my kaplan kids, the ones i’ve taught most often, had their last strategy class last night, taught by moi. they seemed very nervous, especially since apparently most of them did not perform so well on the third full-length exam they were given. i gave them a big pep talk (emphasizing that if EVERYONE did badly, it was probably a really hard test, and that the next one would be easier!) because i figured that at this point, they needed a little vote of confidence. i just hope their scores actually do go up on the next test.
i’m going to miss them! we kinda had fun (as much fun as you can have during 3-hour mcat classes), they were never disrespectful, and they were a little rowdy at times but always nice. and they took things pretty seriously, asking lots of questions about how to best prepare. i never told them they were my *first* class. i wonder if they knew . . .
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so who saw grey’s anatomy on sunday night? i really only watched because it was on after the markedly superior desperate housewives (yes, i still watch it, and yes, i still love it). anyway, this show had the following problems, in my (still relatively naive) eyes:
1. the main character was kind of annoying.
2. general surgeons DO NOT perform brain surgery. that’s what neurosurgeons are for.
3. a seizure patient with no known surgical cause on any surgery service? that’s what neurologists are for. or possibly the internal medicine service, but definitely not the surgeons, and definitley DEFINITELY not the general surgeons. what do they think, she’s seizing because of her gall bladder?
4. according to the show, surgeons run the whole hospital, with all the free time on their hands they have between cases. heaven help us if that were true . . .
5. the surgical interns sitting around half the day, having time to watch surgeries in a fancy amphitheater? surgery interns (at least, the interns i’ve witnessed) are lucky if they get a chance to get anywhere near an OR. they’re too busy trying to keep everyone alive on the floor (and trying not to get reamed out by the rest of the team).
6. 48 hour shifts are no longer legal. technically, it’s 30, max. i’m not saying every school sticks to that, but a point-blank ‘you’re on for the next 48 hours?’ thankfully, not happening anymore.
7. the protagonist’s mom (a former premier surgeon!) appears to have alzheimer’s at age, like, 50. i suppose that maybe it was something else (trauma) that sent her into the state she’s in (maybe mad cow would be a good twist, since this show doesn’t seem to concern itself with any sort of medical accuracy! or maybe she was impaled with some surgical tool), but if it’s alzheimer’s, that’s an awwwwwwfully young age to get it. and if i were the daughter of a 50-year-old end-stage alzheimer’s patient, i’d be worried that my own days were numbered, so i certainly would not want to spend them doing surgery. but that’s just me.
will i tune in next week? we’ll see. now i’ll be tempted, since i’ve started this list. damn.
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