Medicine at Michigan Student Blogs

It has been a while since the
last update!!

Today marks the official end of
my first month as a doctor…challenging & amazing!

Fourth year of med school was one
of the most exciting time of my med school career. Once I made the decision to
pursue a career in internal medicine, I had to pick my ideal place with an
excellent training program, good people and of course better weatherJ !I traveled
from Ann Arbor to Denver, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chapel Hill, Atlanta,
St Louis and Nashville. Had so much fun on the way…seeing new places, meeting
people and trying local foods and beverages. After travelling to all these
places, I came down to one tough choice at the end…to leave or not to leave Ann
Arbor..my home away from home. I have grown to absolutely love Ann Arbor…from
my fond memories as undergrad to the challenging times as a med student,
Michigan has been a great place of growth and maturity.

As the end of February was approaching,
I had to make my choices.  It was becoming
clear to me that it was time for me to get out of my comfort zone or maybe also
go to a place with better wintersJ I finalized my rank list putting
Vanderbilt at the top; although deep inside I would have been happy to either
stay at Michigan or move to Nashville.

After anxiously waiting for three
long weeks, I found out that I was going to be a resident at Vanderbilt University
Medical Center starting July 1, 2012. I don’t think there is a phrase that can
capture the emotion that med students feel on match day. I for one was very
grateful, felt blessed and ecstatic. I laid all my worries about what the future
holds to rest for that day and just enjoyed the moment.

Things moved pretty quickly after
that. I had to start planning for my parents’ arrival for graduation and of
course my move to Nashville. It was a busy, yet exciting time. Both my parents,
all of my uncles, aunts and cousins came from various places to celebrate
graduation. I cannot describe my parents’ joy and pride at the graduation
ceremony. My father couldn’t stop taking pictures of me and my mom would tell
everyone to call me Doctor Fasika J …puts a smile on my face whenever I recall
the day.

Fast forward two months, and here
I am after completing my first month as a doctor at Vanderbilt. It’s amazing
how much there is still to learn about medicine. The more patients I see the
more I realize how hard I have to work. Bottom line, the journey will continue
and I hope that on the way I will grow to love and cherish medicine even more!

Congratulations to the University of Michigan Medical School Class of 2012! It’s certainly hard to believe that I am already finished with medical school and am about to begin residency. The last month was quite a blur with graduating, saying bye to everyone in Michigan, and packing/moving/unpacking. I distinctly remember sitting in Ann Arbor writing the first blog post four years ago as if it were yesterday. Now I am sitting in Boston writing my final blog post in this series and it’s pretty surreal. The last almost decade has been quite a memorable ride and I’ll always remember my time at Michigan, particularly because not only was I there for medical school, but also for college. Don’t worry though, my new place in Boston has plenty of Michigan paraphernalia.

Anyway, no matter who the reader, I hope this series has given you a little bit of insight on what it’s like to study medicine in the 21st century. As always, feel free to let me know if you have any comments/questions. GO BLUE!

In the middle of our graduation ceremony

Getting hooded prior to receiving my diploma

My family, who deserves more credit for my graduation than I do!

OK, enough. How do I get out of this thing?

I just wrapped up an awesome month at NASA/Johnson Space Center, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! We’ll see where I’m at in a few years but I would definitely enjoy being a full-time astronaut or flight surgeon at some point. I have way too many pictures to be able to post them all, but here’s a start:

Astronaut helmet fitting

Sunshield on

Neutral Buoyancy Lab (40 feet deep pool with full scale International Space Station submerged)

Preparing to enter the Neutral Buoyancy Lab

Watching Apollo 13 inside Mission Control

Inside the International Space Station Mock-Up

Running out of oxygen, oops

Lunar Rover

Spidernaut (real name, no joke)

Training on the COLBERT (Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill)

Training on the ARED (Advanced Resistive Exercise Device)

T-38s, which astronauts/flight surgeons get to co-pilot

Mars Rover Simulator

Vomit bags are still vomit bags, even at NASA.

The weather could not have been more perfect, 70 and sunny with a light breeze, which made it even more enjoyable to learn that I matched into the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program!

UMMS had six orthopaedic surgery applicants this year and all six of us successfully matched! Here we are on Match Day along with two of our orthopaedic mentors and UMMS alumni, Drs. Craig and Caird.

