Anyone else have the brain of a goldfish?

[Confettifun]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to see if anyone else has noticed that in clinical year, it feels like you keep forgetting little factoids that you went over in didactic? Im not sure if it’s because im 6mo from finishing and a little burnt out but as Im prepping for this second packrat, i feel like I am forgetting a lot of tiny details about different pathogens and types of COPD etc.

 

I know that I know *something* and im not stupid but I feel like im behind everyone else in retaining information. Idk, anyone else feel this way?

[kidpresentable]

The feeling is more common than you might think. Imposter syndrome is rampant. A lot of medicine is a matter of repetitive experiences that cement the details in your mind. Even practicing clinicians look things up from time to time. Trust the process, especially if you’re passing EORs.

[ohiovolffemtp]

Plus, the old adages about "common things being common" and "uncommon presentations of a common disease are more common than an uncommon disease".   It's easy to give all facts equal weight in the memorization you do in PA school.  In practice you'll really learn that subset that is really relevant to your practice.

For example, I was showing a med student the abdominal exam on a patient with a likely appy.  He was able to recite a very impressive definition of pain at McBurney's point, include a bunch of anatomic landmarks.  My teaching point was that any pain in the RLQ (and right side of LLQ and lower part of the RUQ) gets a CT to evaluate for possible appy if the patient has pain in those areas.

[comPAssionatecamel]

You're definitely not alone; I have the same concern currently and also posted about it. Hoping after PANCE, it'll become like an art instead of trying to recall PA school material all day.