So, how's school?

Before I say anything else about medic school, let me say this … if you don’t like to read a lot, or have difficulty in comprehending dense textbooks, medic school is NOT for you.

The reading assignments have been substantial. And very dense.

Luckily for me, I’ve never had much difficulty in working over the text to get the important stuff out. I’m good with that. It’s not so easy for some of my classmates. One of the guys I worked with is also in my class and he’s admitted that he’s having a tough time with the reading already.

And it’s just going to get worse.

We’re into airway management and our first quiz on that is tomorrow. I’ve built a set of flashcards that address the DOT objectives and should get me thorough it no problem. However, I’m a little concerned about how in depth we need to be on all of this stuff. I mean, do I need to know all of the details on HOW a depolarizing muscular blocking agent works, or do I just need to know that the correct dosage of Succinycholine is 1.5-2.0 mg/kg? The instructors haven’t been really clear on that, so I’m just  cramming every bit of it into my head. Too much information is better than not enough, right?

Now, aside from the fact that I have been whipping out flashcards like a fool and reading and studying almost every waking minute, I have to be honest and admit that I love this stuff. This class is amazing and it’s where I was meant to be. I’m going to mine those instructors and docs and respiratory therapists and guest speakers to get as much info as I can from each of them. This class is the foundation of my education as a medic and I want to make the very most of it.

I worked a fill in 24 shift over the weekend in the eastern portion of district where I was recently working full time, so I knew the area pretty well, and was able to get to all the calls sans mapbook or GPS. That was sweet. It was also a VERY slow shift, with six calls total, so I had plenty of study time. As a matter of fact, we were able to sleep straight through from about 1 AM until 6, then up for a quick call, which we were canceled on, and then back to sleep for a couple of hours. It was most excellent.

As I alluded to below, I will be moving the blog to a new spot. I was invited to join a group of other EMS and fire bloggers at a new “blog portal” and I will be changing the URL to reach the blog and slightly redesigning the site. I’ll have more about that soon. It’s been tough to fit blog work in among the flashcards.