Get your TEACH on.

Y'all! I'm so excited about next week! It's a medicine nerd's version of going to Six Flags!

What is it I'm so pumped up about, you ask?

The Medical Student Teaching Competition! As I mentioned recently, I've had the great fortune of being involved in the planning of this event-- our first ever MEDICAL STUDENT teaching competition--and it's coming up in just about a week. 

How exciting is THAT?

(see the medicine nerd dance above)

Okay, so here's a few deets. . . . .which requires some background. . . .

At our medical school, our students all get sorted into "societies." (Kind of like they do on Harry Potter except none are evil like Slytherin.) Anyways. This isn't really unique to Emory, actually. There are a good number of medical schools that do this. . .but guess what? None of them get to slug it out to the finish in a teaching competition. 

No ma'am, no sir!

Okay, so check it out--very similar to our Fellows Teaching Competition, the participants are all given only 8 minutes to bring their best lecture. And I know that 8 minutes sounds like just a few moments, but a LOT can go down in 8 minutes, man. A lot. Ever been to hear someone speak and they were so good that it didn't matter what they were saying? Well, that has a lot to do with delivery, AV materials and fluidity. The focus of the teaching competition is all of THAT stuff. And though the content is important, it doesn't matter how great the content is if how it is shared is . . .uhhh. . .soporific. 

Um yeah.

Let me tell you. These students have been unreal. I am SO fortunate to be advising them on this project because I get to just show up and look good. Ha! Seriously, though, they're so innovative and organized. For example, they had the interested students go through a prelim round before selecting finalists. They narrowed the "elite eight" down to two contenders from each society. One student built a really cool website and another even made a video which is seriously out of this world. Seriously.

Oh and my favorite part? The contenders were each assigned a faculty mentor to "coach" them on their final presentation. I have the great fortune of being both the advisor for the event planning committee and one of the coaching mentors.

Wooo hooooo!

I am faced with one problem, though. Since I am a Small Group Society Advisor in the medical school, I technically "belong" to one of the houses. Wait. Let me explain. Our four society houses are named after throwback trailblazer dudes in medicine:

Osler Society - For THE Sir William Osler. He was pretty much the dude who laid out how we "do" medical education nowadays. Word on the history books is that he was pretty hard core with his rounds and his reading. Rounds could last for an entire shift. (That was before there were duty hours rules.)

Harvey Society -  Named for another William--this one William Harvey. He was the guy who convinced people about how the blood circulates. Some say he's the dude who gets credit as being the father of modern physiology. As someone who had to get a strong talking to by her physiology professor after bombing a major physio exam as an M1 (from being in love with a boy instead of the library) I have a feeling that Dr. Harvey would have been annoyed with me. No matter how well my blood was circulating.

Lister Society - Named for Sir Joseph Lister, the surgeon who finally helped people get it into their thick skulls that antiseptic surgery is better than yucky grimy surgery. Thanks to ol' Lister, the OR became a place that people survive. Hey! Ever wonder where the song "Sorry to be mean, but you need some Listerine! Not a sip not a swallow but the whooooooole bottle!" came from? LISTER. As in Sir Joseph. Hey! From now on, call your mouthwash Sir Listerine, okay?

Okay. And last but not least, the society to which my small group advisees belong. . . . .

Semmelweis Society - Named for Ignaz Semmelweis, this Hungarian physician that went crazy since nobody believed anything he was saying. And what WAS he saying? Well. He was saying that if y'all would just wash yo' dang hands between delivering babies, these women wouldn't keep dying from infections. Oh. Because did I fail to tell you? Yeah. Nobody used to wash their grubby hands between touching bloody, oozy things like birth canals, afterbirth and meconium. It was Iggy who told them that the reason the MIDWIVES' deliveries did so well was because they weren't hopping from delivery to delivery like the doctors. 

That or they were just the ones washing their hands, which is a possibility. I'm just saying.

So Ignaz just wanted folks to wash their hands. And it turns out he was correctomundo. Problem is. . nobody gave him props for it until he was six feet under. So. That hand sanitizer in your purse? You have Dr. Semmelweis to thank for that. 

Wait. What was my point of telling you all that? 

Oh. My problem. Yes! See, as an advisor, I belong to Semmelweis. But the (seriously awesome) student that I'm coaching to WIN is from Harvey. The competitive fighter in me wants my mentee to kick ass and take names. But the loyal team member in me wants to rah-rah-sis-boom-bah with my fellow 'Weis Guys. Ugggh.

With Kelly at our last meeting of the minds. . bwah haa haaaa!

I know. Totally an ultra-first world problem for sure. Then again, it probably isn't a problem at all.  I think it's kind of like having an extra lottery ticket. My chances of me winning just improved. And! Since I'm the faculty advisor to the planning committee, as long as it all goes well I am fully authorized to fist pump no matter what the outcome. 

Yay-yuuhhh!

Sigh. 

Oh! I almost forgot. The new medical students started on Monday. That means the class of 2018 has hit the building, people. Small Group Delta officially gets to call themselves "M2" students (second year meds) and that makes me a. . .wait a minute. . errr. . .carry the two. . .and. . .yes! I'm an M22! Yeah, baby!! M-DEUCE-DEUCE, people!! 

Sigh. I am far too silly to be a role model. That's for sure. 

Lastly:

Shout out to the two brand-spanking-new M1 students who approached me yesterday to report that they READ MY BLOG and started reading BEFORE even coming to EMORY.

Pardon me while I. . . . . .

You are both officially my two new M1 BFFs. And since you are, I expect to see you at the Med Student Teaching Competition and additionally expect you to spread the word to any and every brand-spanking-new M1 you meet. 

Yup.

Okay. That's all I got. That and this last gif. Why? I mean, why not?

Kimberly Manning, M22 (pronounced M-DEUCE-DEUCE!)

***

Happy Wednesday. And Emory people-students and faculty--BE THERE next Thursday evening to support our students and to celebrate teaching! Come rep your society!

You MUST SEE this awesome video that Chris S. (one of our students on the MSTC committee) put together. Soooo cool! (Added bonus: It provides an AMAZING tour of our spectacularly swanky medical education building for you med school applicants.) It's going to be AWESOME!