And We're Off!

School's started back up and we're already in 6th gear.  I read 250 pages of patho, pharmo & Bates' before the first day of lectures which seems to be about par for reading assignments for the rest of the term.  Yay.  Today is the second day and I'm already behind. 

Last year, our doctoring course was a fou fou easy-pass write off. Not so this time around.  I'm nervous about it.  We have our first OSCE- neuro in less than two weeks.

Yesterday during our third class, the lecturer started off with several slides of a Canadian study not related to the material but demonstrating the 'time saved' by 'traditional' clinicians who put their stethoscopes in pockets as opposed to around the neck (the 'cool' clinicians).

Slide 1:  decreased TB transmission
Slide 2: breakdown of Canadian workers (Drs, RNs etc) who wear it around neck and, with an average 0.32sec slower retrieval, totally Canadian economic loss = some 5 million dollars/year.
Slide 3: BIG LETTERS: women 2x more likely to fall into the 'cool' (as opposed to 'traditional') category.
Slide 4: If this lecturer sees anyone wearing their stethoscope around their neck during his rotation: automatic fail.

I was so pissed off by the unabashedly sexist 'mini' lecture, I couldn't pay attention to the real material.  What a jerk- what a way to perpetuate the impression of women doctors (in 3 slides no less!) being less capable, less efficient, more dangerous to their patients, more concerned with image than being a good doc and less deserving of respect! 

1. Ties (that men ubiquitously wear) are much more likely to transmit infections. Stethoscopes can be wiped down after leaving infected rooms. I have yet to see any man change his tie.
2. The 'unisex' lab coats are really mens' coats that women wear. Many of us larger hipped folks have to deal with a tighter fit around the waist making it much easier for things to fall out of pockets. And having big bulky metal things banging against hips is much less comfortable.
3. We tend to be smaller- certainly smaller than this lecturer's 6ft+ height. Smaller coat = smaller, shallower pockets= increased likelihood of things falling out.
4. Nurses, at least at the hospitals that I've worked, don't typically wear coats so the data is completely skewed.
5. There was no cross study of folks switching to the other method to determine if the 'savings' of 0.32 secs/use is accurate. 

Oooh, writing this, my level of 'pissed-offedness' has just skyrocketed.

Here are some photos of the Fields Museum  and the little sushi place where I had dinner in Chicago:

Invisible

I've noticed a number of constants over the last few weeks of this course.  It took me a little while because our lecturers are fun. They joke with each other, poke fun at their favorite students and make a hard (boring) subject entertaining.

They also don't see the 40% of the class that carry two Xs.

None of the students pimped are women. Not ONCE have I heard a female name called out.  There's no negativity towards us; we're just ignored.

No examples in any of the pathological examples in lecture are female bodies.

And today during an embryology lecture on the face, the composite photo of variability examples consisted of:

Men                                                       Women
1. Harry Truman                                        1. Jennifer Lopez
2. Michael Jordan                                       2. little Pakistani girl
3.  A 40 something Asian Violinist               3. a perfectly symmetrical Asian teen model
4. Dwight Eisenhower                                4. A very young Sharon Stone
5.  A Caucasian Marine                              5. Tyra Banks
6.  Morgan Freeman
7. Geraldo Rivera

Seriously, am I reading too much into this? That the examples of 'variability' for us women are 4 western-world-idealized women and a child?

Second Week, Day One

Well, I'm firmly entrenched in the grit of medical school. We've covered 1/6 of our biochem/cellular bio course and our midterm is next Monday. My. Birthday. Huzzah!

I'm actually feeling pretty comfortable (so far) with the pace we've set. I'm sure, though, that I'll have a different sentiment this coming Sunday. 

We've had a few lectures in our development course on men's vs women's health, full of statistics and how social constructs affect medical outcomes.  It struck me though that the men's lecture was full of clinical techniques to counter these issues but there was not. a. single. one. introduced in the talk on women's health despite so many more inequities being quantifiably demonstrated (representation in clinical trials, the masculine body being the normal presentation in academics etc. I won't even go into the social/cultural contexts women deal with). 

Our class is, strangely, predominately male. A 60-40 ratio, I think.  Even with this disproportion, the female contribution, whether in the form of questions or thoughts, has been minimal. Besides my own, I've only heard two other feminine voices raised in lecture. Is this normal at other schools? I would have thought that anyone who reaches this stage in their education would be more assertive, more confident in contributing.

The school's fitness center is right next door to the building our lectures are in. It's amazing! Before, I'd always had the best intentions regarding working out but I rarely followed through beyond the first or second week. Now, it's pretty effortless. I go to class in the morning, study on campus for a few hours afterward, then walk down the hall toward the parking garage. But, wait, there, a beautiful pool, steam room and hot tub! So I wander in. I tell myself "you can relax as long as you want in the jacuzzi, just first: run 2 miles and swim 2 laps." So I do! It takes about 45 minutes and then, I soak. LOVELY.  I can already feel the difference in my body, I'm falling asleep more easily, waking up more readily and can really focus on the class material.  I know that I wouldn't make the same effort if the gym wasn't so bloody convenient. I actually felt guilty last Friday for skipping out early. I'm determined to get my resting heart rate down to the 60s (I'm high 70s-low 80's now) by the end of the term.

That's all for now. I'll update more later this week.