1st year ophtho resident...can use some advice..

[teddyteddy]

As a 1st year ophtho resident, I am diligently reading and working hard everyday...when I get home from clinic, i try to read 10pgs or more from BCSC series. I have gotten through a few books, and try to read 1 book/month

the problem is...when I get pimped I cannot remember anything I read. I feel as if the BCSC books are dense with information, and it is difficult for me to retain it all in, especially with the OKAPS coming up in April.

May I studying all wrong? Can the senior residents give a 1st year any advice?

Did you feel the same way when you were a 1st year?

Thanks...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MDEYES]

As a 1st year ophtho resident, I am diligently reading and working hard everyday...when I get home from clinic, i try to read 10pgs or more from BCSC series. I have gotten through a few books, and try to read 1 book/month

the problem is...when I get pimped I cannot remember anything I read. I feel as if the BCSC books are dense with information, and it is difficult for me to retain it all in, especially with the OKAPS coming up in April.

May I studying all wrong? Can the senior residents give a 1st year any advice?

Did you feel the same way when you were a 1st year?

Thanks...

You are on the right track, just keep reading and reading, it will start making more sense once you have seen more patients and read the material for a second time. Also a review book will be helpful once you have finished reading the BCSC books.

I remember feeling during the first half of my first year, somehow everything got better during the second half.

You are not alone, good luck

 

[echinoderm]

what kind of review books do you recommend for residents?

 

[cme2c]

Reading the BCSC is a necessary thing. One strategy is to try to read about the patients you saw that day. If you see a patient with ptosis, read that section, etc. I can't sit and read chapters, I need that spark.

 

[OMD]

Agree with CME. If you are trying to slog through some of the more esoteric stuff just because it is the next 10 pages in the book you are reading, it will be difficult to retain some of that stuff. I finished residency a few years ago and still sometimes look up the esoteric stuff you never see. Keep reading BCSC but don't be afraid to jump around to topics that are coming up more frequently in clinic or something interesting you came across. Keep a little notebook or a note on your pda/iphone/whatever with interesting patients, diagnoses, questions, etc that you can review later. Attendings rarely get upset if 1st years don't know the zebras in detail, but the more common something is the more cold you should know it and an excuse that you haven't gotten to that section yet only works for a little while.

 

[MR1]

Tons of residents want to quit their first 6mths, don't give up. I second having a notebook and writing down things\pearls. This helped me alot because I could review them later and usually I wrote them done about a patient I saw so it stuck. Review about the patients you saw, it makes it real. Some may disagree but forget OKAPS this year. They matter nothing for fellowships, except maybe for an ASOPRS one. The only one it matters to is you chair and\or PD. So don't try and bust your rear studying everything to smoke the OKAPS b\c you won't. Smoke it next year.

 

[thackl]

As a 1st year ophtho resident, I am diligently reading and working hard everyday...when I get home from clinic, i try to read 10pgs or more from BCSC series. I have gotten through a few books, and try to read 1 book/month

the problem is...when I get pimped I cannot remember anything I read. I feel as if the BCSC books are dense with information, and it is difficult for me to retain it all in, especially with the OKAPS coming up in April.

May I studying all wrong? Can the senior residents give a 1st year any advice?

Did you feel the same way when you were a 1st year?

Thanks...

Join the club! We're required to read 2books a month and little of it sticks for more than a week or so. At the same time, I do think it is helping in the big picture, especially when I come across an interesting topic or something I've seen b/f in clinic or on call. I plan to drop everything BCSC come March 1st and do practice questions and a review book (don't know which ones yet).

I do believe the 1st in-training exam is important. Even if you don't want plastics or retina, the faculty treat people differently based on those scores.