September

It's finally fall here in New Orleans and though its been unbearably hot all month as I'm outside today it finally feels pleasant! We are now in block 4 covering cardiovascular which for this block is only taught through Med Pharm. Today was the first TBL of the program and going in I felt very anxious, but on conclusion I thought it was a helpful learning exercise and I thought it was really fun to work with my awesome group (who were really helpful!!) to come up with answers to some difficult questions.
This month I started volunteering at The Terraces which is a unique community for elderly residents. I found this volunteering opportunity through Volunteers of America and because of their lengthy background requirements I have not been able to work with the residents yet and have only assisted the staff there. Tomorrow I have a meeting with the staff and I will finally be placed in a group to focus on helping in a particular unit. I am so excited to finally meet the residents I will be assisting and even more excited to start building a kinship with them.
The next learning block is the renal block and I can't wait. After working on the CRIC and SPRINT trials here at Tulane I have become particularly fond of the topics surrounding CKD and blood pressure. I think a lot of the information we are learning now will be of particular use in the next block and this block is very dense so there will be a lot of studying in the next week and a half before the CV block exam.
Hours this month- Terraces- 6 hours