Burnt out? Feeling academic fatigue

[mct601]

Been a while since Ive been here- if anyone here remembers, I started paramedic school at the National EMS Academy by Acadian Ambulance. Since then I have maintained my full time work schedule (24/48 with swapping days to be off for school), managed to make plenty of volunteer calls with the local VFD, and of course went to school. The first semester I studied pretty good, managed a 4.0. Since the beginning of this last semester, I have been reluctant to study. After being in class till 5, doing 12 hour clinicals, 24 or 48 hrs on the truck, and having to managed my schedule I just can't find the motivation. I have cracked a book twice and am still making the As (last two tests were an 88 and an 86 though). I balk at the idea of studying. I LOVE to learn and I still read pertinent information in articles and whatnot, but I just can't seem to drill information into my head. It doesn't help that I don't have much faith in this program and all of my clinical rotations and even my calls at work have all been the general illness type calls that make you lose interest. Say what you want, but we all know running granny to the hospital for two or three weeks with no true high stress call wears on you- especially at 2am when you need to be asleep for school. (I have White Cloud syndrome)


Anyways, enough of my whining. How do you guys beat academic fatigue? What are your study habits?

 

[SliceOfLife]

You have the itis, it will pass, push on.

 

[Anjel]

You have to have some down time.

I just worked 4 12's in a row and have 7 drugs to remember for tomorrow.

I hear ya on not being able to study. One thing I do is I have 2 notebooks.

One I take notes with in school. Then the night before the next class, I take all the notes and recopy them into the other notebook.

It works for me. It's amazing what you remember without actually studying.

But dude, ya you need a break here and there. Or you it will just go down hill. Don't get cocky and think you are getting good grades, so why study. It will come back and bite you in the ***.

 

[MS Medic]

I had much the same problem my first semester in school. I solved it by going part time at work. I'm not a proponent of going into debt but I have a wife and kids I had to support so I maxed out student loans to get by and then did what I had to do.

Just a thought.

 

[mct601]

Oh no, cocky is the last thing. I'm actually pissed at myself for allowing two Bs in a row. And I'm the first one to tell you that I don't know anything.

I just have to find a different approach to what I was doing. Copying notes in class is worthless sometimes because some instructors base most of their test off the book- and the power points are available online. Add that on top of the fact that they go too fast to take worthwhile notes (having them available to print only makes that worse). When I sit down and open my big red book, my first thought is "...:censored::censored::censored::censored:" lol.

 

[Melclin]

Prioritising information is something anyone at uni has to learn to do.

Setting achievable goals, rewarding yourself with small breaks and downtime doing some you enjoy. Identifying what kind of learner you are and adjusting accordingly. All learning techniques to google.

I have to be actively involved in seeking out information if I'm ganna learn it. I often skipped hours and hours of lectures and just took a text into the library instead. Or I'd take a case study and read it and wonder..well why is that happening to that patient and then figure out the biological basis for that particular disease process. Doing things that way was less fatiguing for me.

I don't really understand what a school like the national academy is like or how that equates to an Australian university, but it does sound like you're severely overloaded.

 

[Tigger]

I need a non-academic goal to get me through it. Right now I have dozens of muscles to learn for tomorrow's test. I really, really do not want to learn them. But I know once I'm done, I'm getting a long break from it. If you have something to look forward too, even days of studying are not insurmountable. There is always an end in sight.

Failing that figure out what's important before it comes to crunch time. If you give yourself a day to figure out what you need to learn and actually learn it, well I'd be screwed.

 

[firetender]

Pacing

Slow down in the places you can slow down.

Could you feel satisfied knowing 85% of the course material for the test if you knew that you'd go back to the material to make sure you got it 100%?

I know, if word got out that you did less than Ace every test people wouldn't call 9-1-1 !

I see enough built-in strain with your schedule. The trick is for YOU to NOT put any more pressure on yourself than you absolutely have to. You DO have control of how much you keep on your plate!

 

[Veneficus]

Since then I have maintained my full time work schedule (24/48 with swapping days to be off for school), managed to make plenty of volunteer calls with the local VFD, and of course went to school.

Sounds like most paramedic students I went to class with or taught.

The first semester I studied pretty good, managed a 4.0. Since the beginning of this last semester, I have been reluctant to study. After being in class till 5, doing 12 hour clinicals, 24 or 48 hrs on the truck, and having to managed my schedule I just can't find the motivation. I have cracked a book twice and am still making the As (last two tests were an 88 and an 86 though)..

