tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9264454459902995122024-03-14T06:44:28.406+00:00The Crazy Life of a Med StudentThe very very long journey to become a doctor.magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-58254588322883433372014-02-09T23:28:00.000+00:002014-02-09T23:38:20.715+00:00Medical School Interview, Job Applications, and etc!I was hoping to get a bit more free time to make some posts. I am either busy catching up with work, or dead tired. So I will be addressing many things in this post.<br />
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1) Medical School Interviews<br />
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I know I'm a bit late with this, but hopefully most of you have seen my older posts on <a href="http://crazylifemedstudent.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/interview-tips.html" target="_blank">tips for medical school interviews</a>. Because I had my interviews back in 2008, I'm not as "updated" as others out there as I'm sure the system has changed. In regards to my particular medical school, we still run the standard panel of 3 interviewing 1 applicant. Each applicant has 20 minutes. Here are some quick tips, which I have mentioned before:<br />
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<li>Reflect on your experiences. Integrate reflection of your past activities into your interview questions. It is one thing to answer the question with one word, but show us an example of when you had shown "this" particular skill or a particular experience where you learned something that helps you be a strong applicant</li>
<li>Dress smartly - I'm not kidding you...I have seen some applicants turn up in a wrinkled shirt and creased trousers. I guess I don't have the right to judge someone's dress, but this is an interview for a very competitive spot in medical school. You need to impress and the first thing the interviewer sees, is you and how you carry yourself and what you're wearing. Yes we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but why start an uphill battle before you have even sat down in front of the panel. </li>
<li>Medical schools want to find out more about your personal qualities that they couldn't get from your personal statement. This is your time to shine in an interview. Some schools allow the interviewers to have read the applicant's personal statement before they come in for their interview. Expand on it.</li>
<li>Confidence. Yes it is very nervous time, but you need to put on your confident face. Deliver your answers confidently. Don't sound unsure as these are questions about yourself. You shouldn't be unsure of your own personal qualities/experiences/achievements.</li>
<li>Give succinct answers aka don't beat around the bush, yet try not to give very short answers as that means the interviewer will need to come up with more questions to ask you...</li>
<li>Think your answers through before answering. You don't lose any points sitting for 30 seconds to think over your answer. Think the interviewers appreciate it more if you gave a structured succinct answer. </li>
<li>Back to basics: eye contact, try not to fidget while sat in your seat (trust me the interviewers notice it and it is quite distracting), and try to smile (it just makes the process seem so much less dreary and gloomy)</li>
<li>I remember before going into my interview I told myself it is just questions about myself. I know myself best and no one knows me better than me. Interviewers (from what I have experienced) aren't out there to catch you out. They honestly want to know more about you and see if that personal statement matches the applicant who sits in front of them. 20 minutes isn't a long time to make that judgement, so as an applicant you don't have much time to get your personality across.</li>
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2) Job Applications</div>
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Right this biggest pain up the backside you'll face in your final year. Why is it a pain? It is because you're trying to focus on passing your finals, then this FPAS application crops up a few months prior so you're trying to revise yet do your job application correctly. The first step of job applications is filling out your basic details, your degree details/any additional degrees, if you are going for an academic job you have to answer 3 questions where you have 250 (?) words to answer, and then rank your deaneries which are based on regions. You have to rank all 26 or so regions, so you cannot opt out of certain regions. That means doing it strategically as well. Obviously London will be extremely competitive and you'll need to be realistic about your score and whether you can keep up with the rest of the country to get that job. You'll need to have in mind your "backup" region in case things don't go so well. </div>
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Once you submit your application, there are these exams called the "Situational Judgement Test". It is 2.5 hour exam on ethics and being a good doctor. They give you a bunch of scenarios and you have to rank in order or select the best 3 things you should do. It's not exactly an exam you can study for, but it is worth practising. There are lots of books for sale. I personally used MedGrad book "Situational Judgement Test for the Foundation Years Programme 2nd Edition" and found it to be really accurate and similar to the paper itself. It also has really good explanations with the GMC guidance alongside for your reference. It's not cheap, but I thought it really helped me prepare for the SJT. I started practising approximately 2 weeks prior to the exam so it's not something you need to spend a lot of time on. Think the main thing to keep in mind that this exam is about what you SHOULD do, not what you would do.<br />
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Once SJT is over, we don't get our results until we find out about our deanery allocation in March, but the wait isn't that painstaking since there are finals to think about! As usual this year jobs have been oversubscribed so we'll see how that goes - fingers crossed.<br />
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3) Other Things - Update<br />
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So like the title of my blog - life of a medical student is pretty crazy...and I should just rename it to "hectic". I'm now on my final run of placements before end of medical school. Pretty crazy to think about that. It's just now working on skills that are needed for an F1, so that means not going to clinic or theatre and spending majority of my time on the wards and doing jobs. Bit weird to be honest. I always have this temptation to go down to theatres for a nosy.<br />
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What has been happening right after exams? I had another rotation in Orthopaedics as we all know you can't get enough of Orthopaedics. It was a really good attachment. Got a lot of theatre time and clinics peppered in between. Scrubbed loads of times and got to work on my surgical skills. Still got all my fingers as well - that's always a bonus. Now in my final year, I've finally really grasped this "pro-active" concept of things and think it has really helped. Instead of waiting to be asked to do something, I offer to do it first or just go off and get it done. Seems to go down well and I've gotten a lot more opportunities to do things and be more involved. Think it helps with gaining trust from the registrar/consultants. Also still managed to stay true to myself and continue to be really personable with the other team members (e.g. consultant, registrar, SHOs, etc). We are all human at the end of the day and no one likes to talk about work all the time. Gotten to know a few more registrars and a few consultants while sat in the coffee room in between cases and just makes the experience more enjoyable. Of course this is after gauging the other person's personality and how open they are. I know when to keep my beak shut and just be really quiet. So far the consultants I have encountered are pretty talkative and really laid back so quite lucky in that sense.<br />
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I shall give you all a break! Long enough post I believe! Sorry again for lack of updates...final year just seems to be that much more hectic...somehow.</div>
magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com61tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-32948218015833230352013-12-31T12:16:00.000+00:002013-12-31T12:16:32.417+00:00Still Alive! Happy New Year!Wow these last 2 months have been a whirlwind hence I haven't had time to make a post (apologies!). Essentially just wanted to check-in and wish everyone a Happy New Year. 2013 for me has been a whistle-stop tour. I've made many accomplishments and is certainly another memorable year. Some highlights:<br />
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<li>Presenting a poster at a national conference</li>
<li>Meeting new people</li>
<li>Going back home for my elective </li>
<li>Commencing another research project (fairly large one too)!</li>
<li>Applying for my first proper job!</li>
<li>Learning more skills (medical and surgical)</li>
<li>Being happy :)</li>
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This year had blown by and it has essentially been a year where I had to gain even more confidence especially knowing next year, I will be given responsibilities (no more fooling around!). This second half of the year was just hectic. The minute I came back from elective, it was just non-stop meeting deadlines and never-ending work. Even now I'm supposed to be busy as I've got my first set of final exams in a few days (cruel). I despise revising through the holidays...it's very depressing. </div>
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Anyways better get back to revising. I'll hopefully get some free time soon and be able to write an entry about the job application process and what that was like. </div>
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Wishing you all a Happy New Year. I know for sure it'll be a big and very important year for me. Bring on 2014!</div>
magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-89263915167695707422013-10-13T16:34:00.000+01:002013-10-13T16:34:33.705+01:00Radiology: Dark Room - Perfect for Snoozing.So I had my attachment in Radiology. I was a bit hesitant about it, as I'm not great at sitting still, though I was excited to actually be taught how to read X-rays, CT/MRI scans and maybe see a bit of intervention radiology done. As expected first day I was sat in a dark room in front of a computer screen with a radiologist. Had great teaching on how to read chest x-rays, but eventually it got a bit boring and repetitive. Eventually I found myself zoning out, but luckily the radiologist had to go to a meeting so allowed me to go home. Thought to myself: "Jeez how am I going to survive a full day tomorrow in a dark room?"<br />
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Next day, same thing in a dark room, but smaller room...which was fairly stuffy and warm. Perfect environment for a snooze. This time we were going through MRI scans of the head. Complicated, but interesting. Had a bit of a late night the day before trying to do job applications, so I found it hard to wake up. Eventually again, found myself drifting off. I was sat behind the radiologist and because he had quite a long list of things to do, he would go back into his own world and dictate a report. While he does that, I felt my eyes getting heavier...and let's say at one point I nearly fell off my chair. Then off to ultrasound in the afternoon. I followed the sonographer, and again they work in a dark room. It was fairly straight forward, except at least there's a little bit of patient contact. Despite this, found myself falling off the high chairs while trying to focus on the screen. I think it didn't help that I didn't get any hands-on as this attachment was more just to get a feel for the specialty.<br />
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So this dark room saga and me dozing off continued for a few days. I guess I didn't learn as much as I had hoped. I think with radiology, it is one specialty where you just need to sit down with a book of examples and go through them at your own pace. It is nice to have someone there pointing stuff out, but I found that the radiologists does them really quickly as they're well-experienced, but for an untrained eye like mine...I really need to sit there and admire the abnormality and compare it with "normal".<br />
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Really not that exciting of a week. Starting another specialty next week...by the looks of it, it isn't that exciting. I do have Orthopaedics coming up in a few weeks so definitely looking forward to that. It's been awhile since I've been in theatres (since electives) and it'll be nice to be back in there!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-87448988393553260502013-09-15T21:36:00.000+01:002013-09-15T21:36:07.112+01:00I'm Baaack!Shocker - I'm back! Most of you probably thought I fell off the planet or medical school had simply killed me. Actually what had happened is that after my placements in May I had left for my medical elective for 2 months. I went back to Canada to do my medical elective in..........you guessed it: Orthopaedics. It was tough - and that's putting it lightly. I have not worked as hard as I had during my medical elective than any of my last 4 years at medical school. So once I got back I was seriously burnt out while my friends were burnt from their lovely sun filled elective in the beautiful/tropic parts of the world such as: Thailand, Vietnam, Fiji...I am feeling my blood pressure go up again. To put it in even more simple terms - I was miserable during my elective and very jealous of my friends who had a tropical and fun-filled elective to discover themselves.<br />
