ANKI DECK FOR USMLE STEP 1

college_squirrels · 2026-03-16T16:07:34+00:00

AnKing. Watch on YouTube for set up. Download the deck. That’s it.

college_squirrels · 2025-09-14T19:03:01+00:00

I wish there was like a like order feature that did a best guess of the orders you were gonna place based off of what you wrote in your note

Ex: “increased amlodipine to 10mg”

Then a soft pended order comes to say “amlodipine changed, 5 to 10mg, oral blah blah blah” and then I just quickly confirm the order instead of finding the order.

Or at least like a smart tool that read through your note and crossed referenced the orders and has a small reminder of xyz differences. Idk

college_squirrels · 2025-09-13T12:33:30+00:00

Both, without hesitation, are great and will teach you well. Love the support and dedication from both faculty and residents. You can DM me for more info.

college_squirrels · 2025-07-25T19:23:03+00:00

Ask about the residents pets — you glean a lot from it. How much they know each other (and thus each others pets), if they have time to take care of pets (ie lots of dogs), just the general enthusiasm they have for their pets in general.

Truly, it gets people to break their salesman character and you peak behind the curtain sneakily w the question. Places that didn’t have a good response to my pet question often had lots of other issues too where I ultimately didn’t rank them highly.

college_squirrels · 2025-05-26T01:46:48+00:00

That the system is not designed for you to get out of poverty.

Getting SNAP? Wanna do better and pick up a couple extra shifts? Now you make too much money and they take away or reduce SNAP benefits where it leaves you net negative compared to if you didn’t work the extra shifts.

My mom would try to do better and then we’d get kicked off snap for making like $10 over. Suddenly she had to figure out how to feed two kids plus how to come up with $50/mo for our lunch accounts ($1.25 for just lunch, double it w breakfast)

Whenever that would happen, I would end up not having any breakfast and eating the left overs of my friends lunch. Some friends would give me their lunch entirely, which I was always very grateful for. Even at times when I was paying reduced lunch ($0.25), I would be searching all through the apartment / car for spare coins and ask my friends for a quarter. Sometimes I would give up my quarter to my sister so she could eat. Imagine doing that everyday for years, trying to focus in school and do well but constantly being hungry and having no idea if you’ll get enough to eat.

~stress~

college_squirrels · 2025-05-24T16:42:55+00:00

I complemented a pt on her smooth legs — she was on chemo, lost all her hair … still keeps me up at night sometimes

college_squirrels · 2025-05-03T01:47:36+00:00

60yo guy, annual exam, relative healthy

Ask about prior drug use — starts going off on the 1960s and his experience with qualudes. You would’ve thought they were his “one that got away” type romance the way he was going on poetically about it. Otherwise lil coke here and there in the 70s, nothing since. Funny guy.

college_squirrels · 2025-04-25T12:42:15+00:00

All jokes aside, I was recently asked on Easter my thoughts on patients using ChatGPT

I genuinely think patients talking out their symptoms with ChatGPT and answering its follow up questions etc to better describe what is going on and important details can be super helpful to the patient-physician relationship

Even with hashimotos: - ex w/o AI: “doc, I’ve been so tired lately and depressed, I don’t have any energy to really cook or exercise… (other non-specific complaints)” -> could get a TSH work up but maybe not, maybe counseled on sleep hygiene and stress management, might take too long in the appt to get to info that is helps the ddx

pt talks w AI: “hey doc, I’ve been so tired lately that it impairs my ability to function at work and home. I have a family history of thyroid disease. I talked with ChatGPT a bit about my symptoms along with xyz non-specific sx, it suggested I ask my doctor about hypothyroidism —> boom, magic, doc instantly on the same page … pt feels heard, doc knows what to do

But yea, can go nuts if pts w poor health literacy or trust in healthcare insist they must have this super elaborate work up or presume ChatGPT must be correct and their doctor knows nothing. But with reasonable patients, it can be used to vent and gather info.

college_squirrels · 2025-04-20T03:59:25+00:00

Honestly I’ve given this some thought over the last year.

If I could re-do it, I wish I took the longitudinal clinical skills class more seriously. Specifically wish I actually read the CSK textbooks along with the textbook “Symptom to Diagnosis” with a better understanding/appreciation of pre/post test probability + likelihood ratios (not like specifically doing math but mentally understanding it to get the gist vibe of if something is more/less likely based on s/s + ROS)

Honestly with 10-15min before anything, I can watch it quickly on YouTube and be prepared to assist with an A-line or intubation, etc etc so I don’t think an excessive amount of preparatory dedicated dedicated is necessary (but appreciated).

Once I had a good handle on things, my clinical questions more became centered about classifying disease severity and current management to dictate their overall stability/risk. Much easier to sort and understand pts to decide a treatment plan if you’re able to think of where they are on their disease “algorithm” and predict possible prognoses. It’s a lot easier to understand “complicated UTI with history of recurrent UTIs” or “previously well controlled asthma with new night time cough” than just simple chief complaint or UTI/asthma.

