Thanksgiving break is always a great week for my family. This year, my sister is coming back from Boston for the week. I spoke with my mentor the week before, but I wanted to be considerate for his time and family. As a result, I scheduled my next meeting for the week after the break. This will be with Yonatan Chatzinoff. As I mentioned previously, Dr. Wells, invited me to help in Mr. Chatzinoff’s latest research project. We scheduled for next week because Mr. Chatzinoff went away for the holidays.
In addition, I finished up some of my college applications. Dr. Wells wrote several letters of recommendations for several universities. I am very grateful for this, especially for the program with providing me the opportunity and the time for finding a mentor and networking with professionals. The week before break I began my rotations in the emergency room at Baylor, Scott & White hospital. There, I met with Dr. Kara, an emergency medicine specialist. During the slower times of the day, I asked her questions about the patients we saw. We also talked about schooling, and she gave some useful advice while I was there. One thing she mentioned that stuck with me was to not be like anyone else (ie. generic biology major). I have heard this now from several people in the medical profession, so I should consider taking the hint. This week held a monthly conference in the outpatient building of UT Southwestern. Here, we looked at particular case studies of active patients with affected knees and hips. The group consists of orthopaedic surgeons, radiologists, residents, and myself. It is a great learning experience for me as I take notes on what I want to learn more about in the future. All the while, these meetings provide me with insight on what surgeons are looking for when assessing joint radiographs, MRIs and CTs. In addition, I met with Dr. Wells to discuss my plans for my Original Work. He supports it, and he provides me with another contact to help me with: Richard Stetzel, the director for perioperative services. He also invited me to help out in Yonatan Chatzinoff’s ongoing research project. He is presenting an innovative way to survey the acetabulum, using three dimensional reconstructions of a CT.
The ISM class gave their second speech of the year. It was a research speech that presented what we have learned so far in the year. My research assessments were more focused on published research on hip pathologies rather than broad subjects in orthopaedics. Rather than regurgitating the same information I read towards my audience, I presented the material in a more wide scope. Ultimately, these research teams publish works in order to find new ways to effectively and correctly diagnose a hip with a disorder. As a result, my presentation focused more on the pathologies such as hip dysplasia or femoroacetabular impingement while quickly discussing treatment. November 1st marked the deadline for early admission applications for most universities with regular decisions marked later in January. For many of my peers, this is a stressful time of finishing up whatever application they have filled so far. Most of the applications I am taking part in are combined degree programs, so the major deadline I am worried about is in December. Nonetheless, I am taking extra steps to make sure I am proactive with my work.
I discovered a new weakness of mine: time management. My grades have become a victim to this weakness. Thankfully, I was able to catch this early before it got any worse. Organization used to be my go-to when discussing weaknesses, but I feel as if I’ve taken the appropriate steps to mitigate this issue. Now I need to focus on improving my time management skills. My immediate answer to this would be to have an agenda with a detailed log of what I will do throughout the day. I already tried suppressing an internal struggle I have had throughout my life: video games. I never realized how much time I have wasted in front of the screen. As a result, one of the major steps I am taking to help devote the right amount of time on my work is putting down the X-BOX One controller. Hopefully, I can minimize wasted time at home and effectively utilize open spaces in my schedule for beneficial assignments |
Shoaib FarooquiStudent currently enrolled in Liberty High School, studying orthopaedic medicine under the mentorship of Dr. Joel Wells. Archives
January 2018
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