All entries for May 2021

A well deserved break

As I described in my last blog, I found out a couple of weeks ago that I had passed finals and would be starting work as a doctor in August. I feel as though the news still hasn’t sunk in, and it feels surreal, even receiving cards from family and friends referring to “Dr. Moss”. All I can think is, who is this Dr. Moss and what does he want from me? It does give me slight panics every time I hear this and think about starting work as a fully-fledged doctor in 4 months… In all seriousness, I feel as though I finally have some certainty in my life. The last 4 years have felt like repeated anxiety in waiting for exam results and having the question of whether I will pass medical school or not. I feel as though I’ve reached a “cash-out” point – think of “Who wants to be a millionaire?” when they reach £32’000 and that means they can’t go home with nothing. I feel as though at last; I hopefully can’t go home with nothing!

One of the exciting things to happen recently was receiving a text from the General Medical Council (GMC). The GMC is the regulatory body for all doctors, and you must be registered with the GMC to practice as a doctor in the UK. The GMC set the medical school curriculum, check your qualifications, produce guidance about how doctors should behave and investigate if a doctor fails to meet these standards. The GMC is very much in the 21st century, and it was a text through to my mobile phone which informed me that I was now able to start my application for a licence to practice medicine. It was slightly out of the blue, but it feels like a huge step in my career. During the application, the GMC ask questions about any criminal convictions, fitness to practice issues and health conditions, to ensure that we will be safe to practice as a doctor and that patients will be safe having us as their doctors. All of these questions sound scary, but the important thing to know is that this process is supportive – all of the process is designed to ensure the safety of our patients. As a future doctor, I am keen to engage in the process so that I can safely start work come August.

I have also now got my rotations for the next 2 years as a Foundation Doctor. I am very pleased with the hospital and jobs that I have been allocated – I am working in: Upper GI surgery, Liver surgery, Respiratory medicine, Intensive Care, General Practice and Genito-Urinary medicine. Each of these placements is 4 months long and the programme is supervised by more senior doctors so that we can apply and develop the skills we have developed at Medical School in a safe environment. I have had to do all of my employment checks for my new hospital – lots of paperwork, but at least it is hopefully now sorted for the next 2 years so I have some stability.

Us Warwick final years have had a break for one month since our finals ended, and, boy have I needed a break! I think while doing my finals I have really understood the term “burn-out”, which hereby means complete exhaustion and depletion of one’s drive and energy. This is, I think, a natural consequence of the challenges of a Medical degree, and especially so when doing a Graduate entry programme, which means covering the same content in 4 years rather than 5. During my month off, I have really spent some time just getting back in touch with myself – going for long hikes and walks, watching TV, reading and getting in touch with people I haven’t spoken to in a while. In addition, I have been doing some general life admin, including things like my aforementioned employment checks, sorting out finances, paperwork and sorting out my indemnity for starting work as a doctor. I’ve done no medicine at all, which has been a total refresh, mentally and physically. Next week we start on our assistantship block, the final placement of my time at Warwick Medical School, which I will talk about in my next blog.

Megan Earle : 24 May 2021 12:25 |  Tags: Jordan Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I’m a doctor!

Apologies for radio-silence since my last blog which was just before my final exams of medical school. The last couple of weeks have passed by in a bit of a blur, a kaleidoscope of exams and anxious waiting for the results.

First of all, the exams. Written exams came first, with 2 papers of multiple-choice questions. I found quite a lot of the questions in these papers tricky – there is a definite step up from Phase II of the course to Phase III (final year). The patients in these questions have more complicated medical histories and the questions require you to think and reason why it can’t be one condition as much as it requires you to know what condition it might be. Overall, I found paper 2 the easier of the two, although I know most of the year found paper 1 easier. I think this is probably just dependent on what we’ve read over in the weeks before the exam. It’s always difficult to gauge how well an exam has gone after sitting it, so I simply tell myself, ‘once it’s done, it’s done’, and keep moving forward. I think I could drive myself crazy if I devoted too much time to going over each question in my mind and casting doubt over my answers. Besides, there was no time to sit on my laurels after completing the written papers as OSCEs were imminently upon me.

OSCE day arrived, and it was an equally daunting, intense, stressful and exhilarating experience. There were 10 ‘stations’ (clinical scenarios) to work through and I felt a definite lull in concentration towards the end. The OSCE scenarios are 7 minutes each and the station usually requires some sort of clinical examination and then you are asked questions by the examiner. It always surprises me that, no matter how much practice you get, there is still something that catches you off completely off guard! However, I think this is good practice for life as a qualified doctor – patients always surprise you, no matter how experienced you are. By the end of the OSCE, I could definitely feel my energy waning, but there was still (just) one exam to go – the OSLER.

I have practiced many of these during my placements but of course nothing compares to one under exam conditions, as the stakes are far higher. An OSLER is a ‘long-case’, where you have to take a full medical history (10 minutes), then discuss tests you want to do and how to manage the patient (10 minutes). The exam usually ends with a communication aspect – so explaining how to take a drug or what a certain test involves to the patient. We have to complete 4 OSLER cases for our finals, all on one day with a short break in between each case. This exam tests everything, from your clinical knowledge to your history taking and patient communication skills, as well as how well you can integrate your knowledge and put it all together. The written exams test what you know, the OSCEs test what you can do, and the OSLERs test how well you can function as a doctor, a healthcare professional. The OSLER day was very long but actually flew by because of how busy it is.

So that’s it – finals done! I then had a week wait until results…and I passed! It still hasn’t really sunk in, but I’ve passed medical school and will be starting my first doctor job come august. In my next blog I will go through some more details about applying for my GMC registration and what my first doctor jobs will be. Don’t miss it!

Megan Earle : 04 May 2021 11:40 |  Tags: Exams Finals Jordan Mbchb Osce Osler Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem