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Lisa M. Blacker 2010 March 3

Please join me for more success strategies and sabbatical adventures at http://www.LisaBlacker.com

My! How time passes!

There has been so much happening in my life since I last posted on this blog – much of it very purposeful and some rather serendipitous. Thanks for your patience and your continued interest (or is it just curiosity?!)

I began interviewing schoolmates whom I perceive to be successful. The video and audio quality was terrible, so I decided to wait until after this trimester of school is over and do it right.

Also in the time I’ve been away from this blog, I’ve been doing a tremendous amount of work on myself. That has been the most resource-consuming and rewarding of all my efforts. I intend to share with you elements of my journey and especially how it relates to those of us in medical school.

First, I intend to write two terms papers and prepare for my last final exam, then finishing packing and be out of this dorm apartment before 12/21.

I’m also in the process of taking lessons on how to enhance a blog, so look for some nice changes in the next month or so.

Until we meet again, happy holidays and holy days, whichever set you celebrate.

Peace, Love and Blessings to All.
Lisa

Resource Review: Learning Strategies for Success in Medical School

As I search for material related to what I want to share with you, I keep finding resources I wish I had seen while I was in undergrad.

Learning Strategies For Success in Medical School is a 49-page grant-funded PDF guidebook published by Pamela Houghton DeVoe, M.A., Curriculum Development Consultant at Hispanic and Native American Center of Excellence.   While the book was written specifically for students of University of New Mexico School of Medicine, most of the material is applicable to students of all medical schools and should be required reading for ALL pre-med and first-year medical students! Those of us who have already begun will probably benefit from reading this guidebook, also.  It’s emphasis is on understanding our own learning style and adopting appropriate learning strategies with specific suggestions. It addresses some educational psychology for adult learners including characteristics of medical school and how to approach each for successful outcome.

Life balance, stress, spirituality and time management are also addressed.

The guidebook also offers motivational and inspirational tidbits, such as the quote, “Once you believe you are the agent of your success, you begin to behave in ways that will produce that success.”

Worth a thorough read!

LMB

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pFspV-1v

Video Journal – 2009 October 27

LMB

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pFspV-1s

Journal Entry and Success Strategy: 2009 October 25

I’ve had an amazing eight days but have been too busy to write all about it.  Tomorrow and Tuesday I have midterm exams, and I just completed a paper for a naturopathy foundations class.

Significant points I want to share before I get back to studying radiography:

1) Darren Hardy posted a quote on Facebook today that was an eye-opening reminder for me:

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”-Albert Schweitzer

Today, I watched and listened to Steve Edwards, a man who was my dear friend during our youth, now a guitar virtuoso who performed with a symphony orchestra with beautiful talent and passion.  He appeared to be in love with the music and having tremendous fun, too.  While I do not know the details of his recent life, with regard to his music career, this man is a success!

2) I re-discovered this week that I love what I am doing – being a medical student and becoming a physician. I INTEND that the unfinished business I have to attend will be but a brief detour, and not a distraction from my long-term goal.

Strategy for Success: Do something every day that will move me toward my goal.

I choose to go back to studying, now.  I’ll be back after my exams this week.

LMB

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pFspV-1l

Journal Entry and Success Strategies: 2009 October 23

It seems to me one of the most important strategies for success – as defined by either definition 1, 2 or 3 from a previous blog post – is “be prepared.” This strategy is one that seems to go without saying, but as I learned from a sage years ago: “That which goes without saying is too important not to say.”

Recently I have become aware that being prepared includes not only being committed to completing the tasks that move us toward our own goal, but also to have resolved unfinished business so as to eliminate any foreseeable distraction. Perhaps this is why it seems so much easier for traditional students – those who began college soon after graduating high school, then started med school right away without having children, being married, or owning real estate – to focus on medical school at an accelerate pace. Non-traditional students, on the other hand, have a never-ending supply of life situations tugging at our gaze, pulling our focus from our studies. For me, tending to a piece of out-of-town real estate is often on my mind, especially when the weather is wet. Other more pleasant distractions from school are grandchildren and other loving family members. Certainly my younger classmates have distractions, but of those they share with me, most are fleeting even if emotionally significant at the moment.

Also part of this being prepared is having a strong academic foundation on which to build. As I have shared in an earlier post, my less than stellar scores in organic chemistry have held me back from successful completion of biochemistry. I know I passed, but passing alone is not my definition of success.

My decision to enter medical school was made many years ago – decades ago, in fact.  My preparation for medical school, however, is still in progress. Now, I feel the need to step back to resolve for some unfinished business, after which I can re-evaluate my preparedness based on these last nine months.  What did I do right, and where is there room for improvement?  That is a rhetorical question, but for those of you who have experienced something similar, I’d appreciate your input.

LMB

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pFspV-1f

What does success mean to you? An Invitation to Comment

In the context of being a medical student, what does success mean to you?  How do YOU know if you are successful?

Which of the three definitions of success discussed earlier this week is closest to your definition of success?

1. “Passing each required class, clinical and Board exam and subsequently  earning a license.”
2. “Striking a healthy balance between academics and clinicals, maintaining one’s own whole health, family obligations, and financial responsibilities.”
3. “A successful medical student is one who is able to strike a healthy balance between (a) academics and clinicals, (b) maintaining one’s own whole health, (c) family obligations, and (d) financial responsibilities, with gratitude and enjoyment  while exceeding each requirement along the way toward earning a license and establishing a thriving practice.”

I am interested in your perspective and will appreciate your comments on this subject.

LMB

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pFspV-10

Journal Entry and Success Strategies: 2009 October 15

Today is one of those days when I feel that I am not well-enough prepared to be here (in med school).  Part of the feeling is academic: after all, I did earn only a “C” in each organic chemistry and physiology during my last two undergrad years. “Not stellar” where the words I kept hearing in the voice of an MD, PhD advisor from my past, who was commenting on my 3.55 cumulative GPA at the end of my first year of college. While in my last undergrad year, one term before my anticipated graduation, I expressed an interest in retaking organic chem and physiology but was advised against doing so.  Was I being obsessive about my grades and the idea of maintaining my honors GPA? Or, was I motivated by understanding the significance of the foundation each of those two classes would lay for cellular physiology and human biochemistry respectively during trimester one of the professional program? Now, I regret not following my gut and taking those two course a second time.  Yet, I wonder: Was it the matter of believing I had a weak foundation that contributed to my poor scores in biochem and cell phys, or was it that I truly had a limited grasp of the basics? I’ve heard time and time again, “Whether you believe you can or you cannot, you are right.” Was this a self-limiting belief?  Do students who earned “C’s” in undergrad organic chem and physiology have a strong enough foundation for solid building? These are rhetorical questions, but if you have a strong opinion, especially if it is based on experience with this regard, please share in the comments section below.

Success Strategies based on lessons from my mistakes:

Do your absolute best in all foundational courses! Believe you CAN learn the material, regardless of your past performance!

LMB

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pFspV-U

Factors of Success for Medical Students

In identifying strategies for success in medical school, I have chosen to evaluate (1) the operational definition of success within the literature, and (2) the factors of success identified.  There are many scholarly journal articles on the subject of medical student success strategies, as I discovered when I Googled the phrase.  Fortunately for those of us who don’t have the time to sift through them all, there is a meta-analysis of the literature that contains some information of potential value to us.

The meta-analysis titled Factors associated with success in medical school: systematic review of the literature (“Factors”) was published on BMJ.com was compiled by Eamonn Ferguson, David James, and Laura Madeley.  The authors examined the literature for quantifying or qualifying success and the predictors of success.

