All 13 entries tagged Abbie

Block 5 … Babies and hormones

So, we are officially back from Easter break and I can officially say that it felt like we had 4 seconds off rather than 4 weeks. I was worried about the atmosphere when everyone else returned but it has been really nice and everyone is building each other up and reminding everyone that making sure they have a break is just as important as learning pharmacology. I have also discovered I have grown rather attached to my spot in the MTC computer room as someone was sat in it the other day and I just ended up wandering around until they moved so I could work…. I wonder if a post-it note claiming my spot will work?

I am enjoying Block 5 so far which is our child development and pregnancy block. The physiology is actually going ok for once and I am enjoying my lectures. We have Jamie Roebuck back for anatomy this term and I think he has provided the most memorable moments such as the “abseiling testicle” and demonstrating what the lithotomy position was on the front bench of the lecture theatre. We have also had our block lead Dawn Cannon who has taken us through contraception meaning there was a line-up of 5 students holding condoms at the front of the lecture hall describing them to us. Block 5 is going to be eventful. I have also had the joy of being a mother for one lecture by holding a plastic doll whilst taking notes, much more difficult that you would first think.

My favourite lecture so far has been on development as we talked about the teenage brain which is one of the topics of Neuroscience I love more than anything. I first got interested in the world of Neuro by a book which detailed all the aspects of Teenage Neuroscience, so it’s a topic of which I am ridiculously passionate about and could talk about it all day (though I think everyone would hate me for that !!).

It’s a busy time as I have also applied for a WMS internship which will be developing a new peer teaching programme and a booklet for the new first years. I had my interview the other day so … fingers crossed! I have also applied to be a resident life tutor which is a live-in student who helps the first years with their time living in halls. The role looks incredible as I get to be the friendly face for the first years to come to with problems but it also means I have to deal with things like noise complaints and encouraging the freshers to not be typical freshers and keep the kitchen areas at least liveable! I am waiting to hear if I have got an interview but it does mean I currently have a lot of balls being juggled at the moment!

My scheme that I set up over the holiday has taken well. I get a little wave of excitement when I hear people taking mugs or using blankets. I am really happy that people have deemed it as useful and I hope to build on it in the future. I have also just taken on a role in Neuroscience Society working on the outreach and engagement which I am really looking forward to getting my teeth into.

The first open day went really well and I enjoyed meeting all the premeds. It felt so weird as I was in their position just over a year and a half ago. I still have my pen from my Warwick open day and the pack we were given. I was slightly nervous giving my talk but once we got rolling I was in my element. It reminded me just how much I love public speaking and I even got a couple of laughs on the day!

I am a bit stressed. I found that trying to get to sleep at night is proving to be a mission and I am struggling to completely switch off. I am worried how this will develop as we get closer to exams but I guess it’s something that is affecting everyone. However, the nights are drawing out and campus is looking as beautiful as ever which makes late night studying that much easier. Cycling past the lake means I have met the newest arrivals of some goose chicks. I wish I could show you a picture to show just how fluffy they are!

Anyway, back to work I suppose!

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 23 Apr 2019 14:51 |  Tags: Abbie Easter Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Highlighters, Blue pens and Common Room Heaters

This is it. The big revision break is here. I am happy to say it is going well as far. I have got myself into a nice routine and even discovered I am a bit of an early bird starting at 8am every day. I have also found that I work well in the common room but it is freezing in here, so I have kidnapped a heater from the CBL rooms and I now am as toasty as …. Well … Toast? I am also finding (rather oddly) that moving round the common room day to day is helping me to revise and not procrastinate so I am making full use of have the entire room to myself.

It’s going ok and I am pleased with my progress for once! I have decided to hit three blocks over Easter as I wanted to take things a slowly rather than trying to cram four blocks in four weeks without a break, so I will tackle Block Three (my favourite block) with Block 5. I am hoping that will work, as I would rather get a good breadth of information rather than trying to work myself to the bare bones and burn out before exams. I am a lot calmer than I was last week, I think this is because I am finally able to review and learn the things that we didn't have time for when in the blocks. You have to get used to taking in content quickly as you are hit with new information every day, and I worked out that we have had 21 solid weeks of new content since September. It sounds scary, but it's all coming together, and I can finally see the connections between lectures so it's making it a lot easier to learn. You just need to keep in mind that the human body is an intricate puzzle and you have to see the bigger picture to understand how each part works.

Not much has gone on here apart from me walking into the MTC at 8am to start revision and leaving between 5pm and 8pm to go home and collapse on my bed. However, I did pop back up to Preston for a couple of days over the last week which is where I completed my undergraduate degree. It was nice to see my old lecturers and catch up with my old course mates and of course my best friends. It’s important to keep in touch with your non-medic friends during the course as it can get lonely when you're in week 7 out of 10 and the only people that you talk to are other medics. I got to go into my old SU bar and have a pizza of which I had been craving for a while, and in the evening, we headed to a “place of entertainment” of which I had missed a lot and sung every song that came on at the top of my lungs. It was amazing to catch up with them and even though I haven't seen them since July, it felt like I had never been away. It was good to get out of Coventry and away from my textbooks and now feel a little bit less like a walking textbook, albeit a rather blank textbook.

