Remediation Nation

I am in the throes of finals right now. Let me tell you what our finals week is like. Monday morning always entails two essays over a three hour block. In the afternoon we typically have some kind of lab practical. This unit it was mainly on chest x-rays and Acid-Base problems. Tuesday is a full morning of multiple choice exams for each course, and then we take the same exact exams in the afternoon, but with our small group. Its a way for us to get somewhat immediate feedback on how we did as well as a chance to talk through questions we may have missed in the morning. Wednesday we go to the hospital and see a standardized patient, which is to say, an actor who is acting out a certain constellation of signs and symptoms. After the history and physical you present the patient to your facilitator, who has been watching and listening to you through a one sided mirror the whole time. Then you write up a history, physical, assessment and plan for the patient. After that you have 48 hours to manage the patient's care. This includes ordering labs, tests, etc. Then on Friday we have an oral exam with a different faculty member about our management of the case, our understanding of pathophysiology, treatment, risk factors, patient education, follow-up, etc.

Normally I'm pretty good at most of the above. This week I am struggling. I walked into the patient room this morning and my patient interview/clinical reasoning skills apparently forgot to come with me. I can't give too much detail because some people are still testing throughout the day, but let's just say that there's a good chance I will be remediating my clinical applications class. I've never had to remediate anything as far as I know. I'm not gonna get discouraged about it. Instead I'll look at it like I'm going to get so much more learning and time with faculty out of my tuition money...its just going to require a bit more of a time commitment in the spring. (Insert bear growl of frustration).

In other news, Val has had a terrible sinus infection. She finally got put on an antibiotic yesterday because it started seeming more bacterial. Hopefully she will start feeling better by the time we leave town on Saturday morning for Christmas break!!!