They say that medical school is a four year degree in a second language - it's estimated that by graduation we will have learned 55,000 new words. If my brief exposure to microbiology this semester is any indication, roughly 25,000 of them will only vary by three or four letters. Example: third generation cephalosporins, a class of antibiotics:
* Cefcapene
* Cefdaloxime
* Cefdinir
* Cefditoren
* Cefetamet
* Cefixime
* Cefmenoxime
* Cefodizime
* Cefotaxime
* Cefovecin
* Cefpimizole
* Cefpodoxime
* Cefteram
* Ceftibuten
* Ceftiofur
* Ceftiolene
* Ceftizoxime
* Ceftriaxon
....
If you're like me, you stopped reading after the second line and said, "cefblahblah." And sadly, since thus far medicine is a multiple choice endeavor, that strategy works. I don't have to know it, just have to recognize it.
It bothers me that they don't all start with "ceph". :(
Posted by: Rachel Grey | March 06, 2010 at 05:35 PM