LESSONS I LEARNT FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL

Preamble

Hello…..

Welcome here 😇😇

Today, I will be sharing some tips that will help you if you are considering going into medical school or if you are in medical school.

Kindly share to those who will need it or will be interested.

Let’s ride in..🏇

Why are you interested?

This is a very important question that you need to ask yourself in any venture you are about to get into.

Many people have their perception about being a medical personnel but the most important question is to ask yourself why you are interested in the medical field.

What is driving you to choose medicine or any other medical course?

Once you can answer this question properly, you will have a proper start.

Some people get answers to this question later on while others never do but it plays a huge role in your attitude towards your career in the future.

I was never interested in medical school in the earlier stage of my education in primary and secondary and my decision to pursue medicine came as a surprise to my family.

I personally had a phobia for needles and blood but could not explain my increasing interest in medicine.

After praying about it many times, making important mistakes, and stressing my parents with my inability to make a firm decision, God made a way for me.

My main reason for studying medicine was because God led me. This is one area of my life, I have been so confident about God’s leading. God gave His word and confirmed it many times through other people. Therefore, I did not enter medical school for selfish reasons but because I knew God wanted me there.

Knowing God’s intention for me really helped in times I became very weak and scared.

So, I ask again:

Why medicine?

What is your goal?

What are you hoping to achieve from medical school?

Your attitude can be changed but it may take a while if you do not pay attention to it.

What I mean is: What type of medical student do you want to be?

Creating a pattern will help you throughout medical school and this also depends on knowing your strengths and weaknesses. If you are a night owl, you need to create a pattern that will favour you academically. If you love participating in many extracurricular activities, you need a healthy pattern to balance it.

For most of my medical school years, I often dozed in the morning class. I usually slept very late and woke up very early to attend classes. This did not balance with my system and so it displayed as me sleeping.

Interestingly, I always sat in the front row but another interesting fact was that I was able to hear what the teacher was saying. This was not a healthy pattern and it took almost to the end of medical school to start balancing it.

So, know your weakness and create a pattern to balance it.

What is your support system?

As you are entering medical school or as you are in medical school, what is your main support system?

Family and friends?

Hobbies?

A side job?

What can you fall back on when you get overwhelmed.

Honestly, appreciating God as my supporting system took a while. I intially looked to family and friends for my main support and it was quite tough.

Family tried and friends fluctuated but I was not always satisfied with the support I got or I felt it was not enough for me.

It was until I had acknowledged God as my main support system, did I begin to to release my high expectations on others and also release myself from feeling too disappointed at many situations.

Is medicine your only option?

Are you going to only focus on medical school or there are other areas you want to diversify your attention?

Is being a medical doctor your only goal? Or you would like to do other activities that are not medically inclined.

I entered medical school with the mindset that I was not going to focus all my attention and energy on it. I had other areas of interest where I was also going to give some of my attention to and that was how this blog and every other content shared here was birthed.

If you love medicine and another field of interest, can you combine them? Will you be able to cope?

These are important questions to ask yourself before getting into medical school.

Lessons I learnt

I will now share specific lessons I learnt from medical school.

You need God

This may be one of the longest period of study for you and you have to be intentional not to waste it.

In this period of your life, you will learn so much about patience, trust, hope and faith.

You will also learn maturity and how to respond to different situations around you.

If you do not use the period to develop a healthy relationship with God, then you have wasted precious moments that would be relevant in your future endeavours.

You need God not only in medical school but in your personal life.

Have realistic and worthy expectations

Do you want to be an A student? Or you want to just pass?

In medical school, there are no GPAs. Meaning that your past victories in previous classes is not accumulated to your final class. Every section is unique in itself and you cannot rely on your great scores in previous classes.

For every class, you need to pursue your desired goal.

I will advice that you aim for good grades. I say this because it acts as cushion. It is better to aim for the best and get a good middle.

This also depends largely on your ability to comprehend what your current class is about.

Your goal will affect your habit and attitude towards your current class, so be realistic and have worthy expectations.

Do not look down on yourself but find ways to strengthen your weak points.

Chose the right crowd

Your circle of friends will matter a lot. This too, is driven by your personal goal for medical school.

Be intentional about your regular and close relationships in medical school. Do not ignore them.

Develop a sensible study pattern

How easy do you grasp things?

How good is your memory?

Can you understand without studuing huge materials?

Personally, I enjoyed reading multiple text books on the same topic matter because it was my way of grasping additional information regarding the topic. For some it was a waste of time but because I could organise my pattern to suit it, I was not always affected by it.

Also, I knew that majority of my understanding came from the class so I always made sure to attend all my classes.

I also used sticky notes to study and I would advice you to try it as well. There is an old post titled POST IT that shared my use of them.

Know what time of the day suits you and maximize it.

Have study groups

This is one area I fluctuated in but it is very neccessary. You will easily remember details you discussed with other classmates.

To be more effective, it is better to study first then discuss together rather than depending on other members to teach you what you have not studied.

Be at peace with your teachers

As much as possible, maintain a healthy relationship with your teachers.

Respect their rules and keep a respectful distance.

For the period of time you are in medical school, your teachers can make or break you. Importantly, medical school teaches you about proper manners and your teachers will be your first and important observers before the hospital will.

Choose health

Your food.

Your mind.

Your body.

Choose healthy patterns.

You are cultivating a pattern that will mould your work life.

Like I said earlier, my sleeping pattern was very poor for a long time and when I made changes I saw the difference.

Medical school is stressful but so is life after medical school.

Do not harm yourself in the name of stress.

Find time to relax and cool off. You have one life to do it right.

Go for check-ups when neccessary.

Honestly, going for check-ups can be scary but like a doctor told me “It is better you came and there was nothing wrong with you than you stayed at home and tried to treat yourself”

Exercise reguarly.

Just practice what you are learning in school.

Care for your mental health. Be intentional about it because sometimes you may get depressed about medical school and it may affect you greatly.

Your relationships matter

If you have non-medical friends who always taunt you about your choice to study medicine, it is going to drain your energy.

Be mindful of unhealthy relationships that always distract you and make you forget that you are a medical student that needs to study.

Turbulent relationships are not needed. Weed out toxic people and ensure that you have peaceful people in your inner circle. You do not need any of that toxic distaction.

Romance?

Can you combine it? Will it help you or distract you?

This is multifactorial and if you are struggling to combine the two, allow romance for the mean time until you can.

Your family will matter and I hope you will have the right support from them.

It is important to also have people you can talk to and they can pray for you and encourage you. I have been helped many times through certain people I shared with and they are well appreciated by me.

Trust God

Trust God who started with you to finish with you and continue with you in your medical practice.

Conclusion

There is more beyond medical school and I trust God for more.

I appreciate most importantly my family, close friends, regular friends, colleagues and everyone that contributed to this journey and I say may God grant your heart desires according to His will for you.

If you observed, the tagline for this blog changed from #fromthemedicalstudentfaraway to #daughterofabba. Now you know why 🤗

Disclaimer: All images used in this post belong to me and the last photo with stethoscopes belong to I and my friends.

Poster created by me.

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Until next post, stay safe and God bless.

#daughterofabba