Peace at last!!!

So it finally seems that I'm getting pretty well settled in here in Texas. And by that I mean, I've finally decided on my next career goals. I think............, LOL!! With this semester almost over (HELL YEAH!!), I eagerly anticipate formally continuing along the path toward my PhD at my new institution in the Spring.

And yes, I did decide to go for the PhD because I think I can get "more bang for my buck". The fact that almost all of the cohort I would have been classmates with in the Doctorate program were already Clinicians, pretty much "sealed the deal on my decision". And in the biggest irony of all, the methods I aced but received no encouragement/support for in the Asian group I rotated with last summer, are the same ones my new adviser (who is also Asian but Indian, like the folks who have made up most of my tutoring clients) is encouraging me to continue to develop and pursue for my dissertation. That means, that I'll see them next Spring at a meeting for an organization we're all a members of! Boo-Yah!!!

Movin' on, my MCAT studying is coming along though I've dropped off a little recently to prepare two presentations I have to do by the end of the month. And after reading a post on oldpremeds, I've decided NOT to mention a date/year for when I'll apply to med school until after I take the MCAT because there's simply NO point. Yes, I'm still shooting to take the MCAT next year, but the exact date is a moving target (late next summer?). And you know what I'm okay with that for now, because med school isn't going ANYWHERE and though I was concerned about being 50+ when I apply, I've simply decided NOT to worry about that anymore either. Why? Because there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. I realize most many MD schools will rule me out because of my age, but I'm certainly not going to let that stop me from applying anyway. At this point, MD, DO, Caribbean MD, it doesn't matter to me as long as I get it done!

Breathe!!!

So after 3 weeks of nuthin' but exams, quizzes, projects, and more quizzes, I FINALLY get a chance to catch my breath and relax! Translation, I've had time to tap daily naps for the past few days, LOL!! And as I learned when I was a grad student with a book in one arm and a nursing baby in the other, a power nap makes ALL the difference in the world! Now all I need to do is find a good bubble bath mixture to put the rarely used jacuzzi tub to work then I'll really be feeling wonderful!

Movin' on, I'm doing a presentation on a field of HIT in 2 weeks and naturally I choose something I'm thinking about myself, the field of Clinical Informatics. I've talked about it before but today, I'm going to discuss more specifics.

To enter this specialty requires successful completion of Residency, followed by a 2-3 year fellowship period. So as an example, my top Resident fields are IM and/or Peds, and Preventative Medicine and today, my very top choice is Preventative Medicine. To date, there are only about 10 or so approved programs in the US. Obviously with the importance to Health Information to the practice of medicine (duh), this field is continuing to grow, a realization that becomes more real every day with my current study of health data science/health information technology.