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Why was my elective so tough?<br />
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Well North American medical school will always have its stereotype to uphold. My mornings started at 6:30 am and my day didn't end until 6pm and that's me sneaking off early. Despite being a visiting elective student I was expected to still do 24 hour on-calls. Yes there were a few days especially in the first 2 weeks where I wanted to go and hide in a corner and cry. I've never been told off so much in medical school as much as I had during my first 4 week rotation. Apologies I have to leave out details as it will make me very easily identifiable if I start specifying EXACTLY what sub-specialty I was doing. I remember telling my parents several times I would quit. I nearly walked out of clinic many times. I walked out of the operating room once after being unfairly treated. This elective definitely pushed my limits to the max. When I reached my 2nd rotation of 4 weeks - I was back in my comfort zone. Let's say the first 4 weeks was a very steep learning curve and one I hope to never go through again. Looking back at it, I'm glad I got my ass-whipped as not only did I never work so hard before, but I have never learnt so much before in such a short amount of time. I had to gain A LOT of self-confidence and was pushed to the deep end of the pool during my elective and I'm glad the consultant pushed me that hard. I would have never learned...but with that, I sacrificed the enjoyment of the elective. I guess it's a fine balance.<br />
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When I returned to the UK I was just so burnt out. I didn't get much of a summer holiday. I was back to placements and well let's just say placement seemed extremely SLOW compared to Canada. I had a hard time adjusting back and consultants thought I was overly too proactive. It's a very different system here in the UK. In Canada I felt like I had to fight for my learning opportunities and I learned by falling flat on my face a million times. In the UK, we are spoon-fed our learning opportunities. There isn't a huge competition atmosphere in the UK. I was with other medical students in Canada and I found myself fighting to get to scrub in and fighting to see patients. As a student in the UK I feel like sometimes we take it for granted the amount of learning opportunities we get. Anyways there isn't much to talk about my elective. If I had to sum it up in one sentence it would go like this: Worked my ass off, but came out more mature and wiser and perhaps a hell lot more worn out. To be honest I still don't know what to think of my elective. Don't get me wrong, I was lucky to have got an elective in Canada in a major city in a very popular specialty, so I don't regret it at all.<br />
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Hopefully I'll start updating a bit more, however, final exams are coming up so I am a lot busier than usual now. Currently doing my General Practice rotation so who knows maybe I'll find time. Sorry again for the lack of updates...just had a rough few months.magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-71858495161928334632013-05-03T22:02:00.000+01:002013-05-03T22:02:02.052+01:00Urology - Week 1Sorry for the lack of updates. The weird thing with this rotation is that I'm running through all the other specialities: ENT, Ophthalmology, Urology, Haematology, Dermatology, and Oncology. I only get either 1 or 2 weeks in each specialty. You can imagine I only get a quick glimpse of everything and so far nothing interesting has happened.<br />
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Because I am now on Urology and have got 2 weeks here, I thought it would be worth doing a bit of an update. So we were inducted into the specialty on the Monday and were pretty much scared stiff. The urology department at our hospital is an academic department as well so they have academic ward rounds and really encourage full participation from students. You will probably wonder: "So what's wrong with that? That's great isn't it?" Well yes, that's great as we get loads of teaching, but that means we got to work twice as hard as we are expected to do presentations. I don't mind working hard, it's just our presentations have to be a case study on an inaptient. With how our schedules are, we don't have much time on the wards as we are timetabled to be in clinics/theatre. We were also told that consultants expect us all to be prepared for clinics/theatre and expect us to do our reading beforehand.<br />
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Biggest heart sinker? On theatre days we are expected to go to Theatre Admissions Unit (TAU) at 7:30am to get a brief patient history for all the patients on the list and be prepared to tell the surgeon all about the patient in theatre. Don't get me wrong, I love going to theatre, I just don't enjoy this horrifically early wake-up. I've been quite lucky with not needing to go to TAU in prior placements as the consultants I have been placed with don't require me to go to TAU and talk to the patient ahead of time so I usually get to theatre at around 8:30am. Anyways so Tuesday was my theatre day and I was placed with the academic lead for Urology (perfect...). Being a bit scared, I obviously head to TAU at 7:30am and talked to the 2 patients who were on the theatre list. As I was finishing up the consultant shows up and was actually quite surprised to see me in TAU. I was then promptly quizzed about the 2 patients and about their procedures. Luckily I did a bit of reading before I saw the consultant so everything was fresh in my mind. Think I impressed him as I got the nod of approval and the brief grilling seized.<br />
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At theatre, I met with the registrar and was warned I will probably get a full grilling on anatomy and should do some reading while the consultant isn't around. Read up on the prostate and bladder, which wasn't too difficult. I've always remembered the general rule for surgery is to know the blood supply, lymph drainage, and nerve supply for that organ, and you'll be alright. 30 minutes into a cystectomy, the consultant asked me for the blood, lymph, and nerve supply for the bladder. Check. Check. And check. The greatest bit was when he looked over to me in awe and proceeded to go quiet until lunch time. Just going to dust my shoulders off now. Now here comes a curve-ball, I was then shown a muscle and was asked what it was. Thankfully due to my "love" for orthopaedics and hip/knee anatomy, I immediately recognized the muscle as the psoas. Then another dead pan from the consultant who then went quiet again. Then he asked about the path of the Obturator nerve and what it innervates. Easy as I've been quizzed on that before by an orthopaedic consultant for fun not too long ago. As I finished my answer, the consultant put his scissors down and remarked that he'll sign me off for the next 2 weeks. He seemed really impressed and well I obviously felt good for once and not like a complete idiot. I was quite lucky with the questions though as usually it is a hit or miss. Was a fairly good day!<br />
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Rest of the week was fairly...dull. Went to a haematuria/cystoscopy clinic and did a bit of ward work, where I found myself being the cannula/bloods monkey again. Was nice being able to put cannulas in again as it has been awhile since I've put one in and I was worried I would lose the skill, but looking at my 100% in one go rate on the ward, think I'm still alright! All in all - okay week. Not very stimulating. Not very interesting. Escaped presentation - think it was partly due to my "good play" in theatre. Hopefully next week will go just as well!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-47850482710624356112013-04-12T01:06:00.000+01:002013-04-12T01:06:03.193+01:001 Week ENT.Well I'm back to "work". Had a week of ENT...which has been fairly uneventful. Went to a few adult and children ear/head/neck clinics. The clinics actually run quite quickly, but I'm not sure if it is because the surgeons are efficient or the cases in general are more simple. Think it is the former. Anyways it has been a fairly frustrating placement. Because it is half-term, a lot of the consultants are away so a lot of clinics/theatre lists are cancelled. Obviously being a medical student, we don't get told about the schedule changes, so we don't find out until we get to clinic/theatre. Just one of those skills you need as a student: Adaptation. Need to be able to think on your feet and figure out what are you going to do with your time. I found myself running between hospitals quite a bit - I guess it's a good workout! Absolute pain though.<br />
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To be entirely honest - my impression of ENT surgeons before I started the placement was: "a bunch of arrogant surgeons". I am so glad I was proven wrong. They were all really nice and are really keen to teach. Don't know where did I get that impression from. Then again most impressions/stereotypes are no longer accurate. One thing I will admit is that the surgeries that ENT surgeons do are remarkable and beautiful. So delicate and intricate, but it works! I assisted in a myringoplasty and laryngectomy. Just amazing. Myringoplasty is where a perforation in the ear drum is replaced by a graft which you get from the fascia lying over the skull. Everything is done under a microscope. Admittedly my eyes were hurting after, but it was quite a beautiful surgery. They work in such a small space and still manage to do it with a lot of precision. Also watching them place a graft over the perforation and finding ways to support the graft while it heals with the rest of the ear drum...just can't describe it in words. Whoever thought up of these surgeries - genius. On the other hand - laryngectomy - massive incision requiring neck dissection. Saw so much great anatomy. Also got to scrub in and close up in the end (after hours of retracting). This surgery showed me why some people absolutely dread surgery. Never understood it until that day. My hands were cramping so much that I couldn't feel them anymore at one point. Guess my reward in the end was closing up. Suturing will always make a keen medical student's (interested in surgery) day better. Got to learn a new type of suturing technique, which is quite challenging. Took a few goes for me to get a hang of it, but eventually I managed to get a hang of it and I don't think I did too bad. Got it checked over, and got the nod of approval. Was quite satisfied with myself!<br />
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The thing I noticed in my very short 1 week stint in ENT was that you see a lot of cancers in adults and a lot of ear infection/tonsillitis in children clinics. Such contrasting conditions. Overall the attachment was too short...but in a way I was relieved that it was over because it was so disorganized. I was really fed up with running around looking for the right clinics and going between hospitals to go to a different theatre list. Then the consultant wouldn't be expecting a student and you have to explain, etc etc. Life of a medical student!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-1731730285950488102013-03-31T23:33:00.000+01:002013-03-31T23:33:18.327+01:00Quick Update.<div>
As some of you have noticed...I have disappeared for a few weeks. I do apologise for the sudden disappearance. After my A&E placement, I pretty much dashed off to the airport and was off for holiday. So now I am back and will be starting my next rotation of specialties in a few days. I start with Opthalmology and ENT for 2 weeks. </div>
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Stay tuned for some new adventures! </div>
magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-54873170230644401592013-03-09T15:17:00.000+00:002013-03-09T15:21:33.658+00:00My Audit Project: Start to Finish.May 2012 - I started on my first audit project which was in Orthopaedics. I technically started planning this audit project with my supervisor back in January 2012. When we first discussed this project, the project was just intended to be a good learning experience for me and I pretty much saw it as something to keep me occupied during my Orthopaedics placement. I don't think any of us really thought of going far with this project. It was essentially a "we'll see how it goes" kind of thing. Admittedly, I didn't take the project that seriously either. I spent maybe an hour here and there in medical records. Our sample group size wasn't very big either so I wasn't exactly pressured to spend hours and hours to collect all the data. To be fair the audit project took about 3 weeks to complete (as in gather all the data, come up with numbers, and type up a rough report to hand in). As you can probably see now, I didn't take it very seriously. As I started getting results and numbers from the audit, my supervisor began encouraging me to think about submitting it to national/international conferences as he believes people might be interested in our results. I remember actually laughing off what he said and told myself: "That'll be the day!". Eventually he started to sound a lot more serious about it and continuously encouraged me to submit an abstract to conferences.<br />
