Students of St. James School of Medicine have two hospitals in Chicago to to do their core rotations: Jackson Park Hospital or Mercy Hospital.  The hospitals are 15 minute drive from each other.  The question is which one will you choose.

Mercy Hospital

• It's near South Loop
• It's a clean hospital
• It's in a safer area
• It's hard to get A's
• They sponsor J1 visas for Canadian students
• They have multiple residencies.

Jackson Park Hospital (JPH)

• It's near 75th street
• It's not so clean hospital, but they are renovating
• It's in a dangerous area, Southside Chicago
• It's easy to get A's
• They do not sponsor any visas.
• They only have Family Medicine Residency

The problem with JPH is that while doing your core rotation, there isn't much guidance there.  It's more scut work for students than actually teaching.  No doubt you will learn hands on on so many various cases, but the guidance isn't there.  The residents are also not the happiest there.

Mercy hospital has proper teachers and guidance.  They provide a lot of support to students.  If you do rotations there than you can increase your chances in getting a residency there.  The same cannot be applied to JPH, they rarely give any students, who did rotations there, a residency position.

So in order to get the benefits of both, schedule all of your core rotations at JPH and conduct all of your electives at Mercy Hospital.  The rotations you did at JPH, if you are weak on that subject, then schedule it at Mercy.  By doing this you will not only get all A's in your core rotations but you will also learn with guidance.

I hope this helps.

I completed my six weeks Family Medicine core rotation at JPH and also on offsite locations.  The rotation is basically concentrated in clinical setting and also in geriatrics. I honestly did not enjoy it because I did not like working in the nursing home. I did clinic hours in the hospital but then I had to drive to over 15 nursing homes and take care of patients there. 

The rotation basically dealt with typing up history and physical notes on Practice Fusion software. I had to type it up and then the doctor would do his checkup and retype his own notes. I didn't see the reason I had to type it unless it was for my learning experience because the student's notes are never accepted.

I hated working in the nursing homes in Chicago because I felt bad for the patients there. Majority of the nursing home patients look depressed because their families dump them there and rarely visit them. Only a few of the residents are jolly because their families come often and take them on outings. One of the nursing homes was right across the street of a graveyard; that is so cruel, it's like telling the nursing home residents where they will go next. Also, in some of the nursing homes the nurses have a serious attitude issue with the students so, be aware of that and be extra polite to them.

I got an A grade out of it because it was easy in my opinion but I did not enjoy it because of seeing the condition of the senior patients was disappointing.

I conducted Pediatrics core rotation at Jackson Park Hospital with Dr. Hughes in the summer; this is a 6 weeks rotation. Dr. Hughes is a very energetic and nice pediatrician at the hospital.

There is one set of schedule during the summer and another different schedule during the school year. I had 4 days of clinic every week with 4 hours of rotations. Every other Friday I had to go to a clinic in a rural area, in Harvey, IL. Rotations are conducted in the MOB clinic on the 3rd floor. She serves as a physician at a local high school in South Side but since it was the summer time, I didn't have to go to the high school.

Dr. Hughes does a great job in teaching about pediatrics. She will help you in understanding the vaccination schedules and more. She will teach you with hands-on learning with pediatric patients to understand pediatric concepts. All the patients you will see will be outpatients so you will not see any inpatients.

For the rotation you are to do one power point presentation on a system on 3 or more pediatric illnesses and one full pediatric history & physical.

At Jackson Park Hospital one of the most common questions students ask is where to go. If it's your first time then you will obviously will not know where to go unless you did AICM. However, if you are from MUA, SGU, Avalon, Xavier University or any other medical school other than SJSM, you will not know where AICM room is. The places to go in Jackson Park Hospital for clinical clerkship depends on if you are doing core rotations or elective rotations. If you are doing core rotations then you go Leon Gholston or Lorraine McCrary; their offices are in the same hallway as the AICM classes, which are located in the building across the ambulance parking bay. The ambulance parking bay is in the emergency area, and it's located between the Family Medicine building and the hospital.

The red circle is pointed toward an entry way between the two buildings. You will see students going in and out from there for core rotations and AICM classes.

If you are doing electives there then you go to Rosemary Brown or Cornelius Ford or other officers in their unit, which is located in the corner of the hospital which faces diagonally to BP across the street.

The red circle is pointed towards a door that is diagonally facing BP gas station. This is where you go to for elective rotations.

