you it’s like they’re judging you without knowing you.”

What’s not great about this sentence: A few things:

The generic “you.”

It’s general.

It’s a hypothetical example. In other words, it’s not citing something specific that actually happened, so it doesn’t really count as evidence.

What you can do instead: Write about something specific that actually happened. “Last week, when my friend Jac told me that the way I was dressed was “way too preppy,” I felt as if I were being judged.” See how specific?

5. Probably never cite facts without proving them.

Example: “The world is getting more peaceful every day.”

What’s not great about this sentence: Is that true? Can you prove it? How?

What you can do instead: Again, get more specific.

Rewritten example: “Using statistical analysis, psychologist Steven Pinker has argued that the gradual decrease of military conflict, genocide, homicide, torture, and other acts of violence over the last few centuries has led to the present era being the most peaceful time in human history.”

Here’s one more:

Unfounded claim:  “You have to see and hear something to learn about it.”

Rewritten:  “Last year in my AP Psych class we read an article that discussed a study in which some participants received information both visually and aurally while others received the same information only visually or aurally. It turned out that those who received both kinds of information were 20% more likely to retain that information a year later.”

Written by Ethan Sawyer

self discipline tips

here are tips I discovered very recently:

something is better than nothing. 5 minutes of work are better than zero. Just because you missed something on your schedule doesn’t mean you can’t still work on it, even for 5 minutes. Grow and build on this.

second drafts / reviews can be done after.

Don’t think you are going to do your very best work on the first try. Take the weight of perfectionism off your shoulders.

don’t think about doing it. just do it as fast as you can.

build on your productivity, not your failures.

If you come from a past of procrastinating and now feel motivated to change and discipline yourself, do NOT try to do everything at once.

if you have a set of different goals to accomplish, begin with the most important one. Wait until the rotine of working for that one settles in (you feel productive and comfortable-ish), and then begin with the next. Repeat.

this way you’ll be building your way up and not juggling everything at the same time, hoping everything works out.

be patient with yourself, you’ll get there!

set smaller deadlines for your goals

have monthly and weekly-ish deadlines

e.g. if you are doing a project, due 22nd Feb, set personal deadlines, like have Introduction written by 2nd Feb, have Methods written by 10th Feb, have project complete by 18th Feb.

take them as seriously as you possibly can, don’t miss out on yourself.

write realistic daily tasks and don’t stop until you finish them. after them you can do whatever you want

on writing realistic daily tasks, the secret is knowing you can only do so much in one day, but trusting you can accomplish everything in the course of any period of time (a week, or 2 weeks or a month, etc.) because you will combine the work from all these different days.

it’s very tempting to write down all the tasks you need to accomplish in one day to just get over with it, but the real deal is you won’t accomplish half of them. You’ll feel very unproductive then, wich leads to demotivation.

spread daily tasks in the time necessary.

have a consistent sleep schedule.

if your mind isn’t ready everything will fall apart.

have one rest day per week where you plan nothing, do whatever you want except studying. this can be harder than you expect!

(don’t forget these are effective only if you actually put them into practice! good luck babes!!)

When algorithms surprise us

Machine learning algorithms are not like other computer programs. In the usual sort of programming, a human programmer tells the computer exactly what to do. In machine learning, the human programmer merely gives the algorithm the problem to be solved, and through trial-and-error the algorithm has to figure out how to solve it.

This often works really well - machine learning algorithms are widely used for facial recognition, language translation, financial modeling, image recognition, and ad delivery. If you’ve been online today, you’ve probably interacted with a machine learning algorithm.

But it doesn’t always work well. Sometimes the programmer will think the algorithm is doing really well, only to look closer and discover it’s solved an entirely different problem from the one the programmer intended. For example, I looked earlier at an image recognition algorithm that was supposed to recognize sheep but learned to recognize grass instead, and kept labeling empty green fields as containing sheep.

When machine learning algorithms solve problems in unexpected ways, programmers find them, okay yes, annoying sometimes, but often purely delightful.

So delightful, in fact, that in 2018 a group of researchers wrote a fascinating paper that collected dozens of anecdotes that “elicited surprise and wonder from the researchers studying them”. The paper is well worth reading, as are the original references, but here are several of my favorite examples.

Bending the rules to win

First, there’s a long tradition of using simulated creatures to study how different forms of locomotion might have evolved, or to come up with new ways for robots to walk.

