Student Doc 101: Your Guide to Thriving in Med School
Hosted by Michael Stinnett, Student Doc 101 provides a high-level briefing on the academic architecture and strategic vision behind the NYITCOM Arkansas State partnership. Featuring deans and lead faculty, the series offers an "under-the-hood" look at how a world-class medical curriculum is designed to solve the physician shortage in the Mid-South. This is the definitive source for institutional credibility, proving how the convergence of academic rigor and regional impact creates an elite pipeline for the future of healthcare.
Student Doc 101: Your Guide to Thriving in Med School
Embrace the Struggle: Mental Toughness for Med Students
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Medical school will systematically strip away your identity if you let it. With physician burnout climbing and rural clinics struggling to keep their doors open, understanding how to mentally survive the gauntlet of medical training is more critical than ever. Georgie and Hunter Dance, fourth-year medical students at NYITCOM Arkansas, join the show to share their firsthand experience navigating the intense pressures of becoming osteopathic physicians.
We sit down to explore the distinct advantages of osteopathic training, breaking down how time in the OMM lab and developing strong palpation skills directly translate to better patient connections. The conversation covers the realities of rural healthcare access, the intense hands-on clinical rotations required in places like Crossett, Arkansas, and the necessary flexibility to pivot specialty interests from pediatric neurology to OBGYN and family medicine. The true anchor of their approach is a shared philosophy of "failing up," proving that a bombed practice test is not a permanent label, but a mandatory stepping stone for growth.
The daily pressure of medical education guarantees a heavy dose of failure and intense mental strain. Spending endless hours anchored to a desk for board prep and confronting the sheer volume of clinical material can easily derail your focus. You will walk away from this discussion with a practical framework for maintaining your sanity, which involves protecting the creative hobbies that ground you, adapting your study techniques when standard methods stop working, and recognizing that struggling through the curriculum is a privilege to be managed, rather than a punishment to endure.
If you care about building resilience in medical school, the future of rural healthcare, and maintaining your personal identity under heavy academic pressure, you’ll get a lot from this. Please remember to subscribe to the channel and share this episode with anyone preparing for their own journey into medicine. What is the biggest failure you've experienced that ultimately forced you to level up your approach to a difficult problem?
@Arkansasstaemedianetwork.com.
0:00 Introduction and Journeys to Med School
5:36 The DO Difference and Hands-On Medicine
10:17 The Reality of Rural Healthcare
16:05 Embracing the Struggle and Failing Up
29:12 Navigating Clinical Rotations and Specialties
35:30 Final Advice for Future Medical Students
Hi everyone. Welcome to Student Doc 101, a guide to thriving in medical school. I'm Michael Stonett. I'm a medical education learning specialist with NYITCOM at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. And this show is all about taking a look into med school from a student's perspective to help you understand med school students can flourish. We call this a guide to thriving because we want to get past just surviving. And so today I have with me Hunter and Georgie. These are the dances, and we're going to learn about their story today. We're going to learn about their uh walk through the struggle. They're going to learn about their walk to flourishing. And looking at them now, they're going into fourth year and setting the bar. So, Georgie, Hunter, so good to have you on the show today. Thank you. Happy to be here. Yeah. Woo! They drove in just for this, everybody. So let's start real quick, right? I don't know who wants to go first. You figured out rock, paper, scissors, whatever. Uh, just tell us about you and your journey to med school. Why med school?
SPEAKER_00Um, I can go first. Um, so I am um from a really small town in rural Tennessee. Um, I spent a lot of time in undergrad. I was really actually interested in herpetology. Um, I really like salamanders. Um but I really, but I um but I realized that I really needed more patient interaction. I spent a lot of time in the lab. Um so I volunteered at a pediatric clinic, really, really enjoyed it. Um, so maybe I want to do medicine. So I had a later start. Um, took all my prereqs, took prereqs after graduation, and then I moved to Memphis um just to get some more clinical experience because Memphis has a really huge medical community. Um, and then I ended up working at a nonprofit for four years um at Church Health in Memphis and sort of was like, this is what I have to do. I I love being with people, I love the science nature of it. Um, there's just a mix of getting to be an extrovert and also help people. Um, so I knew that medicine's what I wanted to do. So I just sort of took took my time, um, took the MCAT several times, applied to medical school several times, um, but finally ended up at MIT, um, which I'm really glad I did. Um, I remember when I looked it up, I thought it's New York, Arkansas. And um then they said, Oh, it's only an hour away. And I said, Well, perfect. And so I did an interview, loved my interview, um, just felt the vibes were what I wanted. And so ended up here, and I'm really happy I did.
SPEAKER_04Love that. And I love that so we went from herpetology because you wanted more patient. I guess salamanders make poor patients, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they do, they do.
SPEAKER_04I didn't, you know, they can't really tell you what's wrong with that. Right. They present with slick body, you know. I don't know what to do with it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's they still are cute. I still love salamanders, but I'm I'm more observed them on my window and stuff instead of you know direction.
