(Yikes Again)! My Spring Quarter Class Schedule!

Spring quarter I will be taking slightly fewer credits than I took in fall (29) and winter (26.5), however, the classes are supposed to be quite challenging and I have a feeling they spring will be just as time consuming as my previous quarter. Here is the scary list:

HUBIO 532: Nervous System (8 Credits)
An integrated approach to the normal structure and function of the nervous system, including the eye. Presents neuropathological examples as well as clinical manifestations of neurological disease.

HUBIO 534: Microbiology and Infectious Disease (9 Credits)
An introduction to medical microbiology and infectious diseases. Emphasizes the biology of microbial pathogens and the mechanisms of pathogenesis. Covers clinical manifestations, epidemiology, general principles of diagnosis, therapy, and prevention of infectious disease.

HUBIO 535: Introduction to Clinical Medicine (4 Credits)
Adult screening physical examination is taught through the use of lecture, audiovisual aids, and small-group tutorial, where students in supervised setting practice the physical examination on one other. Further practice in the performance and recording of the patient profile and medical history.

MED 561: Tropical Medicine (1 Credit)
Intended for professional health science students interested in learning the pathophysiology, epidemiology, and clinical presentation of disease conditions that re more commonly seen in less-developed countries, resource-limited settings, or tropical climates, and how to diagnose, treat, and follow the resolution of these diseases with commonly limited resources.

PATH 521: Anatomy and Autopsy (1 Credit)
Students view an autopsy, and learn how autopsy can diagnose disease, determine cause of death, and improve patient care. Requirements include orientation session, autopsy, and a Clinical-Autopsy conference. Participants must be free at least one morning per week to attend an autopsy at UWMC. UW medical students only.

MED 505: Preceptorship in Medicine (1 Credit)
To provide opportunity for first- and second-year medical students to gain personal experience with medical practice situations by being stationed with carefully selected clinical faculty members in their offices.


If my calculations are correct it is going to be 24 Credits for spring quarter. Although it will be daunting (last year 17 students failed microbiology, so I guess it is really hard), I am actually really looking forward to my classes in spring. The majority of our time will be spent learning Neurobiology and Microbiology which are some of my favorite subjects. I did my undergraduate degree in Neurobiology and I am interested in going into Infectious Disease with my medical education. Also in spring we get to learn our physical exam skills which should be extremely fun as well. I am excited about getting to take an elective in Tropical Medicine right before traveling to Uganda and working in a hospital in Kampala. Hopefully I will actually get to put some of my new knowledge to use while I am there!

Is a pediatrics residency in my future????

Last night instead of studying like I should have, I took the AMA specialty match questionnaire (it asks you 130 questions about your personality and preferences in medicine and then tells you which medical specialty would be the best match of you). A waste of time, I know, particularly as it is at least 2 and a half years before I even need to think about which residency/specialty I would like to go into. However, procrastinating is so much fun when you should be doing something (for example, studying for 4 final exams), but are doing something that you don't need to do for over two years. Anyway, the specialty match thing said the #1 match for me would be Pediatrics. My number #2-8 matches were all the Oncology sub-specialties (go figure!), #9 was Anesthesiology, and #10 was Infectious Diseases.

One of my instructors of the Kenya course I took in 2007 told me I should study specialize in pediatric infectious disease so that I could come back to Kenya and help improve the treatment children who are living with AIDS and Tuberculosis. (The current standard for treating children with infectious diseases in East Africa appears to be quite dismal). Oh well... we will see.

Kids are so darn cute! (This is a picture of my little sister Monica showing off her ballet skills). At the last Saturday clinic with my preceptor a little 2 year old Ethiopian girl gave me one of her Winnie the Pooh stickers that she had received from the nurse. It was really sweet. I thought for a while, "Yeah, I think I could really enjoy taking care of children."


You all have seen this picture before - a picture of me and a child from the Potika IDP camp in Uganda. Are more infectious refugee children in my future? Only time will tell.

Preceptorships are the BEST THINGS EVER!!!

I have to admit - I am not a huge fan of the whole sitting in class for 7-8 hours a day (Tuesdays and Thursdays) or 4-5 hours a day (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) and then studying more when you get home thing. It is getting a little bit old. How do I with stand the practically unbearable monotony? How do I keep my sanity in the sea of memorization? The answer is remembering why I am putting myself through all of this. When do we do this? During our preceptorship.

My preceptor is AMAZING. She is so cool and laid back, yet also really knowledgeable and eager to see me learn and observe new stuff. When I requested a family medicine preceptorship for winter quarter I asked if I could get a preceptor who works with disadvantaged populations. My desire was completely fulfilled. Dr. Huntington works in a clinic that does not refuse service to anyone even if they can't pay. Therefore the majority of their patients are on Medicare, Medicaid, DSHS, or are seen for free. I would say that we use a translator on about 1/2 of our clinic visits and a large population that the clinic serves is Ethiopian and Somali immigrants. They have a phone translator system and sometimes they have a translator that comes in-person with the patient. Dr. Huntington is particularly good at trying to bridge cross-cultural issues and asking the patient what they think is causing their symptoms.