The following is a video of Jackson Park Hospital. This is good introduction for the students in Bonaire and Anguilla. This is where you will do AICM 5th semester and possibly your core rotations if not at Mercy Hospital. In the video you will see some of the residents of the hospital whom you will meet when you do AICM or do your clinical clerkship; that is if you start by this year or next year.

It's a relief that the core rotations are now completed.  Here is the order of rotations which I conducted:

• Family Medicine
• Internal Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Pediatrics
• Surgery
• OB/GYN

It's a blessing that I went through 48 weeks of clinical clerkships in Chicago. The city is an expensive place to live in and with all the crimes and driving around was a headache.

SJSM guidelines for clerkships is to complete 48 weeks of core rotations and 48 weeks of elective rotations. I have completed AICM so 16 weeks is taken off from the 48 weeks of electives, that leaves 32 weeks of electives left. I also conducted one 4 weeks elective at the beginning of my rotations so it brings down the elective requirement to 28 weeks with 20 weeks completed. Since I have completed my core rotations 48 weeks will be taken off from core. Therefore, I have completed 48+20 weeks, totaling to 68 weeks.  

With 28 weeks of elective rotations, that's around 7 months left of rotations left, hence a bit over half a year. I can't believe time flew by like that, but it is what it is.

Some things I learned the most in doing these rotations is always prioritize the patient's care in the clinical setting.  In the academic setting, always prioritize the USMLE Step 2 CK studying. I'm not a fan of working harder, I like to work smarter. There is no shortcut in being a doctor but you should always do your work and study in the most efficient manner so you don't waste your energy unnecessarily.

Some of the distractions to avoid:

• Friends
• Partying
• Relationships (it's an exception if you are engaged or married)
• FaceBook
• Texting
• Eating Out
• Playing Sports
• Roommates (only if he/she is not another medical student)

I said all I can and I would really appreciate it if you, the readers, can refer other people to this blog to learn and ask questions. Because as you ask questions, this blog will grow and it will help me and the readers. On the Anguilla island, I'm sure people are unsure and uncomfortable of what to expect after the island life, well tell them about this blog and they will feel a lot better after being informed from here.

Now this is the perfect time to cram in for USMLE Step 2 CK and Step 2 CS studying, getting into a 6 month research position, and getting letter of recommendations.

I spoke to two different doctors from Northwestern University. One is a board certified GI doctor who’s been practicing for 35 years. Another doctor is a board certified cardiologist, who is also an associate professor, and a researcher in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. They gave me similar advice, which you should pay attention to.

As an IMG, you should be well aware that we need to be more competitive than our AMG counterparts. We were not spoon-fed like American medical students; therefore, we have the ability to go beyond the norm in order to land a good residency.

When we need to consider residency, we need to cover four things and we need to be on top of it. As an IMG, this is the least that we should do.

1. USMLE Step 2 CK score should be competitive. If you did well in USMLE Step 1 then that’s great, and if you didn’t do all that great then this is the chance to make up for it. The USMLE Step 2 CK score should be competitive; try to score as high as you can. Also, make sure your Step 2 CK score is higher than Step 1 score because it’ll show the residency board that you are improving. And also make sure you pass the USMLE Step 2 CS on the first try.

2. Clinical clerkship grades should be close to 4.0 as much as possible. Us IMGs are fortunate that we can do clinical clerkships and it’s part of the curriculum. Use your clinical clerkships to the best of your ability and do your best to get straight A’s. The grades in clinical clerkships are weighed heavily because it’s conducted in the US. Your grades in the island is not as important as your clerkship grades because those grades cannot be assessed on the same, fair level.

3. Letters of recommendation (LOR) are important because it gives an insight of your strengths and weaknesses by the attending physicians who worked with you. It’s very important to get LORs from attending physicians who will praise your work specifically and avoid the attending physicians who will only write a generalized LOR. Also, before you start your clinical clerkships, try your best to get attending physicians who are directors or chairman of departments because it will increase the value of the LOR.

4. Research is a vital part of your application. For those who did not transferred out of SJSM, it is part of your requirement in order to graduate. SJSM requires all students to conduct some kind of research to receive their MD degrees. According to all Northwestern University physicians, research will set you apart from the rest of the applicants. Research work at notable institutions are very good such as University of Chicago or Northwestern University. However, you can also do research with 3rd year resident doctors in the hospitals you do rotations in.

