All 27 entries tagged Joanne

Core Clinical Education 3, is it all in the mind?

As the first year students sit their end of year exams the second years have been getting to grips with the start of our next 10-week block. For me that means starting at George Elliot Hospital in Nuneaton.

George Elliot is a small district hospital, so compared to UHCW it feels quite small but I've still managed to take a few wrong turns. George Elliot organise Core Clinical Education (CCE) a bit differently in that we have a medical consultant and ward for the first 5 weeks, then we swap to surgery for the rest of the placement. I've started off on Cardiology and will move to Urology. So far I'm enjoying cardiology, on ward rounds we are shown the ECG of every patient and asked to interpret it. This is as terrifying as it is useful! It's great practice as interpreting ECGs is very likely to come up in both written and clinical exams. Many of the patients are attached to a heart monitor that can be seen at the nurses’ station, alerting staff quickly to any changes and providing a reassuring beep to those sat working.

I'm really enjoying our clinical placements and one of my best experiences so far has been my psychiatry placement. Psychiatry isn't everyone's favourite specialty but I'm really interested so I might be a bit biased! I had my placement during CCE2 and was based at the Caludon Centre right next to UHCW.

The Caludon provides most of the inpatient psychiatric facilities for Coventry and the surrounding area. I was based on an inpatient female ward. Ward rounds on a psychiatric ward are unusual as the doctors and nurse in charge usually sit in a lounge and the patients come to them at allocated times. It can get a bit crowded, often family members or carers also attend as well as social workers and allocated case workers who work with patients in the community. It was really interesting to hear all the different views from various people involved in a patients care and seeing everyone work together in a way that is rare in other areas of medicine. Many of the patients also lacked insight into their condition and did not believe they were unwell or needed treatment so it was interesting to see how the law impacts on medical care in these cases.

In the last few weeks I've also started my SSC2 project: this is the research project that takes place in the first 2 months of third year. As I had decided not to propose my own project, I ranked my top choices from a list provided by the med school. I was lucky to get my top choice, a questionnaire-based project designed to investigate career aspirations of medical students at Warwick with a particular focus on academic medicine and gender imbalances. I chose this project as I have never done qualitative research before and, as a female medical student interested in academic medicine, I want to help find out how we can address the huge gender imbalance in this area. At the moment we just have to write a project plan and ethics approvals but I can't wait to get started in September. However, before that there is the small matter of exams but I'll pretend I didn't just say that!

Joanne

Catrin Davies : 13 Jun 2016 11:00 |  Tags: Cardiology Joanne Mbchb Psychiatry Student Urology Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I am training to be a doctor, right?

For many people becoming a Doctor is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. For myself I remember as a 7 year old in school being asked to draw what I want to be when I grow up and I drew a Doctor complete with white coat and stethoscope. Staring Warwick Medical School was one of the best days of my life, however the relentless lectures and seemingly endless amounts of information soon brought me down to earth with a bump. The one thing that kept me going was the promise of all the clinical, practical medicine in 2^nd year. Now that I’m over halfway through core clinical education I’m starting to ask myself where did all the practical medicine go?

In our GP placements, in particular, I’m struck by the number of medical problems that turn out to be social issues. When taking a history from a stressed out single mother who is having panic attacks due to the pressures of looking after her children alone, one of whom is autistic, I’m left thinking: how can the GP help her? Sure we could think about medication or a referral for counselling but what she really needs is some help at home and some time to herself and unfortunately that doesn’t come in a pill. We also see a lot of cases of anaemia, most of which are caused by a lack of dietary intake of iron. In the area we are in many people have poor diets, some through a lack of education, some through a lack of equipment: one lady didn’t have a working oven as her landlord had still not fixed hers after 3 months! Some people just don’t have enough money to feed themselves properly. Are iron supplements really going to solve that problem?

