“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
~ Vince Lombardi

“We are what we repeatedly do. Thus, excellence is not an act, but a habit.”
~ Aristotle

as with my other re-cap, this is a very brief overview. if you wanted all the nitty gritty, you would have actually enrolled in med school. ; ))

the MUA curriculum is subject-based, not systems-based like some USMLE prep books i have seen. things are starting to fit together between classes and it’s really awesome to see how histology and embryology reflect gross anatomy (and versa vice). i like the subject-based approach, but am careful to review systems-based stuff on my own time as well. the cardiovascular system is an awesome example of a tie-in for all three: how does the heart develop? what sort of tissue is it made of? what does it look like? what does it do? where the heck is it?

gross anatomy
- every big and little thing in the thorax (ribs, lungs, heart and stuff)
- every little and big thing in the abdomen (you know, where the food/fat goes)

>> most interesting thing learned: there is just too much cool stuff going on in the guts and chest to even narrow it down. but it’s neat to know that appendicitis initially starts out as referred pain behind the belly button before it moves on to make you double over in agony. how many of your have your appendix out? do you have any idea how tiny that little guy is??

histology
- muscle tissue (far too many words that start with “my-”)
- nervous system elements (a lot of review from my biopsych days)
- circulatory system (arteries vs. veins vs. lymph)
- blood (erythrocytes vs. leukocytes vs. plasma vs. Billy Ruben*)
- hematopoiesis (how red and white blood cells are made — other than “by God”)

>> most interesting thing learned: the brain is the coolest thing ever, but since that was review for me, i didn’t really “learn” any new cool brain stuff. i guess one thing that will stick long-term is: apparently the tibia is the best place to get a bone marrow sample in a child, while the iliac crest is a better place in adults. either way, it hurts like heck.

embryology
- formation of the placenta and fetal membranes
- formation of the heart and cardiovascular system
- formation of limbs, muscles, vertebrae, axial skeleton
- ages/weights of viability
- disorders along every step of the (highly complex!) path

>> most interesting thing learned: development of the heart is pretty much THE most important thing going on and is highly sensitive to teratogenic insult. since it starts so early (week 3 of development), it can easily finish before the mother is even aware that she’s pregnant and should be avoiding certain harmful stimuli.

evidence-based medicine
- foreground vs. background questions
- how to search PubMed and MedLine

>> most interesting thing learned: right now i can’t remember if i learned anything in this class (we only meet 3 times each block)… but it was fun to do online medical research!

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*for Dr. K

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