In addition to the four things I mentioned, do extra curricular activities such as volunteering at other hospitals or getting involved in heath fairs. This will show residency boards that you are just more than books and grades.

You know working in the hospital allows you to work with different students with different interests.  One of the differences of interest is the type of devices you have to use in order to communicate.  Some students have an Android device while others have an iPhone device.  And group texting is a pain when majority of the people you group text has an iPhone and there is one or two persons who have an android.

iPhone's iMessage allows anyone with an iPhone to group text on 4G or Wi-fi and it's simpler.  It doesn't work for someone Android devices.  Therefore there is this app for both iOS and Android called "WhatsApp".  This app allows people with any device to group text or group chat together and share files flawlessly.

This works via data so if you have a data plan or wi-fi then this would be perfect for your use.  This app was very useful in terms of getting groups together during my internal medicine rotation.  Internal medicine by itself is intense and requires alot of attention and so you don't have time to deal with other things.  You also need constant communication with your team to get the work done before your attending doctor shows up for rounds.

Also, I'm not getting paid to promote this app, I'm just writing this post in order to help the medical students be more efficient during rotations.

I know this may be confusing to some but it’s very simple once you fully understand the difference. A hospital that has a residency for a certain program will have a green book status for that particular rotation. And if there are other rotations then it will fall as a blue book.

For example, for Jackson Park Hospital, it has a family medicine residency program; therefore, the family medicine rotation for medical students counts as a green book rotation. However, the internal medicine rotation at Jackson Park Hospital counts as a blue book because the hospital does not have an internal medicine residency program there. Other core rotations count in the same category such as Psychiatry, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, and Surgery.

If you want to go for Internal Medicine residency then you may want to do your Internal Medicine clerkship at Mercy Hospital instead of Jackson Park Hospital. Some residency programs prefer their applicants to do all their core rotations with a green book status; however it’s not universal so don’t worry about it. The reason I say this is that a lot of FMGs get residency programs in IM but they have no US clinical clerkship experiences. With SJSM you have 80 weeks of US clinical clerkships so that’s why you shouldn’t worry about it.  The same goes with other non SJSM Caribbean students, they have 72 weeks of US clinical clerships.

This post will highlight the core foundation of all the rotations in the 3rd and 4th year of medical school. Internal medicine (IM) is the rotation, which should not be taken lightly. According to a friend of mine, from Ross university medical school, and according to some doctors, the IM rotation in Jackson Park hospital is one of the best in Chicago. This does not mean that other rotations are as good but internal medicine rotation is one of the best. IM rotation is one of the most hands on experiences you will get if you are assigned at Jackson Park hospital. You will do all sorts of procedures and see so many things such as hernias, gangrenes, amputations, MRSA infections, lumbar punctures, etc. I have seen so many things and I learned a lot from hands on experiences. When I look at the lab I know what to look for and how to narrow down my differential diagnosis based on lab values and symptoms. Obviously, I’m not an expert in diagnosing patients but I learned a lot in the 12 weeks experience.

In Jackson Park hospital, the group of students is split up in six groups. Each group is assigned one of the 6 attending physicians and they rotate every 4 weeks. Each 4 weeks counts as a block and everyone has to have 3 blocks. The 6 physicians are Dr. Kumar, Dr. Murthy, Dr. Iyengar, Dr. Ali, Dr. Hussain, and Dr. Khan. You will be assigned three of the 6 doctors in the 12 weeks period.

Dr. Murthy

He is the medical education director and he gives a final say on your IM grade. It’s very important to get on his good side because of the letter of recommendation that he will give. He is not aggressive like other doctors but he can put you on the spot if you ask him to leave early. He is known to tell his students to “Google” everything. His students will have their smartphones battery drained after rounding with him because he expects everyone to look up answers to questions he asks. A friend of mine told me that Dr. Murthy had one student who didn’t have a smartphone, so for that Dr. Murthy told him to leave; lol.

Dr. Kumar

He is one of the hospital’s cardiologist who prefers to have 8 students per block. He is not the happiest physician you will meet, but he is extremely knowledgeable. Dr. Kumar will put his students down if they answer wrong questions. He is famous of making a large “0” with his fingers in front of the student when that student gets something wrong. And he will pronounce it in an Indian accent “jeero”

Dr. Khan

This guy you would describe him as a G. He’s ballin with great hair and a smooth way to talk. He didn’t even know me and he randomly sat me down with few other students and started giving me advice about life. He’s an easygoing doctor but he expects you to try to do some research when he asks you about a certain medical question.

Dr. Ali

He is a very polite and humble Indian doctor. All his students like him because of his gentle attitude. If you make a mistake, he will forgive you and advise you to try to avoid it next time. He is the most wanted attending physician in the internal medicine rotation because of his easygoing ways. However, sometimes he seems to be intimidated by multiple things in the hospital so he may mumble while he’s speaking.

Dr. Hussain

He is a polite physician but it is very irritating when he doesn’t show up on time. Dr. Hussain is not the best when it comes to showing up on time.  He wants everyone to send emails to him regarding what he taught for that day so they are on point on what they learned.

Dr. Iyengar

Rotation under this physician is new so I can’t say anything about him.

Presentations

The presentations in IM are so exhausting. We have to present to Dr. Kazmi and he is not the most polite or easygoing doctor you will meet. This doctor will come off as someone who will tear you apart on the first day but through the IM he calms down if you do your presentations on time. At the end of IM you will have to take a test on all the presentations you and your peers presented. The test is insanely hard because no one has time to study for it due to on-calls and rounds, which are tiring.

On-Calls

On calls are usually fun with moderate number of patients but other times it’s irritating when there are a lot of patients coming in the middle of the night. During the previous IM batch everyone had to do 24 hour on calls with breaks within those hours; however all that has changed with the new batch. Nowadays, there are 12 hour on calls which was changed by Dr. Kazmi. And if anyone intentionally is absent during presentations, then they are penalized with an extra or two on calls. It got brutal each time a new batch starts.

I hope this post helps in your preparations for Internal Medicine rotation at Jackson Park hospital. I wish someone had posted something like this before I started internal medicine, it would have helped me a lot.

Psychiatry in Jackson Park Hospital is one of a kind with a lot of inpatient exposure. Most of the patients, who stay longer than a week, are diagnosed with schizophrenia or some kind of drug overdose. You will also see patients who are found on the streets because of alcohol overdose.

After going through the psychiatry rotation I am very confident that I do not want to go into psychiatry. The reason being is that getting the proper information out of the patients is like finding a needle in a haystack. The patients are either on Haldol, so they are sedated, or they are aggressive and uncooperative.

The psych ward is located in two different sections the 4th floor of the east wing, hence 4 East, and the 4th floor of the South wing, hence 4 South. The 4 East section is the area the men are and the 4 South is the area where the women are. The separation is mandatory to restrain the patients from having any sexual conduct with each other and for their safety. Another safety protocol is that students should attend the patients in pairs. If a male medical student checks up a female patient then a female medical student is to be present and the same goes for female medical students checking up male patients.

When you go through the psych ward you see some patient in a state where you feel bad for them. And I see the hardship they went through that got them to be where they are. And what I saw made me appreciate who I am and what I have compared to the state the patients are in.

There is so much frustration during rotations. Some attending doctor hardly gives us time to do our other work that we are supposed to do in Internal Medicine rotations. It’s irritating that they keep us waiting for them for hours so we can round. Unfortunately this is the way of clinical clerkships as we have to do everything the doctor tells us to do as he/she has the final say in our grades.

I am hardly getting any time to study for my USMLE Step 2 CK. My advice, for prospective students who are going to start clinical rotations, is to start studying for Step 2 CK immediately after passing the USMLE Step 1.

I attempted to study in the hospital but with all the hectic activity that it’s so hard to. In the day room where it’s separated from the patients there are medical students walking around because doctors use them as free labor. Then there are nurses running around and yelling and then there are resident doctors who require medical students to do new H&Ps on new admissions. So it’s just pure hectic lifestyle in this 12 weeks of internal medical rotations.

Hello hello, it’s been a while since any posts have been made and trust me I’ve been very busy with rotations and so that’s why things are hectic. I am in rotations currently and I love it. I never thought, as a medical student, we could be as invasive as possible during rotations, but we are.

Last year when I was studying for USMLE Step 1, I always talked about what it would be like to be in the position I am right now and now here I am, thank the Almighty. It’s a great feeling that you are now considered a doctor, even though you don’t have the title, you are a doctor after passing USMLE Step 1.

When I was working at the nursing homes for my Family Practice rotations, a nurse comes up and starts off calling me a doctor. I stopped her before she can say any further and told her that I am only a medical student. She continues and tells me that it’s the same thing since we do what the doctor is supposed to do. Apparently, we spend more time with the patients than their real doctors. We medical students listen to the patients, conduct the physical examinations, and report what we find and the labs we get to our attending doctors. The doctors will then see what our finds are and spend couples of minutes with the patients and then he will make the assessments and plan for treatment.

Unfortunately, it’s heartbreaking to see the pain and suffering of the elderly at the nursing homes. The elderly are there because their own families cannot take care of them because the elderly requires oxygen and constant monitoring that they need to be there. Sometimes I think what happen to the old days of taking care of one’s parents in one’s own home. Our parents raised us from childhood and took care of us when we were young so it’s our obligation to take care of them while they are old. The ground reality is, the children of the elderly residents of the nursing homes are not from good socioeconomic places so they have to work and cannot attend to their parents.

I’m learning a lot about people and how to take care of them while being in rotations. However, it’s not helping me as much for the USMLE Step 2 CK. It’s only helping me for the USMLE Step 2 CS because we have to do H&Ps and progress notes and make diagnosis from what we find.

Currently I’m in Family Medicine clinical clerkship rotation and it’s kind of hectic when you have over 60 patients to see and you have write soap notes for all of them. During rounds, the attending doctor asks us what did we find that was abnormal since the last progress note and we report what we find. If there is no abnormality then we just report that and also we report if there is a change in medication.

Honestly, it is a burden to go through those patients’ charts and update the progress report that I do. It takes time to go through those charts and trying to read the notes written by people who needs to go back to grade school for writing lessons. Medical students who were assigned those patients before us wrote the previous progress notes in the charts so each progress note is written by a different individual. However, few progress notes are written by attending doctors and it looks like as if they are writing another language.

When writing a soap note we write something like the following:

56 y/o AAF with PMH of HTN, DM, hyperlipidemia, and depression. On questioning she has no complaints.

The following is in short hand for 56-year-old African America female with past medical history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and depression. It took me a while get the small short hands memorized but eventually I got through so when I see it I get it. Also there is a pattern of what drugs are ordered for the patient. For example for Extra Pyramidal Symptoms (EPS) the doctors always prescribe benztropine for Parkinson’s like symptoms which can be caused by the side effects of an antipsychotic drug such as haloperidol.

Through practice and monitoring the patients you speed up and it helps so much in your clinical skills in soap notes writing.

Coming from the South, getting used to a northern state is kind of difficult. I’m used to the relaxed environment and walking out of my house and seeing sunny weather 70% of the time in the winter. Here in Chicago it’s cloudy to snowy 70% of the time in the winter. One of my readers requested information regarding where I’m staying. I can’t give the details regarding that because of security issues but I will give a breakdown of my cost of living.

Currently, I live not too far from Jackson Park Hospital. And yes, you guessed it where I live it’s not safe to walk outside; however, I’m paying for the security. Unlike living next to University of Chicago, it’s not ok to get out 2 AM for fresh air around here. The place is located right next to Lake Michigan, which also contributes to the high rent.

I stay in a studio apartment because that's all I need for now. The apartment includes free water and sewage, doorman security, a separate kitchen, three closets with one huge walk in closet, and a normal size bathroom. On top of the rent I pay for  a parking spot in the garage, Internet, and electricity, which totals around $1000. It’s a lot but I still need time to get used to Chicago and this place’s interior has a Southern look and feel. Also, within my time period here I can look around to find cheaper places. I got it close to Jackson Park Hospital because if a code yellow is put in place then it won’t take long to go home. And I plan to do all my core rotations at Jackson Park Hospital. For those who do not know what code yellow is, it’s the hospital’s code in which all students must leave the facility. I don’t know the reason but is it what it is.

Also, I did not get a furnished apartment because it costs $200-$400 more every month. Also, with a furnished apartment, the previous tenants used the mattress so I don’t want to deal with that. I rather spend $400 one time to buy what I need because paying for a furnished apartment will add up over time.

I paid $235 for my bed set, which includes a nice queen size mattress with pillow top, the mattress box, frame, and 2-year warranty. The price includes free delivery and setup also; therefore, if you want the same deal please let me know at medstudent786@gmail.com and I’ll give you the guy’s information. From the picture you see a black headboard, which I paid $90 extra just so I can sit up and read whenever I feel like it.