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Because I had typed up a report (albeit quite roughly), I at least have a base for an abstract. An abstract is essentially a 250-300 word summary of your project. It would include an introduction, aim, methods, results, and a conclusion. I took a sentence or two from each of my sections in my report and put them together and there we go: I've got my 250-300 word abstract ready for submission. I submitted an abstract to 1 national and 1 international conference. As I submitted it, I still told myself: "Why would anyone want to select MY project? It'll be a joke." 3 months after submitting my abstract, I heard back from the conferences. I was accepted to do a poster presentation at a pretty "prestigious" (apparently) national conference. I couldn't believe it. I was over the moon. I mean I never expected to get anything from this project. Like I earlier said, it was a bit of a "keep me busy" project that I didn't take seriously. You can imagine I wasn't very confident about it and really truly didn't think I'll get anything from it. I even told my supervisor in the unlikely event of me getting anything out of this project, it will be a massive bonus. I heard back about the national presentation in December 2012 and in about 2 months I had to churn out a poster. Where do I even start?!<br />
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I have never done a poster before. I mean I presented my project a few months earlier at a local audit meeting so I had a powerpoint presentation of my poster, but not an actual POSTER. I asked around and was given a template. To be honest, I was still very lost. Because it was my holiday when I had to work on my poster, I pretty much sat myself down in front of my computer and spent the whole day making the poster. I used powerpoint to make the poster and after many hours of continuous work, I had my first draft for my poster. I remember sitting back and looking at my computer screen with a large grin. I can finally see my project "come to life". All that work, I can finally see it. After many drafts and sending my drafts to my supervisor, I believe I had my final draft. 2 weeks before my conference, I made some last minute changes to the images and minor adjustments and sent it for printing.<br />
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"Your poster is ready to pick up." - the graphics team had called. It was my day off and I quickly rushed out to go see my poster. When I saw the poster I just could not believe it. My work in true physical form. I obviously took a minute to be a bit of a narcissist and admire my work. I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and joy. Just looking back at the long journey, I just could not believe it.<br />
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Then it was time to go to the 3 day conference. Poster rolled up and secured in a tube. No one has seen it other than me so my supervisor and other surgeons who helped haven't seen it. We all met up and went to the venue to register and put up the poster. Just walking into the venue and seeing everyone there (250+ people) and 95% of them were Registrars or Consultants in Orthopaedics, it was actually quite intimidating. It didn't help that I looked BY FAR the youngest in the meeting and 1 of the handful of women there as obviously Orthopaedics is quite male dominated. When I took the poster out to put up, while my supervisor and other doctors stood around, it was nice to see my name as the first author and the title of my project standing out among the other posters in the hall. I got a pat on the back and was congratulated. It has finally happened. My first national poster presentation. Throughout the day I was introduced to many consultants from around England and met some pretty famous ones who I have only heard about. It was such a great and new experience. When it was finally time to leave, I left my poster with my supervisor.<br />
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A few days ago I received an email from admin in Orthopaedics saying that I should go visit the Orthopaedics Department. I kind of dismissed it and didn't pop around until yesterday. As I walked down the hall in the department, there it was - my poster. It was displayed up on the wall, which registrars and consultants like to call: "The Hall of Fame". I stopped in front of my poster to be a bit of a narcissist again and admire my work. <br />
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What this project has taught me is that if you work hard, "the sky's the limit". The opportunities are infinite - you just need to go look for it and grasp onto it when it passes by.<br />
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So what's next for me? Because my project was a lot more successful than we all thought, I am now hoping to submit a more polished report for publication. I mean these projects are quite fun, and a good experience so I am in the midst of planning with another consultant to do another project with a much larger sample group and on a different topic. After going to the conference, I am very motivated to keep doing projects and working hard. Who knows where my projects will take me next? America? Canada? Asia?<br />
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<i>"The sky's the limit."</i></div>
magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-68723983780524932962013-03-09T00:02:00.000+00:002013-03-09T00:02:16.331+00:00A&E Night Shifts.Many apologies for the lack of updates...A&E is proving to be a lot busier than first thought. My first week was a bit shaky as I started off with a week of night shifts. I really did not know what to expect. I made sure I sorted out my sleeping schedule and got plenty of sleep right before my shift. No matter how many placements I go on, the first day will always be slightly awkward. Literally stood around for a good hour by the doctor's desk waiting for a friendly doctor to say hi and welcome my group and I. Nope. Eventually we stopped a doctor and was quickly told: "Get stuck in! There is the box of the patient notes. Take a history and stalk the box and see which doctor picks up the patient you saw." Was quite perplexed and shrugged and just "got stuck in". Eventually attached myself to a doctor and found myself with a list of jobs, which included putting cannulas in and taking bloods. Just coming off from Anaesthetics proved useful, as I was still confident in putting in cannulas and was popping them in with ease. Though not having another pair of hands to help like we do in the anaesthetics room in theatre was proving to be quite tricky (and messy). Eventually it got to about 4am, and you notice yourself starting to lapse in concentration. I was definitely starting to miss veins and needed to "fish around" before getting into a vein when inserting a cannula. What's really annoying is that no matter how late I eat my dinner, I will get hungry at 4am. Luckily the doctors were really chilled and are always prepared. The registrar brings food for the team on night shifts so when A&E was calming down, we all sat around and snacked. Thankfully my first night wasn't too busy and the doctors told us to leave at around 5:30am. It was eerily quiet when leaving the hospital. And the roads were even quieter.<br />
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Anyways the next few days of nights progressively got quieter and quieter which was quite "abnormal". Just my luck. Didn't manage to see as many patients and didn't get to feel that useful/productive. At least the nights treated me well! Then I had to start my weekend night shifts. Saturday night...should be interesting! Swear the first 5 patients I saw had "intoxicated +++" written at the top of their notes. It was actually very frustrating to try and get histories out from them or their friends. What was a bit shocking was that there were students coming in from other cities to experience the night life here and end up getting completely plastered (and ending up in A&E). I personally would never go to a foreign city and get absolutely plastered. I guess I would be a bit more "aware" in a foreign city as the last place I want to end up in is in A&E. But of course, everyone has their own version of "fun" and I'm just a boring...old...medical student. Other than the non-stop flow of "intoxicated +++" people, it was a fairly uneventful night. Didn't really get to do very much either.<br />
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All in all, night shifts weren't actually that bad! But I do think I got off quite lightly as my friends who were on night shifts said they saw a few cardiac arrests and a few trauma cases. Oh well.<br />
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I'll try and make a few more posts this weekend. Need to catch up! Apologies again! magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-89342147355025246242013-02-16T23:17:00.001+00:002013-02-16T23:23:36.591+00:00Final Week - AnaestheticsWow these last 4 weeks have blown by. Like I've said in my last post, I've seen a great improvement in my practical skills and confidence in doing invasive procedures. It really is true: practice makes perfect!<br />
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Because I have made quite an effort to get my logbook signed off early, I took my final week in anaesthetics as a "flexible week". I had a sudden urge to go watch some orthopaedic surgery so I decided to go observe a list. As I walked into the orthopaedics theatre and asked the consultant if I could observe, I was then offered the opportunity to scrub in (which made me very happy). It was so good to be back in orthopaedics and scrubbed in. Geek moment: I was pretty excited while I was scrubbing in. It brought back the good memories I had from last year whilst on my Orthopaedics attachment. Last year, I only helped drape the patient once or twice as there was usually a registrar there, so I would stand back and watch. Let's just say draping a patient for Orthopaedics isn't the "easiest" thing when you're still quite new at it. Because there are plastic walls around the operating area, you really have to be aware of your surroundings to make sure you stay sterile. The draping is also quite the task itself as there are quite a few layers to put on and I will admit that it required a lot of concentration and focus for me to make sure I maintained sterility. When the draping was complete and I didn't screw up, I couldn't help but feel like this:<br />
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Anyways, we did an exchange of a total knee replacement. It was fairly straight forward and it was nice being able to assist. Just felt really good. The tasks I were doing were fairly simple, for example, suction, diathermy, etc, but you still feel like you're helping...in a way. At the end I got to do some suturing and close up the wound. Admittedly quite rusty, but after 2 dodgy stitches, I dusted off the cobwebs and got back into it. Of course, being a responsible person, I redid the 2 dodgy stitches (in case you were wondering...). The consultant checked my stitches over and I got the nod of approval and then tidied up. The surgery took about 1.5-2 hours, but it certainly felt much shorter. We took a lunch break and I bumped into my anaesthetic group mates. They noticed that I was looking quite happy and some of them know me quite well could guess immediately that I got to scrub in and assist in surgery. I then bumped into one of my good friends and even he asked why was I oddly happy. When I sat down for my lunch and did a bit of reflection - I really do think surgery is for me. It makes me happy and I really enjoy it. I mean I've seen a few exchange TKRs last year, and it just doesn't get old. Every case is different. We had another operation in the afternoon which was quite straight forward. By the end of the day, I was quite tired and my feet were sore, but I was happy. I felt like I had a productive day. I felt like I learned a lot. I was at the hospital since 8am and got off at 5pm. I would usually be craving to go home, but after the list, I wanted to follow-up with the patients in recovery/post-operative surgical unit. It was a really good day. Probably the happiest I have been on placement this year.<br />
