Hello, my lovely readers!
I am here to share with you another “Typical Day in the Life of a U of T Medical Student” post! This time I will be focusing on what our Tuesday schedule is like.
Tuesdays are one of the days in our week that don’t follow a strict schedule. There is a lot of variability in what our Tuesdays look like, but typically it involves anatomy labs (either half day sessions or full day sessions).
When anatomy lab is in the morning, our afternoons can either be self-learning sessions, ethics or research lectures, reflective sessions at the hospital, or interprofessional events. When anatomy lab is the full-day, we are off for the day once the lab session is done.
7:00 am
Alarm goes off and I lay in bed for a few more minutes before starting off my day. Once I finally find the motivation to get out of bed, I head straight to the kettle to boil some water for my first coffee of the day. During this time, I also make something to eat for breakfast but nothing too heavy because the smell of formaldehyde makes me nauseous. The struggle.
My small breakfast for anatomy mornings is usually just toast with peanut butter. Healthy, simple, and light.
8:00 am
Time to get ready for anatomy: hair up, comfy clothes, and minimal makeup! Easy mornings!
Before I leave for anatomy, I take some time for myself and go through emails, social media, etc.
8:45 am
Time to leave my condo and walk to class.
9:00 am
Arrive to the Medical Science Building, put my stuff in my locker, and head to the anatomy labs.
Outside of the anatomy lab, we have another set of lockers with our lab coats, rubber gloves, and our dissection kits. I get suited up with all my equipment and I am ready to get started!
9:10 am
Enter the lab, sign in, and head to my first lab station. Each station involves a separate activity related to one organ system. Sometimes we are dissecting, looking at prosections, looking at bones, or reviewing modules.
Each station is accompanied by its own module with information and instructions on the activity. We have access to these modules in advance to prepare, as well as on the computers suspended from the ceiling at each lab station. As an anatomy group, we go through all the information together along with the prosections, cadavers, or other materials.
The station is an hour and a half long followed by a quiz that tests the material covered in that activity.
We then rotate to the next station, complete the module/dissection, and take the verbal quiz at the end of the session.
12:00 pm
Anatomy is done for the morning, and the afternoon could include anything from another three hours of anatomy, lectures, reflection sessions, or self-learning. These activities typically start at 1:30pm.
In the meantime, I usually go home for lunch and get changed out of my nasty anatomy clothes. If there is enough time, I always try to fit in a shower before doing anything else because of the smell of formaldehyde. Again, the struggle…
1:30 – 10:00 pm
Head back to school for the afternoon activities or stay home and work on independent self-learning modules.
My evenings typically involve making dinner, keeping up with my household cleaning/laundry (especially getting my anatomy clothes clean), and relaxing.
So, there you have it! That is a typical Tuesday in medical school at U of T! If you have any questions or comments about this post feel free to reach out to me via social media or email!
XOXO,
The Girly MD (to be)