All entries for Monday 23 December 2013

End of semester one

Well, I made it. Christmas is here and I've just completed my first semester at WMS. It has been a tough 11 weeks with all sorts of challenging concepts and information to battle with. At times I've felt a little overwhelmed with the avalanche of information washing over me, but actually I've loved it. Isn't the challenge part of the reason we choose to study medicine?

When I was thinking about what to write for this entry I thought I'd have a look on the Student Room (come on - we've all been there) and I found a page called "Reflections of a First Year Medical Student". The first post outlines a student's thoughts on their first year and quite early on says how easy it was. Now, I'm sure I'm not the only medical student to disagree with him.

I, Amy Barrett, am finding my first year hard.

I'm not too concerned that I feel this way because I think it is supposed to be hard. If you're lucky enough to have covered all the material in your previous degree and have managed to retain that past graduation then well done (I am very jealous), but for the rest of us, we either need a bit of a refresher or to try and grapple with some pretty advanced stuff. The first year is about laying the foundations of knowledge and learning new skills that are vital for becoming a good doctor. We shouldn't be intimidated by the fact we have to learn so much and maybe even change the way we learn. If we knew it all, we wouldn't need to be here.

It's not just the content of lectures and the impending doom of exams, but also learning how to cope with such a full timetable that makes it hard. Personally, I had far fewer lectures and contact time in my previous degree and combining a fuller working week with a part time job and hopefully a little bit of a social life is no easy task. That said, we are reminded that it is a privilege to study medicine, and it really is. For all the hard work we put in, we are more than rewarded, with what will hopefully be a long and happy professional life doing something that we have always wanted to do. Few people get that opportunity in life, so embrace it, try to enjoy it, because after all, we worked so hard to get here.

Of all the new things I've experienced since September, I enjoyed the clinical skills sessions and the community placements the most. On Fridays the entire first year at WMS is unleashed from the Medical Teaching Centre and can be seen, stethoscope in hand, getting lost around University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. Right from the first day we were set impossible tasks such as finding Occupational Health and getting safely to and from UHCW in the morning traffic for 8.00am. When you live in Leamington, leaving around 7.15am seems so unjust but it's good practise for the future, I'm sure. The day is quite varied and starts with a lecture, before the year group splits into smaller groups and engages in different sessions throughout the day.

My day usually starts in the Surgical Training Centre. This is a really impressive facility and we're very lucky to have access to it here at Warwick. I have been in an anatomy suite before but it was no way near as high-tech and well organised as the one at UHCW. I've found I learn better visually so seeing the specimens first hand and having the detail and concepts explained by the tutors really brings the pieces of the puzzle together. The afternoon is then spent learning how to apply the scientific background to the consultation, with practise of different examinations. I really enjoy this part of learning and find the sessions really interactive and memorable. Hopefully I've gained a fairly good understanding of the basic processes involved in history taking and examination. We have a formative OSCE to assess this after Christmas and I'll be sure to let you know how it goes in a future blog post. For now though, I'm going to settle down with a mince pie and maybe Gray's Anatomy, well, for a little while at least.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all,

Amy

Sarah Hill : 23 Dec 2013 11:45 |  Tags: Amy Mbchb Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem