October

October come and gone and New Orleans still hot and humid as ever. This month we finished the Cardiovascular and Autonomic Nervous System block and tomorrow will be tested on the Renal block. This month also marks the first time we attended a session at the Tulane University Sim Center, which utilizes state of the art patient “dummies”, for lack of a better word. These patient stand-ins are able to simulate breathing, have pulses, and respond to the mock medications administered; all while an instructor provides verbal feedback from the point-of-view of the patient. The whole experience felt like we were really caring for a patient and helped to solidify the mechanisms and effects of cardiovascular drugs that we had been learning about.

I am still tutoring algebra at SciHigh on a weekly basis. Now that the students I help are getting used to my teaching style, we are able to make real progress in helping the students catch up to the rest of the class or to master the topics of the week. I had the distinct pleasure of being a judge at SciHigh’s annual science fair last week. While I did not specifically help any of the students with their science projects, I still enjoyed getting to see the fruits of my student’s labors.

Finally a little bit about life in general. Since it is Halloween today, I am looking forward to handing out candy with my wife tonight. We are lucky enough to live in a neighborhood where the kids still trick or treat. It should make a nice, relaxing study break before our test tomorrow.

SciHigh: 12 hours

Total Fall Semester Hours: 15.5 hours