There has also been the introduction of a #MedStudentTwitter this week on Twitter so I have been following it as part of my revision/ procrastination breaks and people have been sharing tips on clinical learning and revision for exams. It is a nice way to be reminded that you are part of a wider community of future doctors and that we are all banding together to support each other through the intense world of medical school.

I'm looking forward to the open day next week as I am doing the student life talk for the incoming perspective med students. This feels a bit deja vu as I used to do the student life talks for my old university in front of more than 500 people so, it will be nice to do what I loved. I know the university are overtaking the common room for the open day so, I guess I am going to have to find somewhere else to make a revision nest in. I don't mind I guess these people will be in their first year when I'm in my third, which is quite a scary thought!

I have procrastinated enough writing this blog……. back to Gas Laws and Tubular Flow it is!

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 29 Mar 2019 14:21 |  Tags: Abbie Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Goodbye Block 4, Hello Easter “break”

This week we did our final Phase One community day. It was a bittersweet day as although I will miss our tutors and how beautiful the town is, I won’t miss doing the presentations nor the rain which seemed to appear each day we went to Stratford. Our tutors have been lovely, and it was always nice heading back to the base to see them after a long day and discussing how our days with the patients and other representatives have been. They have always managed to get interesting patients and gave us some incredible feedback. I was told that my communication skills were good and for someone who isn’t exactly wired to be amazing at this, I was rather pleased!

We have also had to submit our first clinical case reports which was slightly nerve-racking as there was an essay element to it meaning I had to drag out the skill of writing academic essays from the depths of dissertation land as I have only really been writing in bullet points since September! However, I strangely enjoyed doing this as I got to direct my own learning and find out more of an area of care which intrigued me. I ended up writing about the use of fibrinolytic therapy as pre-hospital medicine and I hope that I will be able to use this new information next year (if I pass my exams). I found out this is mostly what clinical learning consists off after having seen the year 2 resources, so I am looking forward to being able to direct my own learning next year (if I pass my exams).

We also had the deans breakfast this week which I was intrigued about as I had to miss the last one due to illness. I very nearly missed this one as I had woken up at 6:30 am so I could get ready and amble up to the med school, only to have had a nap and ended up waking up at 7:30. I’ve never been so grateful to be living on campus where I could throw on some (less crumpled) clothes and leg it up the hill. Essentially, we have breakfast with the dean (which I suppose is self-explanatory) and a couple of senior staff such as Colin McDougall and we were encouraged to chat about what is going well and what isn’t. We were all keen to mention that having Wednesday off has been a blessing as it has meant we have had some room to breathe and catch up so hopefully, this will continue for the year below us. We also suggested about trying to get some of the main campus services to the Med School such as food from Rootes etc. as we just don’t have the time to be wandering down to campus and back and eat the food in the lunch break we have and it would be nice to have some choice as to what we have for lunch up here.

Despite the windy weather now, we have also had some beautiful sun which we all took full advantage of by sitting out in the sunshine working on our notes and actively learning about Vitamin D and UV rays. We suggested that we could have a (non-alcoholic drinks of course) bar on the Med School balcony and call it the Guillain-Barre. We could also have “The Grubby Goose” but I prefer the former. On that day, I also met with my fellow Warwick MedLife blogger Jordan to discuss our slides for the upcoming Open Days. It was finally nice to put a face to a name and I like to way our PowerPoint is looking, a touch of fear followed by a wave of “it’s all going to be ok”.

I am feeling a bit calmer about exams and revision than I was the other week, but you can tell the apprehension is building in the year. We ran a Tea and Empathy society this week and the topic on everyone’s minds was what they are going to do over Easter, and how they were going to revise. I think I have had an idea, but I have also been asking the year above us what tips they have, I just have to keep telling myself that I can learn it – and not start panicking. I have so many plans for the second year, so I am going to try my hardest to not have to retake and continue my medical education. I think we are all worried in some way or another about not making it to next year, but we have Easter break for revision and tonne of support we can access.

We can do this guys !

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 14 Mar 2019 08:43 |  Tags: Abbie Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Did someone say the E word?

Yes … they did. Today. In Anatomy. They counted how many days we had to go. My heart nearly stopped. I keep saying I will start my revision in March but now I realise that March is next week. Gulp. So, like any good student. I have chosen to put it off a bit more and distract myself with other things to do!

It really has been a busy couple of weeks with a lot going on. My clinical teaching this week brought a couple of firsts with one patient sticking in my mind. They had a cardiac condition to which I was able to hear my first heart murmur and felt heaves and thrills! This was incredible to see as we are taught about these things in clinical exams and we are so used to performing on each other that we forget what we are meant to be looking for so to see this in the clinic was unforgettable!

One major thing that has happened is that some of my year participated in some research regarding the use of VR in anatomy teaching. I was intrigued as I used some VR in my previous degree, and I am really struggling to pick the anatomy up this block so I wondered if it would help. There was a control and experimental group but both groups could use the VR once the experiment had ended. The kit was incredible in the fact you could manipulate the limb in so many ways including looking at each muscle’s individual movement. I could easily study from it and I really hope to see it come into teaching soon! I’m pretty sure it would have been a good giggle to record us using the VR set as a bunch of students, waving their arms around with massive headsets on would have been a sight to see.