I got also got to come into the clinic with Dr. Huntington on two Saturdays where she sees children who can't come during the week. I think the children are particularly fun. My nonexistent clinical skills have increased exponentially and I have been able to listen to heart and lungs on each patient, look in some children's ears and take a lot of medical histories. During the last Saturday peds clinic Dr. Huntington had me paint fluoride on the children's teeth for her. Apparently, a lot of poor children don't go to the dentist and are at risk for cavities, so there is a push among primary care providers who care for children to do this fluoride paint to prevent cavities.


This is a picture of me with my preceptor, Dr. Huntington. As noted above she is totally amazing. she is very caring and does all she can to make sure that her patients get the best possible care.

Another use for Wilbur - suture workshop

Today was a really fun day in medical school. I got to practice sutures for the very first time! The Emergency Medicine Interest Group (a student organization of medical students interested in emergency medicine) put on a suture workshop. It was open to all medical students and filled up quickly because many students are quite interested in learning clinical skills such as suturing.

Two experienced ER doctors, one right handed and one left handed, gave an introductory talk about sutures and demonstrated how to make a basic suture. Then they handed out a pig's foot to each student and we made a cut with a scalpel into the foot and then tried to suture the gash close again. It was really fun. It actually felt like we were in medical school.




Ahhhh... Wilbur (or at least a pig that looks like Wilbur) the heroic star of the book, Charlotte's Web. The spider, Charlotte, works to save Wilbur from being butchered and eaten by writing phrases such as "Some Pig" in her web above Wilbur's pen. Little did Charlotte know that there was another use for Wilbur that had nothing to do with bacon for breakfast - suture workshop. I guess if Wilbur did have to die, we might as well use his feet for something. (Image from a Google image search).


Just in case you all are interested in learning a little bit more about suturing, I thought I would inform you of some of the basics that I was not fully aware of before last night. First of all, the suture needle is curved. This shape makes the circular movement of placing a suture easier to accomplish. Secondly, the suture needle does not have an eye, but the need is continuous with the suture thread. Thirdly, you don't hold the suture needle with your fingers, but in a medical version of mini-vice grips called hemostats or needle driver (or something like that). The hemostats have little handles like a pair of scissors, but you don't actually hold them like a pair of scissors. If you have large hands (ie you are a man) you hold the hemostats as shown in the picture below. However, if you are a girl or if you have smaller hands you actually hold the hemostats closer to the tip sort-of like a pencil. (The general idea is to just get better control of the needle than you would by grasping the handles alone).

How to hold the needle driver/hemostats if you have large hands. Correction - you would, of course, be wearing gloves if you were really about to suture up a human (or a dead pig's foot).

The placing of the suture is a little bit tricky - the main challenge is to try to get everything even. I still don't have this down, but hopefully it will come with time. Once you have the placed the stitch, you tie a knot. Below are the directions that came with our handout. (Just in case you are interested). You wrap the long end of the suture thread around the tip of your hemostats twice. Then you use the needle driver to grasp the short end of the suture (on the other side of the cut) and pull it through the loop you have just made. You pull this knot flat over the cut and then wrap the end of the suture thread around your hemostats the opposite direction and once again pull the short end through the loop. You repeat this many times, each time wrapping the suture thread the opposite direction as the time before. Then you cut the long end and you are ready to start the next suture. Pictures below to illustrate. This was meant for interest purposes only. Please don't try this at home. Thanks.

Sweet! I am going back to Uganda in the summer of 2008

Today I found out that I will be going to Uganda for 10 weeks in the summer of 2008. Isn't that awesome? The University of Washington Department of Global Health runs the International Health Opportunities Program (IHOP for short) every summer. The program accepts 10 students each year who are between their first and second year of medical school. The 10 students who are selected are sent to 5 different countries (2 students at each location): India, Madagascar, Peru, Palau, and usually Kenya. The program gives the selected students $5,000 each for airline tickets and to help pay for living expenses while in the country. To apply students fill out an application listing experiences, career goals and the languages you have experience with. You also have to get letters of recommendation from faculty members and then you have an interview.

I listed Kenya as my first choice location for obvious reasons. (Previous experience in Nairobi and elsewhere in Kenya, some experience with Swahili, and a draw towards that part of the world). However, due to the recent violence related to the elections in Kenya and the consequent travel warnings for US citizens, they decided to switch the Kenya site to Uganda.

We still don't have the full details about what we will be doing in Uganda, because it is a backup site some of the details are still being ironed out. However, it is known that we will be working in the capital of Uganda, Kampala, and that we will be at one of the city's larger universities. I also know that I am supposed to going with a girl who is a first year medical student from Idaho. (She is WWAMI student currently doing her first year of medical school in Idaho so I haven't met her yet). We will get to meet during the IHOP orientation in March.


This is a map of Uganda I found on a Google Image search. Kampala isn't really marked that well on the map, but it is just north of Lake Victoria. (On the map you can also see Kitgum which is where I worked when I was volunteering with Working to Empower in 2007).


This is the flag of Uganda. I hate to say it, but I think the flag is just a touch on the less attractive side. Kenya has the coolest flag ever and Tanzania's flag is really nice too, but Uganda's... I don't know. I once accidentally insulted a Ugandan by asking who decided to put the chicken in the center of the flag. I was severely reprimanded and it was explained that the bird on the flag is actually a very special crane. Perhaps when I go to Uganda this summer I will get the full story on the flag, learn to love it and will be eager to explain to all I meet about the Ugandan Crane.