All entries for Monday 08 June 2015

One last push…

It is now 10 day to go until exams, lectures are finished and we have one week of dedicated revision time before our first year summative exams. Despite the exams hanging over Block 5 like a dark and very scary cloud, our reproduction and child health block has actually being one of my favourites.

Block 5 mostly focused on normal anatomy and physiology, learning about the physiology of pregnancy and labour and the development of a foetus right through to adolescence was truly fascinating and reminded me that one of the reasons why I wanted to study medicine is because the human body is amazing! We also did a lot about development in childhood and safeguarding issues around children. This really highlighted that as a doctor we aren’t just treating injuries and disease, we have a much larger role in society. Learning about the social aspects around medicine may not seem really relevant now but it will form a large part of our future careers!

Year 1 ended with a bang at our last session at UHCW. For the first time this year we had access to fresh human tissue. The surgical training centre team had dissected specimens of arms, legs, hearts and even heads for us to observe and revise from. This is a truly unique opportunity that doesn’t exist in many medial schools. At Warwick we are lucky to have the plastinated specimens all year round but their delicate nature limits how hands on you can be. With the fresh tissue you can feel the difference between a nerve and an artery and see the action of a tendon if you pull on it. It really is a brilliant learning opportunity and as a medical student I really appreciate the gift that the donors and their families have made to us.

I’ve spent my first Saturday of revision week back in the medical school with the Surgical Society for an anatomy revision day. There are lots of active societies at the medical school. I haven’t had much opportunity to get involved with many of them this year but I joined the surgical society as they run frequent revision sessions throughout the year for members. Tea, coffee and a seemingly unlimited supply of sweets gets us through long days where tutors, mostly 3rd and 4th years, help us go over key concepts and practice exam questions with us.

I find these sessions with the senior students really helpful as they can really guide you to the important information. As a first year graduate medical student it can be hard to identify the key points from lectures and also hard to know what sort of questions could be asked, getting tips and the chance to practice makes life a lot easier!

In our last week of first year we also had a lecture to introduce us to Advanced Cases 1, our first term in second year. Although everyone is very much preoccupied with getting through first year it was actually really motivating and inspiring to hear about second year. It was great to hear how we will be spending much more time on the wards, integrating all of our knowledge from first year and really learning how to apply it to patients in a clinical setting. I’m nervous of being let loose on the wards with only my clinical partner to protect me but I also can’t wait. Just one last push and I’ll be there. See you on the other side of exams…

Megan Earle : 08 Jun 2015 13:53 |  Tags: Exams Joanne Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem