The term “muscle memory” is often used to describe how athletes can perform a task with incredible consistency. Think about shooting a free throw in basketball. No matter where you play, the free throw is constant – 15 feet away from a 10 foot tall basket with no obstructions. So…
Tuesday (February 16th) was the last day of anatomy lab. Four blocks… over six months of growing as a medical student with the same specimen… and the journey is at en end. 8O
After anatomy lab today, I was fortunate to catch an explanation of rami communicans by one of our fantastic anatomy teachers. After having gone through so much of the human body’s gross anatomy, it’s a bit embarrassing that I still didn’t have a grasp of exactly how splanchnic nerves, the…
No scissors, forceps, or even a scalpel in today’s lab. Instead, we busted out our woodshop skills and used a good ‘ol hacksaw to split our cadaver’s head into left and right halves (a sagittal cut straight through). I’ll never forget the mixed looks of awe, disgust, and amazement throughout…
At first glance, the neck looks relatively simple. Surely such a mundane structure can’t be as difficult as the abdominal viscera, right? Wrong!
At last… the first day of head/neck anatomy lab! My group spent most of the two hours exploring a skull while the lab directors/TAs went around removing the brains from our cadavers, so they can be preserved till next block. We discussed the bony structures, protuberances, foramina, and other landmarks…
Over the last three weeks, we’ve dissected through the female perineum and explored the reproductive system thoroughly. Psychologically, I’ve gone from feeling confident about my anatomy knowledge to a guessing game of how severely I’ll fail the practical; however, yesterday’s sample pinning quickly restored my confidence.
It’s been a while since I’ve written an entry about my experiences in the anatomy lab, so I’ll play some catchup.
Yesterday afternoon, the emergency medicine interest group (EMIG), a student run organization, showed students how to insert a chest tube, how to intubate, and how to administer simple interrupted sutures. We also got to learn some off shoots like basic neck anatomy (to help understand the intubation process), using a…
The last few anatomy labs have been relatively easy, and today’s was no different. This morning’s agenda consisted of peering deep into the thoracic cavity uncovering the structures below the heart and lungs, particularly the vessels/nerves of the mediastinum.