Back to Lectures and Wards…

The Student-Selected Component phase in our curriculum has come to an end, and despite the fact that we are all feeling a bit more refreshed and ready to dive back into some more structured learning opportunities, there certainly was not much rest for the weary this week. For the next two-and-a-half weeks, we are participating in Advanced Cases 2. This is basically an introduction back into the world of lectures and wards and clinics and preparation for Phase III, which starts next year. In each of these three weeks, we have two days of intense lectures followed by three days on the wards to re-acquaint ourselves with the buzzing hospital world.

The four weeks I spent in The Gambia collecting data for my project seem about a million years ago now. Getting used once again to the autumn weather in Coventry after what felt like a scorching heatwave in Banjul (but was evidently a perfectly normal autumn, albeit one with highs of 35!) was tough, but I was able to gain a great deal of clinical exposure out there alongside my data collection, and I saw first-hand what it was like to practice medicine in a developing country with much fewer resources than we can access here. This has affected my perception about healthcare here in the UK as well, and will definitely colour my approach to practicing medicine in the future. For one thing, I have learned to never take for granted the provision of plentiful, adequate supplies and antibiotics. For another, we are extremely lucky in the UK to have excellent primary-care services which are provided free at the point of contact. This is lacking in many parts of the world.

We had lectures earlier this week about varied topics that we will be encountering next year in our cycle of speciality placements, including things like foetal development and monitoring, gynaecological emergencies, childhood neurological development and safeguarding – and that’s just over two days! It’s been extremely interesting and extremely relevant, and we’ve had a great time re-acquainting ourselves with these topics. Among other things, it underscores the value of repetition to assist memorisation. It’s really daunting to think about how much stuff needs to become automatic before we’re fully qualified, but when I look back over how much I’ve learned since starting med school 27 months ago, I’m confident that we can all do it.

Now, in addition to lectures, we have been turned loose on the wards again. But this time, if only for a short interlude, it’s different to CCE: it’s great to be in an environment where we can refine our clinical skills – and for the next few weeks, we can do so without the pressure of assessment. Once again we are distributed across our main hospitals in this trust, but this time, as opposed to CCE during our second year, it doesn’t feel like we’re dropped in the deep end! We are much more familiar with how each practice works and the layout of each of the wards, and it seems to be going really well. I am really looking forward to getting as much as possible from this part of the course.

John

Luke Pemberton : 28 Nov 2016 15:10 |  Tags: John Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem