2018 in review

Hey guys!!!

What a year its been. I'm currently a second year in residency. Time is flying😱😱. Its crazy. Looking back on three other things I did last year and on my goals I notice I was able to accomplish at least half of my resolutions!! Not too shabby right! Here are my 2018 goals in review.

My goals for this year are

      1 )      HIT 400’s in the ITE exam. I got a 370 and that was with no studying.

   - nooope. Did not hit it. I did worse actually, 340😭😭. However I felt that most of the  multiple choice questions had answers that were intentionally and unnecessarily close. Like hey what do you do in sepsis give fluids over 3 hours or 30 minutes... With my luck I picked the wrong choices. Still I know what to work on.  

      2)     Read 6 books. I tried to read more than a book a year, however, that didn’t pan out in 2017 because of my busy schedule. 6 books a year is not too bad and it will be more than the 3 books I read last year.

    CCCHHHEECCK. Done. I read way more than 6 and even listened to a while bunch of audio books. The total is about 21 or so.

      3)      Volunteer work. I want to volunteer. I did look for different sites where I can volunteer maybe in a soup kitchen but all these places required you to fill out all these forms. I put it off till next tiem and the next time never came. I will try to get on it this time.
-  - CHECKKKKK. I did go to a fair to represent my hospital. 

      4)      Giving speeches to the youth. I would like to motivate and inspire young minds, to held set them up for a successful life in regards economics/finances/attaining their goals. I’m still trying to figure out how I will get this accomplished.
   - Noooope! 😡

      5)      Blog at between 6 -12 x this year. This bar is really low. Looool. It’ll definitely be cathartic but hopefully serve some value to whoever reads this. 
    - Chheeeccckkkk! This post makes 11!! 💪💪💃💃
      6) Buy an apartment.
    - Checkkkkk!! I got my first property. I'm so happy. Took me a whole year and change of looking to find the right one but I finally got one.

So 4 out of 6 were done. I'm happy with that. Looking forward to 2019.... ... Which is tomorrow😂😂😂. Its been real 2018.

6/7/18 random

Its always nice when people you give advice to end up matching. Its also nice to tutor people and help them pass their exams.

Its my day off post 24 hour call and all i did was sleep. The night was soo busy and admissions were coming in fast and furious.

2 slots available for Step 2 CS tutoring

I have 2 slots available guys. Contact me if you would like me to help you pass your CS exam on your first attempt. Even if you have failed your CS exam in the past, do not worry, I will guide you through it.

email me: step2csbuddy@gmail.com
call me: 18448505248

Congratulations

Finding time to tutor the CS is tough.  The only time that is available is after a long day of work. As such the fact that my students,tutese, continue to ace their exams make me proud and make the effort I put in to tutor completely worth it. To those that recently passed, Congratulations!!💃💃💃

What I wish I had done prior to residency

Residency is hard. It's a lot of work. Many people made it through, some, of course, didn't. However, many people made it. Yes, this bears repeating. When I first heard I matched I was elated. This excitement was then replaced by fear. I was scared because everything I would do had a direct impact on another persons life. That is a huge responsibility for one to have over ones shoulder or ones head. Before I started residency I scoured the net to find a way to prepare for residency. Most articles or blog posts I came across were useless.During residency I have come across a few things that I wish i had seen, read, or known. It will be helpful for you if you are starting out in family medicine residency.

As an intern looking back there are things that you consistently get called for. If you know these things you will have a leg up on others, and feel more comfortable handling the floors. I happened to have a book in my possession that I did not read prior, but after starting residency my voraciousness for reading medical books has increased. The book I found was the "internship survival guide by washington manual." There is a second book that I got even later and thought was even more appropriate for preparing for primary care medicine intern year and that is the "onlinemeded Intern survival guide." Read either of these books if you have it in you and you will be more comfortable.

Another tool, other than the aforementioned books, that can help during residency are apps. The main apps that I currently use are epocrates for drugs, and ePSS for preventative care during clinic. I have also used FPnotebook in the past.

Intern year is almost over. I can barely believe it. It flew by so fast. Soon we will be welcoming the next interns. For all who matched congratulations.

2018 reading list: 6th and 7th book in the bag

Not quite the book or books that were next on my reading list but I finished them non the less. As per my last post I wanted to complete an EKG book called, by Dubins. However, I ended up reading two very different books.

1) Build a rental property empire, by Mark Ferguson: This book has zero to do with medicine. However, I'm very interested in investing so any chance I get I scour through an investing book. The book provided a behind the scenes look at how he bought and how you thought through buying his properties.

2) Washington Manual Internship Survival guide: I read through this whole book. And let me tell you I wish I had read this book before I started residency. Its short, well for medical book its short, and an easy read. It goes over the some of the tools that you need to have in your repetoire: antibiotics, ekg, procedures, and management of some common cases. It is not pocket medicine with hundreds of diseases and pathologies with their management, this is just, in my opinion, a book that touches on many different areas that a resident needs competency in.

I'm technically done with my reading goals for the year!!! I have read the desired 6 books and even read another one on top of that.