In other news, next week I’m pumped to be heading down to NASA/Johnson Space Center in Houston for a month of aerospace medicine/surgery. Everyone grows up wanting to be an astronaut, right?

Residency interviews:  Done!

Rank Order List due:  T-minus 10 days

Match Day:  Friday, 3/16

I ended up going on around 15 interviews encompassing both coasts and a few in between. I certainly racked up a good number of miles over the last couple months. Too bad I wasn’t able to stick to one airline carrier… having 5K miles on 5 different airlines is as useful as a snooze button on a smoke alarm. The best part of going on interviews was meeting other applicants from across the country that will soon be my colleagues and maybe even co-residents. We had a group of around 7-10 guys that were at mostly the same interviews, which made travelling around more enjoyable and lent a sense of camaraderie through the lengthy process. In fact, I write this post from the airport after presenting some research at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in San Francisco with many of the same people I met on the interview circuit.

The M4s have returned to clerkships this week after the long hiatus for boards/online courses/interviews. I personally have not seen a patient since August, so this should be interesting…

One of the hundreds of exhibits at the AAOS conference.

The Chinese New Year Parade took place during the AAOS meeting, the first night parade I've seen.

I attended a Sports Medicine Conference last month, which happened to be at Joe Louis Arena, the home of my all-time favorite sports team, the Red Wings. We were able to tour the facilities after the conference.

One of my life goals complete: center ice at Joe Louis Arena.

A couple of my friends and I finally had a chance to check out the North American International Auto Show. This model was one of the many highlights.

Sunset in San Francisco.

As surprising as it may seem, my cohort is already more than halfway finished with our final year of medical school! Since my last post, I completed a month of adult cardiac surgery, which was a great experience, because, come on, it’s heart surgery. Also during the past month, I found out I passed both parts of our USMLE Step 2 board exams, meaning I am now done with all board exams for the rest of medical school, which does feel pretty awesome. Now it’s time for the M4 promise land, right?

One of the many San Francisco beaches.

Last week a group of us senior med students applying to surgical residency programs attended the American College of Surgeons conference in San Francisco. This was my fourth year in a row attending the conference, which always has a great atmosphere and learning environment. San Francisco was also a great venue for the conference, with lots to do outside of the conference. I had a chance to catch up with some friends in the Bay Area, enjoy the terrific weather, and go to prison. Yes, that’s correct. We took a ferry over to Alcatraz Island and toured the facilities, which were as good as they sound, because, come on, it’s prison. It was worth it though for the ferry ride under sunny skies and getting a view of San Francisco from the Island, which is a nice sight.

Bill and I in front of one of our presentations at the conference.

Alcatraz Island

On the residency application front, I’ve started receiving invitations from programs and am looking forward to the interview season. After reviewing medical school applications and interviewing applicants for the past couple years, I can appreciate how much time and effort selection committees are required to input. Furthermore, I understand there will be always be biases and preconceived notions, but I think it is most fair for both the applicant and the program to keep an open mind until after the interview process. As such, I’m going to try to not make any fixed decisions until after interviews, but am excited at the possibilities!

Dr. Michael Englesbe (far left), who has had a large influence on my medical education and career goals. Also, and perhaps more importantly, he is great to golf with.

The below excerpt comes from an interesting piece I read today by Dr. Atul Gawande in which he describes the concept of coaching and its role among professionals, surgeons included (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/03/111003fa_fact_gawande#ixzz1ZCyiCQrh). If even the most elite performers such as athletes and musicians have coaches, why should surgeons be any different?

“Who’s that?” a patient asked me as she awaited anesthesia and noticed Osteen standing off to the side of the operating room, notebook in hand.

I was flummoxed for a moment. He wasn’t a student or a visiting professor. Calling him “an observer” didn’t sound quite right, either.

“He’s a colleague,” I said. “I asked him along to observe and see if he saw things I could improve.”

The patient gave me a look that was somewhere between puzzlement and alarm.

“He’s like a coach,” I finally said.

She did not seem reassured.

I am still relatively early in my education and training, but I can certainly appreciate the role of coaching, teaching, and mentorship. Much of who I am today both personally and professionally has been cultivated by great coaches, ranging from my parents to my current medical school professors. I cannot imagine where I would be without the priceless guidance and wisdom provided by those more experienced. Particularly with respect to medicine and surgery, I think mentorship is one of the most important aspects of an excellent education and is perhaps even undervalued by younger trainees. I have been incredibly fortunate to have so many terrific mentors throughout my years at the University of Michigan with whom I hope to have lifelong relationships. After all, there will always be something that I can improve on!

Dr. James Goulet, who played a large role in my decision to pursue orthopaedic surgery.

Perfect weather. ESPN College GameDay on campus. First night game ever at Michigan Stadium. NCAA collegiate football record attendance of 114,804.

End of the 3rd quarter - Michigan 7, Notre Dame 24

What is happening?? No worries, 28 amazing 4th quarter points and 1 ridiculously amazing comeback later…

FINAL SCORE - MICHIGAN 35, NOTRE DAME 31

Epic.

Front row!

Turns out we had many appearances during the national ESPN TV broadcast... bottom left.

Check out a glimpse of the post-game celebration from my phone. We didn’t leave the stadium until an hour after the game ended:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxWd_sg84kc

Front row view of College GameDay's Post-Game Show

Times Square

Hello from New York, where I am in the middle of a 4-week visiting clerkship at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). It is the oldest orthopaedic surgery hospital in the country (1863) and completes more than 25,000 surgeries annually. It’s been educational to see how a hospital other than the University of Michigan functions and there certainly have been numerous differences ranging from charting systems to operating room logistics. I also chose to do an external clerkship to increase my exposure to orthopaedic surgery in other parts of the country and continue building a frame of reference for comparing residency programs. In just a few short weeks, as surprising as it may be, I’ll have to submit my residency applications (it seems like just yesterday that I submitted medical school applications!) Anyway, residency interviews take place November through January and then Match Day will be in mid-March where we find out where our next stage of training will occur. Though I am looking forward to this whole process and visiting other programs, I am more looking forward to knowing where I will ultimately end up!

Another benefit of rotating at HSS is that it is located in Upper East Side Manhattan (read: endless supply of things to do). While a pricey region, I’ve been enjoying living in the area this month. During a recent day off, I meandered over to the Rockefeller Center, toured the NBC Studios, hung out in Times Square, and visited Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (a giant collection of life size celebrity wax figures). The one knock I do have on this area is that there is very little space for gyms, tennis courts, and golf courses, all very crucial elements…

Rockefeller Center

I'm over 6 feet tall, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is just ridiculous. At least I have the jockey beat.

Oh yeah Kareem? I found someone that has you beat - The Hulk.

In other news, this Friday marks the start of medical school interviewing season at Michigan. I am looking forward to continuing being a part of the Admissions Committee this year and meeting another diverse group of applicants. For those prospective applicants, good luck to you and enjoy the process! It will soon be over and you will suddenly find yourself applying for residency…

I am about to begin the 7^th of 8 weeks of orthopaedic surgery to begin my M4 year. The breadth and variety within orthopaedics are some of the most appealing factors that draw me to the field. So far, I have spent time on the trauma, sports, and pediatrics services, all of which have had very different patient populations and medical pathologies. Nevertheless, they have all been very interesting and it is great to finally be rotating on services that I have chosen and can see myself pursuing in the future.

I "volunteered" both my arms at a practice casting session for us M4s.

While shadowing was useful in college and earlier in medical school, I’ve noticed that it is no longer very interesting to me as it’s not very proactive or hands-on. Whether it is the nature of the orthopaedic services or the fact that I am now a senior medical student, I have enjoyed having the opportunity to participate to a greater degree in patient care, both in the operating room and on the floor. Nevertheless, as with any field, with more responsibility comes more… paperwork… progress notes, operation notes, discharge summaries, follow-up requests, etc. These are equally important as direct patient care but not quite as glamorous…

Additionally, the amount and quality of teaching on the orthopaedic services has been wonderful. Even on busy surgical services, the residents, fellows, and attendings still take the time to teach students, which I similarly hope to do in the future.

Dr. Ward, orthopaedic intern extraordinaire, who will now believe that I was only half joking when I said I would be posting his picture up.