Medical Science 510 - Microscopic Anatomy (Histology)

The WWAMI Histology course deals primarily with microanatomy study of cells, tissues and organs. In order to understand the nature of abnormal changes in the body, one needs to first learn and understand the normal microstructure.

In Histology, the students start first by learning to identify the different cells and tissues that make up the body. Following this, the students then learns the different microanatomical characteristics of most organs in the body. However, learning structure without function is meaningless. Thus, with each new microstructural concept, the students are presented with the latest research information concerning the functions of the structures that are studied.

At this WWAMI site, we extensively use microscopes so students can see the actual tissues, can view these at different magnifications, can scan over large areas of tissue, etc. We feel this gives the students a far better learning experience than if they learned strictly from computer images of the tissues (although our students certainly have access to photos on computer discs for supplemental study). At least three faculty members are on hand throughout each histology lab period to answer questions and to provide a personalized learning experience as the students study their microscope slides.

Although initially the microscopic examination of organs may be confusing and intimidating to some students, eventually the course becomes very meaningful and enjoyable and the students can actually see The Far Side of histology.

Victor Eroschenko, Ph.D.

Course Chair

Medical Science 511 - Anatomy and Embryology (Trunk)

The aim of instruction in MS 511 is to provide the student with a thorough introduction to the structure, function, development, and clinical significance of the human body. The course is organized around natural subdivisions of the trunk: thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and perineum. Learning activities in the course are organized around in-class sessions and self-study topics. To offer variety and promote teamwork through peer teaching and learning, five types of in-class activities are built into the course: formal lectures, small-group discussions, workshops, Living Anatomy exercises, and laboratory sessions involving dissection of the cadaver and demonstrations of prepared specimens. The effectiveness of the in-class activities relies heavily on the student's outside-of-class preparation. Besides emphasizing an understanding of structural relationships in the body, the proper use of anatomic terminology, recognition of anatomic variability, and the ability to use anatomic knowledge when performing clinical exam procedures, instruction in the course also strives to teach students non-anatomic skills in organizing large volumes of information, effective communication, and structured thinking.

All that and a bag a chips!

Dave Conley, Ph.D.

Course Chair

Lectures and conferences detailing the function of cell membranes, ion channels, synapses, spinal reflexes, skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscles are presented. The autonomic nervous system, signal transduction, and several autonomic reflexes are also discussed.

Lectures are supplemented with clinically related material in the form of videotapes or actual patients. These are followed by class discussions in which the basic science is integrated with the clinical material.

The course assumes the student has a strong background in general physics and uses the concepts of electricity, force, and energy extensively. There are two multiple choice or short essay exams with the final exam being comprehensive. Owing to the unique nature of the course, it has not been successfully challenged in its twenty years of existence. The course is team-taught by Mike Laskowski and myself.

Tom McKean, Ph.D.

Course Chair

Medical Science 513 & 522 - Introduction to Clinical Medicine I & II

The primary focus of the tutor group sessions is the teaching of basic skills of medical interviewing, the medical write-up and oral case presentation. By the end of ICM2, each student will have accomplished 8 patient interviews and provided a written report of each. This includes a final interview of a trained "standardized patient."

ICM3 is a laboratory style course in which students will learn the elements and techniques of a basic physical examination. Students will work in pairs to learn the physical examination skills. ICM tutors and selected guest speakers will supervise the lab sessions. By the end of ICM3, each student will be able to demonstrate a 25 minute screening physical examination.

Linda Fearn, M.D.

Course Chair

Medical Science 514 Biochemistry I

Four major topics are organized into three sections of this course. The first section is on protein structure and enzyme function, emphasizing examples of clinical relevance. It includes the properties of serine proteases involved in digestion and blood clotting, including their activation from zymogens, mechanism of catalysis, and protease inhibitors and other mechanisms of control; properties of hemoglobins, myoglobin, collagen, elastin and other structural proteins.

A variety of pathologies associated with dysfunction of these proteins are discussed. A short section on allostery and on enzyme kinetics (including drug metabolism interactions) is also included, as is a discussion of the relationship between drug design (including rational drug design) and enzyme active sites.

The second section covers the basic metabolic pathways of carbohydrate metabolism: glycolysis; the TCA cycle; oxidative phosphorylation; gluconeogenesis; glycogen degradation and synthesis; fructose, galactose and ethanol metabolism; the pentose phosphate pathway; and metabolic integration. Diabetes and starvation are used as the primary example of metabolic interaction.

