John A. Burns School of Medicine PBL Demonstration

This past May, I signed up for the John A. Burns School of Medicine PBL (problem based learning) demonstration that was scheduled for Friday, August 12 2016 which happened just a few days ago. I waited over 2 months for this demonstration and I was nervous/excited to attend it this past Friday! (JABSOM holds just 2 demos a year for prospective students, one held in August and the other in December)

This demonstration was held for anyone interested in attending JABSOM and for those interested to get to know their curriculum. JABSOM teaches their students based on PBL (problem based learning) which is a really effective way of learning for me. I will summarize the demonstration so that you will know what to expect. The demo began at 1pm and ended at 4pm.

Here is a photo of the program for the day (open photo in another window to see details):

The intro was done by Dr. Sakai who was really nice, funny, and informative! I felt comfortable after the first 5 minutes. He called in a few of his students to demonstrate how PBL works then everyone attending the demo was split into groups and we got to try it out ourselves! We were tutored by 2 MS2’s (2nd Year Med Students) who were really nice and informative. PBL is done in a group of usually 4-5 people. So basically, instructors give your group a scenario that you will have to dissect and pick apart to find the solution. PBL teaches you how to think like a doctor, what are the facts? Hypotheses? Learning outcomes? The learning outcomes are possible terms, causes, or anything that we would need of research to find out more about the patients status. Side note, every week someone from the group is the “food person”, JABSOM wants us to have fun and learn. Which I agree with! After we finished our scenario, we went on a short tour of the medical education building where students have classes, take exams, and study. After the tour we headed back to the auditorium for Q&A with Dr. Sakai, the Imi Ho’ola Post-Baccalaureate Program Director, Winona Lee, MD; the Director of Admissions, Ivy Nip Asano, MD; MS1 from the Imi Ho’ola program, and an MS2 student. A lot of questions were asked and all we’re answered very clearly!

Some interesting things that I can remember was Dr. Sakai asking us how many babies does a JABSOM student help deliver? The answer is 10-12. I thought that was awesome! He also said that people who go to other colleges usually buy a really nice stethoscope in the beginning of med school but only use it in the last 2 years. Well not at JABSOM! Students use their stethoscope in the first few weeks of starting med school! I also remember the MS2 students mentioning opportunities to gain experience internationally or there are research opportunities on the mainland to end your first year! That was awesome as well, our tutor just came back from American Samoa and she said it was amazing. What I remember the most is a lot of choices. The student is given many options to choose from to find out what works best for them which I really like!

Overall I loved the demo and I believe everyone thinking about attending JABSOM should attend a PBL demo! After the demo was over, I was convinced that this is the school for me.

Anthropology film “Half Life” has me thinking….

Film: Half Life – Nuclear Micronesia

It’s after 1am and I’m still intrigued by a film that I watched for Anthropology class, that I’m going to write a review about it right now. This film is only shown by the University of Hawai’i and it is called “Half Life: Nuclear Micronesia”.

I didn’t think I would be so interested in the film because I thought it was going to cover just the history of the bombings but I was completely wrong. Most of the movie was about the radiation effects produced by the H-bomb (hydrogen) that the United States dropped on Bikini Atoll in 1974 which was in close proximity to 3 other islands. This movie really made me think about the world we live in today and how things are rapidly changing. I would like to talk about some observations that I made during the film and how they may relate to what is going on in the world today. In the film, the U.S. came to an agreement with people on the bikini atoll to give up their island for testing or bombing purposes for the Americans. The people of Bikini atoll agreed and left the island. The U.S. dropped several bombs on that atoll and each time evacuating nearby islands in case of “fallout” which is radioactive ash or rain. When the U.S. heard about the Russians successfully produced a Hydrogen bomb, the U.S. was in a rush to show the world it could produce one as well. This is what started it all… Without warning the surrounding islands, the U.S: dropped the H-bomb that was 500 (professor says over 1,000) times more powerful than other bomb they had dropped previously. The people of the surrounding islands saw the blast and they thought that the ash falling from the sky was snow (some played in it). The footage of this explosion is ridiculous! It is such a sad event. Some people say the U.S. did not evacuate the surrounding islands because they wanted guinea pigs to find out what the effects of radiation were, short-term and long-term. After the bombing, the U.S. visited these islands to conduct medical examinations. The effects of the radiation varied. Some people had no visible changes and others had burns and lumps all over their body. The main visible affected area was the neck/thyroid. Although the years go by, the radiation that the people of these islands experienced will increase because the radiation is still in their food, in their water, and in the air. A woman on the island that the she has never seen sickness like she had seen after the bomb. There were miscarriages, stillbirths, disabilities, etc. The effects of the bomb are still felt today. Many of the people on these islands, even the people who documented this event has similar symptoms and quite a few have cancer.

After watching this film, I can make a clear relationship between cancer and radiation. Radiation treats everyone differently like I had seen in the film. Not everyone was affected in the same way or same time. As time passes, radiation levels in their bodies increase, increasing the risk of cancer. Now from what I see is that radiation can trigger cancer at any point in time as long as there is an amount of radiation in your body. Again, it’s just an observation. Today there are way more people affected by cancer and tough pregnancies than ever before. Why? Could it be because of the increased radiation around the world? The Fukushima plant leakage into the Pacific? Bombings in the pacific? Bombings around the world? It seems like radiation is tied to cancer in an important way. There is no cure for radiation exposure and there is no cure for cancer. Every day there are new foods on the do not eat list because it may cause cancer. Based on my observation, pretty much everything that we eat has radiation from years ago and as time goes by we keep consuming causing radiation levels in our bodies to rise. When I enter medical school, I would like to do a more in depth study about this, eventually write a research paper, and hopefully find some kind of solution for this tragedy that is not only affecting the people of Micronesia but everyone around the world.

Summer Session Ending in 8 Days

Hello all!

We have reached what is to be the final week of summer session! Man that was a quick semester. I’ve been studying a lot during the past few weeks but that hasn’t stopped me from thrifting during the week. And guess what I found at Goodwill?

Yes that is a brand new set of MCAT flashcards! They were only $5.99, what a steal. I remember seeing these on Amazon or eBay. I haven’t found a year on the box but I will look through it one more time to see if I can find out what I’m missing from the current MCAT.

I haven’t had much time to look over my MCAT books or even these flashcards but I will try to fit them into my daily routine soon.

2016 UHWO Summer Session Has Begun……

I’m happy to say that I’m only taking 2 classes this summer session , NOT 3!! I waited patiently (since May) for a class that could knock out 2 of my focus requirements and guess what?! 1 seat opened up a few days before the first day of class! I immediately enrolled and dropped my other 2 classes! YES! I’m taking ANTH350 (Writing Intensive & Pacific Cultures focus) and PHIL481 (Ethics focus) at UHWO. Here are the textbooks for each class:

I finished “An Ocean in Mind” within the first few days of class. It’s a very interesting book about navigating through the Pacific, I encourage everyone living in Hawai’i to read it. It’s also a very inspirational book. I have not read “Pouliuli” yet but I will be doing so next week. The mid-term for ANTH350 is next week. As for PHIL481, I have read a hundred or so pages since starting 8 days ago, not bad. It really makes you think about what is considered right and what is considered wrong. I’m enjoying this class and seeing everyone’s opinion about certain cases.

Summer classes end on August 12th which is the same day as the JABSOM workshop I signed up for in May! Man time flies! I’m looking forward to it not only because its the last day of school (I have 5 things due on that day) but because I will actually be stepping onto the JABSOM campus for the first time!! Exciting!

I just remembered, I did not do a personal post about myself. I’ve only done an academic post about myself. I promise the next post will be about ME. Wish me luck this week as I have a few papers due, group presentation, and a mid-term to study for! I will be posting shortly! Stay tuned 🙂

Finally received my MCAT books!

YAY! I finally received my MCAT review books in the mail after exactly 3 weeks of waiting!! I completely understand why it took so long…. the box weighed in at about 13 pounds AND I don’t think the seller expected someone from Hawaii to buy them so he only charged $2.99 for shipping (the books were being shipped from Indiana). In order for him not to lose money, the cheapest shipping method would be to ship parcel which takes forever but now I understand why he did. I thought these books were light and I wondered why the mail woman left a note saying the box wouldn’t fit in the mail lockers we have downstairs. I was so confused. I followed the mail woman’s instructions and I picked them up at the post office. As soon as they brought the box out, my first thought was “Are you sure this is for me?” The box was super heavy and large that I had to open it outside of the post office to make sure it was mine. Sure enough, it was.

Since receiving these books about a week ago, I’ve skimmed through them all. Most of the subjects are foreign to me right now but I can’t wait to learn about them! The Biology book goes over most of what I’ve already learned in Bio but some of it I still have yet to learn. In case you were wondering, I paid a total of $22 for the set of books and that was including shipping! I thought it was a steal even though the books were published in 2012 (I know the MCAT has changed since).

I’m excited to actually have these books in my possession BUT summer session begins in just 8 days…. I wish these books came in sooner. For this summer session I’ll be taking 3 classes during the span of 4 weeks.. crazy I know. I need to get a head start on some of the assignments so that I’m not drowning in homework. I’m very nervous about it because I have never enrolled in summer classes. I just have to remember to stay focused and keep my eye on graduating in about 10 months!! Also as promised I will doing an About Myself post which is the 2nd part of the My Academic Self post. I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far!

About My Academic Self

Well… I’m still waiting on the set of MCAT books that I mentioned in my last post. They were supposed to arrive on the 12th but according to the USPS website, it states the 20th. So we’ll see. I’ll be starting summer school on July 5th so I will only have a about two weeks to look over the books. I mean, I’ll be taking the MCAT in 2018 so there really is no rush.

I’m going to separate the About Myself post into two sections. My next post will be about my personal background and this post will be about my academic background. My name is Connie and I’m a senior at UHWO. I graduated from KCC in 2012 with an A.S. in Information Technology along with 3 certificates. After graduating, I took a break for school to focus on a business that I started a few semesters before graduating. I ran the business from 2012 to 2014 which was when we closed our doors for good. After closing the business, I graduated from a Nurse Assistant program at the American Red Cross. I decided to go back to school in the Fall of 2015 to complete my B.A.S. in Information Technology because it was the safest and fastest way to attend graduate school. I calculated that I will need to complete 4 more semesters to attain my Bachelors degree so I’ve been attending ever since. I’ll be starting my 3rd semester in August BUT I will also be attending the second summer session this July (which is in a few weeks). I realized that I was short two classes so the only way to take them both and graduate on schedule was to attend this summer session. I’m already enrolled at UHWO and I have my books ready for the summer. A few weeks ago, I saw an academic advisor for pre-med students at UH Manoa. We came up with a timeline along with classes that I would need to take to enter JABSOM. After graduating with my Bachelors I will need to enroll at UH Manoa as a post-bach student. I will be starting my journey to med school in May of next year (2017). Be sure to read my next post about my personal background. Thanks for reading!

Where to start?

To begin my journey of becoming an MD, I wanted to get familiar with the subjects that would be on the MCAT. For me, the MCAT exam is a few years away but it doesn’t hurt to get an extra head start! I searched Amazon and eBay for MCAT books that I could read this summer. I came across a set of 5-books by Kaplan for $22 including shipping on eBay. It was the cheapest I found so I decided to make the purchase. Although the books were published in 2012 I figured it would still be a good tool for brushing up on each subject. I’m excited to receive them in the mail as I just purchased them last night! I will post a photo of the books when I receive them. Since this is my first post and you don’t know much about me, I will do an intro for my next post.