Last night was my final night working the night shift. As far as I know I don't have to work nights anymore in the future. I am pretty happy about this. Like I said, this rotation was much easier and less stressful the second time around but I still didn't care too much working the night shift. It's mostly because of the inconvenience of the sleep and eating schedule. I felt like I was always tired and always missing out on meals and stuff like that. So I am happy that it is over and I can move onto working days and having a more normal schedule. I start general surgery tomorrow which should be a decent change of pace for me.
In addition, I have my third round of national boards coming up in April (COMLEX Step 3) so I will have to add studying for that to my daily schedule as well. Actually I have been doing a bit of studying for it here and there since January but now that the test is only 5 weeks away I am going to need to step up my game and really get focused. I didn't want to start too early because basically you just forget stuff you've already studied a few months earlier. I think going hard for a month is a good strategy. It should be a busy month and I am looking forward to getting this test past me.
Studying for a test that has this much volume of information can be quite a challenge. Sometimes it can be difficult to even know where to begin. Luckily since this is my third round of this test I have a decent idea of how the tests go and what to expect. There are numerous books out there to help get you started. One of my favorites is Boards and Wards. I used this book for COMLEX Step 2 and am using it again for Step 3. If I had to recommend one book this would be the one. The other thing I use is a question bank. I choose Combank. It's an online question bank specific to the COMLEX that I find pretty useful. Finally being an osteopathic physician I have to brush up on my OMT (Osteopathic manipulation treatment). For this I use Savarese OMT Review. Unfortunately, I feel like there is a big difference between real world OMT and academic OMT. The Savarese book is clutch to help fill the gap quickly and is an absolute must read prior to taking these tests. Again the advantage I have now is that I've taken a couple of these tests so I know what to expect. Also, I know what topics I know well and which ones I need to brush up on.
Glad to hear you're off night shift. I did that game for half a year and despised every minute of it. To me, you're just fighting the nature of the human body to be up all night and try to sleep during the day.
ReplyDeleteGranted, I know it's much different for you as you must take your lumps as a resident working your way up through the ranks of your profession, but I know of many instances where people in the medical field are working nights, but it's on a seven days on, seven days off rotation. As much as I wasn't a fan of working nights, I think I could learn to love it if that were the working arrangement.
Good luck with your next round of exams. I'm hoping that since those are in April, that means you'll have some weight lifted off your shoulders when it comes time to enjoy our big weekend in May.
Yeah, doctors rarely get the 7 day on, 7 day off option. Especially as residents. I agree about fighting human nature, I just always feel tired when I work nights, even when I get a good amount of sleep.
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