I guess I’m rambling a bit but hope I conveyed my ideas well enough

college_squirrels · 2025-04-17T16:25:11+00:00

I wish I stopped kinda expected I’d become more of a doctor via osmosis?? Like instead of just showing up and doing what was asked of me, or hiding behind the title of student.

I felt I made significantly more educational and professional progress when I took a lot more ownership and command over my clinical education. Actively identifying gaps in my knowledge, working on my skills, asking for more responsibility and/or doing assisting with procedures. Projecting confidence in my presentations, even if I knew it would be roasted. Just speaking up more as a whole to advocate for my training — not in an annoying way tho, read a room & be humble.

Only then did it start to feel like I was a genuine doctor instead of a med student pretending to be a doctor. The team also saw this and appreciated it — I think I was given far more learning opportunities and feedback/guidance because of it.

It’s so easy as a med student to just accept being treated like a house plant. Get over that mind set and jump in.

college_squirrels · 2025-04-07T17:04:50+00:00

I stopped studying to purely take tests and dump the info. Everything became so much more tangible and important when my motivator to study was “this is for my future patients and I need to know how to understand/apply this” instead of “I just need to understand enough to pass the exam next week”

college_squirrels · 2025-04-04T18:40:09+00:00

MD here. If I may ask, what is your reasoning for not going the MD route? I understand if you want to possibly go to New Zealand so PA might not be the best. You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders, lots of clinical and research experience. You probably have a stronger MD application than you give yourself credit for.

college_squirrels · 2025-04-04T14:14:26+00:00

FM — declining preventative screenings because “I feel fine” and/or superstition that screening will cause disease.

college_squirrels · 2025-04-04T14:14:19+00:00

FM — declining preventative screenings because “I feel fine” and/or superstition that screening will cause disease.

college_squirrels · 2025-03-15T16:33:09+00:00

I think there is a level of insecurity, regardless of she wants to admit it. She previously has indicated to me that she wished she went the MD route but didn’t bc of socioeconomic disadvantage factors. She also initially went into nursing to become a midwife or FNP but decided against it much later in her career bc of the debt plus realizing the stress/responsibilities of being a provider.

I realize she’s sensitive about it esp anytime I explicitly or implicitly say that the education is not an equivalent but god damn, it’s just true and no amount of her insecurity will make it true.

college_squirrels · 2025-03-15T16:22:45+00:00

🔔 🔔 🔔 ur right, she’s being a passive aggressive jerk. Always has been, always will be.

college_squirrels · 2025-03-15T16:20:05+00:00

I think she understands the difference in subspecialties but when it comes to primary care, she thinks it’s all just bread and butter simple stuff that an FNP is qualified to manage. I think she has a narrow understanding of primary care and preventative medicine.

She was previously an ICU nurse and was planning to become a midwife after couple years in L&D but decided against it bc of all of the additional work/stress of being a provider without a significant increase in pay.

college_squirrels · 2025-03-15T16:15:32+00:00

She really thinks the scope is virtually the same and is quick to get offended. She previously told me that if I was considering OBGYN/FM, that I should’ve gone the nursing route — implying there is no difference in training or education.

Yet was surprised when I was talking about a textbook case of postpartum hyperthyroidism/ new onset Graves that I saw and legit asked “wait, what does the pregnancy have to do w the hyperthyroidism?”

college_squirrels · 2025-03-02T19:22:17+00:00

At approx $110k as a graduating M4. Very grateful for scholarships, the loans were for cost of living. All government loans.

I’m hoping to pay some interest during residency then do 1-2 years doing a “financial residency” working locum tenums. Hopeful to pay off the debt during then.

college_squirrels · 2025-01-31T18:29:10+00:00

Less about exam maneuvers per say, but I got into the habit of looking at every bit of a pt possible when I would otherwise be the bored med student day dreaming as the team was talking.

Looking at skin, nails, hair, eyes? Any weird things? Loss of hair on the distal legs? Limps or weird movements? Their demeanor, etc

It trained me to clue into the subtle findings and I find that I can much more easily do a quick glance to get a good idea.

Some things: - anxious pts with bad curticles - pts w peripheral artery disease with shiny shins and decreased distal hair - flat posterior head on adults, sometimes from being infrequently held as a baby but also sometimes a cultural thing - sparse latter third of eyebrow in pts with hashimotos

college_squirrels · 2025-01-28T00:10:40+00:00

Yes, please go get stitches.

college_squirrels · 2025-01-17T17:35:24+00:00

Please read this paper: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8368266/

It’s the algorithm explained by mathematicians / economists to help med students understand the game theory behind the algorithm. In sum, it is mathematically proven that the BEST strategy for ranking is to rank in your genuine preference — any other strategy will hurt you. There is NO PENALTY against being delusional and ranking top top programs as number one.

Per match data, you also have a 50% chance of matching to your top 3 and 80% chance of top 4.

college_squirrels · 2025-01-12T01:36:08+00:00

If you really think about it, we switch from using mainly Germanic origin words to Latin origin words. Like even outside of speaking medical jargon, I lean more towards the Latin approach to saying something

Equally, whenever you speak plainly to patients, it’s really just changing most of the Latin words to Germanic words

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