The third section starts with nitrogen metabolism, including metabolism of amino acids and functions of pyridoxal phosphate, folates, and cobalamin. Several peripheral pathways of nitrogen metabolism of clinical importance are discussed, including those leading to the synthesis of neural transmitters and certain hormones, and to porphyrin synthesis and degradation. The many pathologies associated with aberrant nitrogen metabolism dysfunction are discussed. A second portion in this section considers the biochemistry of free radicals and reactive oxygen species. It provides an overview including basic free radical chemistry and the role of biological protective mechanisms. A series of examples of disease states involving oxidative damage produced by free radicals are discussed.

Marty Pall, Ph.D. & Ron Brosemer, Ph.D.

Course Chair Co-teacher

Medical Science 516/526 - Systems of Human Behavior

This course deals with the basic principles underlying the biopsychosocial model of medicine.  Disease does not occur in a vacuum, but is most often the result of an interaction between biological, environmental, and behavioral factors.  As a physician, most of the suffering you will be treating will have socio-emotional components rather than being purely biological in origin.  That is, you will be treating a person with a disease, rather than the disease by itself.  Some of the topic areas covered in this course include: stress disorders, somatization, depression, chronic pain, addictive behaviors and change, sleep disorders, treatment adherence, diversity in healthcare, spirituality in medicine, HIV, family systems, and domestic violence.

As the great physician-teacher Sir William Osler once said, It is just as important to know what kind of person has a disease, as it is to know what kind of disease a person has.

This course also reviews stages of human developmental (infancy to death) and provides relevant behavioral science information about each stage.  Topic areas cover infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, aging, and death and dying.  In this section, the emphasis is on developmental models and theories of psychosocial development, with relevant clinical correlates, throughout the lifespan.

Andrew Turner, Ph.D. & Phil Mohan, Ph.D.

Course Co-Chairs

Medical Science 523 - Introduction to Immunology

Background:  This course is designed for students without previous exposure to immunology.  As immunology is an interdisciplinary subject, familiarity with biochemistry, cell biology, microbiology or genetics is helpful.  Learning immunology is a bit like going to see an opera for the first time.  It is most helpful to first learn a bit about the characters and understand a few phrases in a foreign language before trying to assimilate the entire performance.  We begin by learning the players and the terminology and culminate by examining multiple clinical diseases.

Objective:  This is an introduction for first year medical students to gain comprehension in the fundamental mechanisms of immune responses.  These include, identifying the cell types involved in immune responses, the proteins secreted by lymphocytes that carry out immune function, the role of cell-surface proteins in cellular interaction and the mechanism of defence when all of these are employed simultaneously.  Students will learn the molecular basis of lymphocyte recognition and understand how dysfunction leads to congenital immunodeficiency or autoimmune disease.  Students will come to comprehend how genetics alters immune response and how certain pathogens evade normal immune responses.  With an appreciation for the basis of normal immune responses, students will examine the consequences of HIV infection leading to immunodeficiency.

Scope:  Medical Science 523 first provides a foundation then builds to illustrate the many complex interactions that lead to physiological consequences and clinical manifestations. The course will touch on relevant diagnostic tests employing immuno technology as well as pharmacological agents used to modulate immune responses.  Time constraints limit the clinical examples, but some pertinent clinical cases will illustrate the underlying cellular or molecular mechanism.

Format:  This class is generally a lecture course, but continues to evolve.  Students may work together to gain better comprehension of the material.  A text is employed as a comprehensive reference, but lecture material is stressed in this ever-changing field.  Lecture material will be made available through an accessible internet site for student review.

          A single midterm exam and a comprehensive final will be administered during the term.  The midterm exam will include short essay questions to ascertain the student's comprehension of the basic terminology and interactions.  The final examination is cumulative and includes common examination multiple choice questions as well as additional essay questions.  A passing grade is garnered by meeting 70% performance in both the overall course and on the common portion of the final exam.

Phil Mixter, Ph.D.

Course Chair

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Understanding normal structure and function is necessary before an understanding of the abnormal can be achieved. The objectives of this course are:

1. Understand the basic mechanisms of the major human disease processes: cell injury, hemodynamic disorders, inflammation, and neoplasia.
2. Recognize and distinguish normal tissue and laboratory findings from abnormal ones (emphasis on gross alterations, but basic microscopic alterations as well). Use specific criteria to make diagnoses.
3. Describe abnormalities using accurate and succinct descriptions. Recognize and develop good communication skills (oral and written).
4. Develop a working vocabulary of pathology-related terms and know how and when to use them correctly.
5. Interpret abnormal findings on the basis of pathogenic mechanisms.
6. Develop problem-based learning skills.
7. Appreciate the shared characteristics of pathology, regardless of species differences.
8. To not take ourselves so seriously that it impedes learning.

Robert Dr. Bob Wilson, D.V.M./Ph.D.

Course Chair

Medical Sciences 524 Biochemistry II

We will basically be studying the three dynamic processes of molecular biology, DNA replication, RNA transcription and protein translation in depth. We will study the relationships between these processes, what can go wrong to cause disease states and most importantly, how they are regulated to produce the right set of proteins in the right set of cells at the right time. In other words, we will study gene control, both at a cellular level and at an organismal level, a process called epigenetics. We will also study animal modeling of diseases (knock out technology) and gene therapy techniques.

Lipid biochemistry begins with a detailed look at the biosynthesis and degradation (beta-oxidation) of fatty acids. This is followed by the study of triglyceride and membrane lipid metabolism. Lipid hormones studied include the eicosanoids and steroids which follow a detailed look at cholesterol and the bile salts. Lipid digestion, absorption and lipoprotein metabolism will cover how lipids are delivered to the tissues. This section finishes with an integrated look at the regulation of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.

Lee Fortunato, Ph.D. & Doug Cole, Ph.D.

Instructors

Medical Science 532 - Nervous System

This course presents the basic structure and function of the mammalian nervous system, particularly the central nervous system (CNS). Topics include: an overview of human brain and spinal cord anatomy; neural development, response to injury, and metabolism; CNS vasculature including the blood-brain barrier and cerebrospinal fluid, the anatomy and physiology of sensory systems and motor systems; consciousness and sleep; central nervous system modulation of autonomic and endocrine functions; limbic system function in emotion and personality expression; higher nervous system functions such as memory, language and cognition.
        Since neural science is currently a very rapidly evolving field, the faculty attempt to present some of the exciting new research developments that have potential clinical applications, as well as classical neural science information that is essential for neurology at the present time.

The course format includes lectures, laboratory, video tapes of clinical cases, and small group case study tutorials.  Additional course information may be found at the following web site: http://www.uidaho.edu/med532

The minimum goals for the course are to inspire the students to learn enough neuroanatomy and neurophysiology to be able to:

1)               Realize that a set of signs and symptoms suggest that there is a disorder in nervous system functioning

2)               Localize the site(s) of damage in the nervous system that will likely produce a certain set of dysfunctions

3)               Predict the signs and symptoms that would result from damage to a particular part of the nervous system

4)               Communicate effectively with colleagues using correct discipline-specific terminology

5)               Read with understanding about clinically relevant advances in the rapidly developing field of neuroscience as part of the life-long learning of a good physician

Susan White, Ph.D.

Course Chair

The course has been designed to provide students with major microbiological concepts that will be required to interpret clinical situations encountered during subsequent years of training. Special emphasis is given toward understanding basic concepts of medical microbiology. Students are encouraged to begin to assimilate this information into more practical applications in the areas of diagnosis, therapy, epidemiological principles and public health. This teaching objective is facilitated by case studies, problem solving skills, clinical lectures by guest speakers, and slide presentations.

Scott Minnich, Ph.D.

Course Chair

Medical Science 535 - Intro to Clinical Medicine III

For ICM III, students continue in their tutor groups from ICM I and II, but this time the focus is on learning to do a basic screening physical exam. Meeting once a week, students acquire their exam skills by working in pairs. In some cases, we hire individuals from the community to serve as models for learning particular procedures in the physical examination. By the time the first year is completed, students have the skills to do a basic screening examination which places them in an excellent position to do a preceptorship in the summer between their first and second years. The second year ICM course builds on skills acquired in the first year course. Linda Fearn, M.D. Course Chair

Medical Sciences 600 - Intro to Clinical Reading & Evaluation of the Medical Literature

This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to methods for identifying and retrieving high quality, relevant evidence electronically using the Internet, and to methods for describing and applying rigorous criteria when reading primary research studies, or reviews of studies that report on the effectiveness of therapeutic or preventive interventions.