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The next day was a huge contrast. I went back to anaesthetics and met up with the consultant anaesthetist at 7:45am. The first thing he told me was that he is too busy and that there won't be any opportunities for me to get any hands-on. He also told me to be prepared to stand to the side for the rest of the day. I couldn't help but get annoyed as I made the effort to come in at 7:45am, ready to learn, and then to be told that I won't get to do anything. I thought the consultant was maybe just over-exaggerating, but I quickly found out that he really did mean it when he said I will be standing to the side. I just stood in the anaesthetic room in one corner and watched everything....and proceeded to zone out. All I could think about was that it was a huge waste of time. Then 2nd case, same thing. I was just stood there. I even asked if I could help out and was promptly ignored. I made the decision that I could be more productive if I went home. By 12pm, I grabbed my bag and told the consultant that I'm going home. He wasn't too impressed that I was leaving early, which surprised me. I was not learning anything and he wasn't teaching. What was the point in me sticking around? I firmly told the consultant that I could be a lot more productive at home and complete some of my assignments. I was fed up and just left. In a way it was rude of me to do that, but at the same time, the consultant knew he was going to have a student around and if he doesn't want a student around, then say something to the administrators so he doesn't get assigned a student. Ridiculous.<br />
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Despite the sour ending to my week, at least there was a very high point in this placement, which was unfortunately not anaesthetics related. I'll just treat the orthopaedics day as a treat to myself for getting all my work done early. A few years back, I used to want to do anaesthetics, but this attachment has reaffirmed that it isn't for me. I can see why people would enjoy it, but I really do think I am more suited for surgery. I just enjoy being hands on and fixing things. I enjoy the theatre life, but not sat at the head of the table. My next placement is A&E for 4 weeks. Again, I am quite nervous as I have been placed in the main hospital, which is quite busy. I know what to expect, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for its quick pace. We'll see. I'm excited in a way. Plus more opportunities to work on my clinical skills!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-32521762484112571702013-02-11T23:58:00.000+00:002013-02-11T23:58:30.578+00:00Slow Week - AnaesthesiaTo be fair, every placement has a "slow" week. Mine is usually the first week...somehow out of my 4 week placement, I managed to have another slow week. Last week, I spent most of my time checking out the intensive care unit and the high dependency unit. I'll just say in my opinion, it is probably the "less exciting" part of the job. Lots of ward rounds! I really don't know what to take away from this week. Having said that, I did manage to get a lot of physiology teaching from a consultant anaesthetist. It was actually a really good refresher. The way he taught was based on quizzing (which I hate, but love at the same time). I was picked on most of the time as I was the only medical student and that the knowledge should be "fresher" in my mind. It made me realize that I actually haven't really forgotten about physiology. From the quizzing/grilling, I realized that I just lack confidence in my answers and should just be brave and say what I think the answer is. It's a shame that it takes massive pushing and pressure for me to get an answer out. Guess it's one thing I need to learn and obviously shows I need to hit the books a bit harder to build some confidence in my knowledge. The foundation knowledge is definitely there and I just need to "go for it".<br />
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Thankfully to end the week, I got to go back to theatre and was placed with a really good anaesthetist who let me do a lot of skills. I was putting in all the cannulas, holding the oxygen mask, and inserting LMAs. It felt really good. In the first week, despite being very determined to get some hands on, I was quite scared and nervous performing these skills. Now, I'm on it the minute the patient comes to the anaesthetic room. Gloves on. Equipment ready. Ready to go! It also showed me that with practice, you'll get better at the skills. I had to cannulate a tricky patient. I missed the vein on entry, but managed to salvage it and got the cannula in without needing to try in a different spot. Added bonus was that the consultant complimented me on it, so it was a definite boost to my confidence level! Thinking back to the last 2 weeks and seeing my placement come to an end - I think I've made leaps and bounds in terms of clinical skills. I built a lot of confidence in my clinical skills and in general feel just a bit more competent. My day in theatre really showed me how far I have come from the beginning of placement and I think I have accomplished what I have set out to do - to improve on my clinical skills.<br />
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I do realize that my posts have been fairly short...as to be honest - there's not much to really talk about. I don't get to speak to as many patients as most are asleep. This placement was mainly refreshing my pharmacological and physiology knowledge and improving on my clinical skills.<br />
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Sorry for the boring read! I promise the end of this week's post will be more interesting!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-64940294729325237742013-02-03T02:09:00.000+00:002013-02-03T02:09:08.645+00:00Having a Bad Day? Medicine is a constant reminder of how fragile and unfair life can be. Life can throw curve balls and do some pretty unexpected things. I was in clinic and met a lady who is 40 years old and have been getting treatment for cancer. Unfortunately, it has been found that it has metastasised to other parts of her body such as her bowels and her lung. What really struck me was that as I entered the room, having read the notes before seeing her, I was expecting a frail lady who would look quite ill. Instead, I was greeted with a very healthy looking lady. If I had seen her in the hallways, I would not have guessed she had been battling cancer for almost 2 years and now facing another fight against the metastases. While going through her medication list, she was on high doses of analgesics and one can imagine how much pain she is usually in. As we got further into the consultation, what once was a calm looking lady turned into a nervous and worried person. She is supposed to undergo radical surgery in a few days and I really do not blame her for her nerves. I was taken aback by how calm she was at the beginning. It really puts things into perspective. I had a bad week last week with back pain, but after hearing the patient's story, my back pain seemed like nothing. It is nothing compared to what she's going through. And it really amplifies the fact that if you think you're having a bad day, there are people having a much worse day than you. It's easy to forget how fragile life can be. 40 year old woman - most are fit and healthy. Cancer is something still seen as a disease that affects the older population. It was inspiring to hear about her fight and her courage. Pretty sure I didn't whine/complain about anything for the rest of the day.<br />
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Life can throw curve balls affecting you physically and your health. But I wanted to talk about mental health. By being in a stressful job, it is important to keep your mind "happy" and not allow work overwhelm you. Your emotions can greatly alter your way of functioning. Recently, there has been a lot of mental health awareness campaigns going on especially back home in Canada. I personally know quite a few friends affected by mental health issues such as depression. I thought it would be worthwhile for me to write a mini blurb here and raise awareness to those who read my blog. Statistically, about <b>1 in 4 </b>students are affected by depression and approximately only 1 in 4 people seek help. The main reason for the lack of seeking for help?<b> Stigma</b>. Mental health is still a <i>"taboo"</i> subject and it shouldn't be one! It is a common problem affecting many people. Not many people want to speak up and get help. You can't just "laugh" off depression or mental health illness. I know way too many people suffering with this. What bothered me was how even in the health service, health professionals are almost afraid to ask about psychiatric illness. The number of times where I've seen various professionals very quietly ask if there is any history of psychiatric illness or if he/she suffers from depression. We ask about heart/lung/bowel problems loud and clear, but when it comes to mental health it gets all "hush hush". If there wasn't this "stigma" surrounding mental health, will there be more people seeking for help? I would like to think yes. I've had friends who suffered in silence and I have nothing but praises for those who gathered enough courage to seek help. From what I hear, it can get very dark and lonely. There is so much help out there. People shouldn't be suffering in silence. Stigma is unacceptable. The reason for raising awareness is to eradicate the stigma associated with mental health. <b>1 in 4 people are affected</b>. That is common. Look at your group of friends. Live in a house with 3 others? Do your part and raise awareness.magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-20931234006497733332013-01-26T17:19:00.000+00:002013-01-26T17:21:41.777+00:00Week 1 - Anaesthetics.Interesting week here in England. Had a snow storm the day before my first day of placement. A lot of my friends got a snow day, but I haven't heard from my hospital so I ended up leaving later than usual for the central hospital. Because of all the snow - it was actually a very pleasant drive as there were hardly any cars. What is usually a 30-40 minute drive, ended up taking me 10 minutes. I was thinking to myself that I was such a genius to drive as the roads were clear (bit slushy)...until I got to the hospital. The parking lot wasn't cleared and it was packed with snow/ice/slush. Made it a bit daunting to park my car. When I got out of my car, I stepped in about 2" of snow...well there goes my black shoes. Tippy toed my way into the hospital only to overhear people saying that there will be more snowfall in the afternoon. "Shit." was probably the only thing that came into my mind. And then I thought to myself: "How am I going to go home...what an idiot. Shouldn't have driven."<br />
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Anyways I made it for my induction and most of us managed to get in. A few people got snowed in as they live on a hill and couldn't make their way. We got our logbooks which has various skills that we need to be signed off on by the end of 4 weeks in anaesthetics/critical care. Such things include putting in cannulas, inserting a laryngeal mask airway (LMA), intubating, drawing up antibiotics, etc. I was quite motivated to get my logbook done as quickly as possible so I walked into the theatre I was assigned to - ready for action. I was then greeted by a consultant anaesthetist, who seemed a bit annoyed. I was quickly told to leave and come back in an hour. Almost felt like I smacked into a brick wall. It kind of threw me off and I got nervous again as the consultant didn't seem too friendly. I went to get some food and returned an hour later and was promptly told to go find a patient in the ward and get a patient history from him. In my head I was getting annoyed as I wanted to work on my logbook, not go and speak to patients. By the time I returned to theatre the consultant had relaxed and apologized to me for being a bit rude earlier. I really appreciated the apology and the consultant gave me a few tasks to do such as mixing and drawing up antibiotics. I was then taught how to insert a LMA and how to hold an oxygen mask to the patient's face. It was really good and exciting. I also got a lot of teaching about regional and local anaesthetics during surgery which was an added bonus. Because of the snowfall, some patients cancelled and we ended up having a short theatre list. I was out of the hospital by 3pm and luckily the snow had just stopped, so I made a run for it before my car gets snowed in. Thankfully made it home with my car (to the surprise of many). Also had the feeling of: "not so dumb after all!"<br />
