Progress and Procrastination

Well, I've achieved sod all this week, both in terms of learning stuff and in terms of writing stuff. I was meant to be meeting my study buddy this weekend, and going over the stuff we learnt at last weekend's revision course, but he's on call at the hospital and hasn't managed to escape yet to come and study, so I'm trying to get through some of the stuff on my To Do list. On the plus side, the next fortnight is set aside for research, so Tuesday-Thursday I don't have class or placement, and I can curl up here in my conservatory-study and get some work done. I'm hoping to finish my first draft of my research this week coming, so the next week I can try to learn some stuff that'll be helpful when I hit the wards in two and a half weeks' time.

I've done my OPBL on the clotting cascade and anticoagulants, some work on diuretics, and the anatomy of the heart, so my updated to do list looks like this:

This week:
PBL - pneumonia
Prepare a presentation/scenarios on the differential diagnosis of cough with sputum
Cardiac drugs
Anatomy of the hand
Finalise and submit job applications - deadline Monday. Make a decision and apply, you idiot!

Next weekend:
Work with Study Buddy, go over the content of this course - don't know when this is going to happen

Within the next few weeks:
Read research papers for my background
Write background section
Write up analysis of group against control
Complete data collection on teaching material
Send first part of draft to research tutor
First draft of reflective essay
Pick a patient for case presentation - this isn't going to get done for at least a fortnight, because I'm now on Research.

To top it off, Flatmate is getting really irritated with Study Buddy. Which is inconvenient, given that they're dating. Personally, I think they'd both get on much better if they both got a few good nights' sleep - they're both grouchy, because they're both burning the candle at both ends! Hey ho.

Ought to get back to writing about pneumonia, really. Much less fun than blogging, but potentially more helpful when I hit placement on MAU...

Two months, no post...

Oops! Long time, no post. Tsk tsk. Should pick up a bit now, post-Christmas and my mind's in a better place, so time to crack on with work. Might start posting my to-do lists here, that'd mean I came back and updated more often, and it'd make sure I keep on track with work!

Christmas was good, not particularly relaxing but I got plenty of work done. I found out a couple of days before Christmas that I won a national essay prize, so that was the best Christmas present I could have had, although I also had some lovely gifts from family. I've started a new rotation, which is going well although it's incredibly intense, and it involves a bit of work in operating theatres - a nightmare for lipreading. We'll see how it goes, the academic bit is really interesting and it's drawing things together, so full steam ahead.

Am on a course this weekend, revision directed at Finals, which is really interesting. Today's been very intense, but I'm now chilling out at a friend's house, cuddling the cat and getting warm by the fire, so I'm happy!

Probably ought to make a list of things that need doing. Will split it into short-term and long-term goals...

This week:
PBL - clotting cascade and anticoagulant medications
Diuretic therapy
Cardiac drugs
Anatomy of the heart
Anatomy of the hand
Finalise and submit job applications

Next weekend:
Work with Study Buddy, go over the content of this course

Within the next few weeks:
Read research papers for my background
Write background section
Write up analysis of group against control
Complete data collection on teaching material
Send first part of draft to research tutor
First draft of reflective essay
Pick a patient for case presentation

Wow, that's a scary list. Probably ought to get on with some of it instead of sitting here blogging...