A 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

Happy New Year!

What to do during summer holiday...

I tend to see a lot of prospective medical students and current medical students wondering what they should be doing during holidays. For most people they see it as a bit of a dilemma...I personally don't...but some people feel the need to be doing something during the summer.

The most common question I see from prospective medical students is what should you read during summer holiday to prepare for medical school. To be completely honest: you don't need to do any pre-reading unless the medical school specifically told you so (which is unlikely).  If you are a gap year student and haven't studied in a long time - then just quickly look over your biology notes. I don't think looking over your notes will really get you ready for medical school. I don't think it is that big of a jump from school to medical school. I guess it varies from university to university, but for me - there was a gradual introduction to medicine. What did I do the summer before I started medical school? I traveled with parents as I know once I get to university, I won't see them as much - so I spent quality time with them. I did a lot of sleeping. Played social basketball and hockey. Chilled with friends before we all split up across the world for university.  Essentially I did a lot of relaxing..I don't think I did anything related to medicine or prepared for medical school. The most preparing I did was probably reading the intro/welcome guide that the university sent.

Another common question from prospective medical students: What books will I need to buy for medical school? I personally won't buy any books until a few months into medical school. Most medical schools will give you a recommended reading list. Go to the library and take a look at all the textbooks and see which one suits you. Textbooks are expensive so choose wisely. I made the mistake of buying books too early and ended up only using a few of them. Some of my textbooks are still sitting on my shelf looking brand new untouched. If I had to recommend ONE textbook - it would probably be Vander's Human Physiology. It is probably the only textbook I have that is quite beat up and well-used. I found it to be the perfect textbook for the first two years. Again, go to the library and check it out before buying! Kumar and Clarke Clinical Medicine is also another great textbook, but I never really used mine. Medical students from other universities say that it's really useful. I've only used it for certain topics that weren't covered well in lectures. The few chapters that I looked at - I really liked the layout and how things were explained. The only problem I had was that I found that there was a lot of assumed knowledge and some descriptions of certain conditions were too brief.  My friends say that it is either a hit or miss. Some students swear by it. Others like me, don't really care for it. Another textbook you should check out in the library before buying.

So you're a medical student and you're sitting around at home feeling that you should be doing something productive and medically related. If you're in 1st or 2nd year and you've still got a long summer holiday - go enjoy your holiday. As the years progress - your summer holiday will get shorter and shorter. This year, my summer holiday is only 3 weeks. Stupidly short. In first year my summer holiday was 3.5 months! Most of the doctors that I have talked to all told me to not work during my summer holiday as I'm currently doing an audit project. I was quite stressed about it before holiday started trying to get it done so I don't have to worry about it, and I'm glad I did get it done before holiday. Now, I can relax and just sleep as much as I want. Actually might be taking the whole sleeping in to a whole other level. Thinking about it, it's nice to sleep in. Before holiday, I was getting about 4-5 hours of sleep per night. Now I'm well rested as I'm getting about 10-12 hours of sleep...doing some major catch-up. Knowing that my holiday is only 3 weeks, I'm glad I didn't bring any work with me as I'm spending as much time as I can relaxing and doing the things I love to do. Hanging out with friends. Eating good food. Sitting around. Just doing absolutely nothing. Need to get the brain rested as exam season is coming up. So my biggest tip to current medics: RELAX when you can! Enjoy your holidays while they last! Take a break as you'll just end up burning out. Medicine is mentally and physically demanding - give yourself the needed break!

Okay so you're not convinced and you HAVE to do something during summer holiday. Try to avoid doing something medically related. Go volunteer for summer camps. Go volunteer for an activity that you enjoy doing. Do the things that you love to do. For medics: I really advise against shadowing a consultant during your holiday at your local hospital. You'll get to spend all the time you want in the hospital in the near future. For some, your next 30+ years will be working in the hospital. You can follow/observe as many consultants you want when you get back to medical school.

Anyways that kind of gives you an idea what I'm usually up to during holidays and what I think is the best way to enjoy your holiday.

End of Week 3.

Sorry for the late update. Literally left for Canada the day after the end of my first placement, so I haven't had time to update.

