My Medical Journey | Part 1

(This article captures my thoughts as a first-year Sem 2 medical student at Monash University Malaysia)

What were your expectations from medical school?

For me, it would be really hectic, stressful, and tough, and my experience was solid proof of how hectic life could get when you study medicine.

At the beginning of the semester, my friends and I were challenged by the daunting task of studying human anatomy. As we started learning the human body by systems, our syllabus this sem zoomed in on the musculoskeletal system (MSK), the peripheral nervous system (PNS), and the cardiovascular system (CVS).

Most of us waded through the crisis of information overload because in just 4 months, we had to explore and navigate through the anatomy, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and microbiology of these body systems. Even if we study for more than 10 hours per day, no matter how much we do, it always feels like we are scrapping the tip of the iceberg amidst the vast medical field.

On the bright side, anatomy was fascinating because I'd never imagined how things would look under our skin. When I was studying about the wrist and hand, I started watching Acland's Anatomy dissection videos, and believe me: I will never look at my hands or fingers the same way ever again. It’s hard to imagine how intricate and detailed our hand is, weaved together by muscles of various shapes and sizes, all contributing to highly specific movements of the hand. It's awesome to learn, but totally not cool when we need to memorize all the muscle names and functions for the exams.

Here are three tips on how I try to absorb as much information as I can:

1. Learning is about linking your existing knowledge with new knowledge together, it's to expand the picture in your mind. It’s like you're building something bigger with the things that you already have in your mind. 2. Always ask yourself the BIG question: Are you Osmosing? (It basically means whether I’m absorbing the info properly, I printed this question out and pasted it on the wall above my study table as a reminder) 3. Group studies definitely pumped in the motivation into my study sessions, it makes learning much more fun when you study together with friends within your comfort zone.

One of the toughest problems I faced was that I kept falling asleep watching lecture videos. This

sem was entirely online due to the pandemic. But seriously, online classes are just sooo boring. Many of my friends and I burned out throughout the sem because it's hard to study medicine online. For example, if we are going to learn about performing a physical examination of the lower limbs, I'd just go and try it on my parents without even knowing if it's correct or not. Sometimes I just feel so demotivated that I just can’t get myself to do anything. Hence, sometimes I resorted to binge-watching movies, reading books, and video calling my friends. That's basically how I maintained my mental health throughout this semester.

On some random mornings, I had to go down for a walk around the garden to reclaim some of my sanity. Well, it works! My concentration improved, I don’t feel so drowsy all the time and I definitely feel much more relaxed, refreshed, and motivated.

Anyways, I'm happy with my results for first-year sem 2, but I'm really looking forward to physical classes next year at Monash campus! :)