Diary of a Caribbean Med Student

I waited anxiously by the corridor. We hadn’t talked or seen each other since we parted that morning to get ready for our big day. With my eyes closed, I couldn’t help but be amazed by how it was only 5 years ago, on that very same day, that our families, the Gung family and Ho family, met each other… Continue reading

Hi everyone! Moving to a new place like St. Maarten and deciding what to pack from home can be a headache, especially if you are not sure whether you should buy something on the island when you get here or bring it from home. Luckily in St. Maarten, you can pretty much find most things you need. For those of… Continue reading

There’s no doubt that coming to the UK for rotations is a unique experience, not only because of the well-known clinical learning opportunities of the UK teaching hospitals, but also because of the many great travel opportunities here as well. While my six weeks in the UK was shorter than how long most AUC students who come here stay, I… Continue reading

When my attending suggested that I go check out Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The first thing that came to my head was the disturbing scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest in which Jack Nicholson was restrained by a group of nurses and doctors and while consciously talking, and obviously unaware of what… Continue reading

It’s amazing how fast my rotation has gone by.  Now, with less than a week and a half left, I feel the more I learn about Psych, the more I feel there is to learn. The actual practice of psych is so much more than what we learned in Behavioral Science, ICM, or Pharm, and 6 weeks of rotation cannot… Continue reading

Hi everyone! I’d like to talk more about my schedule for my Psych Rotation here at Royal Blackburn Hospital in Blackburn, England. I go on my rotations five days a week from Monday to Friday. Each morning from around 9:30am to 12pm, I attend ward rounds in which the consultant doctor, nurse, social worker and other members of the health… Continue reading

Coming abroad to the UK for clinical studies, it’s difficult not to take advantage of the weekends to explore the country. Being in an age-old and dynamic place as the UK, the travel opportunities are endless, and relatively easy, with the extensive train networks and public transportation here. This past weekend, after a week of ward rounds, patient interviews, and… Continue reading

Hey everyone! Just wanted to update you all that I am doing well here in Blackburn. Last week I had been rotating with the Crisis Response and Home Treatment Team (CRHTT), so all of the psych patients I saw last week had been house visits. This is something you don’t really get to experience in the states. Over here in… Continue reading

This past Saturday, my friend Sebastian and I took a 2-hour train ride from Blackburn where we were doing clinical rotations to the beautiful medieval city of York, in northeastern England. York was founded by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago, as the capital of Rome’s northernmost imperial reaches. The city was later conquered by the Vikings, and became the… Continue reading

Being in England for a week already, I’m already getting a sense of some differences between American English and British English, particularly the English spoken in Blackburn, Lancashire. While I find myself putting a little more effort and focus into listening when other people are speaking, I find that adjusting to the English here hasn’t been as difficult as I… Continue reading

On the first day of anatomy lab in the beginning of med school, Dr. Nash introduced us to our first patient, our cadaver who we worked on as a group throughout the semester.  Today, two years and a step exam later, I had my first patient ever in my clinical rotations. Our first patient today had a really rough history,… Continue reading

After an overnight 9 hour flight from Miami to London, then a 1 hour flight to Manchester, and then a 1 hour train ride to Blackburn, and a short 5 minute bus ride, I’ve finally arrived at my new home for the next 6 weeks, the Royal Blackburn Hospital! My first impression of Blackburn when I arrived by train is… Continue reading

The time has come. In approximately 24 hours, I will be in Blackburn, England, jet-lagged, cold, and excited to start my Psychiatry rotation at the Royal Blackburn Hospital! It will be my first rotation ever, and I will be joining a small community of five other AUC students, two of whom I already know from my class on the island.… Continue reading

The transition from Basic Sciences to Clinical Sciences can be a challenge for many students. For the first time in nearly two years of being together, your class is now dispersed and you find yourself isolated from your friends and classmates. You have all this paperwork you have to complete and a big test to take, and your advisors, deans,… Continue reading

Now that the step is over, I’m playing the waiting game… waiting to schedule my rotations and waiting to start clinicals.  I feel like this entire semester has been a semester of anxiety: I’ve been anxious while studying, anxious during the test, anxious after the test, anxious waiting  for scores, and just when I think I get a brief moment… Continue reading

Thanks so much everyone for the support! I have been getting some questions on what I used to study for the Step 1, and here I’d like to address that. At AUC, in order to finish Basic Sciences, every student must pass the NBME Comp as well as a Kaplan Comp, to ensure that we have acquired sufficient medical knowledge… Continue reading

AUC does not have official school-sponsored sports groups. However, AUC students have always put together sports groups. Throughout my time on the island, I have seen basketball, soccer, street hockey, and softball teams created by AUC students. Many groups, like the AUC Bacteriophages (men’s softball) and the Cushingnoids (men’s soccer) have competed with local island teams in the St. Maarten… Continue reading

About two months ago, my brother Jimmy Ho came down to Miami for a business trip to shoot a wedding for one of his clients. As I had been out of the country for a while, it was truly wonderful to see him and his family again. As part of a wedding gift to Irene and me, Jimmy and his… Continue reading

Dear Friends, Family, and Blog Readers, I’m happy to announce that I have passed Step 1 of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam! It’s such a big relief, and one that marks the end of the first half of my journey through med school and beginning of a new phase: clinical rotations! Thank you to my friends, family, all those at… Continue reading