October's Very Own

As expected, October is spooky and full of surprises. Since my last blog post, I have learned and grew so much as a person. In this month, I have already completed two modules exams: Cardiovascular and the Autonomic Nervous System. The ANS module was so short, yet I did best on that module compared to the other modules. How backwards is that? I figured it was because I finally figured out a learning system uniquely designed for me. I make a google document for each module, answer every learning objective and re-watch zoom lectures. If the module has a lot of drugs that I need to know, I make a list including the name, mechanism of action, adverse effects, and clinical indications. I enjoyed learning more about angina and anemia. Metoprolol was one of the main beta blockers we studied. I learned that if a patient has chronic angina and takes a beta blocker, the beta blocker decreases myocardial O2 demand. Also, giving a patient with coronary induced vasoconstriction a beta blocker can kill the patient due to the concept of leaving alpha receptors unopposed making vasospastic angina worse. I know this will help me for next semester. I am overwhelmed trying to juggle my coursework and BMSSA. As class rep, I reached out to my classmates to see how they are doing and how do they feel about the program. Although, it is dense, everyone is loves the program because it is so organized and our professors really care for us. I was able to work with BMSSA to develop a workshop for the pharmacology students to work directly with the director of admissions at Tulane School of Medicine. This workshop will be insightful and assist our masters student with the MCAT and medical school admissions. I am working on more projects/events and excited to see what's in store for next month.

In my last post, I mentioned that I was volunteering at the Louisiana SPCA, but my orientation was cancelled once again due to hurricane warnings. So, as for volunteering, I was able to volunteer with an administrator and others at Lakeside Hospital and create a plan to increase the overall use of N95 mask reprocessing since there was a shortage due to COVID-19. My job was to observe and make note of challenges that disturb the distribution process. Once we discovered the issues, we created an employee N95 pick-up/drop off reprocessing process and made sure all masks worn were pre-labeled with the staff's name, facility code, and department. We also created a request form for those whose masks were too damaged for reprocessing.  This was very important to me since I recently lost a family member to coronavirus so I wanted to be apart of the solution. There was so much thought put into this project and we were finally able to finish and prepare for the next spike of COVID-19 cases in the New Orleans area. It is a must that we put a lid on this pandemic. That's all for this month, folks! We have our Renal/Pulmonary module exam next week. Now that the electricity is on after Hurricane Zeta, it's time to hit the books (well the computer for Zoom)!

Hours: 10

Total: 11