Anyways. This was my final week on my first placement. I realized that the patient I was originally going to use for my SSC project/essay does not fit the criteria for the essay. Therefore, I was out hunting for another SSC patient. Decided to take a stroll to the Coronary Care Unit to see if there are any straight forward patients. We met a patient who was quite talkative and in general well enough to talk to us. He had an MI and was waiting for a bypass surgery. This time I made sure we got every single bit of info we need for this essay and all in all it was a really straight forward patient history. Did cardio, respiratory, and abdominal physical examinations. The patient was really friendly and actually didn't want us to leave because he was so bored. Kinda feel bad for some of the patients as they really do look like they are bored out of their mind. Some of them don't even get patients so you really do sympathize.

Actually before we went SSC patient hunting (on Monday) we went to theatre to look for our consultant. We literally stood there for 1.5 hour as our consultant was late and we didn't want to risk missing him so we turned up quite early. Finally caught our consultant racing through the corridor and asked to meet him on Wednesday so we could get our proformas signed off. I swear those 1.5 hours were horrendous as nurses kept asking if we were alright and if we needed anything. Swear we nearly blended into the background.

So come Wednesday, our consultant had clinic so we went to meet him at his clinic...only to find out he isn't there yet and will be an hour late. Great. I decided to talk to the SHO and nurses about bariatric surgery as I was thinking of writing up about it for my 2nd SSC essay on ethics and law. Had a really really good conversation going and I learned quite a lot. It's all down to personal opinion and it is definitely an interesting topic. So an hour later, consultant turns up...only to be in a bad-ish mood and completely ignored my partner and I. We waited til the end of his clinic to talk to him. So we gave him our proformas for him to assess how we did in placement. He took our sheets, quickly glimpse and it, and just circled "Satisfactory" for each section. My partner and I were panicking and our consultant returned the sheets to us without leaving feedback. In general it is expected for us to get an overall mark of "Good" in placement or else the medical school may think we didn't show up to placement. So out of desperation we asked if we can show him what we have been doing on placement as he hasn't watched us therefore couldn't really mark us properly. We were hoping after showing him our work he would raise our grade. He told us to meet him in between surgery on Thursday at 12:30pm.

We get there at 12pm...he apparently finished his first surgery early and had an early lunch break so he could get on with his second surgery. So we stood in for one of his surgeries which was expected to be only 2 hours. Not bad right? Wrong...midway through surgery we had a complication and the surgery ended up taking 4.5 hours. My legs were not happy with me. I think at one point I lost feeling in my quads. After surgery, our consultant was obviously annoyed, but still managed to meet us. We gave him a new proforma and he was like "Didn't I sign something like this yesterday?". We pretty much told him it's a different sheet and it requires written feedback. Somehow he fell for it and before marking us we showed him all our patient histories we took over the 3 weeks. Despite all the effort...he still gave us "Satisfactory" but in the feedback he put down that it was difficult to mark us and was sure we were "good/excellent" students but he didn't get the opportunity to watch us in the wards. At least we got some sort of reason. But to be honest, we now understand why he gave us a "Satisfactory".

So on Friday, we actually had nothing to do and it was our last day. Went in at like 10pm and my partner and I decided to get assessed on our history and examination skills. I think I did alright in it, but was told that my smiling was unprofessional. Still confused about it because if I was a patient I wouldn't want to be greeted by a doctor looking like he/she doesn't give a crap and is in a bad mood. Anyways everyone has their own opinions but it was one feedback point that I will keep in the back of my mind but definitely won't change the way I greet patients. It's not like I excessively smile and laugh/be inappropriate with my facial expression. Just want to treat the patients like a person. It was a weird one to get my head around, and still kinda bothers me. Oh well. After the assessment, we managed to leave at like 12pm and returned our lockers and bleeps. Only if I could relax the minute I got home. It was more like "need to pack. need to pack. need to pack." I don't think I sat down at all for the rest of the day as I was running all over the place trying to get things done and running some final errands before I left.

All in all my first placement as a student doctor has been enjoyable and I definitely learned loads. When I return to placements at the end of September, I will be able to take bloods and do injections/perform invasive procedures, so I'm really looking forward to that. Shame I have 2 weeks of 9-5 lectures prior to my 2nd placements. Yuck.

But finally a week into holiday I've had my chance to sleep in and relax. Now getting to writing up my first SSC essay. The brain hardly wants to work though.

Anyways sorry again for the late update. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday! Freshers week is getting closer! :D