Italy, med student in Milan who also remembers to live sometimes | 5th year | 23 |Instagram @ellebi_studies | Blog: https://sites.google.com/view/ellebistudies
Today I saw the removal of a 13 cm thymoma and also a robotics operation for the first time. I’m not sure whether thoracic surgery will be my residency, but I’m seriously considering it 🥰
Today I had my cardiology exam, which I have to say was very satisfying. I want to share with you some tips that I used to prepare for this exam and learn how to give a medical report of an EKG.
First of all, I think classes are fundamental for this course. I loved cardiology since it is a conceptual subject rather than a mnemonic one. Try to understand the physiopathology of cardiovascular diseases from the beginning. You will spend time learning details later, but I think it is vital to keep up with the main concepts to understand the following and arrive at the end of lessons with solid fundamentals.
As for the EKGs, practice is essential so try to exercise every day, even for a few minutes. I found it very useful to study "Rapid Interpretation of EKGs" by Dubin and Dale, but "The only EKG book you'll ever need" by Thaler is a good source too.
Also, there are many helpful sites, such as this: https://www.skillstat.com/tools/ecg-simulator. Instagram pages with clinical cases are valid as well.
Try to understand what every wave and complex of the EKG means, and do not limit yourself to learning every pattern by heart.
Concerning the cardio surgery part, I had the opportunity to attend the operating theatre of cardiovascular surgery and Arithmology. Ask your teachers if you have this chance: you do not have anything to lose, and you may find an available professor who will teach you much more than a written book.
If you do not have this possibility, look for Youtube videos of the procedures.
Whatever you do, don't limit yourself to studying surgery only on written material: it will be difficult and frustrating.
Also, I found it essential to make schemes. I do not always do it because it is very time-expensive, but this time there was so much information that I felt the need to organise it. For each disease, identify the pathogenesis, the aetiology, the main findings at physical examination, the EKG pattern, the diagnostic test you should do and the therapy.
Last, I found vital to recall all the topics out loud many times, also inverting the order: it easier to remember the clinical manifestation of aortic stenosis if you just revised the patophysiology, but it might be more arduous to remember the EKG pattern first.
Basically, that's it. Cardiology was one of my favorite exam in my med school career so far, so let me know if you find these tips beneficial or if you would add anything.