Attending medical school right after you graduated from college has a lot of advantages. One is that you have fresh learnings that are helpful in med school. Aside form this, you are still young and have the energy to combat stress and pressure in the competitive med school environment. But if the idea of going to med school appealed to you much later in life, you should not let age hinder you from achieving your goals. Apply for med school! Here are tips on how you can handle stress and pressure of medical school even if you are older than most students.
Be organized
To avoid too much stress, you should learn how to be more organized. Start with making a schedule. Planning your activities will help you track and handle deadlines and still enjoy a more balanced life.
Enjoy the process of learning
One of the best ways to keep stress at bay is to enjoy your moments in med school. You have to savor the knowledge you acquire while listening to your professors or while reading your books. In this way, studying won’t be an obligation anymore but a way to satisfy your curiosity. It should open the gates to infinite discoveries.
Have a personal life
A lot of students take for granted their personal life in order to cope with the difficulties of med school. They just don’t realize that forgetting their personal life will lead to further stress. So go on, take time to watch movies with friends or go shopping once in a while.
Age should not be a hindrance to succeed in med school. There are many younger students who are more stressed and burnt out because they fail to organize their activities and enjoy their stay in the academe. Another reason is that they have forgotten that they also need to unwind once in a while.
In medical school, all-nighters are inevitable. With voluminous work and time pressure that prevail in medical school, you are left with no choice but to pull an all-nighter. This is considered by many medical students as a “rite of passage” to be able to qualify to the medical world. This unavoidable choice has consequences, especially because losing hours of sleep is unhealthy. Below are some tips to aid you in coping with medical school all-nighters.
Limit sugar and caffeine intake
Most all-nighters take in soda, chocolate, coffee, soda, energy drinks and candy to keep them awake all night through. While this is not a healthy habit, it is practiced by medical students with the need to cope with work the whole night. However, the intake of sugary food and caffeinated beverages will affect your concentration, which can seriously affect the way you think during examinations. Instead, an alternative would be to take in protein-rich foods such as cheese and sandwiches rather than having caffeine and sweets for midnight snacks. This is a healthier habit since protein-rich food improves metabolism, boosts brain power, and develops immunities.
Find time to get more sleep
Even if all-nighters are required to be awake the whole night, it is advisable to find some time to take an hour-long nap. This is where a system such as team work in a study group comes in. Since most all-nighters are spent with a group of classmates, request one of your classmates if it is possible to cover for you while you doze off. You can also cover for your classmate the next time. Find the best way to make this possible since when you are deprived of sleep it affects your concentration and eventually your health. Lack of concentration affects your decision-making skills, and even turns you moody. Keep in mind that when you are too sleepy to work the next day, it will not give you any benefit.
It is not wise to pull an all-nighter every time a chance comes along as it is very dangerous to your health. Insufficient sleeping time will drastically impact on your Circadian rhythms, and even your short-term memory. Thus, to avoid all-nighters, make sure you are focused during classes. Recently, studies show that medical students who frequently pull all-nighters have low GPAs. In the end, lack of sleep will prevent you from reaching your full academic potential instead of improving your academic standing. So, do you still want to have all-nighters during exam weeks?
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What qualities make doctors successful? Maybe medical doctors or even medical students themselves will have difficulty in answering when asked this question. Some may say their outstanding grades, others their excellent choice of a medical school and others their determination. These are all contributory factors toward being a successful doctor. Getting categorical answers entail additional reading and research; but if you are curious enough, here are some tips to start reading and help you become a great physician someday:
Successful doctors are excellent communicators
Active interaction with colleagues and other members of society is inevitable as well as important in medical practice. In a sample case: Dr. Cristina Yang of Grey’s Anatomy. Dr. Yang graduated with top honors from Stanford Medical School and received her PhD from Berkeley. She has excellent surgical skills and is like a walking medical textbook. Dr. Yang however is not at ease talking with her patients or able to handle well the delivery of terrible news. In this case, people skills are missing. In medical practice, a balanced medical aptitude and social skills is a must if you want to be a successful doctor. Patients are people and need special care during their unhealthy times; treating with sensitivity is necessary.
