ASHP Midyear 2014

Hi guys!

It's that time of the year again... that's right, it's time for ASHP Midyear! This year was very special for me because Nathan and I were able to win the school's local Clinical Skills Competition so that meant we were able to go to Midyear to compete nationally.

This year's Midyear conference was held in sunny Anaheim, California. Before the conference started I had never been that far out west so I was really thrilled at the prospect. When it came time to board the flight I was a little nervous, but it ended up being a wonderful experience.

The first day of the conference for us was the day before it started for almost everyone else. That's because the competition is held the day before the first "official" day of the conference. We checked in at the main table and went immediately to the competition. The competition went great. Nathan and I really worked together as a team to cover all of our bases and I feel like we did a great job with our patient. We unfortunately didn't make it to the last round (only 10 teams in about 120 do) but I was still really proud of our care plan. I left the competition feeling like I had done my best and that meant a lot to me.

The next day the conference started in earnest. As a fourth year student, it was really important that I kept focused and made a point to take advantage of all of my time there to prepare me for residency applications. I attended all of the residency showcases and met with each of the programs I was interested in for residency. The residency showcases can be really stressful events, so I was really glad I had prepared and researched all of my programs at length before I stepped foot into the conference hall.

I also was able to finally present my research poster! As I mentioned to you all before, I have been working on a research project since I started my second rotation. It finally came together this fall and I was able to put together a poster I was really proud of.

Now that I'm home it's time to get really focused and get everything done for my residency applications. I will be working really hard for the rest of the year on my applications and I hope that by the time I talk to you all next I will be all finished!

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of 2014! I'll see you soon!

Katie