SPEAKER_04Sure. So I love that, love that. And we'll get more into that in just a little bit. Hunter, tell us a little bit about you.
SPEAKER_01Um, let's see. From so how did I get into medicine? Um so sometime in high school I decided I wanted to uh go to medical school. Uh there's something about the um I love the science of it. I love the interacting with people or patients. I like the um I love to be challenged. So med school felt right for me from the start. Um, how did I end up at uh NYITCOM? Um in college, one of um a former student that was also in my fraternity, he was uh two years ahead of me. Um Rhett Waldron, I don't know if you remember him. Yeah, yeah. So he uh I knew I wanted to be close to him and I grew up in Memphis, um, so only an hour away. But Rhett was already here and I didn't, I was like, Nitcom, where's where's that? Is that in New York? Um, but anyway, so he invited me up here for or in the summer, I think at some point, and I got to meet everyone. I was like, I'm coming here. I'm uh let's see, uh I took um prior to this, after I graduated, I worked at uh uh for a network of primary care clinics called Oak Street Health, and basically I I scribed, then I taught documentation, and uh I medicine's always right for me. I I yeah I know I couldn't do a desk job, right? Even though we all end up on the computer oftentimes, but uh I love I love interacting, I'll like be bopping around.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you will have a desk, but you may not get to spend much time at your desk.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we might be wishing we had more time at the desk.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, if it all goes well, then you won't get a ton of time at your desk, and then you'll wish you had more time at your desk. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So it's all going to miss my desk right now, you know. At this point, I'm like, I don't need you, but maybe later.
SPEAKER_01For contacts, we're studying for our uh step two, level two. So it's all we do is sit at a desk and stuff. Yeah, you're at a desk a lot with a screen in front of you right now.
SPEAKER_00We were like, want to be in a podcast? Well, heck yeah, that just takes time away from like desk. That's good.
SPEAKER_04Right, yeah, we can we cannot study for a little bit yes, absolutely. It'll be fine. I promise nothing we talk about today will be on your test, though. So that's the support. Can't help you with that. Next step in management is and so All right, so NYITCOM, yeah, we're part of New York Institute of Technology, but we are far from New York. Far from that. That throws a lot of people off when I'm when I tell people like I work for New York Institute of Technology, but you're in Jonesboro, Arkansas. I know, right? And then I if I don't explain it, it really blows their mind. Keep it serious. Like, how is that possible? It's like I drive every day. It's a long commute. Yeah, but it's great. Um, so this is an osteopathic school, right? So we practice uh osteopathic medicine, which is a little bit different if if you're listening to the show and if you ever see a DO on a doctor's door, then that's a doctor of osteopathy or a doctor of osteopathic medicine versus an MD, which is a medical doctor. Uh it's an allopathic train. Um so tell us like, is there anything about osteopathy or osteopathic medicine that was appealing to you, or is it just this school was close? Like, what's up with that?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think just like initially, I I mean, I knew about it. It wasn't it wasn't a I I want to go to a DO school or an MD school. I just wanted to go to medical school. Um, but then I think when when once I've been here, um, I think that like you you do spend more time like working on palpation skills, getting your hands-on skills, and I think it really actually did help me a lot in third-year clinical rotations. Um, there's just we spend a lot more time in the OMM lab. We do osteopathic manipulation medicine. So uh learning about the spine and things like that. And it it was really helpful for assessing musculoskeletal complaints in third year. Um, so I think that like it wasn't something, you know, I it wasn't an I specifically wanted to go to a DO school, um, but I'm glad that I did because I think it's been really beneficial. Um, it's helped me in a lot of ways, um, versus that that would see the biggest difference is that my palpation skills, like my hands-on skills are a lot better because of it. So I think that's the benefit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Are you saying palpation?
SPEAKER_00Palpation.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So maybe somebody's listening and they're like, palpation.
SPEAKER_00Palpation. Um if putting your hands on a patient and say that their back hurts, um, being able to localize where that pain is and know what you're feeling for, um, instead of just having them, you know, having them point where it hurts, you're actually able to touch their skin and feel. Um, so I think it's a lot more hands-on. I had a lot of patients this year, like, this is the first person that's touched me when I'm complaining about their back pain. Um, and so that that's just our go-to. It's like, oh, let me touch you, you know, which and I love that. I'm a very, very hands-on person. I'm a touchy-feely. So for me, it's like it was just a win-win. Um, so when I say palpation, yeah, just putting your hands on a patient and not just just a conversation is great, but you sometimes do need to touch to make a diagnosis or just make them feel like you're caring for them.
SPEAKER_04So that's good. The hands-on piece is something that people do love about osteopathic. And for palpation, right? For context, if the humidity in the South is sometimes palpable, which means you can feel it. So it's about feeling something, right? Okay, love that. How about you, Hunter? Anything osteopathic standout?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think like kind of going off of what Georgie said, just the uh the physical exam is an important component of what we do in medicine. And um, I think that's especially we just finished up our third year, so going on uh clinical rotations, like we've had a couple of our rotations were with our MD counterparts. And uh that was one comment that was made by um a couple of my preceptors where like I was not afraid to get in there and like actually feel the patient see like uh I was comfortable with the physical exam compared to um especially in your third year, you might be like, Oh wait, do I stand back? Or like, but I wasn't I was comfortable to be there with the patient. I think um I think it makes a difference.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because you get a lot more interaction in your first couple of years of med school and the preclinical training in the OMM lab and things like that, dealing with putting hands on patients. Yes.