Why walk when you can flop? In one example, a simulated robot was supposed to evolve to travel as quickly as possible. But rather than evolve legs, it simply assembled itself into a tall tower, then fell over. Some of these robots even learned to turn their falling motion into a somersault, adding extra distance.

[Image: Robot is simply a tower that falls over.]

Why jump when you can can-can? Another set of simulated robots were supposed to evolve into a form that could jump. But the programmer had originally defined jumping height as the height of the tallest block so - once again - the robots evolved to be very tall. The programmer tried to solve this by defining jumping height as the height of the block that was originally the *lowest*. In response, the robot developed a long skinny leg that it could kick high into the air in a sort of robot can-can. 

[Image: Tall robot flinging a leg into the air instead of jumping]

Hacking the Matrix for superpowers

Potential energy is not the only energy source these simulated robots learned to exploit. It turns out that, like in real life, if an energy source is available, something will evolve to use it.

Floating-point rounding errors as an energy source: In one simulation, robots learned that small rounding errors in the math that calculated forces meant that they got a tiny bit of extra energy with motion. They learned to twitch rapidly, generating lots of free energy that they could harness. The programmer noticed the problem when the robots started swimming extraordinarily fast.

Harvesting energy from crashing into the floor: Another simulation had some problems with its collision detection math that robots learned to use. If they managed to glitch themselves into the floor (they first learned to manipulate time to make this possible), the collision detection would realize they weren’t supposed to be in the floor and would shoot them upward. The robots learned to vibrate rapidly against the floor, colliding repeatedly with it to generate extra energy.

[Image: robot moving by vibrating into the floor]

Clap to fly: In another simulation, jumping bots learned to harness a different collision-detection bug that would propel them high into the air every time they crashed two of their own body parts together. Commercial flight would look a lot different if this worked in real life.

Discovering secret moves: Computer game-playing algorithms are really good at discovering the kind of Matrix glitches that humans usually learn to exploit for speed-running. An algorithm playing the old Atari game Q*bert discovered a previously-unknown bug where it could perform a very specific series of moves at the end of one level and instead of moving to the next level, all the platforms would begin blinking rapidly and the player would start accumulating huge numbers of points. 

A Doom-playing algorithm also figured out a special combination of movements that would stop enemies from firing fireballs - but it only works in the algorithm’s hallucinated dream-version of Doom. Delightfully, you can play the dream-version here

[Image: Q*bert player is accumulating a suspicious number of points, considering that it’s not doing much of anything]

Shooting the moon: In one of the more chilling examples, there was an algorithm that was supposed to figure out how to apply a minimum force to a plane landing on an aircraft carrier. Instead, it discovered that if it applied a *huge* force, it would overflow the program’s memory and would register instead as a very *small* force. The pilot would die but, hey, perfect score.

Destructive problem-solving

Something as apparently benign as a list-sorting algorithm could also solve problems in rather innocently sinister ways.

Well, it’s not unsorted: For example, there was an algorithm that was supposed to sort a list of numbers. Instead, it learned to delete the list, so that it was no longer technically unsorted.

Solving the Kobayashi Maru test: Another algorithm was supposed to minimize the difference between its own answers and the correct answers. It found where the answers were stored and deleted them, so it would get a perfect score.

How to win at tic-tac-toe: In another beautiful example, in 1997 some programmers built algorithms that could play tic-tac-toe remotely against each other on an infinitely large board. One programmer, rather than designing their algorithm’s strategy, let it evolve its own approach. Surprisingly, the algorithm suddenly began winning all its games. It turned out that the algorithm’s strategy was to place its move very, very far away, so that when its opponent’s computer tried to simulate the new greatly-expanded board, the huge gameboard would cause it to run out of memory and crash, forfeiting the game.

In conclusion

When machine learning solves problems, it can come up with solutions that range from clever to downright uncanny. 

Biological evolution works this way, too - as any biologist will tell you, living organisms find the strangest solutions to problems, and the strangest energy sources to exploit. Sometimes I think the surest sign that we’re not living in a computer simulation is that if we were, some microbe would have learned to exploit its flaws.

So as programmers we have to be very very careful that our algorithms are solving the problems that we meant for them to solve, not exploiting shortcuts. If there’s another, easier route toward solving a given problem, machine learning will likely find it. 

