Hey NUHS,
During your tour here at National you will indefinitely come
across many different journeys and maturity opportunities. As I
write this blog for students and perspective students, I enjoy
giving you some ideas and tips from some of my experiences to make
their journey smoother.
Freak Out, Depression, Burnout Cycle
One thing I've noticed while attending is the impending Week 5
and Week 11 "Freak Out, Depression, Burnout Cycle." (I 1000% made
that term up.) Let me explain. At the beginning of the trimester,
everyone is excited for the new classes but still hasn't gotten
into the rhythm of studying again after a satisfying break. Come
Week 5 you are freaking out that you haven't studied yet, but also
depressed that you let this happen again (my 7th time now, haha).
The good news? Just buckle down and grind it out for 4-5 weeks
through midterms and learn the material and you will be fine, all
else held. It's merely the feeling of unknowing exactly what to
expect and being underprepared in the material, so your brain's
natural reaction is to FREAK OUT.
The "burnout" part of the cycle is located at the end of
midterms and before finals. Your brain and body is exhausted from
burning the candle at both ends and you're dreading the impeding
sleep deprivation that takes place for finals. Wow, that sounds
terrible!! You can do it! The first step is accepting! The next
step is writing down your tests and printing out/gathering the
material on those tests, and the final step is cranking it out
until you've learned it! Rinse and repeat! You're not alone; you're
human!
Physical Diagnosis Class
On a class note, Tri 6's staple class, Physical Diagnosis has
many lab practicals split throughout the trimester. It feels like
the finals week of your earlier tri E&M classes all trimester
long. Despite the nerves on being put on the spot to perform exams,
I love that we are getting great practice on examining patients and
getting out all the nerves now before we actually have real live
patients that depend upon us. I am completing my Regional Lab
Practical on Monday. It includes a variety of different regional
exams: Cranial Nerve Exam, Peripheral Nerve Neuro Exam,
Vitals, Head and Neck Exam, Eye Exam, ENT Exam, Cardiac Exam,
Pulmonary Exam, and Abdominal Exam. The hardest part of those is
that Dr. Gidcumb expects it to be done in exactly the order that he
lays out in the notes. So you may evaluate and examine everything
in the section, but still fail because you did it out of order.
I've prepared well, but fingers crossed I remember. :)
Food for Thought
Have you ever thought about your position on drug prescription
rights being incorporated into Chiropractic Scope of Practice? It's
an extremely interesting topic of debate. I encourage you to look
up a few articles and decide what you may be leaning towards. It
helps hearing both sides of the argument, however chiropractic's
one glaring problem is our profession is so eclectic that nobody
agrees on anything across the board! Oh well. :P
Cheers,
CC