All entries for Wednesday 26 October 2016

4 Weeks later…

I’m coming to the end of a four-week stay at a large regional hospital in The Gambia. I came down here to do research for the SSC2 (Student-Selected Component) part of our curriculum. Every Warwick MB ChB student does a self-directed research project during the autumn of our third year, and it’s proven to a really interesting and thought-provoking experience for me for many reasons.

Although I’ve got experience working within several NHS hospitals, I’ve never spent much time in a healthcare setting outside of the United Kingdom. Seeing how a different system operates is absolutely fascinating to me. There are many things that I would change, and there are many things that I think are done quite well. I am still surprised and quite taken aback by the lack of primary care in The Gambia. All of the clinical staff in this hospital are consummate professionals, and they make the very best of what they’ve got, but resources are limited, and patients do tend to present to clinic or onto wards with more advanced stages of illness. That is something I never expected.

There is also a lack of trained specialist doctors. For instance, I don’t know if The Gambia has any endocrinologists within its borders; I’ve heard there are none.. This has caused me to reflect: the people here are just as human as anyone in the UK, and in an ideal world, they would be just as entitled to healthcare as the rest of us. Being at the thin end of the wedge here has made me think much more about global health and the importance of providing a basic service to those most in need.

Since my project was to conduct an audit of tuberculosis diagnostic-technique requests, I spent a LOT of time trawling though patient notes and trying to figure out what investigations and diagnoses were requested, and when. It was a very painstaking, manual process. I have definitely learned that writing clearly and concisely in patients’ notes is essential – even if you think nobody is ever going to read them again, you might be very wrong! Although I *generally* got used to the handwriting styles of the different doctors, sometimes it was a bit of a struggle.

The most different thing about being here is definitely the weather. I checked the climate forecasts on Wikipedia before I came down here, but I must have misread something as I brought a hoodie “just in case”. It’s been over 30 every single day, and I haven’t seen a drop of rain since leaving England in September. Since I’m Fitzpatrick skin type 1 (thank you, Phase II dermatology book!), I have been slathering on the sunblock. I’m kind of looking forward to returning to England if, for nothing else, some respite from the sun overhead. I suspect I’ll regret this within forty-eight hours of returning though!

John

Luke Pemberton : 26 Oct 2016 13:51 |  Tags: John Mbchb Student Warwick |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Running out of time…

We are now 4 weeks into our 8 week student selected component (SSC2) and I can’t believe how fast time is going! My project involves designing a questionnaire for medical students and alumni of the medical school to investigate the effect of gender on career aspirations of medical students, in particular trying to find out why women don’t choose careers in academic medicine. I spent the first few weeks of my project designing my questionnaire. I even got a bunch of friends to be my test group (in return for Chocolate!) and give me their feedback on the questions. After a few tweaks I was really pleased with the final version and since it was sent out I’ve been franticly checking the response rate! I’ve never done this sort of research project before so I really don’t know what to expect from the results, but thanks to all great students so far who have filled in my survey at least I will have plenty of data to analyse!

As well as getting to grips with my project I’ve been catching up with my extracurricular activities. Everything seemed to come to a grinding halt during revision over the summer so it’s nice to get involved in new projects for the new academic year. The role I’m most excited about is my new role as President of the Psychiatry Society. We have started organising our next events and brainstorming for the future and trying to come up with ways to expend the society so I’m excited for the coming year and working with the rest of the new committee. I also led the first training session of the new year for MedMinds a society that educates schoolchildren about Mental Health. Leading sessions like this is really nerve-wracking, it’s not just public speaking but getting students involved in interactive activities and encouraging participation which can be tricky in a large group. The training session was really busy and full of students from lots of different courses which was great to see. It’s also a nice reminder that while the medical students may be stuck up on Gibbet Hill there are opportunities to step outside the bubble!

I’m also involved in organising a medical education course for my fellow third year students. Myself and another student are in charge of organising the speakers, planning the sessions and the scariest job of all, selecting students to take part in the course from anonymous applications. Medical education is something I’m very interested in for the future, so I’m glad as part of SSC2 I got to take part in a Journal Club on the subject. Journal Clubs in SSC2 are a great opportunity to learn critical appraisal skills, another valuable research skill that all doctors are expected to have.

While I am learning lots of different skills in SSC2, skills which I am actually able to put into practice with my extracurricular activities, I am worried about my total lack of clinical skills! It’s been so long since I’ve been in hospital I’m not sure I’ll be able to take history, or blood for that matter! I’m glad in Advanced Cases 2 before Christmas we have dedicated time in hospital to refresh our skills so we are fully prepared for our specialist placements in January. Not long now!

Joanne

Luke Pemberton : 26 Oct 2016 13:34 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Warwick |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem