what's your typical week in med school

[new member]

hi

 

can anyone share what your typical week is like during 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th yr of med school? e.g. hours of lectur vs clinical. please also share your experience during the clinical rotation (both good and bad). Thanks!

[Jewels1986]

I've just started, but at UWO for first year we have lectures for 3 hours every morning, with small groups (20-30 people) and anatomy labs thrown in here and there. There's a tutorial for patient-centered care one afternoon (with a psychosocial focus), a clinical methods session on a second afternoon, and community health on a third. The other two we have off and we can do observerships then (but aren't required to). Second year is similar. It's a pretty nice schedule, really - some structure but not overly busy. HTH!

[rogerroger]

Here is the deal in first year at UofT.

 

Everyday is slightly different. But generally it goes something like this...

 

 

8:00 AM -- Lecture 1 (224 people)

 

9:00 -- Lecture 2 (224 people)

 

10:00 -- Anatomy lab to work on dissections (8 people)

 

12:00 -- Lunch

 

1:00 -- Lecture 3 (224 people)

 

2:00 -- Anatomy lab to work on dissections (8 people)

 

4:00 -- Lecture 4 (224 people)

 

 

 

On various days during the week we mix it up with 2 lectures being replaced with tutorials which are in smaller groups of about 30 people.

 

On Friday mornings we are at the hospitals until about noon.

 

Lectures are on anatomy, embryology, management, community health, histology and imaging. Then after Jan. we add lectures on brain and behavior, ethics, and metabolism.

 

Things are moving very fast. We finished the whole thorax, heart, lungs, esophagus etc. in under 2 weeks. I would say the work load feels like one week = one month of my undergrad at western. Socially, it feels like high school again! You are with the same people all day! You wake up they are there at lecture, you work in the lab with them, eat lunch with them etc... So far pretty much everyone seems pretty cool to hang out with. I am definitely not getting that vibe of Toronto=crappy social atmosphere. This was a common rumor in undergrad... So hopefully the trend continues! My only beef is that the days are long. I was use to basically making my own schedule in 4th year of my undergrad. Yet, the material is mostly VERY interesting so I find myself not fatiguing as quickly as one might imagine.

[Kenola]

At the U of S the scheudle has been like this:

Year 1

Morning lectures, intersperced with anatomy and histo labs. Most afternoons are over by 12:30 for independent study, shadowing, etc.

Occasional afternoons for small group sessions.

Once per week we have a clical skills session. Practicing FIFE on patients(volunter, not actual patients in hospital), and some basic physical exam skills.

Morning lectures are on:biochem, path, humanities, pro skills, and form and function(common class of anatomy, histo, physiology, and anatomy with a clincal focus).

 

Year 2

Classes: start doing systems, path, iffectious diseaes, pharmacology, genetics.

Clinical skills are practiced on real pateints now, for about 2hr every morning. We rotate generally through medicine and surg, and some time in subspeciality rotations.

So strated with clinical frm 8-10, systems 10:30-12:30(genetics instead on wed)....afternoons filled with either pharm, infectious diseases, or path. Usually at school until 3 or so most days.

 

3rd year (phase c)

very similar with pharm being swtiched out for community health and epidemology.

clinical is now at 10:30-12:30 doing specifically neuro, obs gyn,pedes, and rehab med

systems everyday 8:30-10:00

monday/friday off for afternoon after clinical.

Tues wed thurs - have either path or ID&CHEP. at the school until 4.

 

phase d(1/2 way through 3rd year) - JURSI/internship -- full time in hospital!! yay!

 

Kenola

[A-Stark]

There are really different from Dal - so much lecture time! In first and second year, we have an hour of lecture in the morning 4-5 days a week beginning at 8:35, with case study group tutorials Mon-Weds-Fri for 2-3 hours. Anatomy labs are Tues/Thurs (you can go in by yourself or with your group anytime before midnight) with histology on Thurs. Other lectures/sessions occur throughout the schedule (including patient-doctor, clinical epidemiology and critical thinking, and electives).

 

Teaching of the basic sciences proceeds in units - human body (anatomy and histology) from now until the end of Oct, followed metabolism and function, pathology, immunology, and microbiology, pharmacology, and genetics, embryology, and reproduction, and similarly for second year. PBL here is a lot more structured than you might think, but way more engaging than sitting through entire mornings of lectures.

[lostintime]

We seem to have a lot less anatomy. I'm kind of worried about this actually because I don't have undergrad anatomy. Hopefully it'll be okay though.

 

At UWO, generally 8:30-11:20 class 5 days a week, then 3 afternoons of small group/lecture stuff, and 2 afternoons off. The three hour lectures in the morning are not fun, I wish it was more spread out. But oh well. And yes, the teaching is pretty awesome so far. Same with the notes.

[Jewels1986]

Hey lostintime,

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the anatomy - we only do a little in ITM, but then at the beginning of each block (except I&I, I guess) I think we cover the anatomy for that particular system in a fair bit of depth. Nobody does as much anatomy as U of T, though.

[lostintime]

Haha I didn't see your post before jewels1986, otherwise I wouldn't have repeated what you just said.

 

I kind of want it to be covered together though so I can get a better holistic view of the anatomy. But maybe then I'll get sick of the anatomy lab =P

[A-Stark]

Do you have much lab time at UWO?

[1234]

I guess I'll toss in my perspective of UTmeds - first year - since that is what I am doing right now.

 

There is a tremendous amount of content with a crazy pace (8-5 jam packed). The thing is, fundamental structure and function of anatomy is not really done in lectures. The anatomy labs scare you enough that you have to go home after class and read until you can adequately identify structures in the cadaver. Hence, it is tough - but its hella interesting and the pace is, although tiring, very rewarding. And the student body is really active - there is something to do every night if you don't want to study, whether it be bars, intramural sports.

 

Biggest con - lack of sleep lol, only get about 6 hours.

[A-Stark]

Not to be snarky, but I'm really glad I go to Dal rather than somewhere "traditional" like UofT. I certainly have the option of spending 16 hours in the anatomy lab per week, but *thankfully* it's not required - and I think I learned a lot more about the structure of the thorax from our first case. Yay for PBL (or "COPS" in Dal terms)!

[Sheena815]

I really like that UWO employs a variety of teaching methods. Morning lectures aren't too long (3 hours, 830-1130 is fine with me), and will probably seem a bit less tedious when anatomy lab gets incorporated into the schedule. Then some "independent learning module" time scheduled from 1130-1230(which is kind of silly since they are all just listening to another lecture- but online and with notes you can't download ) -but obviously since its independent you can do it whenever you want. We then have different things on each afternoon of the week that tend to run from 130 or 2-4 or thereabouts.

 

Mondays are community health issues in medicine (epidemiology, ethics etc). we've only had one of these so far, so I cannot really comment too much, other than that I like the subject matter but did not like how (the first session at least) was run. Then one afternoon we have "PCCIA"- which is a small group session where we discuss/ debate that week's issue in medicine (for example, this week was the qualities of a good doctor, next week is end of life care). I wasn't sure how "useful" I'd find these but I actually really enjoy the discussions. Then there is clinical methods on another afternoon, which we haven't really started yet, but its patient interviewing, physical exams, etc on standardized patients.

 

We have two afternoons off to do whatever- study, do observerships, etc, which is awesome. Otherwise I'm not sure when there'd be a chance to to an observership? Evenings and weekends I guess? I can't wait to start these.

 

The one thing we don't have is PBL, and I actually thought there would be a bit (I thought PCCIA was PBL-like, but its really not). So, I'm kind of disappointed in that, as I thought PBL sounded interesting and would feel a bit more like real medicine than sitting in lecture.

 

But anyway, so far so good in most ways. And also not to be snarky in any way, but I'm very glad I never have to do a day that goes from 8-5. That sounds very tiring to me, and I commend the UofTers.

[rogerroger]

Update: Today we spent most of the day working with standardized patients and had some exposure to some real patients. Did some basic history taking stuff etc. It was pretty nifty. If you guys haven't done this yet I guarantee you are in for an exciting time. Let us know how it goes. I would personally love to read about your more clinical experiences.

 

 

Overall I don't want to give pre-meds reading this the wrong impression about the crazy hours. Yes, they are crazy. But the amount I have learned in less than 15 days blows my mind. The other day we were going around practicing our anatomy and relating it to the clinical lecture material. It only then really clicked in how much stuff has been crammed into my head is such a short period. It is crazy hard work, but I am really happy with the results. So if long hours means feeling very confident in getting all the material I need then I am more than willing to work my butt off.

 

Also as intense as the work is I get the very real impression my colleagues love the intensity as much as we like to ***** about it. We wouldn't be here if we didn't like some of the self flagellation. I think many med students can relate to this kind of feeling, not just us Toronto students.

[D-Rock]

Biggest con - lack of sleep lol, only get about 6 hours.

 

Just you wait. I'd kill to have three - six times my usual amount of sleep on a call night followed up by 3 - 4 hours of sitting still in grand rounds, rounds, and then subspecialty teaching. But it's seriously fun in the clerkship (sometimes...).

[a41]

This is more for the traditional preclin group, but does anyone else think that med school is NOT intellectually stimulating at all so far? I always see people saying that intelligence is really important for medicine, but we've already had our first set of exams and so far I haven't had to do any thinking.

 

It may just be the beginning since I'm only taking Anatomy, Histology, Embryology, and Clin Med but Clin Med is by far the most intellectually demanding class (though it really isn't that tough)...

 

I'm not saying that med school isn't hard...we go through a lot of material and have to bust our butts, but all we do is memorize stuff (every damn thing in the body, no less). I hope it gets better. I'm just glad I can work clinics or do health screenings to keep me focused on my journey ahead.

 

Edit: Forgot that I am taking an Art in Medicine course extracurricularly which is pretty deep. It's basically an English course for premeds that med students can also participate in (without having to worry about marks).

[Satsuma]

This is more for the traditional preclin group, but does anyone else think that med school is NOT intellectually stimulating at all so far?

 

 

I am in 4th year and I can tell you that I do not find clinical work "intellectually stimulating". You are right that med school and medicine in general is alot of memorizing. I think that is where intellectual capacity comes into play...you have to be able to absorb large amounts of information and apply it quickly often on very little sleep.

 

That being said there are some specializations that are more intellectually challenging/interesting than others. What these are certainly have a personal preference component to it. And as you progress in training and you learn more details it can be more interesting.

 

Being good at clinical work means recognizing problems and knowing what to do about it efficiently and quickly. This happens after you have seen the same thing over and over. And in general every specialty has their bread and butter cases. But the odd time you will get a problem that stumps you which could be a bit of a more challenging case. Of course, that is not the best scenario if you are the patient.

 

If you go on and find clinical work doesn`t give you the intellectual stimulation you were looking for in your career, you can always add in some research. There are alot of clinicians who are involved with research in some capacity.

[Lactic Folly]

That being said there are some specializations that are more intellectually challenging/interesting than others. What these are certainly have a personal preference component to it. And as you progress in training and you learn more details it can be more interesting.

 

This is true.. although some areas are more "doing" vs more "thinking," each area has its own intricacies that you discover only on delving into it more deeply.. beyond the basics presented in medical school for sure (as the point is to teach a basic understanding of common problems and not current controversies to which there are no clear-cut answers). Every time I look inside a specialty journal, I see articles on issues I never conceived of before. And even when I'm doing what seems like routine patient care, last time on call, I found myself searching the evidence for help on questions I had on optimal warfarin dosing, the best indicator of hypoxia in the face of conflicting info, the correct timing of DVT prophylaxis in different types of patients.. Clinical medicine has so many shades of grey.. there is certainly critical thinking involved to integrate everything and decide on optimal management. The memorization in medical school provides a base of knowledge to draw upon in your problem solving.

[alpine]

About the thinking part, I'm also finding it too brainless at this point (first year med I mean). I think I want to get involved in some research to make my life more exciting. My undergrad was actually very stimulating and I wasn't used to things being this easy. Oh well, hope it gets more challenging.

[cleboman]

posted this somewhere else, here is Mac:

 

Yr1 and my week goes like this

 

Monday - completely off (sometimes there may be a 1 or 2 hour long lecture...lectures go online anyways so skipping them is not a big deal and not mandatory at all)

 

Tuesday - 9-12 Professional competencies(its like group therapy basically, but sometimes you take up ethical issues and sh1t like that)

 

1-4 Tutorial (this is where most of your learning happens and you set objectives for your cases and then discuss your findings on the case you set objectives for the previous tutorial)

 

Wednesday - completely off (once a month you have anatomy and Professional Skills which is like 9-3 or something)

 

Thursday - completely off (theres nothing here)

 

Friday - 8:30/9 - 12 Large group sessions (macs fancy name for lectures, once again they go online and are not mandatory...you use the lectures if you want to)

1-4 Tutorial

 

 

Once a week you have to set a 3 hr block with a resident or a doctor with your tutorial group for Clinical Skills (they get standardized patients and you practice doing different examinations..)

 

Tutorial times are different for different groups. Its 2, three hour session a week and its either on monday and thursday, or tuesday and friday like mine. some people have it in the morning, some in the afternoon, some in the evening.

 

 

The free time is yours to use however you want. You can use it to research info for your cases. During our first block everyone has to do a horizontal elective in Family Medicine, so you go to a doctor and do stuff with them...i think that starts on sept 27th or something.

 

Lots of teaching hospitals around Mac, so you can do these things called, Horizontal Electives which are not mandatory, but you can find a doctor in whichever field and shadow them for a couple hours during 1 day in the week or a whole day..its up to you and the doctor.

[NorthernDude]

Guess I should represent for NOSM!

 

Our program is PBL-based, but does have lecture and does have assessments. We don't do gross anatomy.

 

NOSM is broken into system based modules, so for example our current module is Gastrointestinal. At the 3 week mark we have an exam which is not marked and is for us to self-evaluate how we are doing. At 6 weeks we have the a big exam that is marked, and a bellringer which tests us on anatomy, histology and procedures.

NOSM is on a pass/fail system.

 

Monday:- Morning: CBL (Case Based Learning) Groups of 8. Basically these are cases based on issues of interprofessionalism, northern and rural health, community health, social determinants, culture, language. etc.

 

Afternoon: TOS (Topic Oriented Sessions) Same groups of 8. Cases based on sciences: anatomy, phys, embryo, biochem, histo, pharm, etc.

 

Tuesday: Morning: CLS (Community Learning Sessions). Placements in pairs in a community social organization, a doctor's office or in some sort of allied health office/clinic.

 

Afternoon: study time

 

Wednesday: Morning: Lecture

 

Afternoon: study time

 

Thursday: Morning: SCS (Structured Clinical Skills). Groups of 4 with a Dr. Learn/Practice interviewing and examinations with standardized or real patients.

 

Afternoon (TOS). Same as on Monday, but we take up what we were going to go and learn and then receive more info on the case to provide more to look up.

 

Friday: Morning: LAB or Mid-Module Exam or Final Exam

In our labs we work on histology, study models, study dissected cadavers ("plastinated specimens") and learn procedures (suturing, casting, injections, etc)

 

Afternoon: Study time or Bellringer

[BrendanJ]

I'm not sure if anyone replied from the U of A but here goes.

 

Each week:

 

No more than 8 hrs of lecture.

 

PBL: 2x2hr sessions, 1x1 hr session on Friday

 

Case based tutorials: 2-3 hrs per week. similar to DL but more preceptor guided and sometimes with patients from whatever specialty service is running the block.

 

Anatomy: Lectures during the week (included in the 8 hrs of lecture). Lab on Friday mornings.

 

Clinical skills sessions/free time to schedule clinical experience: every Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.

 

Weekly Review and quiz on friday afternoons.

[mbene085]

At U of O, our weeks go like this:

 

Monday - Lectures 8:30-12:30

Tuesday - CBL and lectures 8:30-12:30

Wednesday - Lectures 8:30-12:30

Thursday - Anatomy, radiology, and histology labs 8:30-12:30, PSD (physician skills development) 1:30-4:30

Friday - CBL 8:30-11:30

[zenitron25]

I'm sorry for popping in randomly, but looking at your schedules and weeks a question came to me... Do all of you just study and have school full-time? I mean, does any of you have a job? I'm just curious, since I hear all the time that you have crazy schedules and you barely find time to sleep. If indeed you do have a job, which I assume at least some of you do, how many hours per week you work, where does it sit in your schedule and how do you manage your study time and work.

 

Thanks,

David.

[BrendanJ]

For me, a job isn't worth it. I don't know of any students in my class holding jobs. It doesn't make sense when you have so little personal time to start with, not to mention the banks are tossing you 150-200k at low interest right now . . .

[justletmein]

For me, a job isn't worth it. I don't know of any students in my class holding jobs. It doesn't make sense when you have so little personal time to start with, not to mention the banks are tossing you 150-200k at low interest right now . . .

 

lol you are the typical med student who thinks that just because banks throw you 150k that you will pay it off no problem... cause you will be rich right??

 

anyway personally I dont work but there are many students in my class who do albeit I would say a MAX of 10 hrs a week. If I worked, my marks and general sanity would suffer so that why I choose not to... but it is definitely doable. Just dont expect to pull off 20 hrs+ you will never make it. And take everything the banks tell you with a grain of salt. Having 100K in debt, even at "low interest" which right now is around 4% is no laughing matter ---- say you have 20K after first year, that is an interest charge of 800$ a year... lets say you let that interest accrue so if you take 20K per year + interest that adds up to 88326$..... or in other words 8300$ in interest. The bank is happy

 

I know that a line of credit is the best option for most of us cause lets face it... the interest could be WAY worse... but if you have the chance to work a few hours and still have time for everything else I say why not chip away at that debt right away? When you start making the big money you want to pay for a new BMW, not pay 100K in student debt.