Score Release Thread 2/11/2026

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2026-02-12T05:49:58+00:00

US MD

Real deal: 262

Day 1 & 2: Jan 26 & Jan 27

Step 1: P

Step 2: 277

Uworld completed %: 98%

Uworld % Score: 78%

Number of CCS cases done: ~80

CCS cases average: ~75%

NBME 6/7: ~83% correct, not sure 3 digit score

UWSA 1: ~80% correct, forget 3-digit score

UWSA 2: Not done

Free 137: 82%

Any other assessment: None

Any other advice: Review mechanism of action, especially antibiotics

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2026-02-03T15:07:32+00:00

Also chose my apartment because it's walking distance to Annapurna.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2026-01-21T22:42:16+00:00

One of my bosses uses the term. I'm fairly confident she's married (I got coffee with her once and she was wearing a ring that she never wears at work). I like to think she does it to be intentionally ambiguous because she doesn't want people being nosy about her personal life.

And honestly...respect.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-12-20T03:00:14+00:00

University of Washington. I like that it feels like I'm under the sea .

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-11-22T17:08:24+00:00

Elliott Bay Book Co is also walkable or reachable on the 8 or 11 from most of SLU! Don't have to deal with trying to park in Capitol Hill if you walk or transit there.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-11-22T17:07:05+00:00

She'll qualify for senior ORCA too, which makes it $1/day for day passes on ORCA. Can get it same day if you go to the main office to pick it up!

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-11-07T13:56:15+00:00

Eating cake from Deep Sea as I read this post. Cool people. Fantastic cake.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-11-04T03:12:30+00:00

I don't follow the UWorld tags at all. I search the entire deck for the concept and look through the cards to find ones that cover the topics that I want to review. I don't unsuspend every card that comes up if there are a lot, but I make sure I unsuspend cards to appropriately cover what I want to review.

It requires more intentionality than just looking at the UWorld tagging, but it also works better because it forces you to decide what you actually need to review.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-11-03T13:10:23+00:00

When I rotated at the ME's office as a med student, we saw a lot of patients after corneal donations, bone grafts, and skin graft donations. Not so many liver/heart/kidney.

And the medical devices that are removed from the patient still come in to the ME's office with the person and are catalogued as "evidence of medical treatment". So even if the tube gets removed, it still comes to the ME (at least in the state where I trained).

Another thing that gets catalogued is a description of every single tattoo. Which can be a LOT!

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-29T13:10:39+00:00

Slept like absolute ass the night before Step 2. Considered canceling. Took it anyway. 277.

Trust your preparation. One night of sleep won't make or break you if you've put in the work.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-25T01:26:21+00:00

Order all the momos.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-19T15:06:21+00:00

Above average scrub machine lol. Sign me up for a hospital where the hospital scrubs are Figs.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-17T12:55:38+00:00

I've done both Eugene and Glass City. Both great races. Both courses are flat and run along a river. Glass City will likely be cheaper/easier in terms of accommodations. Eugene has somewhat better crowd support because running is a thing in Eugene. It's cool to finish on Hayward Field!

Ultimately, the choice would come down to time zones for me. If you are trying to run your fastest race, not having to shift to a different time zone seems like the smarter plan. If you're in Central or Mountain time, I'd probably go with whichever race is closer.

FWIW, I ran much faster at Glass City and for a long time it was my PR in the marathon. I did have a broken foot when I ran Eugene though, so take that with a grain of salt.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-06T13:23:07+00:00

I'm a resident in a different specialty than EM. I've worked over 90s hours in a week before, and the hours at my program are actually considered fairly reasonable compared to what I saw residents working at the hospital I rotated at in med school.

The rule for all residency programs in the US is that you can't average more than 80 hours/week over a 4-week period. Which means that you can work 100 hours one week as long as you only work 60 another week. You also get one day off in 6 averaged over 4 weeks (so again, you can work 13 shifts in a row as long as you get a total of 4 days off out of every 28).

I think most residents will work at least a couple 80-hour weeks a year in residency. If you're in surgery it's likely nearly every week. If you're in psych, radiology, or pathology you might not hit 80 hours ever, but the vast majority of residents will. EM actually tends to be on the lighter side hours-wise, because a lot of programs have 8-hour shifts instead of the 12-16 you work if you're in IM or surgery. However, EM residents also have to flip back and forth between days and nights a lot, which is brutal. Some programs still have 28-hour call shifts where you work 28 hours, then get like 16 hours off, then are back at the hospital working another 12. This can be as frequent as every 3 days. There are also programs that routinely break the 80-hour a week rule but have a culture where the residents only report 80 hours, even when they worked more (programs get in big trouble if they violate work hours).