Chris Williams

Course Chair

Family Medicine 556 - Spanish for Health Professionals (elective course)

Spanish for Health Professionals (SHP) is an elective, one-credit, intensive Spanish language course, devoted to the study of medical Spanish and the cultural issues related to successful interactions with the Spanish-speaking patient in the clinical encounter, regardless of one's current level of Spanish comprehension. Objectives: …        Learn the essential skills to treat Spanish-speaking patients. …        Conduct patient medical history interviews in Spanish. …        Learn essential vocabulary needed to perform review of systems and physical examinations giving medical instructions in Spanish. …        Understand basic orientation regarding important cultural considerations. …        Communicate in a specialized and culturally-sensitive manner, not only with members of the U.S. Spanish-speaking population, but with native speakers from more than 20 countries throughout the world.

SHP also provides essential tools to improve students' cultural and linguistic competence, and will enable them to take advantage of the emerging international training opportunities offered by UWSOM and WWAMI.

…        Set a foundation for further learning of Spanish.

Methodology--HandsOn:

…        Interactive: two-way, constant communication emphasizing pronunciation and essential key grammatical construction.

…        Practical Approach to Learning: use of essential high-yield information in clinical encounters as you would use it in a professional setting.

…        Natural: free association of learning facts in Spanish.

…        Clinical Skills Assessment in Spanish exercises at the middle of the course, and before the final.

…        Fun Divertido!

Francisco Saavedra, M.D.

Course Chair

Human Biology 598 Potential Stressors and Maladaptive Coping as a Response to Stress (elective course)

This one credit elective course is taught as two all-day workshops; the first session is in the fall semester, the second in spring semester. The general goals of the first segment of the course are t oincrease your awareness of the potential life transitions and stressors for you and important persons in your life and to introduce some approaches to manage your response to stress through the various phases of medical training and subsequent practice. The presentations include a panel of physicians and a panel of physicians' support persons who have agreed to share their personal experiences and approached the challenge of managing stress due to medical training and practice in their lives. The goals of the second segment of the course are to increase your awareness of the possibility for maladaptive responses to stress including depression and other psychiatric symptoms and substance abuse/dependence.

Recognition of possible warning signs of maladaptive coping responses as well as how to access care (evaluation and treatment) will be included in the discussion.

Becky Conley, M.D.

Course Chair

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For more information visit the WSU Faculty Directory, the UI Faculty Directory, or the UWSOM Directory.

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Lost and Found
--Mutt Dickson E-93 It seemed like I was studying a lot and not making much progress in learning lab material, so I decided to accept the professors' offer of assistance. All the profs are very accessible and available to help, but some deserve special mention. I (and many other students) spend many hours with Dr. Eroschenko trying to make sense out of the blues and pinks on the histology slides.

While I never did find a mast cell, I could find a Kupffer cell! Dr. DeSantis is a master at demystifying the nervous system and many of us benefited from his extra hours tutoring. In WWAMI land, help from profs is only a phone call away, since every prof I ever called, promptly returned my call. (Editor's Note: Most profs are more than willing to schedule a pre-test review session the night before an exam if you ask. Take advantage of their flexibility!)

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Challenging Classes by Examination

-- Bob McKie E-96 Would you like to be able to regularly skip certain classes? Does the thought of skipping a final exam or two appeal to you? Do you have a pretty good understanding of histology, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology or any other medical school subject? If you answered yes to the above questions, you may be a good candidate for testing out of one or more of your classes. Test out exams are usually held in the first few weeks of classes. If you want to test out of a class, contact the professor and find out when the test is going to be held and what material will be covered. In addition, most profs will provide you with materials to look over before you take the challenge. The sooner you begin the process, the better. For testing out of histology, reading over the class notes would be very helpful. If you want to test out of biochemistry, make sure you know your medical biochemistry in addition to fundamental biochemistry. To test out of NHID, get to know your pathogens and the diseases they cause.

Testing out of at least one class will give you more time to do whatever it is that you do. Students who test out of histology may be hired as teaching assistants. The downside to testing out of a class is that you miss out on some fine WWAMI instruction. All in all, testing out makes life a bit easier, and puts off the realities of full-time medical school at least one more semester

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-- Andrew Turner, Program Director

Even though we trust everyone to study all the information in all the courses all the time, just to conform to what other medical schools require, we do have grades. For the HuBio courses in the first and second years, there are two grades: Pass or Fail. There is no class-standing, ranking or grade-point average under this system. There is an evaluation form for each course. Part of this is an evaluator concern section intended to provide feedback about a student's academic and professional performance. This information is for internal use only and is not recorded in the transcript. Professionalism and educational attitudes are noted on the forms that go to the Dean's Office at UWSOM.

