Yeeeah, that's a total lie. I'm not even near a coast right now (the nearest body of water is the Schuylkill, and you couldn't pay me enough to swim in that). I'm currently sitting in my apartment, eating Chinese takeout leftovers for the second time today, trying to find a second wind to keep truckin' on with boards studying. Since I'm writing this, you can tell I'm having a lot of success finding it.
This post is a shoutout to Liz, a friend of my sister and senior at a local university who is interested in going the DO route. I had a lovely lunch with her and my sister today (Reading comprehension test: I went out for lunch, yet had Chinese food leftovers twice...apparently I'm still in winter hibernation feeding mode.) and since there's nothing major going on at school this week, I asked her what she would like to read about, and she wanted to know about the coursework at PCOM.
(Disclaimer: From what I've heard, the powers that be have slightly changed the curriculum to include some additional case-based courses throughout the year. However, since I didn't have them, I can't speak about them. These are the courses that I went through, and if you're interested in the curriculum changes, Admissions has more information.)
So here goes:
Year 1 (aka "Welcome to Medical School, Your Soul Is Now Ours. Get Ready, Because a Storm's A-Coming")
Orientation
Choose one of the following personas:#1: The overeager, "I did EVERYTHING in undergrad, so I'm going to rock med school, no problem." First group session, someone asks, "How do you find xx on Nucleus?" You immediately chime in, "DON'T WORRY I'VE ALREADY MEMORIZED THE LAYOUT OF NUCLEUS. AND BLACKBOARD. AND THE SEATING CHART FOR THE AUDITORIUMS." You're like Hermione Granger, but for real. When Emma Watson did it, it was amusing. When you do it, your orientation leader (me) will raise an eyebrow and go, "Chill out. Let's take it down by a thousand."
#2: The bro, "HECK YEAH! Ortho's where it's at! Can't wait to crack some knees, repair some ACLs. Man, I totally tore mine playing some LAX, y'know?" gunner surgeon with an Abercrombie polo and a pair of Sperrys. Since I went to a very non-athletically centered school (a nice way of putting it; if you went to VC or a VC-like college, you know what I'm talking about), watching these guys was like watching a new species in the wild. There were like the real-life Freddy Prinze Jr.'s in She's All That. Count how many are gung-ho surgery, and remember that number come Match Day, and see if they actually add up.
#3: The wallflower, "Ohmygosh, this is so intimidating, there's so many people, and they're all so smart, and I don't know anything, so I'm going to just shut my mouth and not speak to anybody." Don't be scared! You're part of the PCOM Family now, and we're all here to help you. Seriously, I can't tell you how many times I got lost those first few weeks, and no one was nasty or purposely steered me in the wrong direction. Be nice, speak up, but also be willing to listen to others, and you'll go far.
#4: The natural genius, "I only studied 2 days before tests in college and got straight A's, this med school thing's a piece of cake." All I'm going to say is: Um. Yeah. Okay. Suuure. Do you, dude.
Once you pick (I was a combo of 1 and 3, I (mistakenly) thought I had a handle on things, but was really intimidated by everybody, so I slipped into my socially awkward comfort zone and refused to leave. Still haven't left.), sit through the administration telling you what a great choice you've made, participate in countless ice-breakers and small group sessions, go to the after-hours social outings and see who pulls a Snookie and makes a hot mess of themselves the first week of med school, and get a feeling of, "Okay, I GOT this! I'm ready! Bring it on!!" (At least they build you up before you get smacked down by reality.)
Term 1
Structural Principles of Osteopathic Medicine (SPOM): Anatomy, Embryology, Histology, and Radiology. Learn how to dissect a cadaver, get real up close and personal with your lab group (five strangers you meet the first day of orientation; it's like "The Real World"), and figure out how to tell a Pacinian and a Meissner's corpuscle apart on a(n electronic) histology slide. Freak out because you're transitioning from the bubble that was your small liberal arts college and you don't know if you can learn all of this information. Look at the M2s and think they're so knowledgeable and cool (you'll see why in my next post).Term 2
Cellular and Molecular Basis of Medicine (CMBM): Cell/Molecular Biology, Medical Genetics, Cellular Metabolism, General Pharmacology, Immunology, Infectious Disease, Hematology/Oncology. Cell lovers, rejoice. If you hated anatomy and the big picture, and longed for the minute details of immunology and microbiology, you're going to have a fun 12 weeks. The biggest obstacle with CMBM is the sheer volume of material. You have tests every 2 weeks (and unlike SPOM, there aren't any practicals to balance out a poor written grade), and in that time, you can cover an entire semester's worth of science you learned in college. Stay on the top of the material, and you'll be fine.Term 3
Cardio/Renal/Pulmonary Medicine: Ahh, the the start of systems. The basic sciences are done now, you can breathe easy! Not. I was told, "Don't worry, systems are easy; you'll actually have free time!" LIES. Well, maybe that was just me. I had a bit of a hard time transitioning from "Okay, memorize the minutiae, which cells go where and which pathways lead to what products," to "The heart is made of muscle, but there's also electrophysiology, and here's everything that can go wrong with it (CMBM IS COMING BACK TO HAUNT ME), and here are the medications you use (WAIT, MEDICATIONS? WHAT AM I, A DOCTOR?!)" integrative type of thinking. However, it is pretty refreshing to start learning clinically-applicable material.Full-Year Courses
Osteopathic Principles and Practice: Get REAL comfortable being in a sports bra and shorts in front of your classmates (chance for those #2s from orientation to show off their six-packs, watch to see who "reluctantly" volunteers to be the demo patient). Begin to learn a wonderful set of skills that set us apart from our MD counterparts. Freak out because you can't feel anything and your instructor keeps asking, "You feel that transverse process? Don't you feel it articulating?"and you're saying "Oh, yeah, totally," but you're thinking, "Either I have no feeling in my fingers, or this guy's on something, because I don't feel ANYTHING." I was (still am) that person, and don't worry, there's a learning curve, but trust me, with practice, you WILL develop the skills.Primary Care Skills: Learn how to play doctor. Buy a bag and fill it with insanely expensive tools (woo, loans!). Watch videos and learn how to look in people's eyes, ears, noses, mouths, etc. You have no idea what you're looking at/for, but you look pretty cool faking it in your white coat. "Your cone of light is looking pretty good there, Mom." "What does that mean?" "Um. It means...you have an ear! And it works!"
So ends first year. You've made it and hopefully haven't had any nervous breakdowns, congratulations. Enjoy your last summer EVER and next post, we'll talk about second year.
