Gain a Deeper Understanding with the Power of Test-Enhanced Learning

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Welcome to part two of our blog series in which we share proven learning strategies behind the Osmosis platform that help students learn medicine more effectively. (Read about spaced repetition and memory palaces in parts 1 and 3 of the series!)

Today, we’re going to explore test-enhanced learning, the act of testing yourself to improve your knowledge of a given subject. This study technique is discussed throughout our new textbook, How to Learn in the Health Professions, as well as in our video series on the science of learning.

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What History is Most Consistent With These Findings?

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A 62-year-old female, G3P3, presents to her gynecologist with a year-long history of worsening stress urinary incontinence. During the course of her investigation, a pelvic MRI is performed, and reveals the findings seen here. Which of the following histories is most consistent with these findings?

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SHPEP: A Crucial Healthcare Professions Pipeline

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Mentorship and Examples are critical.

The Summer Health Professions Education Program, SHPEP, has become a summer tradition at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Students from around the country participate in SHPEP’s goal: “to strengthen the academic proficiency and career development of students underrepresented in the health professions and prepare them for a successful application and matriculation to health professions schools.”

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How to Create and Live On A Student Budget

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student budget

It’s a fact of life: you need money to pay expenses that allow you to live comfortably. When you’re attending school, you may use your financial aid as your “income” and, therefore, you will want to manage that money wisely. The less money you borrow now, the less money you will need to repay—including interest—after graduation. 

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What Do I Wear? Basic Interview Attire for Men

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interview attire for men

Fall is in the air, and you wait patiently as the medical school application cycle continues. Several weeks have passed since you have completed your AMCAS and AACOMAS experience prompts, proof-read your personal statement, entered your transcript grades one “A” after another, and finally mustered up the courage to click that oh-so-final submit button. You eagerly press refresh on your internet browser hoping that just one of the numerous medical schools you applied to will reward you for all your arduous work. “Congratulations, you’re invited!” reads the subject line; you finally receive the email you have been waiting so anxiously to read. You schedule your interview for the next date available and your boundless excitement immediately turns to panic. Will my interview be formal or MMI? Which of my experiences will be brought up? What will I wear to this oh-so-important event? While the former questions may generate some anxiety, choosing your outfit should be an easy, stress-free task.

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Put Down That MPH Application: How to Reapply to Medical School the Right Way

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strengthen your medical school application

Unsuccessful medical school applicants face a quandary. What to do next?

A popular option has been the master’s degree in public health. Students figured it was a way to spend a year doing something “health-related.” They could take off for medical school interviews, maybe write a paper or two. But the MPH is too easy a route. It is not enough. Here is what the MPH telegraphs: “I sat down for a year in easy to moderate difficulty classes and passed. I have a broad overview of public health.”

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When The Cat’s Away, The Mice Found Risky Business Ventures

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Executive Producer Jason has kindly let Dave go on vacation, so Aline Sandouk takes over the hot seat, with Irisa Mahaparn, Hillary O’Brien, Elizabeth Shirazi, and Jayden Bowen. Together they unravel the mysteries of the human body and med school.  For instance, why do med students feel guilty about having to take time off to deal with their bed bug infestations?  And what would having many  normal or two overly large testicles do to fertility?  Such brilliant questions!!!

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Living In The Unknown: Part of Life As A Med Spouse

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Medical Spouse

Can you recall moments in your adolescence when you were completely living in the moment, not caring or thinking much about the future? The future seemed, like, forever away. Plus, you just wanted to enjoy life as it was in that very moment. Ahh…if we could find just a bit of that carefree attitude we used to have, minus the naiveté, even for a moment. Well, my fellow medical spouse, I challenge you to do just that. What is something all us medical spouses have in common? We have NO idea what the future will look like for us, and we also have very little control over it! 

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How Spaced Repetition Enhances Learning

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spaced repetition

One of the biggest challenges of learning medicine is the sheer amount of information students are expected to process and understand. By the time most students take the USMLE Step 1 exam, they will have attempted to memorize the contents of huge books like First Aid—an 800-page behemoth of high-yield pathology—as well as endless information from their course slides and other lecture notes.

(Don’t miss parts 2 and 3 in the series to learn about test-enhanced learning and memory palaces.)

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Handling Sexual Harassment as a Medical Student

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sexual harassment as a medical student

Changing dressings on diabetic ulcers is not particularly pleasant. The oozing, the meticulousness of laying down protective layers, and the smell make the task less than ideal for even the strongest stomach. There I was as a 3rd year medical student, working with the resident team for well over an hour assembling the dressings on the patient’s legs to apply a wound vac. To make matters even worse and more uncomfortable, the patient continued to make sexual remarks about me. I kept quiet and finished the job with the rest of the team. In fact, even when we were done, no one mentioned the inappropriateness of the patient. It just went unsaid that this is something that is encountered frequently, and I continued to see the same patient on daily rounds.

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How would you manage this patient’s neurologic impairment?

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A 28-year-old female presents to the emergency department with an occipital headache and neck pain. She mentions her symptoms appeared after hyperextending her neck while playing tennis the day before. Examination reveals dysdiadochokinesia and decreased lateral vision. A contrast head and neck CT demonstrate the findings seen here. Based on this patient’s probable diagnosis, which of the following treatments is most appropriate?

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How to Thrive On a Rotation You Don’t Like

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rotation you don't like

It is Friday afternoon at 4 pm. I’m headed to see a consult while simultaneously attempting to shove a granola bar in my mouth and respond to several pages. My intern is somewhere frantically discharging people and post-oping the day’s OR cases. My medical student lists along several feet behind me, dragging his feet and clearly hating life. The consult turns out to be operative, so I call my staff, book the OR, activate the emergency surgery pathway, consent the patient, talk to the family and write the note in rapid succession while my medical student hovers beside me. As I hit “sign” on my note, I hear the sharp intake of breath that heralds the coming question.
“Do you need me for anything else?”
“Well, we are taking this patient to the operating room. It should be a relatively quick, but interesting case. Would you like to join us?”
“Ummm.”
“I see. Well, you don’t have to. You can go.”
“Ok. Sounds good. Oh, and I was wondering, is it ok if I take this weekend off? My friend from college is getting married tomorrow and his bachelor party is tonight, so…”
“We usually have you guys round at least one day each weekend.”
“Oh, ok. It’s just that he’s, you know, my best friend, and I’m the best man, and I kinda have to stay out with him, so…”
“Fine. Have fun,” I respond, in a flat tone and turn back to my computer.

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Q&A with Dr. Ike Anya, Writer and Public Health Consultant

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ike anya

Dr. Ike Anya is a consultant in public health medicine, writer, honorary lecturer in Public Health at Imperial College London, cofounder of Nigeria Health Watch and cofounder and principal consultant of EpiAfric, a public health consultancy in Nigeria.

Dr. Anya obtained his medical degree at the University of Nigeria (1995), before eventually moving to the UK in 2001. Here, he obtained a Master’s from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, before completing the Southwest England public health training program in 2008.

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