Emily Wolcott
October 1, 2003
7:20 am: I woke up late again this morning because I have mastered the art of hitting my snooze 20 times. Unfortunately I also have realized that today is Wednesday and I have an ECC (early clinical contact) today, which means I have to dress up.
8:10: After rushing to get ready this morning I make it to my first lecture in Irvine. Today’s lecture schedule is light, and fairly boring. We learned about lab tests, epidemiology of disease, cultural medicine, and nutrition. All important info, but not really groundbreaking or anything.
12:00: Lecture is finally done and I didn’t even fall asleep today thanks to the wonderful coffee provided in Student Affairs. Today there was free food provided by the Family Practice Club (pizza again), and Dr. Shubrook is giving a lecture over history taking and SOAP notes. I could only stay for 20 minutes before I left for my ECC
1:00: I arrived at my ECC at the ER or O’Bleness hospital. The waiting room was empty when I got there, but we picked up by 2:30 or so. At my last ECC I had six of my own patients. As a first year student, all I did was a Chief Complaint and a basic exam. Then after presenting to the attending, you go backing and they exam the patient and work out tests and a treatment plan. Since it was slow today I was only given two patients. The ECCs are great because they just throw you in there and let you work with patients. I have finally figured out how to use the ophthalmoscope. I am still not comfortable with using my stethoscope (seeing that I have only been in med school a month), but I still practice on patients even if I can’t hear anything. The attendings in the ER are great because they really give first year students a lot of opportunities to learn.
5:00: I left O’Bleness and went to an OMM review in Irvine until six
6:00: Josh, Ehab and I decided we didn’t want to cook so we went to the Purple Chopstick and ate. The food took a long time, but it was awesome.
7:30-10:30: Finally it’s study time. Since it is only Intro Block I just have to review some biochem tonight. Sometimes I feel like I am not studying enough, but it’s all pretty much review right now. I’m sure it will pick up next block. I just have to get into a really good study schedule, so I don’t procrastinate too much.
11:00: Off to bed again, so that I can just “accidentally” sleep in tomorrow…..again.