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Happy Sunday!

The M2’s are currently in the middle of our Clinical Foundations of Medicine block. We have two weeks of small groups and lectures about health care. We also have been given time to prepare for the M2 CCA. The CCA is an evaluation of our physical exam, history taking, and oral presentation abilities. We will be doing cardiac, pulmonary, abdominal, neuro, and musculoskeletal exams on standardized patients.We’ll also be taking a few histories and presenting our findings to physicians. The purpose is to make sure that we’re ready to learn in the hospital starting in May 2013 (for serious?)

There is some anxiety about the CCA. It is definitely scary to think about an experienced physician watching you do a physical exam. I do no however, feel overwhelmed. We’ve been learning the physical exam for the past year-and-a-half. I feel that every time that I do another physical exam, I get a little more confident and a little faster. I know that doing a physical exam is going to be very different when we are working with real patients. It is however, encouraging that we’ve all progressed a lot over the past several months.

I am not a basic science person. I love public health and clinical research, but I hate memorizing biochemical pathways. Getting protected time to work on my physical exam and history taking skills is something that I’ve truly enjoyed about M2 year. Last year, we were so overwhelmed learning new physical exam skills that we couldn’t work on our timing and technique. This year, I feel more like a middle schooler and less like a kindergardener when I’m practicing. I still make mistakes, but I can check myself instead of being blissfully unaware of what’s happening.

I take my CCA this Friday. Then my a bunch of my friends and I are leaving straight from school and driving to Nashville to attend the Society of Student Run Free Clinics Annual Conference. We were all on the Leadership Team of the UM Student Run Free Clinic (we’ve now passed on our responsibilities to M1’s.) We submitted three abstracts to the conference about our clinic’s organizational system and now six of my friends and I get to enjoy a great weekend in Nashville. We’re excited to talk about our experience and learn from other clinics. We’re also hoping to go to some concerts. I’m personally excited about BBQ and Tennessee sour mash.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Erica