GT Doctos or Medical Students thread 2

[Antigone]

sisses, what reviewers do you recommend for boards? and any tips?

I survived using First Aid for USMLE Step 1 and Samplex.

But wag ninyo ako gayahin - I was just very, very lucky.

[bleudskymd]

sisses, what reviewers do you recommend for boards? and any tips?

I also used First Aid for USMLE Step 1 as my "bible".

Then per subject, heto ang mga ginamit ko:
Anatomy - High Yield
Physio - BRS
Microbio - Made Ridiculously Simple
Biochem - Digging Up the Bones (read this 3 times!) plus Lippincott
Pharma - Baby Katzung
Patho - BRS
Surg - Surg Recall
IM - High Yield
OB - Blueprints plus that little black book (oc-oc notes)
Pedia - Blueprints plus 1st 10 chapters of Del Mundo
Prev Med - our lecture notes way back in UST
Legal Med - can't remember

I attended the review sessions at UP-PGH na mock boards type for 1 week. 2hours yung exam then we discuss the answers after. That way, I was able to gauge kung saan areas ang mga weaknesses & strengths ko. We get to keep the questionnaires then I re-read it again nung palapit na ang boards namin. Tapos nakahiram din ako ng mga samplex coming from other schools.

And most importantly, PRAY, PRAY and PRAY!

[lil_mango]

hi doctors, paano kayo nakasurvive sa pharma? patapos na ang school year, and yet, im still having difficulties studying the subject do you think makakatulong kaya ang pagbili ng baby katzung?

[Antigone]

^Pharma made ridiculously simple ata inaral ko nun. I mean I had Katzung, but I think yung MRS series talaga kabalikat ko nung med schoo.

[lil_mango]

^thanks doc. will look for one naghahanda na kasi ako as early as now para sa finals namin sa pharma, buong katzung kasi ang coverage + mga 4 chapters from goodman waah

[Antigone]

Ay mali. I remember na now, what helped me was Lippincott Pharma pala during med school. Pero I highly suggest you memorize the pharma part of First Aid for the USMLE that was the only thing I used for the boards.

[xthine]

Katzung..i don't think I used that book much in med school.  It's been a decade..time flies.  The days of trying to figure out how to get an AAMC ID, ERAS tokens, researching programs are but a faint memory. 

Currently in my last few months of being a 3rd year resident, one more year to go.  Hopefully I get accepted into a fellowship this year.  Back to researching programs  (done for the most part) and working on my personal statement (one more paragraph to go).

[lil_mango]

^good luck on your training, doc

@Antigone-thanks again doc um, kinarir nyo din ba ang pag me memorize ng lahat ng drug info or just focused on the mechanism of action, indications and adverse effects lang?

[bleudskymd]

Currently in my last few months of being a 3rd year resident, one more year to go.  Hopefully I get accepted into a fellowship this year.  Back to researching programs  (done for the most part) and working on my personal statement (one more paragraph to go).

God bless & good luck Dra. Kaya mo iyan. Hehe!

[bleudskymd]

hi doctors, paano kayo nakasurvive sa pharma? patapos na ang school year, and yet, im still having difficulties studying the subject do you think makakatulong kaya ang pagbili ng baby katzung?

Hmm.. I also used Lippincott Pharma + hand-outs than Katzung during my med school days. Yung baby katzung ginamit ko lang nung nagrereview na ako for the boards.

[lil_mango]

^thanks doc, will just buy lippincott pharma instead

[FOURever]

may tatanong lang po ako, after po nung 4 years medproper, ano po next step? Specialization po ba agad or meron pong other stuff to do before specialization?

[xthine]

Thank you Bleudskymd, lil_mango!

^The usual path (if you want to practice in the Philippines) is a year of Postgraduate internship while preparing for the local board exams.  Once licensed one could moonlight, work as a GP or enter a (residency training) specialty (Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Surgery, Ortho, Anes, Psychiatry, Optha, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, ENT, PMR, etc).  Length of residency training depends on the specialty (4 years for Psychiatry here in the US), one can be eligible for board certification after training. After that, one can further sub- specialize in their field again duration of training depends on what type of fellowship you go into.  Here in the US sub specialties in Psychiatry include:  Child and Adolescent, Forensics, Geriatrics, Addiction, Hospice and Palliative, Sleep and of course Psychosomatics.  Board certification exam follows. 

There are also combined residency programs (Med-Peds, Internal med-Psych etc.), I'm not sure if they have that in the Philippines.

[bleudskymd]

may tatanong lang po ako, after po nung 4 years medproper, ano po next step? Specialization po ba agad or meron pong other stuff to do before specialization?

After 4 yrs of med proper, you go into post-graduate internship for 12 months (May 1 to April 30 of the ffing yr). Then you will be eligible to take the local licensure exams. Exams happen twice a year (Feb & Aug), it's your choice when you wanna take it.

When you pass, you have two options - go into specialty (commonly called residency) training, or venture into "moonlighting" wherein you're considered as a general practitioner (GP). You can have your specialty training here or sa US (you have to undergo another series of tests, called the US Medical Licensing Exams or USMLE for short). The length of training depends on your specialization - shortest is 3 yrs (IM, FM & Pedia).

I know many colleagues who went into "moonlighting" for many years (because they are not yet sure kung ano'ng specialty training ang kukunin nila) before going into residency training.

[bleudskymd]

Thank you Bleudskymd, lil_mango!

There are also combined residency programs (Med-Peds, Internal med-Psych etc.), I'm not sure if they have that in the Philippines.

Wala pa mga combined residency programs dito.

[FOURever]

^^ and ^^^ thanks! Ayun. Naliwanagan na ako. Mahaba palang proseso yun.. Thanks! Akala ko nung una yung "residency" is for GP, yun pala specialization sya.. Thanks! =)

[bleudskymd]

^ Yes. The real journey starts after getting that license.

[Antigone]

That's the easiest part of this profession no? Becoming one. Med school super fun.

[FOURever]

lumabas na result ng first listing ng ust. I got in! =)

When kaya sa plm? If matagal pa kasi, i will pay na in ust.. =)

[mom_G]

^^ I couldn't agree more!  Looking back, med school was indeed fun!!!  After ng exam or duty, for sure there is something to look forward to - movie, dinner, bar hopping, etc.  Mas may freedom ka na kasi you've finished college.  Yet, student ka pa rin so may allowance and no responsibilities but to study