Fortunately for us, “kill all humans” is really really hard. If “bake an unbelievably delicious cake” also solves the problem and is easier than “kill all humans”, then machine learning will go with cake.

Mailing list plug

If you enter your email, there will be cake!

Chapter 5 - Hess’s Law pt.2: Problem solving  // Science Scribbles A-Level / IB HL Chemistry collection

(Hess’s Law part 1 | other syllabus topics)

And here is part 2. Hope I managed to explain it somewhat ^^ The reason I drew all these symbols is to explain the method, but once you get it there is no need to draw them every time!

Some melodies have soul in them, don't they? What you listen to in instrumental music or classics that has the same feeling? I absolutely loved Petricor that you recommended.

Oh, I do.

Beethoven, Für EliseTwo Steps from Hell, Big SkyDebussy, Clair de LuneChopin, Nocturne op 9 n°2Bedrich Smetana, VltavaLudovico Einaudi, ErosLudovico Einaudi, DivenireLudovico Einaudi, PrimaveraLudovico Einaudi, NefeliPhilip Glass, DuetErik Satie, GnossiennesDario Marianelli, Dance With MeDario Marianelli, AtonementDario Marianelli, Cee, You and TeaClint Mansell, Lose YourselfTom Tykwer, The EscapeTom Tykwer, Cloud Atlas FinaleYann Tiersen, Summer 78Hans Zimmer, Cornfield ChaseJohn Wasson, CaravanTchaikovsky, Dance of the SwansTchaikovsky, Waltz of the FlowersProkofiev, Dance of the KnightsCraig Armstrong, OpeningAdolphe Adam, Dance of the WillisPhilip Glass, Morning PassagesZoe Conway, Half Day RoadJoe Hisaishi, Dragon BoyMartin Phipps, Saint PetersburgEmile Pandolfi, Once Upon a December

etc.

50 Things to ask on Residency Interviews

HARK. Interview season is upon us!

And my old littles gave me the great idea to come up with a big ol’ list of questions the interviewing 4th year can use to find the answers they need about certain program OR give ideas that a 4th year may not have thought of at all.

I hope this helps anyone who has been dreading the “any questions for us?” moment. It’s not everything you can ask, it may not even highlight your program priorities, but hopefully you can get something out of it!

Is there any standard curriculum which the residents follow?

When do residents have to take step 3 by?

Is there any expectation to take step 3 before residency starts?

How are morning reports/grand rounds/resident lectures held?

Does the program support simulators and simulated learning?

Does the program have a sim center?

Is the in-training exam used by the program in any way?

When do the residents take the in-training exam at this program?

What is the percentage of specialty board pass rates?

What is the fellowship match rate/job placement rate?

What are you expected responsibilities on the floor?

What kind of call do you do as an intern vs as a senior?

What are you looking for a in a resident?

What do you value in a team?

How often are you working with seniors vs other interns vs attendings?

What fellowship programs does this program offer?

What are the responsibilities of the fellows toward residents, if any?

How are mentors approached?

How does continuity clinic run through the program?

How many electives are offered per year?

What specialties does the hospital not have?

Which specialties are done at an outside hospital/system if any?

What are some hallmarks that make this program different from others?

How does this program participate in resident wellness?

Are their any resources if a resident feels they need help?

Is there support when there is a loss during patient care?

Does the hospital have any associated medical schools?

What are the 3rd and 4th year med student expectations?

What are the resident expectations to the medical students?

How many fourth years are around during audition season?

How is the schedule organized (how many floor, clinic, etc months)?

Are schedules flexible in any way?

If someone needs to miss a day or call, how is that rectified?

How are vacation requested, decided and divided?

Is there a holiday schedule?

How does the program approach QI projects?

What are some standout QI projects from the residents?

What are the research expectations for each year?

What resources does the program provide for research?

Are the residents provided food and drink (stipend/resident lounge supply)?

Are the residents provided scrubs?

Do you get white coat replacements or fleeces/jackets?

What is the expected attire on the floor, clinic, etc?

What is the parking situation?  

Are there any stipends for moving, study material, exams or conferences?

What is the average cost of living in that area?

Where do most of the residents live?

Do you need to be in close proximity to the hospital?

How do you think a program of this size facilitates the learning environment?

Do the residents hang out together?

I didn’t describe why someone would ask these so if you’re interested, don’t know what something means, or want elaboration feel free to send an ask.

Go forth! Be strong and confident!

Good luck!