Interview Season is over at my program

For those of you that I met during your interview trails good luck. Remember when you rank, listen to no one but yourself. Rank where you will be happy to go, where you feel best suits your needs for whatever reason, because in the end you will have to deal with the place you pick, and not the person giving you advise.

Note: the season is over at my program but it might still be going on in other places.

2018 reading list: 5th book in the bag

Finished my 5th book. OOO yeaa.

Book 5: Speed Reading: The Comprehensive Guide To Speed Reading - Increase Your Reading Speed By 300% In Less Than 24 Hours : This is about the 4th book that I've read on reading. All the books have been different. This book dished out the usual techniques to speed read that the other ones expose but in addition to that it also gives ways to solidify and maintain your reading speed. I increased my reading speed to the upper 400wpm, but I never solidified it and I'm back hovering around high 200s and early 300's. My goal is to reach 600 wpm. Anyways back to the book, I thought it did a good job explaining how you can chip away at increasing your speed overall and making it a life long change.

One more book until I've finished my reading goals for the year, one more book till 6 books.

On another note my vacation is almost over. My vacation came at a good time
, it's almost over and its almost time to get back to the grind. Its back to work next week monday. For my last book I'm going to finish the Dubins EKG book.

2018 Reading list: 4th book in the bag

Finished reading my fourth book 2 days ago, monday. 2 more books and I am done with with my reading goal for 2018. Yes. This doesn't mean thats all I will read; I will read a few more.

book:
book 4: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right hook - by Gary Vaynerchauk: this is a book about marketing on social media. Good book. I give it 4/5 stars. It talks about the kind of material to post and how to post them.

Hmmmm... which book to read next?

2018 Reading list: 3 books in the bag

I loove love love books. I love to read. But problem is time, where is the time to read. With busy residency I come home exhausted and too tired to pick up a book. Of course some months are better than others. I'm currently on a two weeks staycation - vacation spent at home and in my city- and I'm enjoying just relaxing. Up till now I've read 3 books two for fun and one to work on a skill.

1) The House of God by Samuel Shed: This details the ordeals of a intern in a hospital called the House of God. Its true depiction of life as an intern, sharing not only what happens to the interns, how they react to it, but also how they feel emotionally and physically. After 6 months in my intern year I can say there are quite a few things that I saw happened to me as well. I did not agree with some of the protagonists -the authors- conclusions. Still its a great book if you want to get an insight as to how Intern year is.
2) Speed Reading: How to double (or triple) your reading speed in just 1 hour!  by Justin Hamond: This book was a quick read. I always wanted to improve my reading speed. I thought the book was short and to the point. While I do not think my reading speed improved in 1 hour I think I with practicing the tips in the book will rev up my reading speed.
3) Pimp, the story of my life - by Iceberg Slim: I first heard about this book while watching a Dave Chapelle skit. An ex pimp looks back on his life and gives vivid details of the horrific things he did to others or that were done him. It reads like a movie. At the end of this book I question whether these events really happened because some of these things seemed so inordinate, or extraordinary or outlandish.


I have already read 3 of the 6 books that I plan on reading this year.

The year 2017 in review and plans/goals for 2018

1/8/2018

FINALLY A BREAK. Today is the first day of my very first vacation in Residency. Its been 6 months of growth and managing patients. I started residency in 7/1/17 and it has been go go go. I haven’t had the time to sit down and analyze what I will be doing, what my plans will be for this new year, and what look at what I accomplished last year. I’m going to take a look at my resolutions from last year and see how things panned out. Dun dun dun dun dun.

“In 2017, my goal is to match into a good residency program, to give a speech in front of a high school students, make more youtube videos, compete in the World championship of public speaking, and give you readers more value by blogging about the standardized exams that Medical students and Residents face.”

The year 2016 in review and plans for 2017

I did match into a great residency program! Yay! I did compete in the world championship of public speaking however I did not make it to the finally stages. I blogged decently until I started residency and it happened far and in between. Out of the minimum of 13 books that I was supposed to read – because I read about 3 books and am literally past the half way point of 3 other books. As for giving a speech in front of large crowds that has not happened yet.

This year I will carry over the things that I was not able to accomplish plus add a few more. For the things I was not able to accomplish I will set the bar a little lower so that I can accomplish them. The idea being so long as I can get the ball rolling and stay consistent I will more likely to follow through. This way of thinking has served me well through out my years. Enough rambling…

My goals for this year are

      1 )      HIT 400’s in the ITE exam. I got a 370 and that was with no studying.

      2)     Read 6 books. I tried to read more than a book a year, however, that didn’t pan out in 2017 because of my busy schedule. 6 books a year is not too bad and it will be more than the 3 books I read last year.

      3)      Volunteer work. I want to volunteer. I did look for different sites where I can volunteer maybe in a soup kitchen but all these places required you to fill out all these forms. I put it off till next tiem and the next time never came. I will try to get on it this time.

      4)      Giving speeches to the youth. I would like to motivate and inspire young minds, to held set them up for a successful life in regards economics/finances/attaining their goals. I’m still trying to figure out how I will get this accomplished

      5)      Blog at between 6 -12 x this year. This bar is really low. Looool. It’ll definitely be cathartic but hopefully serve some value to whoever reads this.
      6) Buy an apartment

Will review again in 3 months – March.