All entries for Tuesday 21 November 2017

To study or not to study…

Two weeks into my final block and my fellow students and I are counting the days, not until Christmas, but to our exams! I’m already a week behind on my revision timetable and I seem to spend more time thinking about all the time I’ve wasted rather than getting on with my revision!

My last block is the musculoskeletal block. Our year group is split into 7 groups and each one has done the blocks in a slightly different order, so everyone is finishing on something different. Some students are happy they are finishing on General Practice so they can practice and revise almost every subject, other people are glad they are doing Paediatrics or Obstetrics and Gynaecology so that all the information covered in those blocks stays fresh in their mind for exams. Musculoskeletal isn’t a bad block to finish on, this block covers rheumatological conditions which are a favourite of medical school clinical exams and covers orthopaedic surgery so we are seeing lots of patients with osteoarthritis and painful joints, which also come up a lot in our exams. Many rheumatological conditions don’t just affect the joints but have effects on other areas of the body so it’s actually very good revision for other organ systems as well as ensuring my anatomy hasn’t been completely forgotten.

One of our teaching sessions can be slightly nerve-wracking with a consultant who likes to sit in the middle of a circle of nervous students and swivel on his chair and directing questions at us about almost any subject in medicine and surgery! Trying to think of another side effect of steroids when all the ones I remember have been said already or been asked to name 4 causes of clubbing (a clinical sign of disease in the nails) is quite exhausting but it’s also helpful! Our consultant helps us if we are struggling with a range of comedic actions and facial expressions and we all leave with a smile on our face knowing that while we got some answers right, it didn’t matter which ones we got wrong as now we know which areas of medicine we need to work on!

We are also spending time with the orthopaedic team in fracture clinic, seeing new patients as they are sent round from A&E with a variety of injuries. We are getting lots of practice with our history and examination as well as getting the chance to look at some painful looking X rays!

Aside from our MSK block and revision I am also trying to fit in some revision time for the Situational Judgement test, a national exam that will determine 50% of the score I get for job application to the foundation programme. Fingers crossed for the start of exam season!

Joshua Galvin : 21 Nov 2017 09:21 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem