Week 3

Week three is over. This was a more tiring week than the first two. We dove into the science this week; that wasn’t too bad actually. What made the week tiring was all of the COVID news. COVID fatigue is real and right now, Texas is more or less back where we were last year at this time during the shutdown. The zip code that UIWSOM is the most heavily impacted by COVID, so the school sent us home for the latter half of last week and for Monday of this week. They bought us back on campus, but we’ve all got to wear N95s indoors and outdoors (if we’re in groups of three or more) and we have to get COVID testing every week, irrespective of vaccine status, on Thursday or Friday. I understand the precautions and I am SOOOO appreciative that our Dean, Dr. Robyn Phillips-Madson, has a public health background and is a strong administrator (And personally speaking, after working in academia for so many years, I am THRILLED that there is a strong woman in charge!) but honestly, I am so over COVID right now. Earlier this week, one of my mentees who attends another osteopathic medical school that I won’t name because they are NOT taking any real public health measures to protect students, staff and faculty, told me that she contracted COVID from most likely, unvaccinated faculty or staff. So, on top of dealing with the changes here, Eboni and I were worried about our mentee. Despite that, I was able to mostly stay caught up with work and this weekend, I will be catching up on anything that remains undone over these two weeks as well as meeting with two study groups.

In terms of what was covered this week, in DOCS, we spent more time learning about the Osteopathic Structural Exam (OSE) and palpating to look for asymmetries in patients. We also started learning how to properly use our medical instruments and take vital signs during a patient encounter. In SIGS, we did two case studies, one covering a patient with Turner Syndrome and the other, Cystic Fibrosis. The cases were really interesting, and I loved working with the group as we worked our way through the cases. STRX saw us continue with histology/make up of cells and we started working on the cadavers for the first time as we continued our understanding of the skeleton, its joints, and got an introduction to the integumentary system. Large group saw us dive into biomolecules and basic enzymology. Of course, the EMT course continues; that also contributed to my tiredness; we have five to six quizzes to do each week in that program and while it is online, the quizzes are time consuming. I’m fortunate that I’ve been an EMT and have taken the NREMT exam in the past so none of this is new to me, but it’s still time consuming.

Other than that, my chair and ottoman arrived today. My office is almost complete. I want to get a filing cabinet or small decorative table and a lamp for my office. I thought about getting a TV for the office but I think that will be a distraction, especially during football season so I’ll likely not get one. The chair is comfortable and will make a nice spot to read when I’m. not on the computer. It also makes for a nice sleeping spot (Yeah, I napped today) when I doze off… I want to do something super nice for Eboni; she bought me the chair and ottoman because she wanted my office to be comfy as I don’t like studying on campus. She’ll be returning to school on the 19th for PhD number two so I want to do something nice for her to make sure that she starts off with a nice, comfortable, and inviting study space. Time to go take some EMT quizzes!