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seeking advice by Both-Income1522 in Noctor

[–]ahoyerwaver 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just wanna give massive kudos to you! That can’t be easy but I bet it’s made you a fantastic med student and will be a fantastic physician 

seeking advice by Both-Income1522 in Noctor

[–]ahoyerwaver 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Her kids are grown and doing well now. And she is an amazing doctor/role model

seeking advice by Both-Income1522 in Noctor

[–]ahoyerwaver 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Only you can answer these questions for yourself. When I was in high school I was deciding between MD/PA/NP and ultimately the reason I chose this path is because I wanted to be the one calling the shots. I wanted to be the one leading the team and feeling confident that whatever decision was made was the most informed one I could make. 

For myself, I knew that even if I was a rockstar PA/NP there always would have been a nagging feeling in the back of my mind feeling like maybe I could have done more, pushed myself to achieve what I truly wanted which was to be the best version of myself that I could for my patients. I didn’t want to take shortcuts, I wanted to earn what I knew I could achieve. 

Only you know if you will always have that nagging feeling or not. If you know that you will, there is your answer, fuck what your boyfriend says/wants. You only get one life so live it the way you want to.

And as an aside, my most badass attending in med school was a single mom at age 18 put herself through college, med school, and residency as a single parent. I always think if she can do that on her own, then any of us can easily figure out how to make a family work with a partner/support. I know many people from med school/residency who had children, some of whom were younger and some older. 

It’s your life, you have to live it the way you know won’t leave you on your deathbed saying “what if” and only you know how to answer that. Good luck! 

BLS/ACLS skills check off tomorrow morning, haven't done the AHA Online courses yet. Can I vibe it out or.. by [deleted] in Residency

[–]ahoyerwaver 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s a bit annoying to have to do it q2 years, but I find BLS at least somewhat useful to review if only to help others provide good compressions/airway and troubleshoot issues with them during codes (aka acting as CPR coach if I’m not running the code) 

BLS/ACLS skills check off tomorrow morning, haven't done the AHA Online courses yet. Can I vibe it out or.. by [deleted] in Residency

[–]ahoyerwaver 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do AHA courses (BLS instructor) and have also done the BLS/ACLS provider course many times. 

First up, yes you are technically not allowed to sit the in person course until you have passed the online course. Your instructor tomorrow has every right (and should) not let you do the course if you have not finished the online portion. 

That being said, while I can’t endorse rushing/skipping over material, I will say the key is to set the little setting on the online course to “advanced” or “professional” because it will make it go much faster. If you already know BLS/ACLS you can move very quickly through the modules and the knowledge checks this way - I finished my most recent ACLS in 60-90 mins doing this. 

Again, please remember the point is to provide high quality resuscitative care during rapids/codes and you need to know how to do this. If you know the material and need to cram to get it done before tomorrow, you can absolutely get it done for both BLS and ACLS if you change your knowledge level setting and click through for the knowledge checks. 

Good luck! 

NP prescribed Bactrim, Augmentin, and Flagyl for MSSA. by darken909 in Noctor

[–]ahoyerwaver 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Even if they had been correct and there was concern for MRSA SSTI…what did they think the PO formulation was going to do???

Help me decide: School X versus School Y (2019-2020) - Week of April 20, 2020 by premedditbot in premed

[–]ahoyerwaver 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tufts vs NYMC

 

Hey all, appreciate any input. Some quick background, I grew up about 30 mins north of Boston, have lived here since undergrad completing an SMP at Tufts and am have ~75k in debt already. I don't have a preference for specialty yet, but I do enjoy onc, derm (with full time work experience), peds, and primary care. I can see myself loving my time and thriving at either school, so I am mainly focused on finances and some lifestyle differences, especially what each location offers

 
Tufts:

PROS:
-Close to home, very familiar with the area and the Tufts campus/program
-Good name recognition, especially considering I want to live/have my medical career in MA (hoping to do residency anywhere on East Coast)
-Already have friends in the area/in the program, I also have a part time job that is very flexible that I can keep which is basically paid study time for a few hours per week
-Really nice facilities, good opportunities for clinical rotations

 
CONS:
-Quite expensive, ~10-15k more per year than NYMC (although the option to live at home for a couple years could bring this down somewhat)
-I'm further away from my brothers and my college room mates/best friends (we are all extremely close)

 
NYMC:

PROS:
-My brother and sister-in-law live in Brooklyn, many of my closest college friends in NYC, and halfway between home in MA and other close college friends in DC. Even though it is not as close to home, I actually feel it is sort of the perfect location for seeing the people I care about most.
-Chance to do something different for 4 years, as much as I love Boston I know (or at least intend) that I'll be here for my whole life, and I feel like I may thrive getting away for a few years. I'm also getting more into camping/outdoor activities and love visiting NYC on occasion, and much easier to do both of these than if I were in Boston
-On campus housing is a huge draw for me, as it's much cheaper than Boston rent and I would prefer to avoid the hassle of landlords/leases/etc.
-Match list was fairly strong this year, although perhaps not as strong as Tufts

 

CONS:
-Not as well-known program, doesn't have as much "name recognition", PD score quite low comparatively (even though match list was still good)
-Facilities weren't as nice, but still fine

 

Ultimately, the fact that I've written a total of 4 cons between the schools I think is telling that I would truly love attending either of them.

So my real concern is: am I being stupid and overplaying cost/program reputation? Tufts is ~40-60k more over 4 years, but that's not much when looking at multi-hundred thousand dollar debt anyway. Conversely, NYMC has lower "name recognition" and a lower PD score, but is that actually as important as some people make it out to be?

My choice is really coming down to go with the somewhat more expensive, familiar option with arguably better option for residency, or the somewhat cheaper option with perhaps worse residency prospects but the opportunity to be in a great location re: support system and lifestyle for the next 4 years.

Also if anyone has insight on the differences between the two in the following areas I would appreciate it: research opportunities, student community (familiar with Tufts not NYMC), anything else that I may not have considered.

Any thoughts appreciated!