88 and 86 are As? (Not important.)

That is why your final grade is an average. It sounds like you sprinted out of the gate and now you are tired and are slowing down.

Rather than lament you are not still sprinting, use this as a learning experience and next time you are in a class, don't sprint the first few steps of a marathon.

The student who gets good grades early is not a better student than the one who starts slow and finishes strong. He is not a better student than the one who has a constant average throughout.

I balk at the idea of studying. I LOVE to learn and I still read pertinent information in articles and whatnot, but I just can't seem to drill information into my head.

That is a failure of your instructors/program. I have seen it in most medic programs. There are extra resources for students who struggle, but never extra challenges for students who quickly advance.

In classes with a paramilitary structure, only average students are ever satisfied, with the extremes of the sclae highly dissatisfied.

It doesn't help that I don't have much faith in this program and all of my clinical rotations and even my calls at work have all been the general illness type calls that make you lose interest. Say what you want, but we all know running granny to the hospital for two or three weeks with no true high stress call wears on you- especially at 2am when you need to be asleep for school. (I have White Cloud syndrome)

Welcome to EMS.

This is most of the calls/patients. This number will also increase as modern society suffers more from chronic disease than acute illness. It is not going to change much no matter where you go.

I think you have to take a hard look at what EMS really is and decide if it is for you. Your best "saves" will require the most minimal effort.

If you were hoping to be saving lives more than a handful of times a career, you picked the wrong business, you should have went into public sanitation or something similar.

You also have to remember where you do clinicals and ride time at. A paramedic student who goes to an academic medical center in a highly populated area is going to have a better experience than somebody who goes to a community hospital close to home.

You may find it worth the drive to go to a busy station or hospital for your clinical time.

Anyways, enough of my whining. How do you guys beat academic fatigue? What are your study habits?

:rofl:

First, I live by this phrases:

"Non scholae sed vitae discimus" and "poor is the student who doesn't exceed his master."

If learning is something you enjoy, then do it like you enjoy it, not like a task to be done. Read your book like you read a novel, looking for the plot and story, not just facts to be memorized.

I encourage students I teach not to take notes when I lecture. (Of course I do not lecture word for word off of slides or on facts. I connect facts and explain hard to understand concepts, paramedic students don't (at least shouldn't) need somebody to read the book to them.)

My study habits?

It is a lifestyle. I have accepted school in some form or another is forever. I don't look for the end, I look for the next challenge. (which this week in addition to my normal hospital routine is the tedium of data entry and studying.)

pace yourself, it is not a sprint.

 

[Melclin]

That is a failure of your instructors/program. I have seen it in most medic programs. There are extra resources for students who struggle, but never extra challenges for students who quickly advance.

I don't know that I agree with that. Interest in a topic comes and goes, you get distracted by another topic and move to that..and then oh look at this study and its onto something else. Then you're tired for a few days and don't give a toss about anything. That is the kind of learning I enjoy. Its not without structure but it happens in its own time and ultimately, when you reach a point where you lose interest, you can move onto something else. That is quite different to when you absolutely have to memorise concepts x,y and z as well as 30 other come exam time, and more importantly memorise it in a sense that communicates your point in the appropriate amount of space that you and your classmates decide might be allocated to topic such as that. Then take into account your lecturer's opinion on that topic. No use arguing for x when your lecturer is a staunch supporter of y. At uni I read all of the literature published by a given lecturer before I wrote any essays for the subject that they taught. I think its important to know who is reading them (or at least who is setting the marking criteria and weighting).

I have often thought around exam time...I can't wait until the end of exams when I can read about the stuff I wanna learn about and not what I have to drill into my mind for school.

 

[Handsome Robb]

Oh no, cocky is the last thing. I'm actually pissed at myself for allowing two Bs in a row. And I'm the first one to tell you that I don't know anything.

I just have to find a different approach to what I was doing. Copying notes in class is worthless sometimes because some instructors base most of their test off the book- and the power points are available online. Add that on top of the fact that they go too fast to take worthwhile notes (having them available to print only makes that worse). When I sit down and open my big red book, my first thought is "...:censored::censored::censored::censored:" lol.

I know exactly how you feel. I've been working 4x12s at work as an Intermediate and 3x12.5s as a medic student in the hospital since January. I finally am into my internship and have a bit of a less hectic schedule but not much.

I was starting to get pretty burnt by the end of March although I had a few incidents outside of work and school that added to this. I took a couple days off from work, spent some time taking care of myself rather than other people and now I am back to being motivated and don't dread work or school.

Who knew that chapter in the medic text about "The Health of the Paramedic" really is worth paying attention to after all! I now realize how truly important it is now.

Take some time if you need it dude, even if it's only one weekend, it can make a world of difference.

 

[Veneficus]

I don't know that I agree with that. Interest in a topic comes and goes, you get distracted by another topic and move to that..and then oh look at this study and its onto something else. Then you're tired for a few days and don't give a toss about anything. That is the kind of learning I enjoy. Its not without structure but it happens in its own time and ultimately, when you reach a point where you lose interest, you can move onto something else. That is quite different to when you absolutely have to memorise concepts x,y and z as well as 30 other come exam time, and more importantly memorise it in a sense that communicates your point in the appropriate amount of space that you and your classmates decide might be allocated to topic such as that. Then take into account your lecturer's opinion on that topic. No use arguing for x when your lecturer is a staunch supporter of y. At uni I read all of the literature published by a given lecturer before I wrote any essays for the subject that they taught. I think its important to know who is reading them (or at least who is setting the marking criteria and weighting).

I have often thought around exam time...I can't wait until the end of exams when I can read about the stuff I wanna learn about and not what I have to drill into my mind for school.

I was trying to point out that an good instructor can give structure where none is present and find ways to keep you motivated and interested.

But that requires a program that has flexibility. Something most programs don't have in the US.

For example, how many readers here could substitute writing a drug test for equal credit working on a paper about pharmacology?

Can they schedule additional clinicals outside of the curriculum for provider interest?

Can they substitute a peds clinical with a neonatal one? (which is still considered peds by definition)

Can they accept an oral presentation on a topic from a student during class time instead of a filled out workbook chapter?

Academia has a lot of flexibility. Vocational education has nearly none. One creates professionals. One does not.

 

[Melclin]

I was trying to point out that an good instructor can give structure where none is present and find ways to keep you motivated and interested.

Agree completely. The current senior clinical staff where I'm working could make watching the grass grow interesting. And of course we've all had lecturers who could make even the most interesting of topics boring.

But that requires a program that has flexibility. Something most programs don't have in the US.

For example, how many readers here could substitute writing a drug test for equal credit working on a paper about pharmacology?

Can they schedule additional clinicals outside of the curriculum for provider interest?

Can they substitute a peds clinical with a neonatal one? (which is still considered peds by definition)

Can they accept an oral presentation on a topic from a student during class time instead of a filled out workbook chapter?

Academia has a lot of flexibility. Vocational education has nearly none. One creates professionals. One does not.

I agree with this to an extent. I mean, paeds or neonatal? They're different animals. A three year old presenting with 3/7 URTI symptoms and 4/24 audible weeze with accessory muscle use is a different job entirely to delivery two flat kids at 27wks + mum with a gushing PPH. We need to know how to do both.

Also, to a degree, assessment have to be similar in order to ensure equitable ability to achieve grades that are comparable. But sure, offer a choice of essay topics, a choice of community mental health placements, a choice of oral presentation, diorama or bloody...clay-mation movies. But, I'm sure you're agree, there does need to be a touch of uniformity.

I agree completely about vocational education vs academic education, I'm just adding a caveat.

 

[Veneficus]

Agree completely. The current senior clinical staff where I'm working could make watching the grass grow interesting. And of course we've all had lecturers who could make even the most interesting of topics boring.



I agree with this to an extent. I mean, paeds or neonatal? They're different animals. A three year old presenting with 3/7 URTI symptoms and 4/24 audible weeze with accessory muscle use is a different job entirely to delivery two flat kids at 27wks + mum with a gushing PPH. We need to know how to do both.

Also, to a degree, assessment have to be similar in order to ensure equitable ability to achieve grades that are comparable. But sure, offer a choice of essay topics, a choice of community mental health placements, a choice of oral presentation, diorama or bloody...clay-mation movies. But, I'm sure you're agree, there does need to be a touch of uniformity.

I agree completely about vocational education vs academic education, I'm just adding a caveat.

Have you seen the "problem based learning" model some medical schools are using now?

I think for me at least, that would be the best solution. Of course, school is almost done for me!!! Some data entry, 1 test, and finish writing, and I am done!

 

[titmouse]

I am not at your level yet. I am finishing first responder now I have been putting time into studying. 4 hours at a time, after that burnout start creeping in.