Successful doctors are keen observers
Doctors need to be observant during treatment of diseases and disorders. Some symptoms may be small or light but can be even more serious. Malaria for example starts with a tiny mosquito bite, and cancer begins with a small malignant tumor. Being keen on details is very important in medical practice as it will help you easily identify the cause of an illness of a patient or related problem. Having an eye for your patient’s situation will help you save lives. In medical practice, you have to stay alert and observant at all times before things get worse. Being vigilant helps you build a successful career in medicine.
Successful doctors are time management experts
Yes, time management is very essential to medical practice. Time management skill starts right when you enter medical school and not during medical residency only. Starting to practice time management skills during medical school does not only help you study well and get more sleep but also to build and excellent medical career. Getting well organized will help you avoid laziness and tardiness, your class schedules will be planned earlier and get you to bed on time as scheduled.
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The toughest thing to manage is being in two serious commitments at a time – marriage and medical school. These are considered tough as they both carry the same weight in needing 100% dedication and responsibility. What would you expect when you fall into a situation as this? Do you have coping mechanisms to perform both responsibilities at the same time?
Juggling spousal responsibilities and medical school work
Being a married woman and attending medical school is a very complicated situation to be in. Duties of being a wife at home and to your husband are expected of you while you are equally expected to do well in medical classes. This can really be difficult for you and would need to find some coping mechanism to reduce some of your menial load and get doing more significant responsibilities in medical school. If you can afford it get some household help. It is very helpful to plan ahead for these multi-tasks if you have had the chance as it will help you unload most of lighter responsibilities to get the chance to accomplish heavier ones.
Balancing marriage, medical school work, and parenting
Parenting is the most complicated duty to juggle with medical school. It takes a lot of energy and will power to be able to take care of your children, maintain your marriage and at the same time. You must find a way to learn how to turn your difficulties into an asset. Managing your time skillfully and having the discipline to stick to it is a powerful tool for you to succeed. Being able to identify coping mechanisms and finally making it happen will head you on to success. With your time off in medical school, spend quality time with your spouse and child. What matters most is you have time for your family in any way possible.
If you are still single, better to wait before getting married until you have graduated or during residency before having a family. As much as possible avoid things that will complicate your studies. A baby deserves more time for caring the same as starting a family thus it is always wise to plan out when to get into marriage when planning to get into medical school. This is a fair way to treat your family, your career and yourself. So control your time and do things one step at a time.
In case it cannot de avoided, plan your steps and manage your time with the discipline needed. Besides, you will need an inspiration and a warm and sweet affection from your supportive partner when coming home after a stressful day in medical school.
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In medical school getting invited into a study group is a privilege. Once you get an invite, jump into the opportunity immediately. This is one essential means to meet potential study mates as well as to improve your study pattern and academic performance. With medical school classes being full of stress, study group session is a good way to survive through the pressure and never ending challenges.
No room for procrastination
Study group sessions give you no room for procrastination, which is one of the worst enemies of good study habits. Studying by yourself probably allows you to drag time and head for the movie instead of the library. When you join study groups, it will keep you posted of your study habit and keep you aware that you need to finish studying as the group’s fate also depends on you. In the process it will train you to be responsible and considerate as many people are counting on you as you count on your group mates too. Responsible study group members will support each other’s study habits and move on with better academic performance.
“Two or more heads are better than one”
In a study group, sessions will involve lots of discussions and more ideas are shared. You will be given the chance to facilitate the group session with an assigned topic and will be in charge of explaining the topic to the study group. After giving your explanation, a group discussion will proceed where each member will give his or her comments or ideas regarding the previous topic discussed. This is the basic difference from studying alone and joining a study group. During study group sessions, you get the chance to share your ideas as well as listen to other colleagues. Sufficient ideas generated and collated can serve as a knowledge-base that does not only serve you during tests but also the entire medical practice.
More chances for self-improvement
Aside from good academic performance and gaining new partners, joining study group sessions have other advanages. Study group sessions can turn you into a confident student and make you good at interpersonal relations – a must need for every doctor. These qualities can be gained from frequent delivery of opinions in front of a small study group. Your attention span and memory recall can be enhanced by listening to other people’s opinions or ideas. The study group is a good way of preparing for medical career by enhancing your critical thinking and problem solving skills through assessing both your ideas as well as your colleagues’.