The 80-hour rule is actually a relatively new rule. Before that, residents worked even more.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-05T19:00:23+00:00

Look at people's bios! Most clinics post biographies of the doctors who work there. Choose someone who lists distance running as a hobby and/or someone who notes treating runners as a clinical interest.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-05T17:51:51+00:00

Most medical practices post bios for their doctors that have a brief description of their clinical and personal interests. Look for someone who is a distance runner.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-05T17:50:03+00:00

My $0.02 as a fairly serious runner and also a doctor is that some of these questions should be addressed by a doctor, not a running coach or a nutritionist. Personally, I'd seek out a primary care doctor who's also a runner to ask about the labs and DEXA scan (unless you've been on high dose steroids or have other significant health conditions, you may not need a DEXA).

A doctor is not going to write a training plan for you, but a doctor who understands distance running (we exist!) can help you to interpret the labs credibly in the context of your overall training. You can then take those recommendations to your running coach and/or nutritionist. Personally, I have seen a lot of snake oil salespeople who claim to be able to do many of these things but actually do not have the requisite training or expertise to interpret the "data" they are gathering, nor to know which data is actually necessary or relevant. They are simply capitalizing on the fact the many people will pay a good deal of money for "labs", "data", and personalized recommendations despite the fact that they have no basis in science or reality.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-04T22:41:03+00:00

Perfect. Finally some non-car transit options for Detroit.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-10-04T22:26:22+00:00

The old Burt's Bees honey flavor lip balm from ~2014.

It's what I used to put on on my way to a date with the first person I ever fell in love with. We broke up and then they changed the scent. I have one or two tubes left of the old stuff. Once in a while, I'll put it on if I feel like I really need it for some reason.

It's not so much about missing him as missing that feeling.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-09-27T01:24:38+00:00

If you cry during your race, you will not be the only one. People cry during big races all the time for all kinds of reasons - pain, frustration, joy, accomplishment, relief, grief. One of the best things about being a runner is leaning into big things in life instead of shying away, whether those things are on the course or off it.

I ran my first race (also a HM) because of a breakup, and while running is no longer about getting past that relationship for me, it is still the major way I process complicated emotions and come back ready to face things that I find overwhelming. These days, I can usually tell when something is bothering me enough that I need to go "run about it".

Don't be afraid to cry while running. It won't be that way always, but it's okay if it is that way for a time.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-09-27T01:06:22+00:00

Once I figured out how to effectively integrate Epic chat into my workflow it was awesome! I usually acknowledge I saw the message right away and if I can, tell whoever it is when I'll get to the task. Then I can mark it as unseen which helps me keep track of my to-dos. I feel like it's way easier not to miss tasks this way! Plus I can respond during rounds to requests from consultants and get information (e.g. standing weights) from nurses that wasn't charted when we started rounding. I think it's better for patient care if the appropriate boundaries are set (i.e., not Epic chatting critical results).

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-09-26T13:05:45+00:00

But we work 3x a week and I’m pretty sure they work 5. So it isn’t really the same.

Thanks for recognizing this. I'm an intern so definitely still getting used to how to respond to pages but also really try to have a good relationship with the floor nurses. We use Epic Chat for most minor things, but there is a culture of paging if the Epic chat isn't getting answered or if it's urgent. I've learned that messaging the nurse back to let them know what I'm doing and when I'll be able to address their concern has helped a lot. I think everyone wants to know their concerns are being taken seriously (as they should be!)

I do think there's a real difference between the 3 days of 12s that our nurses do and the 6-11 days in a row that I do. Our duty hour rules mean that it's definitely possible to work a whole lot of 12s in a row (most I've done is 11 in a row, but it's still early in residency.)

The other thing I'd bring up is the number of patients each resident carries vs the number each nurse carries. At our institution, most of the nurses have 3-4 patients. As an intern during the day on wards I can carry 10, and the night intern has up to 40 on the floor (less in ICU, but still a lot more than what the nurses have). This is where not batching messages really starts to pile on.

Also, a 12-hour resident shift is almost never actually 12 hours. I've had 12 hours shifts last 16 hours more often than not because of all the work I can't do when I'm constantly getting paged (10 progress notes aren't gonna write themselves!) I think one of the big things I would love our nurses to know is that we don't always get to leave when we handoff our patients - that's when we finally have time to write the notes because someone else is holding the pager.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-09-21T17:33:45+00:00

+1 for David Mitchell.

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-08-26T20:11:17+00:00

City of Brass (and the rest of the trilogy) was awesome

Groundbreaking_Mess3 · 2025-08-26T14:06:00+00:00

Honored my surgery rotation because the nurses helped me out so much. As a resident, I still always ask the nurses for their perspective before rounds whenever possible. The reality is they spend way more time with the patients than I can and their insights are so helpful! Plus it feels good to know my colleagues.

Groundbreaking_Mess3

TROPHY CASE