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I would say I had a really good first day as I got a few things signed off and was ready to go for day 2. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a mess as there was teaching going on and the lists were starting later than usual (and I made the effort to go in for 8am when lists weren't starting until 11am). Then I realized that this is something everyone has to accept - as a student and as a doctor. Not everything will go to plan and you just need to adapt and find something productive to do. There were a few theatres running so I decided to go for a wander. Funny enough I ended up scrubbing in for a few procedures and assisting. Yay...but obviously deviating away from my placement goal: to learn anaesthetics! It was a nice bonus and certainly better than sitting in the coffee room for 3 hours. I at least did something productive and I felt like I was helpful. Later in the day I met up with a different anaesthetic consultant and I got a bit of teaching (not as much as I had hoped) and unfortunately did not get a single thing signed off. Great - here's hoping next day will be better. Next day...same thing. I tried to hint to another consultant anaesthetist that I would like to get involved as I had put on my gloves and stood at the top of the bed ready to lend a hand. Instead, I was ignored. I asked if I could insert a few cannulas and was told that it would be too difficult. By now, I had lost a lot of motivation and ended up just standing around for the whole day. I don't think this is really the anaesthetists fault as they are all very nice people and love teaching. I learned loads, it was just a bit more annoying that I couldn't do anything practical. Just another thing as a student you have to accept - sometimes you can't get in on everything. Unlike my group mates, I haven't been kicked out of theatres due to too many students. I've been lucky that I've still been able to stick around and observe and get some teaching. I've also been in orthopaedic theatres so the orthopaedic surgeons were also teaching me about their procedures, which I found really interesting. Essentially other than the first day, this was the story of my week. Just not getting any opportunities to do practical skills.<br />
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So I went home and thought what I can do about this as I have a log book that I need to complete. I think next week I will approach with a different mindset and make it clear first thing to the consultant that I am very keen on helping out and trying out some practical skills. Sometimes being subtle and polite doesn't work so I'll just have to be brazen and go for it. Fingers crossed that I will get to do a bit more next week!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-42120443627734547462013-01-20T17:54:00.001+00:002013-01-20T17:55:33.306+00:00Back to Work.So I'm back from my winter holiday and have had a week of lectures which was an introduction to Specialties and Acute and Critical Care Medicine. Essentially how this year works is that I will go through 4 core rotations: Acute and Critical Care Medicine, Specialties, Community and Palliative Care, and General Care Medicine. Each core is about 8 weeks each. Within each core there will be sub-attachments/sub-specialties. Anyways I'm starting with Acute and Critical Care Medicine and my first 4 weeks will be in Critical Care so I will be getting to know the anaesthetists! Then my next 4 weeks will be in A&E/ED (emergency department). I am quite excited about this year as this year is quite focussed on specialties and I will have plenty of opportunities to be in theatre this year. Yay!<br />
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To give you an idea what sort of lectures we had this week - we went through topics in Urology, Opthamology, Haematology, Anaesthetics, Dermatology, Trauma, Oncology, Infectious Diseases, and ENT. To be fair, covering all of that in 5 days was ambitious and tiring. It just stresses the importance for you to go home and do some extra reading before you go into that specialty placement as a 1 hour lecture is not going to cover enough for you to get through the placement. Because of this, I spent my weekend reading up on Anaesthetics and Critical Care. In a way I am really excited for this attachment as I am placed in the main hospital and it is quite busy so I know I will be able to get a lot of hands-on experience instead of swivelling in my chair. I also spent the weekend trying to get as much sleep as I can (12 hours today!) as I'm starting at 8 am every day. I felt a bit of me cry, but at the same time if it's a good attachment I don't see waking up being an issue.<br />
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Hmmm....to be honest there isn't much to talk about from this week as it was really dull and I won't bore you with the details. Hopefully next week will be action-packed and hopefully can give you all a more exciting read!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-46821444923248143412012-12-29T02:35:00.000+00:002012-12-29T02:35:04.574+00:00A Memorable Year.1 year ago today, I was thankful and nervous at the same time. Last year's exam was probably the largest hurdle of my degree. I didn't do as well as I had hoped in my exam, but still managed to pass. I was incredibly thankful to be able to pass as many of my friends had failed the exam. Some of which had to repeat the year. I made a promise to myself that the year 2012 will be my comeback year. I was determined to start on the right foot and to never make the same mistakes again.<br />
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This year zoomed by. I believe I made leaps and bounds in terms of knowledge and self-confidence whilst on the wards and in clinics. I still got to give lots of credit to my placement in Orthopaedics. I cannot be more thankful to my supervisor. Even my friends have noticed that after my Orthopaedics placement, I was a different medical student. I was no longer afraid to speak up. I was no longer afraid to participate and be proactive. I realized that if you don't ask, you will never know what will happen. The worst answer you can get when asking something is "No". What is there to lose...other than a hurt ego. So one tip for all of you is to be confident. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Again, the worst someone can say is "No". If the answer is "no", just shrug and move on and don't take it personally.<br />
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As you move through the degree, Medicine slowly dominates your life and you really got to make an effort to have a social life. As the months pass and you have some free time to reflect, you realize your friends start to drift away and it may get a bit lonely at times. Medicine needs a lot of dedication, but I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to relax and take some time out. Giving yourself a break does not necessarily mean you have to go take a vacation. Taking a break is different for everyone. It may involve going to do something you enjoy or meeting up with friends, or even just spending some time at home to relax and watch TV. I didn't realize how important it is to take a break until this year when I have finally experienced a whole year of clinical placements, one after another. Work - Life balance. I know many people in my year who are taking a year out to do a BMedSci next year, not because they want to do research, but because they have burnt out.<br />
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To top off my memorable year, just earlier today I received confirmation that I have been accepted to present a my research poster at a national conference. Really unexpected as it's quite competitive, so I'm absolutely chuffed. What a way to finish up the year!<br />
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In general, I have made many new friends, matured as a person, and gained valuable skills for the future - I think this has probably been one of my most memorable year of my medical degree. Despite the many ups and downs throughout the year, looking back - overall it has been a very good year.<br />
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Got to thank those who have made my year so memorable and those who made my experiences so much better. Cheers to 2012, bring on 2013!<br />
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<b>Happy New Year!</b></div>
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<br />magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-6948219855750195512012-12-27T23:21:00.000+00:002012-12-28T08:53:49.439+00:00Request: Tips for Revising for Exams.So I had a request to do a post on tips for revising for your year-end medical exam. To be honest, every person will have a different way of revising. The most ideal way to revise for exams is to start from day 1 of the course. After every lecture/day, gather all your notes together and make sure your notes have enough info for you. If not, look at your recommended reading and add info to your notes. Or after end of each day is to consolidate all the things you have learned and to go over it. Some people like to consolidate their knowledge on weekends as most lecture days go from 9-5pm and by the time you finish your day, your brain will be fried. If you stay on top of your notes, when it comes to exam time, you should know your material quite well and just need to commit things to memory and you will not be needing to learn anything "new".<br />
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What I just described is the ideal way...but realistically, the chances of that happening is quite slim, unless you're quire organized and on top of everything. For me, that method got tossed out 2 weeks into my course. What actually happens is that you take notes during your lectures/print out your lecture slides. If you're having a good week and have some spare time, your notes will go into a binder so your room stays relatively neat and that you will be able to find your notes. If your university only does 1 year-end exam, like mine, on average, medics begin studying between 4-6 weeks prior to exams. You would think that's ridiculously too far in advance, but the sheer amount of material you learn in one year...it just as ridiculous. I personally need 6 weeks to go through a whole year worth of material, but do keep in mind...I don't really look at my notes again until my 6 week revision period. So here I will list some tips on how to get on top of your revision period:<br />
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1)<b> Make a revision schedule. </b>Try and figure out how many days/weeks you will need to go over a topic (eg. 1 week for Paediatrics, 5 days for O&G). How much time to dedicate to each topic will depend on how well you know a topic/how confident you are with the topic. Always leave 1 week prior to exams for leeway/time to go over sample/past papers/revise stuff you don't know very well/last minute cram. I usually start thinking about making my revision schedule well in advance or else if you do one too late, you'll realize you have too little weeks left and too many topics. To avoid that, maybe think about your revision schedule when you come back from your last holiday before exams.<br />
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2) <b>Find a study buddy!</b> If you live with other medics, then that's sorted. If you don't, try finding a study buddy who has the same sort of revising method as you. It's a great way to make sure you don't miss out any topics and also a great way to test each other's knowledge. Make sure this study buddy won't be a distraction though or else you won't accomplish much!<br />
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3) <b>Rest!</b> I cannot stress enough how important it is to get enough rest during your revision weeks. No point of pulling all-nighters when your brain can't even function anymore. Nothing will get absorbed. Your body will tell you when it is time to take a break (usually when you find yourself reading the same page over and over again and nothing is going in). Try and get a good nights sleep every day. Pretty basic stuff, but it is so easy to forget to just rest.<br />
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4) <b>Use cue cards for memorizing things.</b> Some people don't like cue cards, which is fair enough. In medicine we have to learn a lot of names that aren't even related to the condition such as drug names/some medical syndromes. Once you write it down, you can put it to the side. Also great for the last minute cram a day or two before exams.<br />
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5) <b>Start early.</b> At the same time I'm not saying start revising 10 weeks before exams. Obviously this is down to personal preference. I think I started too early for this year's exam, but it's not something I regret. It was extremely tiring and boring though. At the same time, last year I started too late and regretted it and it was extremely stressful. Because I started a bit too early (or maybe even perfect timing), I could sacrifice a day or two to take a break or to spend a few extra days on a topic such as Paediatrics. I originally allocated 10 days for Paediatrics, but actually ended up taking 2 weeks to go through all of Paediatrics, but because I started revising early, I was able to give up a few days and shift my other dates around for my other topics.<br />
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6) <b>Use revision books to AID knowledge, not gain knowledge. </b>There are some books called Crash Course or At a Glance, which are really good books which gives you a quick glance at a topic. These are good books to help you look up stuff quickly or to double check info, but these are books you should not base your revision around as it misses out fundamental/basic knowledge that you will get from a proper textbook/lectures.<br />
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To be honest, I think the key things for revision is to be organized, good time management, rest lots, and try not to stress out too much. Exams are extremely stressful and your anxiety levels go through the roof. Everyone will be feeling the same so don't think you're the odd one out. On top of revising, you might still have to go into placement as some unis only give you 1 week of revision (where nothing is timetabled), so you'll need to be able to balance going to placement and revising. If you aren't organized, your revision will get quite messy. At the same time, don't start skiving placements so you can revise because at the same time, you can learn/revise while on placement. Sometimes really useful tutorial sessions will be held and you can learn/revise during those sessions. To be honest, this whole revision business sounds a lot harder than it really is. You'll know what to do when it comes to revision.<br />
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Hope this helps!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-10017352449381927852012-12-19T19:08:00.002+00:002012-12-19T19:09:07.959+00:00I'm baaaaack!Well it's certainly been awhile since my last post. Apologies. I've been revising for my exams. Finished exams so I suddenly have a lot of free time. Quite weird. I've technically been studying for over 6 weeks for this exam which felt a lot longer as it just kept dragging on and on. It didn't help that the other years have already taken their exams/have left for winter holiday already. It's gutting when people are away back at home or on vacation and you're stuck in your room/library revising all day, every day.<br />
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Today I got my results from my exam and good news: PASSED! Managed to jump over another hurdle. Next hurdle: Finals. Scary! To be honest these exams meant a lot to me. I wasn't very happy with my performance in last year's exams and promised myself that I will never make the same mistake and study harder and work harder. I pretty much declared this year as a "comeback" year. I promised myself to go into placements and actively learn. So today when I went to get my results, I was very nervous. I was confident I had passed, but there's always that little bit of doubt in the back of your mind. The relief when I saw my results. Phew. I think I can officially say that this has been a successful comeback year. I have regained my motivation for Medicine and during the 2nd half of this year, I have regained a lot of confidence. I got to say - it's been a good year (despite the highs and lows).<br />
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Along with my results, I have received my schedule and placements for next year. Starting off in A&E, so it will be a very quick and hectic start! Should be very interesting though. Now that exams are over and that I've gotten my results - I can finally relax. Get back to normality. Do what I enjoy and meet up with friends. It was a tough exam period and I cannot wait to go back home. See my school friends. See my parents. Celebrating Christmas and New Year with the family. It will be nice. It will probably be my last proper winter holiday as next year I will be revising for finals as my final exams are after winter holidays. I will definitely have to make use and enjoy this winter holiday as much as I can this year. It's been a very tough road. Scarier thought: after next year's winter holiday, I will be working as a proper doctor in a hospital somewhere during winter holidays! Wow. It's getting close!<br />
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One step closer to being a doctor!<br />
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Anyways Merry Christmas to everyone and good luck with interviews!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-36080426783108074172012-11-20T00:42:00.000+00:002012-11-20T00:45:06.845+00:00Something for you to think about...To make up for my last short post - I'll give you guys something to think/reflect about.<br />
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So you meet a 55 year old male patient on the neurology ward who was admitted with severe unilateral headaches in the front which radiates to the back of the head with no associated neck stiffness. As you talk to the patient you notice he's fairly relaxed and quite talkative. He tells you how he first presented to his GP 4 weeks ago who didn't explain much and sent him for a CT/MRI scan on his head, then proceeded to send him for Chest X-rays...eventually getting a pelvic MRI scan. The patient says: "I have no idea why I had to go through all these scans. Bit pointless in my opinion. It's just a headache...any ideas doc?" You know all these events had happened over the last 4 weeks and this patient has seen several doctors and you start to wonder why no one has told this man why all these investigations were done. Eventually you find out that the patient is aware that there is a "lump" in the back of his brain and that he's being scheduled to get a biopsy. After saying this, the patient still seems very relaxed and seemingly unaware of what is going on...actually he ends up telling you that he actually doesn't have a clue what's going on.<br />
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After the nice conversation you've had with the patient, you go look in his medical notes. You read the report from the scans which clearly says: "Query metastasis to the brain". You know that the GP/other doctors had sent this patient for several different investigations is to locate the primary cancer - which the patient is completely unaware of. Next imaging report: "Primary glioma". All brain tumours are technically malignant. Then you think: does this patient know he's possibly got brain cancer? No one knows how severe it is as a biopsy hasn't been done.<br />
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So here's something for you to think about. As a medic or soon to be medic: would you rather know about everything? Know exactly WHY the scans are being done and what are the results. Reasons behind all the investigations. All the plans from the doctors and suspicions/differentials. Then you look at it from another point. If this patient knew about all of the reasons and all the prior suspicions that the doctors had, would he still be as relaxed and calm about his "headache"? So is it actually better to not know that much?<br />
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Personally I think there's a fine line between knowing too much and knowing too little. As a patient, I would want as much info as I can as I'm a medic - I want to know things. If I didn't have any medical background, I think I wouldn't want to know anything. Live life in denial and in the unknown I guess? At least I won't be busy stressing myself out. These things can be emotionally difficult and cancer is such a sensitive topic. I would think the general population wouldn't want to know all the reasoning. It's tough. I think every person has a different view on this. Something for you to think about/reflect about.magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-80251693071322565592012-11-17T22:32:00.000+00:002012-11-17T22:32:36.257+00:00Revision Time Again.So exams are in 3 weeks. Truthfully, I'm not as nervous about these exams as I was last year. Last year was a disaster. It was horrible. Actually those exams last year could be deemed scarring. Worst experience ever. I have been constantly telling myself that nothing can be worse than last year's exam. This year, it is fairly obvious what we need to know for our exams and it has been clearly laid out for us. I think what's making revision difficult is that we still need to go to placements. We only get 1 week of revision. Consultants expect us to be on the wards 9am - 5pm and by the time you get home, you're exhausted. On average, you're looking at around about 3 hours of revision time. I am finding it quite difficult to juggle and obviously have to adapt my revision style to my placement schedule. I am quite used to staying up quite late to revise as I work best at night. On top of that, I am on my Neurology placement, which is an examinable topic for our exams, so I'm trying to learn and revise while on placement. Swear my brain feels like it can explode as I'm trying to do so much all at the same time.<br />
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The neurology ward in general has been interesting. We have got various different cases ranging from stroke to epilepsy to multiple sclerosis. If I had this placement at any other time in the year, I would enjoy it a lot as there are so many examination signs to see and the patient histories are really educational. As I've mentioned above, the brain is focused on revising so any time I catch a break, I am heading to the library or a quiet room to revise instead of spending time on the wards. Because we don't have OSCEs this year, I'm not too bothered about seeing signs, but it is certainly affecting the experience I am having on the placement. It is quite annoying as I find neurology quite fascinating...and challenging, but certainly something that does not bore me. It makes you think and it makes you think laterally as well. Anyways I'm going to keep this post short as I have to hit the books. Exam season is tough. I cannot wait for this to be over and bring on the new year.<br />
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<i>Work hard. Play harder.</i>magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-82192537806052483422012-11-02T22:19:00.001+00:002012-11-02T22:19:25.653+00:00Another Step Forward.I think a bit back I said I was working on an Orthopaedic project (since May). Today I had the chance to present my project in front of a group of orthopaedic surgeons across the region. It's nice to finally present something that you've been working so hard on, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I was fairly confident a week ago when I was preparing my powerpoint though. My run-through with my supervisor went really well, but this was presenting in front of someone who I know. Presenting in front of a group of orthopaedic consultants is a whole other ball game. What I was most worried about were the questions at the end.<br />
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One thing about me is that I don't like over-rehearsing/practising my presentations as I like to improvise. I like to give relaxed presentations that can go any direction depending on how I feel as it shows confidence in your presentation/project. I know my project very...very well so this was a route I know I wanted to take, but a risky one as I haven't presented in over 2 years and certainly not in front of a group of consultants. But because I didn't want to make a fool out of myself, I thought it was a good idea to practice a bit more than usual so I rehearsed once a day starting on Monday. The one rule I have for myself is to never use cue cards or notes and this was definitely not going to change for this presentation. When I showed up at the meeting, I think the lead was a bit surprised by the fact all I had was my powerpoint and no notes/cue cards to run through while I wait for my turn. To be fair, I wanted to look like I was confident and at ease about my presentation, but actually I was completely bricking it inside. The night before I was "choking". Was confident until the night before and everything just fell apart. I was stuttering when I was running through and forgetting to talk about certain things as my slides contain very little info as I like to expand on my points.<br />
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Anyways it got to my turn and I told myself that one of my strong points are doing presentations and this is not anything different. I introduced my powerpoint and I went through my powerpoint like it was second nature. It was almost like I wasn't even consciously doing it. It felt really good! Then the dreaded part: question time. Surprisingly, the first question wasn't even a question. A consultant took the time to complement me so I was really chuffed about it. It definitely made me feel proud of myself and especially when I was the only medical student presenting amongst a bunch of registrars. At least it was some sort of confirmation that I didn't make myself look like a complete idiot, but the bail out sentence was always ready: "Sorry I am just only a medical student." The questions asked weren't too bad and it actually started a discussion amongst the audience about the thing I studied.<br />
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After doing this presentation it gave me an idea to make a post of tips for making presentations:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Keep your powerpoint short and simple - maximum 4-5 points per slide - use these as cues for yourself and expand on these points</li>
<li>Use images to make your slides/presentation look more interesting </li>
<li>My personal rule is about 30-60 seconds per slide. 10 minute presentations = 10-15 slides. Any more slides, you could potentially end up speaking too quickly</li>
<li>Practice your powerpoint without any cue cards or notes from day 1 - if you don't get into the habit of using cue cards...then you'll never need to rely on them</li>
<li>If you're really unsure about your presentation, find a friend to practice in front of and ask he/she to give you feedback</li>
<li>If you're nervous at the time of your presentation, pause for a second at the end of each slide to allow yourself to gather your thoughts for the next slide. The audience will think you're giving them time to read your slide so use the opportunity to calm yourself and gather yourself.</li>
<li>Introduction is key - also an easy way to calm yourself as you'll never forget your own name! </li>
<li>Always end your presentation with a summary slide as it's a nice way to round off the presentation</li>
<li>Body language! Be aware of how you stand and what you're doing with your hands. If sitting, don't fidget/swivel in your chair. Standing and don't know what to do with your hands? Clasp them in front of you or try to use your hands to point to relevant images on your slide. Practice makes perfect for this. Avoid closed body positions such as crossing your arms across your chest and leaning against the wall. Don't want to look bored of your own presentation!</li>
<li>Look around the room when talking. Don't have to make eye contact, but remember there's more than one person there so involve the room by looking around.</li>
<li>And SMILE! Don't want to look grumpy about your own presentation!</li>
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So these are my quick few tips about presentations. Everyone has their own unique style so these are tips from my own personal experience. Do what you're most comfortable with. As a medical student, you are BOUND to have to do a presentation...even more likely once you become a doctor so while you can start practising in less serious meetings/conferences so when you do have to go to a proper formal meeting to present - it will be a piece of cake!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-11217138553217780432012-10-27T23:14:00.000+01:002012-10-27T23:15:52.493+01:005 Down 1 to Go.Yesterday was the last day of my Orthogeriatric placement. Was a bit bummed out as I've gotten to know the junior doctors quite well and I enjoyed my placement (despite it being only 2 weeks). By being on the Geriatric ward, you realize all the ethical problems and how cost of care can be so high for these patients. For example - hip fractures cost the NHS 1.7 million pounds per year. The problem is that when these patients turn up, they don't just get an operation and then get discharged after a few days. Older people require a bit more care as they tend to suffer from other medical conditions such as vascular disease (MI, stroke, etc), diabetes, etc. Along with needing to continue treating their co-morbidities, these patients are more susceptible to hospital acquired infections (eg. pneumonia) so essentially it becomes a vicious cycle for these patients. Majority of the patients on the ward stay in hospital for a month which is quite a long time. Care 24/7 for 4+ weeks...the costs do add up.<br />
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I was probably most involved with ward rounds in this placement than any other placement I've had so far. I was quite keen to actually help out as I know I do get bored quite easily if I just stand around. I got to write in the patient notes and you just feel a slight bit more responsible while on placement. It sounds a bit sad, but it's quite satisfying signing off on something. I mean as a medical student, we never really get to sign off on anything so it's nice being able to sign off the notes you made in the patient notes during ward round. You also feel a sense of contribution as well, which is a nice bonus. Also good practice for the future as well - will be doing lots of paperwork in the near future...<br />
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I think the main problem about being on a geriatric ward is that the turnover rate is quite low so the ward round usually consists of a quick check-up and if there are any new concerns/changes. This made me find this week a slight bit more dull than my first week. The only thing is that now I know the patients, but there isn't anything new to see. Their improvement is also quite slow so I must admit this week's ward round was a bit less interesting.<br />
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I mean overall it was nice to be back on a proper medical ward and doing "medical things" as I've spent the whole year in very specific specialties. There was a lot of general medicine and it made me realize how much I have already forgotten (quite scary especially when exams are just around the corner too!). All in all these 2 weeks helped me get my sanity back and I managed to grab some motivation back - well enough to take me through to exams. Now I've got 2 weeks off before my next and final placement - Neurology. Neuro will be tough but I'm quite lucky that I've had an attachment in Stroke medicine last year so I shouldn't be too lost on the ward.<br />
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2 weeks to dig my head into my books and do some proper revision. Procrastination mode - on. Need to focus!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-21430467001751540412012-10-20T00:12:00.001+01:002012-10-20T00:20:10.291+01:00Care of the Elderly.So I've started yet another placement (5 placements down, 2 more to go) and this placement is "Care of the Elderly". Out of coincidence and sheer luck I've been placed in Orthogeriatrics. Majority of the patients on the ward are patients who broke their hips (neck of femur (NOF) fracture (#)). Because this placement is only 2 weeks, it's a really quick taster and for me it's a bit of time to get my sanity back as I really enjoy orthopaedics so it's nice to just go back to something I'm quite familiar with.<br />
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Essentially I've got 10 days to learn and see everything I need to know to care for the elderly...great. Pretty rushed. And on top of that, get to know the staff on the ward which in general takes a bit of time to warm up to. First day - I met my consultant who is really nice so that was good news. The junior doctors are also really nice and chilled out as well and very understanding as they know we've got exams coming up so they aren't too bothered. They are also quite keen to get us involved in terms of helping them do jobs and getting involved in ward rounds (taking notes, looking at obs charts, drug card, etc.). To be honest, I've never been so involved on the ward...ever. It's also a bonus as I can get my clinical skills logbook signed off as I'm getting lots of opportunities to do clinical skills like venepuncture, cannulas, catheters, ABGs, etc. Really enjoying that and it's good practice. On top of that, I've been quizzed on osteoporosis and surgical management of NOF #s, but having done and attachment in orthopaedics (hips), for once I can actually answer questions with ease and confidence. It's actually quite a nice feeling to be able to answer questions...wish my knowledge was that sound with everything else in medicine...<br />
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Because I'm on Orthogeriatrics, the team works closely with the orthopods so we have to attend trauma meetings. Actually we don't have to attend trauma meetings (completely up to us as it starts quite early in the morning). I didn't get a chance to attend any trauma meetings during my attachment in orthopaedics, so I was quite keen to check them out as it does have a bit of a reputation. The benefit of having done my attachment in orthopaedics, is that the consultants recognize me so they don't question my presence in the meeting (students tend to avoid trauma meetings). In terms of education value - these meetings aren't great, but you get to hear about some interesting trauma cases that have been admitted...some fairly amusing and crazy stories as well. It's also a bit of a shooting gallery as well as consultants do "fire at will" if a trainee says something wrong or doesn't present a patient well. It's all a bit of a laugh/leg pulling, so it's fairly amusing at the expense of a junior doctor/SHO/registrar. Despite the earlier than usual wake up for placement, I don't mind attending. Again this is something I noticed in my orthopaedics attachment. I didn't struggle to wake up for placement during orthopaedics and was never late. I actually looked forward to going to placement - something to wake up to in the morning. If you follow my blog closely, I struggled quite a bit in GP and waking up was a huge struggle. Now in orthogeriatrics and early morning trauma meetings - I'm finding it easy to wake up again. Just feel like there's something to look forward to in the day. It's a nice breath of fresh air especially after two placements that were mediocre (well poor and mediocre).<br />
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I also quite like talking to the elderly as they've always got a great story to tell. One patient that stuck out for me this week was an 80 year old gentleman who was in for a left NOF #. He was a very talkative man and I met him the day before his discharge. He's gotten to know the staff on the wards quite well as he's been in hospital much longer than he should have been due to some complications. When the doctors were speaking to the man, he seemed like a genuinely funny and animated guy. He's obviously fed up with being in hospital and very much looking forward to leaving. He's apparently known to be getting quite critical with the doctors as he is sick of getting prescribed more and more medications as he stays longer and gives the juniors a bit of a tough time (in a joking manner though). After telling the patient he will be leaving the next day, and after quite a bit of joking around, he suddenly turned very thankful and grateful. He shook the doctors' hands and thanked each of them for taking care of him and "putting up" with him. It's quite nice to see as these days some patients don't give doctors enough credit and give doctors quite a tough time. It was a small gesture but it definitely put a smile on my face. It's nice to see the appreciation and I think the staff is happy to see him finally able to leave the hospital.<br />
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All in all, this week has been a great week, which is a good change as I've always had slow first weeks/things don't go my way in the first week. It's a good start to a very short placement and I'm getting along with the junior doctors so it's definitely making my placement a lot more enjoyable. It's also nice to see some familiar faces as well in the orthopaedics department. Even the secretaries are recognizing me as I've been popping around. Like one secretary said: "It's almost like you never left!". Funny enough it's actually been almost 4 months since my orthopaedics attachment (seems longer than that though!). It's been a good week and I've been getting some good news as well which I'll talk about at a later time.<br />
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Sorry for the long post - it just feels like it's been a long time since I've had a good time at placement and fairly happy. Dreading the fact it's only 2 weeks, but I think it's a good motivation booster - in time for exams. Happy reading!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-54192382662152833442012-10-10T22:10:00.000+01:002012-10-10T22:12:09.454+01:00Psychiatry - Final WeekThis placement went by QUICK! I think it was the fact that the placement wasn't too bad and that I was quite busy doing my other work - time has just flown by. To be honest, I haven't seen too many exciting things as I had hoped to have seen. There's always a lot of misconceptions about each specialty and I think psychiatry is no different. Before I started the placement I was a bit unsure what to expect. I was a bit scared as on our first day we were each given a personal "alarm" which we would put on our belt loops. In addition to those alarms, when we entered the ward, we got another alarm which has tracking on it as well. You can't help but think that psychiatry might not be the safest specialty. We were also taught a lot about risk assessment when interviewing a patient. I remember we got a tutorial on where to sit and what to look out for in a room. We were told to always look out for objects that can be easily thrown and to sit near the door but not with our backs towards the door so if we need to escape we can just go out without turning around.<br />
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Okay yes, there are some "dangerous" patients who are known to be quite aggressive, but I never really felt "in danger" while on the wards or in clinic. I guess the only time I felt a bit "iffy" was today in clinic. The final patient I saw on my psychiatry attachment is known to have a very short temper and when he snaps - he snaps in a big way (throw objects, get violent, etc.). As the consultation went on, I could tell the patient was starting to get agitated and worst bit - I was sat furthest from the door and the patient was sat between the door and I (so much for remembering about risk assessment). To be honest - the clinic room wasn't appropriately arranged so there wasn't much one could do other than hope for the best. The consultation came to an end and for no reason the patient just "lost it". He lashed out but thankfully he didn't throw anything and instead stormed out the door and slammed it with a considerable amount of force. You could actually hear him leave the clinic as he was slamming every door along the way. I expected it to happen but it wasn't a nice situation to be caught in knowing there isn't really anywhere to go other than curling up into a ball.<br />
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Other than that incident - all the patients I have seen are all quite "alright". Despite some having a history of violence/aggression, these patients all seemed fairly cooperative. We are told of the ones who we shouldn't go speak to as they aren't cooperative but the "okay" ones are fairly normal. Of my 6 weeks in psychiatry, there hasn't been any major incidences. I'm sure more incidences/violence occur in A&E than in psychiatry. I think the one thing about psychiatry is the need for patience. Some of the patients are great historians...some are terrible and will not admit to anything/are not cooperative. With new patients - the clerking can take up to 1 hour and most of these inpatients don't have the patience to speak to you for an hour. I personally don't even have the patience to ask questions for an hour/listen to their history for an hour. I find it very time consuming. The number of times I have nearly fallen asleep during a consultation has been ridiculous. I drift off not because it is boring, but it's the fact that sitting and listening to a history for an hour is very difficult. Again with this attachment, there wasn't much I could do other than observe, but the good thing I had over GP was that when in the hospital - I can actually wander around and am not constrained to one building/area. Psychiatry is definitely different and I have definitely learned a lot since it is a new topic. I'm fairly certain it isn't something I can do, but it is quite interesting as you see a range of people and personalities.<br />
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Unfortunately I don't really get a break between this placement and the next other than a 3 day weekend. My next placement will be in Care of Old People - specifically Orthogeriatrics. Talk about luck. I'm actually really looking forward to it as I'll get to see and deal with something I'm interested in and maybe I can sneak off and see a few surgeries as well. I also know the team in the department - so I don't need to endure the whole awkward introduction/getting used to the ward/staff. It will be a short placement but I think it will be one that will pick my motivation back up and get me going again just in time for exams. Eek!magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-18195191348397163692012-09-30T17:51:00.003+01:002012-09-30T17:52:32.945+01:00Psychiatry - Weeks 3 + 4.So I'm finally past the halfway point for Psychiatry and to be fair, it isn't that bad. I mean nothing can get any worse than my GP attachment. Anyways...I finally went to the ward and spoke to a bunch of patients. I spent a week in the Substance Misuse Unit and it was really interesting. It was interesting to speak to the patients and to hear about how they have abused drugs/alcohol. It was shocking to hear that most of these patients have started using drugs since the age of 12! I had one patient who told me: "Any drug you can think of, I've tried it."<br />
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There was one particular male patient who stuck out for me. He is a 50 year old male (who looked 80 years old) and he was trying to detox off of methadone. He has tried almost every drug you can think of and at the age of 13 had already experimented with LSD. He was actually quite pleasant to talk to and it was interesting to hear about his forensic history. It was crazy to hear that he has been convicted many times and have served several prison sentences. What stuck out for me was his memory. Due to the many many many years of drug abuse, his memory is horrendous. His short-term memory was fairly poor and when doing the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), he scored 16 which is very low and abnormal. I'm not kidding - I spoke to him for almost an hour to get his history/why he is in hospital and then left for 20 minutes and came back to do the MMSE. When I came back to do the test, he had already forgotten who I am and thought I was a social worker! It was definitely a bit of a curve ball as I knew his memory wasn't great, but I didn't think he would already forget who I am after speaking to him for an hour and only had left for 20 minutes. Furthermore, because the patient had been injecting for so long, his legs are completely wasted. He has ulcers all over his leg which won't heal as he has poor blood supply to his legs and has suffered with DVTs. When you look at him, he looks unwell, tired, not with it, etc. Apparently on admission he looked like a ghost who was completely out of it. It makes you realize how bad drugs can affect a person. He looks so much older than what he really is and I actually double checked his date of birth with him to confirm that he was only 50! It was incredibly hard to believe.<br />
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Also during the 2 weeks I went to the regular ward and spoke to a few inpatients. It wasn't particularly interesting, but I realized that some of the patients don't know why they are in hospital and refuse to accept that they are in hospital for a mental illness. On top of that, I realized that in psychiatry, you have to build good rapport with the patient to get just a decent history as there are a lot of personal questions that you need to ask. In a psychiatric history, you have to ask about their childhood and about their personal life such as relationships and any possible attempts of suicide/self harm. Some of the things you need to ask are quite touchy and personal and I find that quite difficult. At the end of the day I think as a medical student you just need to find a way to word personal questions and be prepared to get an awkward answer or no answer at all.<br />
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So at the moment, the placement is starting to pick up, but as usual, once things start getting productive - it means it is coming to the end of my attachment. 2 more weeks left and then onwards to Care of the Elderly (which I'm actually quite excited about as by chance I am placed in Orthogeriatrics).magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-926445445990299512.post-65991900739201216882012-09-16T00:19:00.000+01:002012-09-16T00:22:22.796+01:00That Time of the Year...Again. So Freshers Week is literally right around the corner. You're sitting in front of your computer/packing/feeling excited and nervous/etc. A million questions race through your mind: What's medical school going to be like? Am I going to make any friends? What is Freshers like? Will I be able to cope? Will I get homesick?<br />
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I am probably considered an "oldie" at university now since I am now in 4th year. Most people who started university with me in the UK have all graduated now...most are working as well...and I'm still in school. I've been through 3 fresher weeks now - I think I can safely say that I'm fairly confident about what goes on in Freshers and what students are usually concerned about. Let's crack a few FAQs. </div>
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<b>What is medical school going to be like?</b></div>
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Medical school is going to be challenging, physically and mentally tough, tiring, and most importantly - FUN. At the end of the day - we are medics. We work hard and party hard, BUT it is essential to maintain a good balance between the two. Don't want to work too hard to the point you burn out within first year, but at the same time not party so hard you end up flunking the year. In the first few weeks of school, it will mainly be a lot of introductory lectures. Unfortunately, your first few weeks will probably be a bit of a shock. First 2 weeks - you'll still be either hungover or on cloud 9 as you are still coming to terms that you are in medical school. Then week 3 comes around and so on...you're in lectures from 9am-5pm. You want to be seeing patients and learning clinical things, etc. Here's the truth - everyone has to take baby steps first so you'll probably spend quite a bit of time learning the basics. The science of medicine more than anything. </div>
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<b>How do I make friends?</b></div>
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I cannot stress the importance of getting out there. Don't just stay in your accommodation. Go out and socialize! I do understand drinking/alcohol culture is not everyone's "cup of tea", but not all socials need to be at a pub/bar/club. In your first week (Freshers Week) there will be a lot of fairs. There will be a medical freshers fair, union freshers fair, sports fair, etc. Go to the fairs and join some societies! Remember all the freshers that attend these fairs will also be looking for friends. Thinking back, in the first few weeks of university was quite overwhelming. Every one seems a bit too friendly. You get so many numbers and emails from people you only say "Hi" to. Great place to start is at your first medical lecture. Go meet your classmates! You'll be stuck with them for the next 5-6ish years...so it's not a bad idea to start getting to know them. If you are a shy person, just think about it - everyone is looking to make friends. To be entirely honest - I used to be quite shy and the week before starting medical school - I was pretty nervous. I didn't know if I will be able to make friends. I'm not exactly the best person to initiate conversations. I can actually be quite quiet and can happily stand in the corner and watch the world pass by. Seeing how I'm in a new country, new school, etc - I knew I have to step out of my bubble and really try hard to make the first move and meet as many people as I can. Not sure what to say? Here's a start: "Hi! My name is _______. So where are you from? Liking *the university/city* so far? How are you finding it?" </div>
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<b>Do I have to party every single day to make friends?</b></div>
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No. I did not go party every night. I think I went out twice (?) during Freshers week. BUT a great way to get to know your flatmates is probably to hang out with them, but know your limits. Sometimes you feel really pressured to go out, but if you aren't comfortable going out - then don't go! Just tell your friends you're going to take it easy for the night and need to finish unpacking. It isn't a crime to take it easy and most people should understand. However, I do HIGHLY recommend going to the Medic Freshers Party. I've been to the union party and the medics party 3 years in a row during Freshers week. The Medics' Party is a lot better. Plus it gives you another chance to meet more of your classmates and probably upper years such as people like me who don't want to give up on Fresher parties! I still fondly remember my first year medics freshers party. The people who I met at the party are still my great friends 3 years later. All I can say about these parties is just to enjoy yourself. Let loose. You're a fresher only once - just go for it! You're away from home. You're officially a medical student! I think these are good enough reasons to celebrate!</div>
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<b>I got the welcome pack and everything seems really confusing and overwhelming! What to do?!</b></div>
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Just relax. I have always found the welcome packs overwhelming and exciting. Things start to feel real when you read through the welcome pack. I still remember reading mine and going: "wow...I am going to university. I'm going to be a medical student in a few days. There is a lot of stuff to know...crap." Essentially what schools tend to do is try to cram as much info in a welcome pack as they possibly can. It isn't a bad idea to give it a read before you start university, but you don't have to know everything in it. Introductory lectures/induction will probably cover most of it. How I've always seen things is to just "go with the flow". Just remember if you are feeling scared/nervous - there will probably be quite a lot of other people feeling the same thing. You're not the only one on the boat. </div>
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All in all - in a way Freshers week is overhyped. Keep your expectations low, and you won't be disappointed. How much you will enjoy Freshers Week is solely down to you. You control your life so you go out as much as you need to. But like I've said earlier: you're only a Fresher once so enjoy your time. Celebrate your week. You deserve it. You got into medical school - which was certainly not an easy task. Just think how far you have come to get here. It's also a fantastic time to get to know lots of people. Go join societies and get to know people from other courses. You are at university for 5-6 years so it is important to make the first good step. Relax and just go with the flow! Be excited. It will be a very fun 5+ years of university. It will go by quickly so enjoy it. </div>
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Good luck and enjoy your Freshers week. Also congratulations for getting into medical school. </div>
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magicheartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09654875120261368605noreply@blogger.com1