I also had an event that I had signed myself up to in September not realising just how busy I was to become! This is the National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition held in Southampton. I genuinely love Neuroanatomy so I thought it would be a good challenge to learn some further anatomy and see how much I could remember from block three. It was an incredible day and I really enjoyed it, even though I couldn’t answer half the questions! An example is in block three we are expected to name the vessels in the Circle of Willis and not many more, here they had a pin pointing to a random artery peeking through the cerebral surface and a faint grey line on a Neuro Angiogram. Safe to say, I don’t think “Artery” alone quite cut it. However, when it did come to the block three material, I could recall most of it, so I am pleased with how I did! I can’t wait to go back next year, and I am aiming for Top 10. Currently, St. Georges seem to do brilliantly in this competition, so I am keen for Warwick to knock them off the top spot!

Obviously, another highlight was the free(ish) food (we had to pay to enter the comp) consisting of pastries the size of your hand and pizza… a lot of pizza. There were some stands from the BMA (from which I now have three bones pens and some pen torches) and we also managed to get a mug for one of the third years who couldn’t go… We love freebies!

Another thing that has happened was going over to my medic family/student seminar team house for tea. We normally don’t meet for student seminars the first week of every block, so we descended for an evening of pizza, games and just a much-needed night off. It was also nice to see my medic mum and uncle as with the second years now in full-time hospitals, we don’t see them that much. I also gained a new half-sibling as my student seminar pal announced she needed to be adopted so my student seminar teachers decided to adopt her. I am looking forward to next year (if I get back in – sorry I am superstitious, and I am not taking any chances) teaching and hopefully adopting some freshers as my medic kids …. Let’s just hope my cooking skills improve in time for Medic Family Tea!

Abbie

Megan Earle : 26 Feb 2019 14:57 |  Tags: Abbie Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

New Block New Me

So, the beginning of February brought the end of block three and the beginning of block four. I felt a little sad as I really had enjoyed block three and it had cemented for me the reason of why I want to pursue neuro as a career. I had really enjoyed the labs with the last one recording EEG measurements. This was basically an excuse to nap of the floor of the lab for half an hour …. I gladly took that sacrifice for my team. However, it had to come to an end and we now are on block 4…. The penultimate block before the E word of which our Anatomy Professor has already mentioned once.

I am enjoying the content of the block, but it is taking me A LOT longer to pick things up, even in the anatomy side of things which is normally my strong point. The lower limbs are surprisingly complicated but all it is going to take is some hard work and I’m sure it will click in the end …. Hopefully. It is proving to be a weirdly entertaining block however as so far in lectures we have been standing up holding our own bums (demonstrating gluteus maximus), dragging each other standing up (demonstrating the sliding filament theory) and everyone is performing weird movements in the anatomy labs. Something tells me that I will be able to tell if any block 4 questions are being answered in the exam room.

We also had to submit our first written work this week which was our community day reflections. I found this hard because I had to essentially reflect on a conversation I had with a patient as part of a group. If you have ever tried to reflect on a conversation before you can probably see where I am coming from. It felt strange and for someone who must work at communication more than most (I have Asperger’s) it was a challenge to know what to write about. However, there was plenty of support and I did my best so hopefully it gets a pass. We also started another written assignment this week which was the case reports. Essentially, we have to find a patient and write their presentation up and submit it to our clinical tutor. We had an SDL session for this where we could go around the hospital at will, find a ward, find a patient and write up what we find. Terrifying for a first year. What if the ward does not want to let us in? What if the patient is too complicated? What if no doctors want anything to do with you? These were all the thoughts racing through my mind on Tuesday but Maariyah and I braved it alone and ended up on the cardio ward. The nurse we met was lovely and thankfully Maariyah did most of the initial talking as I was too nervous to put words into my own mouth. I relaxed a bit after we found a patient and I enjoyed looking through notes to build up what we knew about the patient and getting to talk and examine a patient without supervision. I’ve said it before but moments like this where all the work you do outside of the hospital comes into its own. It is also nice for the old self esteem as you realise how much you have picked up (even though you think you haven’t learnt anything) since you started.

I am also making sure I take a break from medicine and it’s in the form of my own blog that I am rather proud of. It’s developing slowly and I also use it to take stock on what I have done every week by writing a bit of a weekly summary. I looked at week one the other day and (after getting over how excited I was) it really did hit home how far we have come since those naive days in September. I also got some messages this week from people I had given advice to throughout the application cycles saying they had got into Warwick! This really did make me happy as I liked the fact, I may have had some small input to helping them.

Looking towards the E word, I really do need to start learning the drugs list (sorry WMS I haven’t started it yet). However, I had a bit of an epiphany moment when I woke up this morning (because what else are Saturday mornings for) and I realised that I know most of the drugs by what their packaging looks like as I worked as a dispenser for over a year, so why not put that to use?!

It’s the little things that keep you going ….

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 21 Feb 2019 13:45 |  Tags: Abbie Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem