The first day of my medic school career is in the books. We didn’t do much today, just did the usual first day housekeeping stuff. Mostly this consisted of watching videos about infectious disease exposure, PPE and HIPAA. I won’t lie, it was boring. But, it’s required so I made the best of it. We then went over the first day handout and the program handbook, ordered our clinical uniform shirts (which look really good) and got an idea of when our clinical days would be. Due to my work schedule (a 48 on Saturday/Sunday), it looks like my day will be Friday. This will work out very well since I won’t have to worry about making sure I leave work in enough time to get to my clinical site. Plus it’ll be nice to have a day off after my 48 (we don’t have lecture or lab on Monday).
We also got our drug list for the pharmacology portion of the program. We’re making cards and expected to have a good working knowledge of everything from Acetaminophen to Warfarin and everything in between. It’s a long list, I’m not going to lie, but I’m looking forward to learning more about the drugs and being able to apply that in the field. Also, we’ll be studying a great deal of pathophysiology and I’m actually looking forward to learning more about it. It’s good to know as much as possible about body and disease processes, which helps us understand why we do a lot of the things we do.
My class seems to be a good mix of people. One of the most unusual things about it is that several of my classmates are actually from my hometown. I don’t recall meeting any of them before but we know a lot of the same people. Overall it’s an eclectic mix of different people and personalities and I feel like it’s going to be a great class in many ways.
I also thought I would share the list of textbooks that we’re using this semester to give you an idea of what all we’ll be doing this Fall.
Essentials of Paramedic Care, 2nd Edition Update (Brady)
Pathophysiology for the Health Professions, 4th Edition
Davis’ Drug Guide, 11th Edition
EMS Field Guide: ALS Version, 16th Edition
Taber’s Cyclopedic Medica Dictionary, 21st Edition
Pre-Hospital Pharmacology, 6th Edition (Brady)
Easy 4-Step Method to Drug Calculations (Brady)
So that’s pretty much it for my first day. Over the weekend and Monday I’ll be looking over the first chapter in the Essentials text and I’ll likely start working on the drug cards. I’m already looking forward to really diving in and learning as much as I possibly can. I also have a 48 hour shift coming up this weekend and hopefully that will allow me some time to read and work.
Jonathan