Other expenses included getting a study table. I don’t need a fancy table so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a white folding table for $38. I also bought an office chair for $50 from Walmart.com. Each of the lamps cost me $9; all the other items in the apartment were from Wal-Mart or Family Dollar because that’s where I found the cheapest stuff.  The previous tenant gave me some stuff for cheap including their microwave for $20.

So that’s what’s going on and I hope you guys can settle down in Chicago better than me.  I had a rough time getting a place on time and I hope you guys can plan ahead and not go through a difficult time like me.

It’s one thing to do a doctor’s work but it’s another thing when you diagnose something right without the doctor looking over your shoulders. Yesterday, the doctor sent me to do a full check up of a new admission on a female patient with a past medical history of hypertension and asthma. When I did a full check up I heard something abnormal while listening to her heart. I thought I was wrong but then I figured that I may not get the diagnosis right but I was confident her heart sound wasn’t normal. I went to my attending doctor and I suggested that she had a systolic murmur based on what I heard and also based on her past medical history of having hypertension. The attending doctor came in and listened to her as well and he confirmed that it was a systolic murmur also. He ordered an echocardiogram to see the intensity of the murmur.

Reading about it and answering these clinical questions correctly seems like a burden to pass the board exams; however, when diagnosing a patient with a real illness it feels exciting. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel good about the patient having the illness but it’s a satisfying feeling figuring out the specific murmur out of the so many murmurs.

For those who are still studying for the USMLE Step 1, this is just the beginning of what you are studying for. Make sure you study well and know the clinical scenario for each diseases because you may run into such when you start your clinical rotations.

So what’s been happening with clinical rotations? Well, I’ll tell you; it’s not as bad as studying for the USMLE Step 1. The schedule I get depends on the attending doctor that we are under. Every rotation has a certain schedule, which is based on when and where the attending doctor show up or where he/she sends you.

For example, I did a Pediatric elective rotation and I showed up at three different clinics and a hospital. This rotation is off site from Jackson Park Hospital (JPH) so I never stepped into JPH until I started my core rotations.

The rotations are not that bad; however, it was difficult for the transition, from studying in a closed room for months to working with people in a big city.  I have not interacted with different people for a long time since I was locked up studying for the USMLE Step 1 and the first month of rotations was hard while I adjusted.

Tasks
Basically I do check up on the patients and report any findings to the attending or the physician assistant. The workload is not that much as it’s basically conducting what the doctor is supposed to do but their work in us. The workload includes doing a physical check up and doing SOAP notes on paper or on the computer, which depends on the facility.  The attending doctor just walks in the room after I do my work and speaks to the patient and overlooks my work and corrects any error and signs off our work; this entire process takes about 30 minutes. I spend majority of the time in the exam room as I conduct the work and the doctor takes only 5 minutes to do his part.

Study Time
This is where things are not so pleasing. Unless you can manage your time, studying while conducting rotations is kind of hard. If I come home at 5 in the evening then I’m tired and if I don’t have anything to eat then I have to cook so that takes more time. So at the end of the day I’m only left with 2-3 hours of study before I need to go to sleep because you need to be awake and focused to work the next day.

As we start the new 2013 year, I just like to say thank you to all my readers for giving me input on my writings. Your comments and emails means a lot even if you were asking questions. Your comments have motivated me to keep on writing and recording all that I see and experience in my journey to be a medical doctor.

So what have I been doing?

Well I just completed a pediatric elective rotation. It wasn’t too bad but it was a wake up call from my previous experience of studying 12 hours a day for the USMLE Step 1. Now what I learn in clinical clerkship, I can use that to study for the USMLE Step 2 CK. I bought Step Up to Medicine book and also I bought a subscription to USMLE World for Step 2 CK. I’m still wondering if I should buy Step Up to Step 2 or the latest edition of Master the Boards USMLE Step 2 CK. I’m going on forums and asking my senior medical students which one is the best and apparently they give me mixed answers. Unlike USMLE Step 1 where First Aid and USMLE World question bank is all you need at the end, for USMLE Step 2 it’s all over the place.

Unfortunately, a lot of things are changing and USMLE World question bank isn't going to be enough. I think Kaplan question bank will have to be added and it makes sense, the more questions you do the better prepared you will be.

Saint James School of Medicine Rotations

My overall view of SJSM is very good so far in terms of clinical clerkship. Basic science in Bonaire wasn’t so good because it’s basically teachers reading off the slides. On top of that the Indian teachers in Bonaire showed favoritism, which wasn’t fair.

