This month was a busy one and passed quickly (only 28 days,
I know) despite a week off for spring break and Mardi Gras. February drawing to
a close made me realize how close we are already to finishing the academic
year. Our last block exams for Med Pharm and Principles are this coming week
and after that our only major commitment is the NBME shelf exam.
I
again volunteered at Ochsner in the emergency department this month. There
wasn’t anything too unusual to observe but, one patient who came in had some
issues that were relevant to topics we had recently learned about in class. A
middle-aged woman who was in remission from breast cancer came to the ER in a
lot of GI distress and had complained of weeks of diarrhea. She said she was
having trouble thinking and answering the doctor’s questions because of the
level of her pain. Since she was already scheduled to see her gastroenterologist
in the coming days, the doctor ended up just giving her some medication for
pain and eventually discharging her. She was concerned about having to drive
and being sedated, which was something we covered in our opioids lectures, but unfortunately I didn’t catch what drug the doctor ended up giving her.
In
terms of classes, things have been going well and I’m looking forward to
finishing up Med Pharm and Principles. After that and the shelf exam, I’ll have
more time to focus on preparing to take the MCAT again and readying
applications for med school.
Hours: Ochsner - 8 hrs
Hours: Ochsner - 8 hrs
