Consolidation

This ambulatory practice has reinforced a concept that I think medical school has been trying to instill in me since the beginning of clerkship.  That is the importance of consolidation.  It has often been recommended that you read around your cases to help and consolidate your knowledge.  I have always thought it was a great game plan but sometimes when things get busy it's hard to do that on a nightly basis.  Life gets in the way and often when clinic is busy, and especially with the paperwork associated with graduating medical school! However, in the past three weeks I have been making an effort to do just that and read around the cases that we have seen.
In particular there have been a large number of thyroid cases that we have seen.  There was also a lunch rounds on the topic of evaluating the thyroid nodule and I spent time reading through and reminding myself of management in the evenings.  I have realized in seeing subsequent patients with thyroid nodules that I really have improved my knowledge, confidence and clinical astuteness when it has come to the thyroid exam.  I feel very comfortable evaluating patients with thyroid problems now and know that this will be a high yield topic for MCCQE as well as future practice because of how common it is.  I hope that I will carry this lesson forward into residency and make an even bigger effort to spend the time learning around my cases.