Back to the Classroom

Hi there; Birdie here!

I know, I'm pretty late with this post. I'm writing about the block that finished two and a half weeks ago; I'm on Equine now, which is super busy...but that's a whole different story.

Last block I was in 5010s--those are our classroom electives (the class number for every single one of them is 5010, so we say that to distinguish it from actual rotation electives). Because of who I am as a person, I was in every single class for this particular two-week block: "Advanced Business Management", ultrasound, dentistry, and feline. That's enough credits in one half block that I got an extra half block of vacation, plus one more credit than I actually need because I just want to learn everything. ANYWAY.

I'm putting "Advanced Business Management" in quotations because there didn't seem to be anything particularly advanced about it. We had a core business class in the fall, and this hardly seemed to build on anything. The first couple of days were leadership/communication type things, and we also did some stuff on financial planning/planning for retirement, practice software, making a business plan, etc. Every single one of them was a lecture, which I feel was not the best use of that class. It's an elective, so it's smaller than the whole third year class. You could totally do more experiential learning, small group activities--at least discussion! But instead it was two hours of class every day for two weeks. I don't regret taking it, but I'm not sure how much I actually learned from it, and I really think the class could have been done better.

Ultrasound was mostly lecture, but we also had a lab each week. We learned about theory, about different types of artifacts, and about normal/abnormal by organ/system. Then in lab we got to try finding the structures. I feel like I did a fair job doing a basic exam (though no, I didn't find any adrenals this time). We also got to practice doing fine needle aspirates and biopsy sampling guided by the ultrasound. I enjoyed this class, especially on lab days. Hopefully it helps me be a step ahead when I do the ultrasound rotation a year from now! And in general--ultrasound is something I'm really interested in, and something I'm trying to use as a selling point when I look for jobs.

Dentistry was just two days, but it was all day. The first day we were in lecture. Some of it was review from what we got in Medicine (or possibly another course, but I think it was Medicine), but it wasn't just a re-hash and they sometimes asked questions, like expecting us to remember. There were also two clinicians teaching it together, which was more entertaining and I think more informative, since they could fill in each others' gaps and bring in their own experiences. The main message of their class was "Even if you aren't a specialist, you can do a lot yourself" (meanwhile, my business class had a lecture on why you should specialize and how it's unethical to advertise yourself as a dentist if you aren't boarded). So then the next day we proved it in lab. It wasn't really all day, just all morning. We learned to pull canine teeth and cheek teeth (I also made sure to ask about incisors), and we learned about nerve blocks and fixing broken jaws and correcting malalignment of the canines. Mostly, it takes high speed dental equipment. I'm really glad I got to practice that, and they were super helpful in answering our questions and making sure we did things right.

The feline elective was basically exactly the same as the one I did second year--each of us brought in a case and we discussed our problems, differentials, and treatment plan. There were a dozen or so of us in the class, so not all of us actually presented (I didn't, for one). It was a pretty good class, and I definitely learned from it. Particularly since I don't have my medicine rotation before NAVLE, it's nice to have some case-based learning about feline diseases.

Despite having a relatively easy block with electives, I still haven't looked up all the topics I'd meant to study for oncology and emergency rotations. And now I'm even more behind with equine because of how long the days are--but again, that's another story. You'll have to wait a week or so for that one (at least--I just happened to get out unusually early today). ;)