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The whole four years of medical school will definitely be stressful. To be able to survive you will need the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual stamina necessary to last until graduation. Significantly financial preparedness is one definite need you must be sure not to be drained. To be able to pass through the hurdles in medical school, you must have the necessary training and skill to surpass the challenges of the actual medical practice itself. Thus, you will need to be one step forward than what is expected of you. Mentioned below are some pointers for a more prepared you in medical school:
* Enroll courses that are required
Even if there is no specific pre-medical college course, it is but logical that medical education will require academic courses that are nearest to the medical field. What are required for medical school are chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics, and English courses including laboratory units in chemistry, biology, and physics. Medical school includes courses on pharmacology, anatomy, biochemistry and others based on pure biological science. Thus, very good stepping stones for medical school are science-related courses like chemistry and biology as these will assist your preparation and provide the necessary background required.
* Instill discipline as an integral study habit
A medical student should possess strict discipline in medical school. It should be instilled in practice to combine discipline with other study habits in order to survive the challenges at stake. Attending college is different from going through medical school as you will need to develop new survival skills in order to overcome intensive school work in medical school. If you are not sufficiently prepared, you might end up dropping out like other mediocre students. So it is best to start preparing even before the academic year starts. You can start reading medical textbooks and journals to refresh and familiarize your mind with scientific concepts and medical studies. A good exercise is trying to answer medical quizzes on the internet.
In medical schools, preparedness is a must for students. Professors require advanced reading and students are expected to come to class with their initial knowledge. Thus it is necessary that students have done earlier reading on the subject matter for deliberation and be able to actively and intelligently participate in the discussion. This is definitely the reason why discipline is needed, medical students need long hours spent to read and stay up all night to study.
* Make sure you are physically healthy
Being medical students, your best weapon against stress is your health. When pressure comes to toll a healthy body and mind becomes your shield. Being healthy is the best test on how you will take care of yourself this will prove you are worth to become a doctor. Maintaining physical fitness is one effective tool you will need to endure the academic pressure the medical school has to offer. Bear in mind that health is wealth thus, health will enrich your medical school performance allowing you to make wealth.
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Having a baby gives you more the reason to put more discipline to yourself to effectively juggle motherhood and medical school. In fact, mothers can be more effective in medical practice since they actually passed through the experience of being a medical patient and having to survive life’s challenges. When after your sacrifices being a mom and a student has given you an MD title, you can also become a role model and can actually counsel mothers or even single classmates who enroll in medical school. The key is to be determined and persevere to finally reach your medical ambition.
Balance medical school and motherhood
Mothers have an innate character of patience and perseverance due to the nature of their responsibilities. The challenge comes in however when additional task or objective of attending medical school arise. Here you will encounter difficulties but what is important is to gradually learn how to balance motherhood and medical school work. Both responsibilities require full attention and total commitment thus you have to take it step by step. There will be times that you will need to be a step ahead in order to avoid possible complications and be able to determine how to balance your time. Whatever it takes you have to move on find the best strategy to pay attention each detail of all the tasks at hand.
Avoid constant worrying about your child
The biggest challenge in medical school for mothers is divided attention. Worrying about every little detail at home while you are not there to actually face it is very exhausting and stressful. Once attention is distracted and divided, no work will be done or no lesson will be understood. This state of mind will leave you static and cannot move on which eventually will affect your child’s future. Planning ahead will help you give a considerable peace of mind in school. Being able to list down what is needed for the next day and even the week can aid you determine what you can do and cannot and further identify how to solve it. This practice can also be done with your school work and compare to your tasks listed as a mother, then you can find the formula on how to balance your tasks. The formula of course will include what help you need and who to get it from.
Overcome physical and mental stress
Motherhood and medical are both as stressful as it can get, these combined together would be physical and mental fatigue that can be unbearable. Learn to appreciate small things and moral support can be easing. High examination rating after studying and baby sitting in the evening until the wee hours of dawn is rewarding. Coming home for dinner and a kiss from your husband can remove stress from the pressure of school work. Thinking positive and bearing in mind that all sacrifices have their rewards is the way to move on. After all, it is stress relieving when your baby smiles at you after a tiring day at medical school.
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