Final Thoughts: Third Year of Medical School

Third Year of medical school is now well and truly finished. For those who might be interested in what one's schedule may look like during the most rigorous year of medical school, I've compiled a few statistics from my third year:

• 50 of 52 weeks were spent working in various clerkships, including the mandatory Surgery, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, and Family Medicine as well as my chosen elective of Radiation Oncology.
• Throughout the year, I averaged working 48.4hours per week (this is a bit lower than I expected!). The most time-consuming clerkship was surgery (about 70hours/week); the least time-consuming clerkship was psychiatry (33hours/week).
• I enjoyed one week free from clinical duties during Christmas/New Year season, as well as a week off during my elective rotation (which I didn't actually take, as I worked several days that week because - what can I say? - I love it).
• Throughout the year, I had 69 out of 351 days off (1.37 days off per week, including holidays and weekends).

What I LOVED about Third Year:

• You gain invaluable knowledge through experiences with patients. It's one thing to understand a concept and apply it to a written examination, but it is quite another thing to apply that knowledge to real-life, clinical situations. 
• The amount of understanding which comes during third year is nothing short of amazing. You learn so much so quickly.
• You get to see patients. Every day. 
• Often, you are one of the first people in the team of doctors to interview the patient for your service. That allows you the freedom to learn the best approaches, appropriate questions, and useful clinical examination skills while still maintaining the patient's well being as a first priority. It also allows you to think through the clinical scenario and suggest subsequent tests to order and medications to prescribe. 
• Your responsibility is to learn as much as you possibly can. You can make mistakes, suggest ridiculous plans that are quickly rejected, and give a differential that is totally off-the-wall - and all of that is okay. You're here to learn, learn, learn.
• You aren't stuck behind a stack of books for the entire year - you actually get to interact with real people! That in itself makes third year pretty great! ;)

What I DIDN'T love about Third Year:

• The whole life:work balance is a difficult thing to master. I reckon it might take a lifetime before one could properly achieve the perfect balance. At times, it is hard to realize all that you're missing out on in your life outside of work - but most of the time, the work is so fulfilling and rewarding that the work is worth the sacrifices. On a very important side note, it is absolutely imperative that those you love understand how demanding life can be for a physician. The life:work balance will always be a significant struggle for the family of a physician. (I am so incredibly lucky to have such an unbelievably supportive, loving, and understanding fiance and family, and I wouldn't be here without all that they continually do for me).
• There are definitely moments when will be overwhelmed by the amount of things you don't yet know, or haven't quite mastered. That's the beauty of medicine - it is always evolving, and you have to do your best to keep up. 
• Studying for a shelf exam is not something I loved doing when I had patients that I want to help care for to the best of my ability. Fourth year is full of taking care of patients without the worry of an impending examination!

Before my first day of medical school, a recently-graduated doctor passed on her perspective of the four years spent in medical school, and it has really stuck with me as I have progressed through the course work. "I can't say that it's going to be easy, or that you're always going to love what you're doing, but I can tell you this: each year is better than the last."

And with that: BRING ON FOURTH YEAR!!!!!!!!!! :)