This South Florida rain gotta stop.

I know it’s rainy/hurricane season and all…but that doesn’t mean it has to randomly rain EVERY freakin’ day. Like, the forecast for this week is straight thunderstorms every day in 90-degree weather. There’s a day where it’s “supposed” to be partly cloudy, but chances are that the floodgates up in the clouds will open up anyway. I’ve taken my umbrella everywhere with me, but I haven’t really had to use it yet because I refuse to go outside whenever a torrential  downpour decides to show up. But OF COURSE, the ONE time I don’t have my umbrella with me, I get trapped in a downpour. I had to run almost blind from the gym back to my dorm soaking wet. I’m currently rolling my eyes as I think about it. *Sigh* Well hopefully it starts becoming sunny and beautiful again, although the humidity always ruins the fun. Can’t do anything about that though.

In other news, the first week of the Motivation program is already over! And it was a very successful week! I’ve (hopefully) already got the names of all the students down too! This group of students have been pretty interactive & inquisitive and all seem to be enjoying the program so far. They’ve also already been quickly put to work. With classes in Reading & Study Skills, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Anatomy Lecture & Lab (I can’t get away from these cadavers man), Histology & Health Equity Research, they really are getting a feel of the demands of med school. Before being put to work though, they had to go through Orientation where they were given the rules & regulations of the program, listened to a seminar on diversity and sat through HIPAA/Privacy training. The HIPAA training was, of course, full of important information that detailed how crucial it is to maintain digital security and different ways in which the secure nature of the medical center could potentially be breached. It’s kinda scary to think about how a simple mistake like leaving your laptop open and unattended for a few minutes could endanger the lives of so many people. Also did y’all know that there is a black market for stolen usernames & passwords? Someone can steal thousands of them and sell them to a bidder for a TON of money. Jerks. As important as the talk was, it wasn’t the most exciting thing I’ve ever sat through. If there was a way to make this training engaging and interesting across the board, I’m sure that people across the nation would greatly appreciate it. Hell, that’s a million-dollar idea right there for anyone willing to take that challenge on. Don’t let me beat you to making it happen 😉. The seminar on diversity was pretty interesting though. One thing that stuck with me from it was when the doctor presenting talked about having to learn from the diverse nature of all areas of life, no matter how ignorant the beliefs of some people may be. Just because you don’t agree with the beliefs or attitudes of a patient doesn’t mean that you can’t learn something from them. Besides, it’s mandatory that you care for each and every patient entrusted to you, so coming into contact with people that you may not agree with is very likely to happen…so might as well learn something from them, such as why these certain patients believe what they believe and what in society made them come to that viewpoint.

The students have learned quite a bit in each of their classes so far, but what I find really cool is the fact that they have been given an opportunity to be published via their Health Equity Research class. In this class, they’ll be able to choose a topic within health disparities that resonates with them, perform some literature research on this topic throughout the program and present it to the class at the end of the program along with submitting their manuscript to a journal for potential publishing. During the course of the class, they’ll learn how to use medical research sources such as PubMed, efficient strategies in regards to publishing research material, and how to read & write a literature review. I really believe that it’s a fantastic opportunity…so fantastic that I’ve even slightly considered doing it along with them 😅. We’ll see tho, we’ll see.

Finally, both the members of the MCAT prep and Motivation programs along with the TAs attended a day-long clinical rotation seminar last Friday. They were exposed to a clinical case and had to think through it while offering suggestions as to why the person in the case was sick. They were also told what to expect when they participate in their clinical rotations for the next five weeks. Along with that, they were given talks on what it means to be Hispanic and/or Latino as well as how to engage with these patients and on cultural identity and awareness in general. The day wasn’t all full of talks though. We all participated in a fun activity that involved the PACE Palette, which is a type of “personality test” that assigns a dominant color to your overall personality. (My dominant color was blue, which symbolizes Harmony. Lol.) I also received the honor to join a panel with five other medical students that worked to answer the many questions that were bouncing around in the students’ heads. That was a cool experience. Believe it or not, it still baffles me sometimes to think that I’m on the other side of the application process and that I’m exactly where most of these students desire to be. I was in their same shoes not so long ago, so I know exactly what they’re thinking and how they feel. I guess that’s one of the reasons as to why I’m really big on helping students that are trying to cross the barriers that stand between themselves and their goals.

That’s all I have to say for today, thanks for reading!

Okay I lied, I have one more thing to say. You may have noticed that I’ve been rolling out new additions to this blog. If not, be sure to check these pages out by clicking on the left upper icon on the page! The sections that I’ve added include Useful Blogs, Good Vibes and Med School 101. Now that I have more free time on my hands, I’m able to do some of the things that I wasn’t really able to focus on during the school year. It’s all about growth man! I hope that they prove to be of some worth to you!

Have a delightful week!

“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian Larson

– Black Man, M.D.

P.S. – Please pray for the families and the victims of the Orlando shooting. We’re living in some insane times.