SPEAKER_00You you go to the lab and it's like, all right, you're gonna palpate your patient, your you know, your partner's spine. You don't, you've never met them before your first day, but yeah, it's just you're just getting in there, so it helps.
SPEAKER_01Right. And no one has to tell you that the patients aren't gonna buy you. Yes. That's right.
SPEAKER_04That's right. And so I think it's funny the first way that when you explain it is like we get to put our hands on patients, and it doesn't mean like you're putting hands on patients, you know, it's not this isn't about anger, but this is about trying to help solve a problem um with something other than maybe medicine. Yeah, right. Maybe I just need to move them a little bit and it solves their pain.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And that's a wonderful thing. Like how much misery is being spared. Um, so and just a touch, just a touch.
SPEAKER_00I I had a preceptor this year who he said it's sometimes even if it's just a consult visit, you're not even doing a physical exam, just putting your hand on the patient's hand or on their back. It it makes a difference. They feel heard, they feel seen, like they it just it changes the whole dynamic of the patient-physician relationship. It's a privilege that we get to be able to do that and that they put their trust in us to do that kind of thing. So it's not having that boundary is a it's a it's a hard thing to break down if you have it, but I think that our like our school and DO schools especially really help with that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, love that. Uh, one of the things about this particular institution, MYITCOM at Arkansas State University, is kind of we have a mission around rural health. And I know you spent your last year in rural health. I mean, you're very rural. Uh hospitals are closing, clinics are closing, patients are having to go further and further for care. And that's one of the reasons that we exist in the Mississippi River Delta, is so that we can train physicians who would hopefully practice along the Mississippi River Delta. And you both come from this region. So what have you learned or seen about rural health care that you're just like, yeah, this is my jam, or this is awful, and I never want to touch your life again?
SPEAKER_01Well, I look we'll probably end up in the city, but I think we really enjoyed our time down in Crosston. I think it was really wonderful. There was a um, so if anyone hasn't been down to Cross, Arkansas, which I'm not sure, I think the population's about 4,500. Uh the county's population might be 80 or 18,000. Sounds about right. Um, there's a lot of trees down there. There's a lot of it's it's honestly I'd say as far as the prettier parts of the state, I think uh northwest Arkansas is gorgeous, but it's really it's a really pretty area of the state that could easily get easily get slept on. Um but it was wonderful being down there to learn. It's uh there's a like a stillness to it, like a that was kind of pleasant. It was yeah, it was peaceful. And then everyone's everyone was very uh very friendly and um it was a really close-knit community and was wonderful to feel part of their community for the past year.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that that's a real benefit to rural medicine is that you go into the community and um they were so happy to have us there because and I mean they they were begging us to just come back or stay, um, just because they they need physicians, they need people that want to be in those areas. And I mean, I I I'm happy to be in going back to city life for a little while, but like I'm from a I'm from a really small town, um like 5,000 people. So for me, it was like, oh, I'm going home. Okay, well, no stoplight, like that's nice. Um, and I you just there's a different relationship because not only do you see the patients in the office, but you see them in like the local grocery store, and they are not afraid to come up and say hi to you. And the and the little kids will run up to you and hug you and like did I see you this this week?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I had at least 10 patients um that were able to they knew where we lived. They they knew how we had two dogs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they said we've seen you yes, walking your dog. So that I think that benefit to rural medicine is is huge. I I would recommend it um to anyone. I like I think everyone should I mean I wish everyone could go down and spend a month in Crosset. It's beautiful, and it's one of the nicest places I've ever been. Like it, you know, I when we found out we were going to Crosset, I think we I couldn't lie that we weren't a little disappointed that we weren't going like to Memphis where we're we're sort of from. Um, but I wouldn't have changed the last year. I think that it was a a really big period of growth. I think that um just learning to function in such a small net community, and when there's struggles, there's doctors leaving, there's surgeons leaving, um, the hospitals having issues, and the patients are just they're so in need of you. And that it was just really heartfelt. Like they were sad we were leaving. It was just down to the patients, and they don't, you know, they've only seen us a couple times. So yeah, that part's really wonderful.
SPEAKER_04There's an element of that rural health, and maybe that you got to experience where you really almost get to be like a doctor. Yeah like you're doing things for these people, and they feel that you are the person responsible for them.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04Y'all get some of that, like way more hands-on stuff.
SPEAKER_00They thought we were residents for most of the year just because there's a residency program across it. So we got mixed up with the residents that we don't know no, we're just medical students, you know.
SPEAKER_03Every time you walk in, I'm a medical student. We actually we can't actually do anything for you. I'm a medical student. But yeah, yeah, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00But you're you're hands-on. I mean, even down to like this, the surgical or OBGYN, you're it's like your first assist because that you're there's no other men's. There's no one's there, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, screw up in. Um, and then compared to some of our um classmates that might have been in the city, like uh they might have been our classmates might have been stuck with a resident one-on-one where we hadn't might have had more one-on-one time with the the preceptor and gotten to them really well and gotten to learn directly from them a little more, which would you say that so your whole year was in rural health?
SPEAKER_04Yes. But would you say like what a benefit it would be if there was a rural health rotation for anyone? Like if you're in third year of med school in any place in the country, maybe like you're in a big city, but you've got to go practice somewhere in a smaller town for a month.
SPEAKER_00I think everyone should be required to go and spend like some time because there's a lot of there's a lot of people who wouldn't think it's for them. And then, yeah, because like, oh my, a town of what? There's only one restaurant, but then you go there and it's so much better than you could ever have imagined.
SPEAKER_01And I think that a big thing is um we all want well-rounded physicians. We want to be well-rounded physicians, and I that's an aspect of medicine that um would clearly benefit from if you were just stuck to a city and you didn't understand the world, uh, maybe the struggles that like the limited access to um to health care that you might experience in rural areas, or um just the kind of the human connection you might get to experience. I think no, that's great.
SPEAKER_04That's great. I think it's so important for people to to see because there are so many sides to medical school, and uh it's it's really important. And so let's talk about that. One, I want to know more about like what did you come into medical school wanting to do, and did you change your mind at some point? And but I also want to talk about like, and and we mentioned this before, is everyone comes into medical school and there is a level of struggle. Everyone has a level of struggle, and so like what would you say if if you want to thrive in medical school, then here's what you do with the struggle. Would you have what are your words?
SPEAKER_00Um, I mean, yes, medical school is a struggle. I think it is a struggle, but I think that uh especially Hunter and I, um we have sometimes like a uniquely positive attitude about everything. Um so it's we we have like sort of a saying that we um sometimes it's a joke, but it's like, how lucky are we to be here? Like this is what we always wanted to do. So it's when when the things get hard, it's grounding yourself. It's saying, okay, this is hard, but how lucky are we to be here?
SPEAKER_02It's a blessing.
SPEAKER_00It's a blessing. And I think that that really sometimes when things get rough or like you just really don't want to get up to go to this lab or you didn't do well on a test. It's just it's okay because you this is what you this is what you wanted to do, and this is you're so you're just so lucky and so privileged to be here.
SPEAKER_01It's really easy to be like, ah, I'm sick and tired of studying, but it's no, like this is what we signed up for. We how lucky are we to be able to get to study this?
SPEAKER_04See, and be able to do this. I love that because listen, everybody's got hard. Everybody has a hard in their lives, and so your hard is building you to be physicians. Yeah. And so, how lucky are you? Which is probably lucky might be the wrong word because you probably worked your tails off. But um, you know, there's a little bit of opportunity meets preparation in that. Right. And so um, any what other thoughts? Like, how do you overcome struggle? How do you embrace struggle? Because you're not gonna avoid it.
SPEAKER_01No, you gotta embrace it. I think you really have to um well, it starts off with like a positive attitude, of course. And that should be innate, more or less. I think everyone's in their kindergarten classroom growing up, everyone remembers the sign that was said, like it's what 90% uh how you respond and 10% of what you do is like it's having a good attitude's a wonderful start, but um you have to learn, you have to grow. So it's embracing like where are my strengths, where are my weaknesses. Um I this is an opportunity, it's these are opportunities to learn to grow. Lost the train of thought, but um it's okay, we do that. I do that all the time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think being and being honest with yourself is a big one too. Um, that sometimes you have to be honest with yourself that like this is something I am struggling with, or I am feeling a certain way. And I think that's where having a good community. Um, you know, we're really lucky to have each other and be married in med school and have that just yeah, we have a con I have a constant person who knows who knows what I'm going through. Um, it can be really hard for people who with friends and family who don't have someone in medicine, or they might be the only person in their family that's ever even done medicine. It's it so we do have that benefit, but I think that you can find your people. Um, I mean, we our our best friend Michael is he's the third person in our study group, and we study together and we've just moved back to Memphis where he is, and we've just sort of started all up again with like so it you really have to find your people and people that will hold you accountable, say, hey, you know, you didn't finish your questions today, or like, hey, you know, you you said you were gonna review that, did you? Um, and I think that that that accountability and being honest with yourself and sometimes just giving yourself a break. It's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to struggle. Um, it's just how you respond and come back from that that matters.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's that's good. And so the good attitude, the growth mindset, like the struggle doesn't define me, but it's what I do in the struggle that will define me, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And also be curious. Like, like we're here to we we love to learn, right? So don't be afraid to deep dive when there's time to deep dive, but also like sometimes you do have to shift and be efficient. I think that's one area you can kind of get into the struggle. It's like, okay, so when when do I deep dive? And like you have to be like good use of your done. They say, like, uh, when you get in medical school, they say it's like drinking out water out of the fire hose. Um, but I think so it's like uh multiple passes is I know that's one thing that you're big about preaching as far as exposure. You have to learn we have to learn how to learn. And we were all good students in undergrad and high school and um previously, but you like it's you have to learn how to learn. And yeah, there's not very much structure to medical school. There's like, you know, have your everything done by this date, be ready for this test on this date. But there's a lot of flexibility, which is it's a blessing and a curse, right? Because you're not no one's really holding your hand, it's it's all on you, which but at this you can kind of pile up all your lectures on one day and then the notes and however else you want to do it. Um, you have a hundred, there's a hundred ways of skinning a cat pretty much to do it, right? Which is part of the blessing. Well, we don't endorse skinning cat. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, no, absolutely not. But there are lots of ways to do it. It's an it's an analogy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, yeah, I think you're finding what works for you too. I mean, I'm a creative person. I love to draw. So I draw. Like, I draw my notes. I did all my notes by hand. People look at me crazy, and you know, they say, Well, can I see your notes? I'm like, Would you like my binders? I've got like 25 binders of notes that I've drawn out by hand. Um, but it it's just something that clicked. I think the first semester of med school, I was trying to do what everybody was doing, and I just was losing sight of what like what makes me tick. And I love to draw. And so like that just it just works for me, and I still do it. Um, it's a little different when you're board studying, but I still my notebook, you know, I know Hunters that makes jokes about all my colored pencils and stuff, you know. But but I'm always drawing a pretty picture.
SPEAKER_01Marker's in color pencil.
SPEAKER_00I've got a giant kidney diagram that we've like carried to multiple cities just because it's it's been it took so long on it, we have to keep it.
SPEAKER_04So it's an interesting. This is gonna be framed in our home. I already have a spot picked up. Yeah. That's lovely. That's lovely. I think that's neat because like one of the challenges, because again, myriad challenges in medical school, in life in general. But we're talking about thriving as students. And one of the things is you get into the first class, right? Your first day orientation or whatever. It's 120, 150, 300 other people, depending on your med school. And everyone starts to think about what everyone else is doing. Right. And you it's almost like immediately, isn't it? Like you start thinking about, oh, well, they all type their notes. I should try typing. There's something to this. They all do these flashcards. I should be doing these flashcards. They all, which in reality, like when you say they all, we actually talk to like seven people. And of those seven people, five people actually did the thing. But then we just assume it's all of them. And how much would you say that of the struggle is trying to you forget about you? Like you really like drawing. Drawing is your thing. Yeah, but you get away from that.
SPEAKER_00That is, I mean, that I would say from somebody who has struggled or started out struggling and has now feels like I've got a pretty good grasp on things. Um, that would be that was probably my biggest struggle was forgetting like forgetting my like what makes me work. And it it and this is not something I even used in undergrad, I would say. I like I always like to draw just because I'm a creative person, but I didn't really do that much in like before medical school. But it's something that I just sort of maybe I should just stop like spending so much time on the computer. Maybe I don't need to do all these flashcards. Maybe it's more about drawing out diagrams and um you kind of have to be flexible. You can't, you cannot medical school requires flexibility. It requires, I know I remember you preaching this when we first came in, is like if it doesn't work, you gotta change it up and you can't be afraid to. And you might have to change it 10 times, and that that's it might delay you or whatever, but it's about figuring out what works for you. And that's it's hard to do.
SPEAKER_01Some some trial and error is to be expected.
SPEAKER_04Yes, yeah, and be okay with that because you said be curious, right? And have a growth mindset and those things, but it's man, if um I see a lot of students, okay? This is okay, we're gonna go uh a little philosophy from the dances and see what they say. Uh I see a lot of students come to me and they will take a set of questions, right? And then score really low on that set of practice questions or whatever, and think, okay, that doesn't work for me, and they'll never do it again. It's like, well, hold on a second, just because you like what was the goal of those practice questions? Was it to get a 100? Because that's probably not the right goal. But like, I will see students throw things away because they feel like it doesn't work, and then they will start to define themselves by the thing that doesn't work. So, what are your thoughts around that idea?
SPEAKER_01Um, I think the I think neither of us really have that negative sucks. So we never doubt ourselves, right? We're here for a reason. I think that's one thing that it's it's important to be reminded of that if you've made it to medical school, like you're here for a reason. It's you're you're capable enough. I think it's um everyone struggles, everyone's gonna no one's gonna know the answer to a question the first time around. But the second, third time around, you you start to learn. You start, but I think it's all about um you have to apply the information, right? So you maybe it's good to miss a question every now and then and not you don't want to get lucky and then it come back to bite you in the butt. Yeah, that's exactly right.
SPEAKER_00Like, yeah, you don't want to be defined by your failures. I mean, you can't define yourself by like missing some questions. I mean, I um you know, full disclosure, I I want to go into OBGYN and I did my practice test on last week, and that was one of my lowest scoring sections. And it's like, how? But this is what I like the most. Yeah. Um but I but I yeah, but I don't define myself by that test, or you can't define yourself by one failed moment or one failed exam, or if you if you have to start over and re find yourself, you can't define yourself by that because it's all everyone's journey is different. And honestly, our journey without a little bit of that struggle wouldn't be what it is, and we're so lucky to have struggled and found found a groove and found something that really works. Um, so I think that we always say we failed up, you know, you failed, but we failed up because we ended up making really great friends and meeting or like, you know, dating and then getting married. And I think that if we hadn't had struggles in the beginning, I don't know that's what our life would have been. So um for us, it's we always say, you know, a fail failure is only if you let yourself be defined by it instead of just playing the process, working up.
SPEAKER_04It is. So when I was a high school teacher, I would put quotes on the board, but they were always quotes that I would make up. Yeah. It was always so much fun. And then we would try to do it as a class. But one of them, and it stuck with me, let's let me get it right, okay? Uh failing makes us human. Failure is when we quit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_04And like we're not failures because everyone fails. Failure is just choosing to quit. And it's like, you didn't learn from that, you didn't grow from that. Like every failure presents an opportunity for growth. Right. Right. And you've both said so many things around that idea of like, don't define yourself by your failures. I tell students, um, they'll come in with a low test. Like, I've seen students score in really, really high scores and then have like a low score and get really, really bummed. And I'm like, are you defining yourself by your lowest moment? Why would you do that? It's not don't define yourself by your lowest moment.
SPEAKER_00I mean, you've seen my low test scores. So, like, you know, back like you know, and you get better. You just don't define yourself. You can't get stuck.
SPEAKER_04And I'm on the other side because I didn't go to medical school, wasn't gonna do that kind of work, and here you are in medical school. Yeah, you know, it's like you said it, you're not here by accident. No, there's not like a loophole that just slid you in. Absolutely not. If you got here, you did the work you get here.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah, that's that's great stuff. It's um, it's not who you were yesterday, it's about who you are today and who you want to be going forward.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, stay in the moment too. I think that we've if we have a like dance wisdom, that is a big thing that we um think is important, is that there's so much time on like thinking about, oh my gosh, I've got this to do tomorrow and this next week and boards and and it you forget that you just just be present. L L-I-V-I-N for today is the most like it really ground, it keeps you from toppling and getting too stressed. And don't worry about yesterday. Maybe yesterday you slept on the couch too much, or maybe yesterday you didn't do as many questions as you should have, but worry about today. Don't worry about yesterday, don't freak out too much about residency if it's you know two years from now. Just stay in the moment, and that really helps keep you grounded and helps keep keep away the scariest.
SPEAKER_04Kind of a like there's a it's an ancient like biblical proverb almost, is like there's enough trouble coming from tomorrow, so let's focus on today.
SPEAKER_00Today, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04Let's let today deal for today.
SPEAKER_01I like the saying the don't cry over spilt milk, which is the analogy there is like, you know, it's like you can worry twice about it, or you can just let it come to you, or just clean it up and move on.
SPEAKER_00It's fine.
SPEAKER_04Clean it up and move on. Yeah, that's good. So you guys um you met each other in uh in med school, you got married in med school, now you're gonna be practicing physicians uh together. And uh your route to get to the specialty or the place that you're gonna go might be a little bit different. Georgie, tell us, like you said, just you you just dropped off here in a second. You said, hey, I wanted to go Obi-Guine. That was my lowest score on this practice test or whatever. Is that where you always wanted to go?
SPEAKER_00Um, no, actually, like that. I weirdly enough, I you know, I didn't I didn't really come into medicine saying, I want to do this one thing. Um, I really like I loved I love kids. Um I'm very extroverted person. I remember Dr. Scottin, one of my first practicals, she said, Georgie, one day you can wear the fun socks, you know, but now we need to be professional. Cause I because I'm I'm likely to wear like socks with hot dogs on them or something. So I said, maybe you know pediatrics is for me. Um, and I went into third year, loved pediatrics. I still love it. I did my elective in pediatrics, um, but I went in and OBGYN was not on my right on my radar of things I thought that I'd want to do. Um, and then I delivered a baby. And then I was like, well, I can was like, Hunter, I think I want to do OBGYN. He's like, You want to do what? I said, Yeah, I think like, and it was just a moment of awe, like, and the whole rotation. I just I felt didn't matter how like long I was there. Um, actually on New Year's Eve, I it was on my surgery surgery rotation, but the OBGYN was there, and he said, you know, I need some extra help. And I and I said, Okay, well, I'll stay. I ended up being there till like almost nine o'clock on New Year's Eve, helping deliver babies and it was and and doing surgeries. And so I it was a total changeup for me, which is why I say, you know, it's you can have an idea of what you want to do. I don't think that it's not a bad idea to start thinking about it, but you it's okay if it completely changes and you just gotta roll with it.
SPEAKER_01Keep it up in mind.
SPEAKER_00Roll with the vibe. You know, I I liked every rotation, I would say, pretty much. Um and but it's just still, I was like, I really don't think I could do anything else. It's the one thing that just like it'll get me really giddy talking about it. I could go on and on. Um, and it was it's it was a change up, but I'm glad that it happened. I'm glad that I third year is an important time for that. Like, be open to like uh things might change and be open to it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, which is another thing about thriving in medical school, right? Because if you go into third year locked in, like what if you you might be like kind of limiting yourself, absolutely keeping a closed mind. Granted, some people know this is what they want to do. They get it.
SPEAKER_00That's yeah, that's that's good.
SPEAKER_04Wonderful it's cool. I don't know. What about you? Like, what's the thing for you?
SPEAKER_01What's next? Um, so I'm still on the fence from um, I know you go, I thought going into medical school, I wanted to do pediatric neurology. I um in under undergrad, I uh I majored in neuroscience and I did research on infant development of a attention. So I mean, I love babies, little kids, and I I like the brain. So like naturally, I think pediatric neurology. And uh that's that still might be the case, but also family medicine is another one that I've really like kind of um I've kind of been surprised with how much I loved during the rotation, loved the variety, and like it's like I kind of like the idea of being doing everything. I don't want to almost don't want to be limited as far as like a narrow scope. I kind of variety's a spice of wife, so that's been tempting me lately too. And uh you can. Yeah, from the so I'll probably decide a little bit over the next couple months as I do a couple more rotations, and I'll see if um I want to go the pediatric neuralgia route or if I want to do family medicine. But yeah, I could I mean I kind of like everything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, family family medicine is is one of I mean, if I did not love OBGYN so much, I that's what I'd be doing. Um I family medicine's phenomenal. And they say the the you know, that's saying that Jack of all trade, a master of none. And I don't like that because that's not what it is at all. They they are so comprehensive, and they're the first person. Like, who do you remember? You know your, you you know, if you're a female, you might know your OBGYN, but you know your PCP, and that is who is your first point of contact for everything, and they're the ones that keep us healthy, and especially in the rural communities, they know everything. I mean, the they they can do minor surgery.
SPEAKER_01Some of those country doctors, I'll tell you what, are the sharper than any other things.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they really are what you see on TV, right? Like they're delivering the babies, they're cutting out the pieces of stuff on bodies, like they're doing all the things in a family med clinic.
SPEAKER_00And they're brilliant, and they they they they do their each there's a a weird um, I feel like there's a a concept concept that the family medicine doctors are not the ones they're they're reading their New England journal. Dr.
SPEAKER_02Dr. Allen?
SPEAKER_00He's he was one of the preceptors down there, and man, every day he had something new, some something new to share, because he was just up on his research and he mean he could he taught you you know stuff about the EKGs better than anybody I've ever had. Like, so I don't know, family medicine is is just it is it I always say it rocks, but it's such a good specialty.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and it's so needed. Like, we need them all. We need all of them, especially in rural health communities, uh in it in the cities in the south where doctors are leaving. Yeah, doctors are aging out. We know that doctors, the retirement age for doctors, the higher percentage of them are approaching that than those who aren't approaching that, right? So job security for you all, but you know, good job. Way to go there. Um, and I love this. All the ideas we could have here. Like if you were doing family med and you're doing OB Gyne, could we have the dance clinic or something? Yeah, we go.
SPEAKER_00I know that's what I always uh I said I said if you do if you do family medicine, you have to also do FPs, OB, so you can also deliver babies.
SPEAKER_01Because I I was I always I wanted to see the real thing we would do if I did peds, but yeah, I was or yeah, more pediatric.
SPEAKER_00But I there's really just so much collaboration in medicine that I'm sure that we get the benefit of, you know, I get to talk to him about all the stuff. And I said it'll be really exciting when we're actually practicing, um, just getting to have those, you know, like conversations about the cool stuff you got to do. And um, I don't know. We we really don't ever run out of things to talk about.
SPEAKER_04I love it, which is why you're also gonna have to start some type of social media account about like the dance document. Yeah, we'll be influencers. It'll be great. You already are, and so that's amazing. All right. So as we're getting ready to to like close up, one of the things that I like to do, and if there's something else you want to just share, please, please do that. But I like to ask a couple of questions. So number one question for me is like, is there a piece of advice or wisdom that you would give to those considering med school? Like, what's one takeaway, one thing you would say?
SPEAKER_00One thing that's that that's what gets that it's worth it.
SPEAKER_04It doesn't have to be the only thing that it's worth that it's worth it.
SPEAKER_01Yep. That it's um, you know, it's if even if it's you do apply multiple times or if like you know, you're struggling with that organic chemistry test, it's like it's it's just such a blessing to be here. Like, you know, it's keep working on it. Um you'll be if things work out the way they're supposed to, is uh another important comment.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I would hate to steal what you said, but I mean I it it's worth it as a really it is it is worth it. And you know what, honestly, it's a blast. People say med school is hard, and it is hard. I'm not gonna say it's not, but it's so fun. Um, it's it's so fun. I mean, you don't have to grow up for a little while, you get to study, um, you get to nerd out, you get to have a bunch of friends that are nerding out with you, you get to have experiences that not many people get to have. So I would say like it's worth it. Um, you know, just if you want to do it, just do it, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So a couple of things. When you say it's worth it, it's gonna be hard, but the heart is worth it. Absolutely. Because there are lots of things in life that are hard and not worth it.