Clinical clerkships are not under the authority of Saint James School of Medicine office. Of course you have to go through SJSM to get clerkship but once you start your clerkship, you are then under the authority of the doctor you are assigned to. I learned a lot under the doctor I was assigned to. Her PA also taught me a great deal in how to do a full well-visit child check up and what to look for when it came to physical diagnosis for any illness.

What I noticed about some of the these young patients in my pediatric rotation is that their mothers bring them often for every little thing. Since they are under Medicaid, it’s easy for them to come in whenever they think something is wrong. Unfortunately these mothers take up time when a simple runny nose, that their kids have, will go away by itself and nothing will cure it since there is no cure for the common cold.

Right now it’s a great feeling that I’m moving on with establishing my career and I thank the Almighty Lord for my success.

I’m in Chicago at the moment and I still haven’t settled down. I’m living at a friend’s place until I settle down at a place and trust me when I tell you, this is not easy. Apparently, so many try to get you to sign a leasing contract with you. I almost got myself in a mess with a bad apartment but I was glad that my friend advised me not to get it. Right now it’s December and many tenants are ending their leasing contracts. January is a great opportunity to sign up for great places because landlords and apartment management companies will be scurrying for people to sign into new contracts. The longer they wait the more money they will loose.

I was talking to one salesman in Chicago, and he said in this decade Chicago’s population decreased from 8 million to 3 million. I don’t know how much of that is true but it is believable due to the bad economy and also because of the fact that the economy hurt a lot of people. Chicago is an expensive city to live in and if people cannot afford to live here then they will obviously leave. I’ve looked at some apartments around Hyde Park and I have learned several things regarding in what to look for.

What to look for in leasing contracts?
- Heat
- Water

With your rent look for heat and water to be included. Usually, this attracts a lot of tenants as Chicago gets severely cold and so heat is a must utility t be turned on all the time during the winter.

Bonus things to look for:
- Proximity to Jackson Park Hospital
- Included Internet

Do not live very close to Jackson Park Hospital because it’s dangerous, but if you live near Lake Shore Drive then you can reach Jackson Park Hospital very quickly. Lake Shore Drive is the road that is parallel to Lake Michigan, which gives breath-taking views towards the water.
If Internet is included then that’s a big plus point; however, if it’s not included then it could work positively for you because if so many people using the same Internet can slow down the network.

There is a 99% chance electricity will never be included in any of the leasing contracts with the rent. Electricity is always an extra utility that you will have to pay for but if it was included with your rent then that’s awesome.

Parking
If you are bringing a car to Chicago then make sure you are good at parallel parking because you will need to do a lot of it. I’ve talked to several Chicago police officers and they complain that one of the biggest issues they have to deal with is parking. Parking is limited and so street parking is in majority of the places. Only in the suburbs there are parking lots. Street parking is no problem in residential areas but at places where you have to pay the meter, and then it will add up. In residential areas, street parking is free but it’s not all fun and games when it snows; you have to shovel off the snow and so it’s hecktic.

So what’s going on now with me these days? Well, I’m getting ready for core rotations aka clinical clerkships, as that is the next step. At the same time I’m trying to get the input from my senior students on what to do in studying for Step 2 CK. I’m going to most likely study the same way as I did with Step 1 but in a shorter time period because of rotations. Nowadays, my senior students talk about how they are studying for Step 2 CS and how it takes months to schedule an exam. SJSM requires 96 weeks of rotations but ACGME requirements only needs 72 weeks with 48 weeks of core rotations from ACGME approved hospital sites. Therefore, it looks as if I’m going to have to live in Chicago for a very long time. Chicago is a beautiful city but the snow is not my best friend. Whatever the case may be I have to learn to cope with in the windy city.

Image from StudentDoctor

The feeling of completing the USMLE Step 1 is exhilarating. I graduated at the bottom of my class in Bonaire for basic science, and most of the teachers did not help, but I stayed firm and continued to go through. And I will tell you this, if I can do it then you can too. I still haven’t gotten any place in Chicago so I’m still looking for a place. I looked on craigslist and staying in a descent place in Chicago costs you an arm and a leg. As you can see I’m running around taking care of things but I will make sure to update this blog often and keep reading.

As for those who are studying for Step 1, don’t worry, I will continue to write posts about Step 1 and how to overcome that test. I know what you went through and I can say that from experience.