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--David Pommer E-96

Some people work best under deadlines. Some of us, however, don't even work without deadlines. This can be a problem in medical school, with infrequent deadlines and due dates. Do your best to study regularly, even when you don't feel like it. I've been learning this the hard way.

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--updated by Cora Ludwig E-04

For more medical mnemonics, visit MedicalMnemonics.com.

Run To Drink Cold Beer - organization of the brachial plexus (roots, trunks, etc.)

Let's Go To Schweitzer And Play - cervical plexus branches

To Zanzibar By Motor Car - CN VII branches to facial muscles

Point and Shoot - parasympathetic and sympathetic involvement in erection and ejaculation.

I Hate This Lousy Stuff - branches off the subclavian (as learned in thorax section)

Oh, Let's Fun Tonight - things that do not pass through the Ring of Zinn

P = MD - prime directive

PMS is no big deal - posterior median sulcus of spinal cord is smaller than anterior (for orientation purposes)

I Am Totally Screwed - branches off the thyrocervical trunk

Some Little Freaks And their Parents Oughta Pay Me Something - branches of the external carotid artery.

Always Palpate This More - for surface anatomy and clinical auscultation of heart sounds, to remember what you are listening to in different parts of the chest

KM WITH FLaVoR - essential amino acids

In The Hot Morning, Vinny Looks For Round Killer Worms essential amino acids

Kevin Wear Your Rubber Love, I Might Have Venereal Funk essential amino acids

OTTO - supraorbital vs. supratrochlear regions of the forehead

ABC'S - branches off the aorta

watch NFL - branches of the ophthalmic nerve

Real Ladies Love Truffles - Right lymph duct, Left thoracic duct

Ordinarily, Careless Crappers Are Also Frivolous About Urination - urea cycle

SALT - serratus anterior innervated by long thoracic nerve

Mandi needs BAIL - Mandibular nerve branches

On Old Olympus' Towering Tops, A Fierce, Vicious German Viewed Some Hops cranial nerves

On Old Olympic Towering Tops A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops cranial nerves

Oh Oh Oh, To Touch And Feel a Virgin Girl's Very Ample Hips - cranial nerves

Some Say Money Matters But My Brother Says Big Brains Matter More - 12 words for the 12 cranial nerves, and S= sensory, M=motor and B= Both sensory and motor

AG BIDS: (that is, if you wanted some AGrigculture in the pancreas, you'd have to make a bid) - A cells=Glucagon, B=Insulin, and D=Somatostatin

Sigh, It's Inevitable. God Loves Fallen Obnoxious Losers nerves in the lumbar plexus from superior to inferior and lateral to medial

Kangaroo Fighters Defeat Batman - kinesin goes forward (anterograde), dynein goes backward (retrograde)

FLAT PiG - hormones secreted by the anterior pituitary. The FLAT ones come from basophils and the PiG ones come from acidophils. F SH, L H, A CTH, T SH, P rolactin, (I), G H.

SM-SM (SubMandibular=both Serous and Mucous), P.S. (parotid=serous), S & M (sublingual [aka. the kinky one] = mucous) secretions from the salivary glands

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--Mike Leu E-97, Chip Samson E-98

The standard advice for buying a computer is to wait one year and buy a cheaper and more powerful computer when you go to Seattle. I think that this is good advice if you are on a tight budget; both WWAMI offices have 3 machines at which you can check your e-mail and write up ICM reports. However, it is pretty convenient to be able to run CD-ROMs, check your e-mail, and access the Internet from home. If you decide you want to purchase a computer, my only advice is to go to a computer store and try out some systems to make sure that they perform to your expectations. A fast CD-ROM drive and a fast modem will take you a long ways, especially as you probably will be able to do decent word processing on any computer that has an Intel Pentium II/Celeron or an equivalent processor (AMD) and 32M RAM. Pricing tends to be pretty reasonable from mail order houses. In our class people bought machines from Dell and Micron - these systems tended to include decent multimedia capabilities, which make some Web sites lots of fun. Laptop vs. Desktop seems to be a personal preference issue, though the majority in our class chose to purchase a laptop. The advantage with a laptop is the obvious portability, the downside is that they are more expensive and you could get a much more powerful desktop computer for a lot less money.

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--WSU WWAMI Office

The UWSOM recommends that you purchase a computer this year. We have three available for your use on each campus but they are shared among 38 other students in the short time between classes. Recommended specifications for computers are found at www.washington.edu/computing/hardware. Information is also available from Diane Noecker at UW Financial Aid about computer loans.

There are three computers and one printer available on the third floor of Morrill Hall for your use. If you encounter problems with these computers or printer, please let us know. Other WWAMI classmates will be using these computers so please do not delete programs or documents and be sure to store your documents on your own disks. The computers in the WWAMI offices are not available for student use.

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As an adjunct to the class texts (or in place of them), you can buy board review books to help you prepare for your course tests. You should keep in mind that although you have tests for each of your classes, you will still have to prepare for that big one (i.e. USMLE Step 1) after your second year. That's where board review books come to play. But which ones should you buy? To help guide you, I would highly recommend First Aid for the USMLE Step 1. In addition to coverage on the major topics that each medical student should know, it also has a yearly updated list of the top student-rated review books for any of your courses (rated from A to F). When you use the review books as an adjunct to your class texts, they help you keep in mind of the big picture and also the major details that you need to know for your classes. Some useful review books used by some of us were Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry (Champe), High-Yield Neuroanatomy (F x) for Nervous System and HNENT, and Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple (Gladwin) for NHID. There are invariably other review books out there, and they all have their own styles of material presentation and content, so use the First Aid book to guide you in making your purchases, if you decide to buy them.

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Your Carrel is Your Home

--Jana Peters E-96 As a WSU/UI WWAMI student, one item (in a long list of many) that you are assigned at the beginning of the year is a carrel space. WSU student's carrels are on the third floor (basically the attic) of Morrill Hall; UI carrels are on the third floor of the Student Health Building (with the WWAMI offices). These carrel spaces offer an alternative place for you to study, should your neighbors get a little loud, your roommate's study habits differ from your own, your significant other and/or children are too distracting, or if you just need a little human contact on top of all the book contact (i.e., your one-bedroom apartment gets a little lonely with only books to console).

For some of us, these carrels become our second homes (we would have tried to make them our first homes in order to avoid paying rent for a place that you only spend less than 1/3 of your time, but one student tried this, and got caught, so they now keep an eye open for anyone sleeping over for long periods of time). The carrels have almost everything you could want: microwave, refrigerator, bathrooms, showers (ground floor of Morrill Hall), computers, microscopes and histology slides, microfiche machines for neuro, and lots of books in the CSC, not to mention helpful anatomical models. Most of the regulars at the carrels have even decorated their space with pictures and posters and brought radios for those study breaks (you know you study too much when your desk is better decorated than your apartment). So, whatever your study habits are, whether you decide that you are better off at home or away from home, remember that you can always retreat to the carrels--and there will pro ably be someone already there who is sharing your misery.

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--Gary Soucie E-96

Being an ëOld Dog' in medical school isn't a whole lot different than being a young ëpup.' I, for one, haven't found too many differences with a few exceptions. First, studying for me has become a bit more difficult than it used tobe. I was used to coming home from an eight-hour day and spending the evening at home with my wife and family, not going to happen in medical school unless you are a genius. I had to get used to studying 3-to-5 hours a night just to keep my head above the water. My advice: work hard and use the resources of the younger students. Many of the traditional students are fresh from undergraduate and can teach you a lot if you are willing to ask.

Second, many older students like myself came to school with families. Medical school can become addicting, and has the potential of consuming your whole life. This can cause some frustration is learning how to balance between school and family. The fact is you will spend less time with your family, so make sure the time you spend with them is worthwhile. Be there for the important events, and especially be there for the little ones. It won't hurt to skip a day of class and take the kids to the park. I have spoken with many established physicians about this balance and every one of them has cautioned me to never put school before family. Hey, the flip side is that with a family you have a great support group cheering you on.

Finally, whatever happens, remember why you are here. You want to be a doctor and unless you really screw up (which is hard to do) you will be a doctor. You may not know every answer for every question in class, but you will get through.

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--Cora Ludwig E-04

The College System is a program through the UWSOM where students at all the WWAMI sites are paired with mentors in Seattle who are available to help guide us and answer our questions as we begin medical school. In the second year, the College System plays a more prominent role as students meet with their mentors weekly to discuss clinical applications and further skill development. Your college mentor can be a great asset from everything to test taking skills to making the move to Seattle at the end of the first year. The mentoring relationship continues through all four years of medical school and helps to provide continuity in the seemingly suffocating education. I can't do the program justice, so please check out their webpage if you would like more information. It's good to know there's someone there, watching out for you and helping you become the best physician you can be.

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