PANDEMIC LIFE AS A MED STUDENT

Hey Pops community!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been here to update you on the life of a medical student, but I promise I had good reason (I’ll get to that soon enough). The last time I wrote to you was just at the start of the pandemic. We were still getting our bearings down and trying to adjust to this new version of “normal,” something I think we’re still in the midst of figuring out. My return back to school for M2 year was worlds apart from where I thought I’d be a year ago, but we all work with what we’ve got. While the back half of my first year of med school shifted completely to online learning, this time around UVM tried to establish a hybrid model for us and the first years. Their solution was to alternate days during which each year attended online classes and splitting each class up into small groups with assigned rooms. It wasn’t the most ideal solution, but at this point, I was just happy be around people again. UVM also implemented a weekly testing policy for all students in order to gain access to any school buildings. It’s crazy how ingrained this has become in my schedule, but at the same time I recognize how lucky I am to have access to free testing.

Unfortunately the hybrid model did not last for long, and the winter months brought with them higher infectivity rates and a switch back to 100% online learning. At this point in my education however, this actually became ideal, as I started to make my switch to studying for the USMLE Step 1 (US Medical Licensing Exam). For those unfamiliar with the test, it is taken at the end of pre-clinical years and plays a large role in the strength of my application to residency programs. Ever since starting medical school, this test has been looming in the distance, slowly getting closer and closer and scarier and scarier. I like to think of it as the big bad guy at the end of Level 1 of medical school; you know it’s there, and you know you have to beat it, but you just don’t know how until it’s staring you in the face.

Anyway, that’s where I disappeared to. In preparation for the test, most schools block a period of time between the end of curricular instruction and the start of clinicals for the sole purpose of studying for this test, or as we like to call it: “dedicated.” My “dedicated” period started after the new year, but I started studying for this test in the summer months. My roommates and I would ironically joke that quarantine and social isolation actually worked in our favor during this period. There was nothing to do, no one to see, nowhere to go, really nothing else to do but study without any distractions getting in the way. Never mind the fact that Vermont getting very cold and snowy in the winter made for rather ideal conditions to sit and study for ten hours at a time. I wouldn’t necessarily call it my favorite part of med school, but it definitely felt good to see how much I had learned over the past two years and to feel that sense of relief and accomplishment after finally taking the test.

I wish there was more I could say about my “dedicated” period, but honestly most of it was a blur, and a majority of the time I didn’t even know what day it was. But I can say that it’s over now, and I have my clinical rotations to look forward to. After I take a nice long vacation far away from any type of study materials. I’ll be starting my clinical years with a six week rotation in psychiatry, followed by OB/GYN, surgery, internal medicine, neurology, family medicine, and pediatrics. I think it’s safe to say that I’m equally as nervous as I am excited to embark on this next step in my education. The nerves mostly stemming from this being the first time my learning is experiential rather than instructional, and excitement mostly due to the fact that I get to leave my house and interact with other people again. But either way, I know it’s going to be a lot of hard work, hopefully balanced out with a sense of reward as well.

6/1/21

Tiffany Lao | Michigan Pops Orchestra Class of 2017 | University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine | Class of 2023 | tiffany.lao@med.uvm.edu

LEARNING IN A NEW WORLD

To say a lot has changed since my last blog post would be an understatement. Much like the rest of the country, my school transitioned to remote online learning back in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a change which threw everyone for a bit of a loop. For us especially this was a very hard transition on both students and faculty, given that almost all our classes are taught via “active learning,” meaning that class time is spent working through patient cases in groups so that we can engage in peer teaching and problem solving. This proved to be rather difficult in the midst of quarantining and social distancing. Luckily for me, my friends agreed to hold daily morning Zoom calls so that we could replicate some type of active learning environment and work through the class material together (a process that we lovingly and jokingly referred to as WebMD). It may not have been perfect every time, but it was something to get me out of bed early in the morning and establish some type of routine to my day.

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What I really miss, however, is going to class and learning from the clinicians. Despite all the effort and changes being implemented by administration, I can’t help but feel there’s a huge part of my education that just can’t be replaced during remote learning. One example of this is the cancellation of our “Doctoring in Vermont” course, during which each student was assigned a physician in the community to work with every week. I personally also lost out on an incredible opportunity this summer, as I was supposed to partake in a global health elective and travel to Thailand for six weeks to work and shadow at one of the country’s major medical centers (but fingers crossed I still get to go during my fourth year).

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But amidst everything happening in the world and all the changes being thrown at us, I still wouldn’t change where I am in my life. I’ve thought a lot about how unique of an opportunity it is to be in medical school during the pandemic. Every day we are reminded of the universality of healthcare and the importance of our frontline workers; and every day I am reminded of why I want to be a part of that world. Through communication with faculty and administration, I’ve gotten to watch how the hospital changed and rose to meet the challenges of the pandemic, and it’s so interesting to see how those changes will continue to shape the way we practice medicine beyond this time. In relation to this, one of my projects for the summer is to work with a program called VCHIP (Vermont Child Health Improvement Program) which works with the Department of Health in Vermont. I’ll be helping to collect data from pediatric and family practices throughout the state in an effort to track how pediatric care has changed in the setting of COVID-19 and to help ensure the standards of practice for treating children are maintained and optimized now and going forward.

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One of the things I am most grateful for however is to be in Burlington, VT during this time. We’ve been lucky thus far that cases have been relatively low compared to a lot of other areas in the country, and our hospital system has been successful at keeping up with the patient volume and demand. Burlington also has an abundance of outdoor activities and is situated right on the beautiful Lake Champlain, which is where I’ve been doing a majority of my studying. Just being able to spend a day outside on the water, go on a hike, or sneak out to the beach late at night for a bonfire has made such a huge difference now that the weather is being friendly to us again. So yes, times are incredibly difficult, but every so often you can catch a glimpse of a silver lining and things get just a little bit better. As always I’d love to answer any questions about medical school, pre-med life, applications, Vermont, anything! Pops Love to everyone, and I hope this finds you happy and healthy.

6/30/20

Tiffany Lao | Michigan Pops Orchestra Class of 2017 | University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine | Class of 2023 | tiffany.lao@med.uvm.edu

TIFFANY LAO: ON A NEW JOURNEY

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MPAC is proud to present TIFFANY LAO (Pops Class of 2017) as a featured Pops Blogger. Follow her quarterly as she takes us along her journey to becoming a physician, through medical school and beyond:

So how’s med school going?

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This is a question I get asked a lot; by family, friends, old co-workers, pretty much anybody who knows that I’m a first-year med student. I know how they expect me to answer: that the course work is difficult, and I’m constantly stressed out by the immense amount of knowledge I’m expected to shove into my brain. And while those things are true for the most part, my medical school experience has been so much more than that. It feels cheesy to say but there are so many times that I actually stop myself just to revel in the feeling of being here. Sometimes it feels strange telling people how much fun I’m having in med school. Don’t get me wrong my days are mostly spent studying, reviewing, and trying to figure out new and creative ways to cram as much information in my head as humanly possible (mnemonics become your best friend in medical school), and even as I’m writing this I’m acutely aware of the 856 flashcards that I need to do just to make sure I don’t fall too far behind on material.

At the beginning of the year there were so many times that all the days blended together, and I would get lost in the constant cycle of wake up at 7, go to anatomy, sit in class until 4 or 5, do my pre-reading for the next day, go to sleep. But fortunately, now that we’re out of the “foundations” course of our curriculum I’m only physically in class until noon and I’ve got a little more time to be a functional human being. I remember when I was working during my gap years, so many of the docs told me over and over that med school would be the best time of my life. Of course I didn’t believe them, but turns out they weren’t that far off. Somewhere in between all of school work I’ve found time to go on hikes, go sailing on the lake, form a weekly trivia team, go to the gym, have board game nights, go to concerts, and have Bachelor viewing parties every Monday.

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My friends and I have compared our experiences in medical school to “college on steroids” because everything is more intense: the work load, the stress, the work load again, but also the experiences and the friendships. The people in my class have been everything in shaping my medical school life. Take 123 people and put them in the same room together every day and you’re bound to create some pretty strong relationships. There’s something about knowing that everyone is going through the same struggles, the same schedule, and the same curriculum that forms an unspoken bond between all of us, and luckily for me that created the biggest support system I think I’ve ever been a part of. I even remember during my white coat ceremony, after every name that was called out you could hear our class cheering louder than any parent in the audience. It’s a comforting feeling, to know that in such a high stress, high stakes environment the one thing I don’t have to worry about is ever feeling alone or unsupported.

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Coming to medical school has been my dream come true in so many ways. Even though I had to apply twice and deal with all the anxiety that comes with the application process, I can honestly that for me it was absolutely worth the wait. Every day I get closer and closer to the career and life I’ve been striving toward since my Michigan days, and not only is it rewarding and such an immense privilege to be here but I’m having the absolute time of my life along the way. For anyone who has any questions about medical school, the application process, or pre-med life in general I would be more than happy to share my experiences or answer any questions!!!

3/1/20

Tiffany Lao | Michigan Pops Orchestra Class of 2017 | University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine Class of 2023 | tiffany.lao@med.uvm.edu