Hey Look! A Journal Article about the Yale PA program!

Here's the abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21337718

Not all PA programs have a cadaver dissection lab.  Yale does, and it was quite the experience! Dr. Stewart (an author for the article) and Dr. Kapadia taught our class and we love them! Dr. Stewart wears bow ties and really cares about us. Plus, he is one of the only teachers that we had consistently.

Anatomy is really important. I am glad that we had such a good class!

the human side of things

Often lectures are kind of dry . . . and PA school is no exception! Endless staring at powerpoint slides with lists of information that has little context and by people who are really, really smart. Which means it is often a little over my head.  Sometimes the thought of digesting (or even just looking at!) another powerpoint just makes me feel squishy inside.

We had a much needed change of pace on Friday when our lecturer brought in two gentlemen with the disease she was presenting on (multiple sclerosis).  She sent us some reading to do ahead of time, which I did about half and hour before class. :) (hallelujah!) And then, she just let the her patients talk.  It was really interesting to hear their stories, what it was like living with MS, what signs/symptoms they presented with.  I know I learned a lot more and will remember a lot more! I fear sometimes that I am just forgetting everything with the constant information overload we are shouldering, but I hope that in our rotations it will be easier to retain and solidify. There is just so much information out there!

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful outside! And there was absolutely no way that I could stay inside.  . Becky and I grabbed our gloves and a baseball and played catch on the front lawn.  There were a lot of people walking and we said hi to a lot of them.  We even met one of the boys that lives in the apartment above us  . .. we had been secretly hoping to meet them so we could ask them to stop playing basketball in their apartment at night in a non-confrontational way.

Then we dined with a few of our friends at Caseus, on the patio! I had half a beet salad that had the most glorious crunchy meat (guanciale?),  and the best macaroni and cheese in the world.  I think there were 10 different kinds of cheeses in it. Sooooooo sooooooo goooood. I am determined to track down the grilled cheese truck Caseus has on the streets of New Haven around lunch time, but it often isn't at the med school cart area.  Now it is a necessity to find it.

Sam, Becky and I finished off the evening watching the Dick Van Dyke show.  Between dinner and Dick Van Dyke, we went to a get together at one our our friend's apartments.  We ended up watching an episode of Doctor Who, which was scary.  I think India would like Doctor Who - anything has to be better than Revenge.

Friday was a little unproductive school wise, but it was really good to feel like a normal human being. :)

Spring is in the air! Yale School of Medicine Rose Garden. 

Rock to Rock (Happy belated Earth Day!)

 

On Saturday, my a few of my friends and I did a bike ride in celebration of Earth day. There was a folk music band playing and lots of healthy, organic free food! I felt right at home surrounded by granolas. Here in CT, I am known as the resident hippie. :)

We did the 20 mile loop and went to three state parks: West Rock, Sleeping Giant, and East Rock.  The  ride was so beautiful, and we went through some of the more peaceful parts of Connecticut.  I have also perfected the art of riding hands free and am still trying to convince my friend Emily that it is a necessary life skill.  It's kind of good to just let go sometimes. . .

White Coat Ceremony

On March 22, 2013, our PA class received our white coats! It is a rite of passage in the medical profession because it marks the transition into our clinical practicum.  The white coats we have are short (as opposed to the long ones you see licensed people wearing).  

The run of events:

We had opening remarks by our interim program director, and then a keynote speaker that had graduated from the Yale PA program and is now working at the Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH). Then we individually walked across the stage, meeting our mentors from the class of 2013 in the middle. Stacy (my mentor) helped me don my white coat. I was pleasantly surprised because Stacy had put a notebook, pen and granola bar in my white coat pocket! After everyone had received their white coat, we receited our oath. 

There was a reception afterwards with chocolate-covered strawberries! We went out for mexican food after. :)

  

The medical  school has a professional photographer (haha) so I was waiting to get those pictures . .. but it's taking a long time. I'll update this post when I get them!

whirlwind

We piled in the car on Friday afternoon and road tripped to D.C, drinking orange gatorade, eating pita chips, and listening to the arabic groove CD that Becky checked out from the Hamden library.

Lincoln monument, Jefferson monument, Washington Monument, WWII monument, DAR building (Grandma!), Red Cross building, White House, Ford Theatre, The Capitol building, the Library of Congress, The Supreme Court building, the American Indian museum, the Air and Space museum (very cool!), and the Hirschhorn Sculpture garden.  What a day! So fun. Played games and had dinner with some Jerusalem friends, and then drove home on Monday.

We stopped at a used bookstore on the way back, and Love in the Time of Cholera and Frankenstein are now in my possession.  :)  Then I hopped on my bike and made it in time to go to my physical exam class. (barely).

Grammie is hi-larious!

Deer in East Rock

Sam and I were wandering around East Rock Park yesterday.

"Sam, look!!!!!" I said in a hushed voice (which was funny, because we had been talking loudly up to this point) and I pointed to a deer.

We laughed. We were standing in the middle of four nonsurplussed deer, looking straight at us with no intention of running away.