SPEAKER_00Just right 100%.
SPEAKER_04And so, and then you would say, like, it's fun.
SPEAKER_00It is, it's so fun.
SPEAKER_04And so I like I like so if you're in med school and listening to this, let's remember then, like, okay, it's worth it. And it's also please have fun. Yes, right. I talk to students over time, over time who are just like, I can't have fun, I don't have time to have fun, or they forget to have fun. And so I want to go back real quickly. For me, the things that you've all said, like uh Georgie, you talked about don't lose yourself, right? Basically, like you you don't lose yourself. And if something was important to you before med school, let that thing still be important to you. If you like to fish, go fish. Go fish. You like you like dogs, right? So I like teaching the dogs. I remember I remember working with like, okay, when are we gonna walk the dog? What are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_01Having the dog walks into the day, build those into your routine. I'll never forget when you told me it was like, why don't you just teach try to teach your dog? I'm like, have you seen Howard? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, we and we like I love to cook and I make dinner most every night, and we sit down and we have dinner, and we might talk about something, but we enjoy just we enjoy that time. We still do those things.
SPEAKER_01It's it, like she'll wake me up at like 3 a.m. be like, can't believe that the answer to this question was this.
SPEAKER_04It's in my head. Uh just don't lose yourself, right? Like have fun and remember that it's worth it. It's hard, but it's worth it. And that's if it was important to you before, it's important to you now.
SPEAKER_01And it and don't lose that. And don't you know, don't forget to doodle things every now and then because it does help with memory and learning.
SPEAKER_04It does.
SPEAKER_01There's some science there.
SPEAKER_04Yep. There's some research there. All right. So my final question, this is one that's a throwaway, but I love it. It's my favorite part, probably, is what is your binge? What's the thing that you're doing right now when you have a chance to you're watching something, you're listening to something, you're reading something, or you're doing something. What's the binge, the thing that you're obsessed with?
SPEAKER_00We are studying for that's.
SPEAKER_04I know, right? So if you weren't studying for boards, we like to socialize, but what have we been we haven't really been binging on any shows lately?
SPEAKER_00From we've we've I will say we we just moved, so we're trying trying to think of what I mean. We spend a lot of time with our dogs. I mean, I would say like we we we try to get outdoors as often as possible. Love that. Now that we've moved back closer to family, I would say we're binging on family time. And if we we are trying to make, you know, make up for make up for the moments that we weren't around. Um, I mean, we love to learn, so when we say we're binging, it it's not I don't think you have to take a break from learning to like there's there's doing your board questions, but then there's also just binging on learning. There's reading random Wikipedia articles, there's reading books, um, there's just looking up something for fun.
SPEAKER_01So I I binge on Wikipedia.
SPEAKER_00Every day.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, every day. Always learning. Wikipedia. I think um I still like sports, which she'll give me or she makes fun of me because it's like I mean, I like college football, but like, you know, the World Cup's on, and she's like, Why are we watching the World Cup? You don't even like soccer. Or or like if dude, soccer is so fun. We've been we've like Tennessee was in the uh playing in the softball college world series, and I had that on. She's like, Why do you even watch softball? Yeah, go vols, right? I'm like, Yeah, that's right. Go vols.
SPEAKER_04That's right. Orange, orange, orange. Yeah, go vol.
SPEAKER_01Of course. I mean what else would be on?
SPEAKER_00Binge watch, yeah. Just I mean, bit binge time with each other, too. I mean, we I mean we're together a lot, but we enjoy it. So and now again, I think b being with family right now is awesome too, because we just moved back closer to home. So um, that's been a huge thing. But I love it. Hopefully when we're done with I'd probably have a better answer with you for like in a month, but um right now we're wrapped around level two. We're kind of binging new world and strew learn, which uh sounds terrible, but we enjoy it. I honestly, like I said, it's fun. Like I like it. It's fun to do questions with your best friends, and you know.
SPEAKER_01If you need if you need book recommendations, there's um I I like like you know, why um why zebras don't get ulcers or uh make it stick. Make it stick. That's a good one. Yeah, it's a good one. Important one, especially if you're an incoming medical student.
SPEAKER_04That's good. That's good. I love it. So um all right, so this was our time with the dances, everybody. Uh future physicians getting ready to start year four in med school. Memphis is fortunate to have you in the city, and we're so excited about where the future takes you all because we know that your investment in others is going to make a huge impact. You have no idea the difference that you're making. And so if you've made it this far in the show, you are a better person because of your time with the dances. So thank you so much for listening and thank you for being with us today.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you for having us.
SPEAKER_04Thanks for having us.