For the systematic review we used a mixture of traditional techniques of qualitative review and more quantitative methods of meta-analysis. We included studies in the review if they had a clear description of the predictors used and their quantification, a clear description of the outcome measures, and an acceptable statistical method of analysis of the relation between predictors and outcome measures. For indicators of previous academic performance, we examined only studies that used nationally or internationally accepted academic indicators (for example, GCSE grades, A level grades, grade point average (GPA) scores, medical college admission test (MCAT)). For other predictor measures, such as personality profiles, we explored only studies reporting data based on validated indices…” [Bold added for emphasis.]

Clearly, this literature review is focused exclusively on the outcome aspect of success.  As it pertains to medical students, that outcome is presumed to be graduating and getting licensed.

In their summary, the authors of Factors acknowledge, “Relatively little research has been done into the importance of learning styles, interviews, ethnicity, sex, personal statements, and references, but a strategic learning style, white ethnicity, and female sex are associated with success in medical training.” [Bold added for emphasis.]

Factors has a section on learning styles that provides good resources.  I plan to explore learning styles in more depth in the near future, but I encourage you to skim that section of the literature review.  Find it easily about halfway down the page in a blue box titled Models of Learning Styles.

LMB

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pFspV-A

Defining Success as it Pertains to Medical Students

The word  “success” has as many definitions as Merck has pills.  In fact, when I entered “define success” into the Google search bar, it brought me over 332,000 results.  One of my favorite service sites for definitions is Princeton’s Word Net Web. In this case, WordNet offers three definitions relevant to the topic of this blog:

• The achievement of one’s aim or goal; financial profitability; One who, or that which, achieves assumed goals
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/success
• successful – having succeeded or being marked by a favorable outcome; “a successful architect”; “a successful business venture”
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• successful – Resulting in success; assuring, or promotive of, success; accomplishing what was proposed; having the desired effect; prosperous; fortunate; happy
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/successful

Each of these three definitions refer to a result, goal, or favorable outcome.  If we were to focus only on outcome, an appropriate definition of success could simply be:

(1) “Passing each required class, clinical and Board exam and subsequently  earning a license.” While I believe success can certainly be a label for the basic result we all desire, these definitions mention nothing of the journey toward the outcome.

Professor Dr. Srikumar S. Rao is the founder of the much celebrated course Creativity and Personal Mastery. Dr. Rao is also the author of the books Are You Ready to Succeed? and The Personal Mastery Program.  Success magazine’s October 2009 audio CD included an interview of Dr. Rao by Publisher Darren Hardy in which Dr. Rao defined success as being excited about what you are doing to the extent that you rise in the morning and get down on your knees to express gratitude for your life, including your work [or in this case school]. Sounds great, but few of us are in that place.  How do we get there?

Dr. Robert Shiel, Professor and Chair of the Clinical Sciences Department at National University of Health Sciences, has counseled many stressed students at NUHS on the merits of balance in one’s life.  He has shared with those students and me the importance of satisfying our own needs in other areas of our life, for which we at NUHS call whole health, meant to include physical, spiritual, intellectual, and social well being.  This will be the subject of a future blog post, but for now, let’s just consider the aspect of balance for our definition of success.  To that end, I offer another possible definition for success:

(2)  “Striking a healthy balance between academics and clinicals, maintaining one’s own whole health, family obligations, and financial responsibilities.”

There is a disparity between definitions (1) and (2), and they each lack the passion of Dr. Rao’s definition of success.  Therefore, for the purpose of this blog, I’d like to adopt this combined definition of success:

“A successful medical student is one who is able to strike a healthy balance between (a) academics and clinicals, (b) maintaining one’s own whole health, (c) family obligations, and (d) financial responsibilities, with gratitude and enjoyment  while exceeding each requirement along the way toward earning a license and establishing a thriving practice.”

BUT is achieving this standard of success possible? Future blog posts will address how to move toward actualizing this definition of success.  In the meantime, your comments on the subject are welcome.

LMB

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pFspV-l