You may be thinking that social issues are a big part of medicine in primary care but social issues have been causing problems in hospital for a long time. I am currently assigned to a Geriatric (Elderly care) ward at UHCW. Speaking to older patients is extremely satisfying, you get to hear wonderful stories and they often enjoy testing your knowledge by throwing in a few left field answers, especially if they have spoken to medical students before! While the Geriatric ward can be very fulfilling it can also be heartbreaking. Some of the patients are only in hospital because they haven’t been looking after themselves and sadly no one else has either. Patients come in dehydrated and malnourished and with poor levels of self-care. The paramedics who brought them into hospital might have been the first people they have spoken to in weeks. Social issues bring people into hospital but they can also prevent them from leaving. If people aren’t coping at home they need to remain in hospital while packages of care are organized, every extra day that goes by is another chance to acquire a hospital acquired infection. As a medical student I am starting to understand just how complex the healthcare system is and just how many people are involved. All the cogs have to turn together to make the machine work and sadly it is often social care issues that this all come unstuck! As medical students we need to know to navigate this minefield so we can help our patients in the future and stop social inequalities impacting on the health of our patients. I’m training to be a doctor, not a social worker, but I don’t think you can be a good doctor without all the other cogs!

Joanne

Catrin Davies : 27 May 2016 11:56 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Patients Social Student Wards Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What Easter Holiday?

While the first year students have been enjoying their Easter holidays (or more likely doing lots of revision before their upcoming exams!), the Easter holiday for second year students consisted of just the bank holidays, which was bit of a shock to the system! Being a clinical medical student means no more long university holidays but we also don’t have the luxury of choosing our time off like a full time job, core clinical education feels like a long haul at times but we do have a week off between CCE2 and 3 which I am counting down the days to!

This last week we have been out in the community, in year 1 we had community days where we visited patients in their homes and spoke to them about their chronic illnesses, this continues in CCE2 where we visited a patient living with a disability and in CCE3 we will speak to patients receiving palliative care. It is a great privilege to be allowed to visit patients in their homes and ask them very personal questions about their illness and personal circumstances. We ask them difficult questions about their future which are not easy to talk about. Listening to patients talk about these difficult topics helps me learn more about the reality of living with some of these devastating illnesses more than reading any textbook ever could.

Another part of our community days in CCE was a Mini Health needs assessment for our GP practice in CCE1. A health needs assessment involves identifying an unmet health need in a population and identifying what can be done to tackle it and comparing performance of your local practice with those nationally. The GP practice I was based at in CCE1 was in a deprived area of Leamington spa, myself and my clinical partner identified that there was a high smoking prevalence but also relatively low levels of smoking cessation being offered. It was really interesting to see the disease prevalence and socioeconomic data for our practice and think about how this will impact medical provision in that area. These sort of assessments are undertaken all the time by doctors and researchers working in Public Health and they can have a national impact on health policy so it was interesting to see what these involve even on a mini level!

As well as learning about all the different aspect of medicine at Medical school we are also learning about all the different roles that a doctor has. A doctor is not just a clinician coming up with a diagnosis and management plan based on what they were taught at medical school. A doctor is expected to be constantly learning, throughout specialty training and as a consultant to update their skills. A doctor is also expected to be a teacher. At every stage of your career you will be teaching your junior colleagues. Teaching also forms an important part of job applications for specialty training so showing an interest in teaching early on is a wise thing to do! There are lots of opportunities for teaching while at medical school. As a second year student you can get involved in Peer Support teaching to first year students through Peer Support and Student Seminar groups run by MedSoc. A couple of friends and I are going to be running a seminar group for students in Block 5: Child health and Reproduction. For the first years it’s an opportunity to go over difficult topics and get exam tips and for us its great revision and an opportunity to teach. In preparation for this I was a guest teacher leading a session on Cardiac Embryology, not my favourite topic but I got some great feedback and also some really helpful tips to use in the future. Hopefully a chance to put my Medical Education course into practice too!

Joanne

Megan Earle : 19 Apr 2016 11:42 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Patient Contact Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Cradle to Grave…

Writing about web page http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/med/study/ugr/

In medicine we are privileged to witness both the birth of new life and the end of life. During Core Clinical Education (CCE) 1 there were times when I started on the ward and enquired about a patient only to learn they had passed away; other students have been present for a patient's last moments and others have been present when families have been informed. All of these situations present unique challenges to doctors and to us as medical students. I still feel like an unwelcome intruder in these situations but the only way we will learn how to cope with these difficult times is by observing others. We have excellent teaching from doctors and nurses who work in palliative care in the local hospice, teaching us about care at the end of a person’s life. I’m grateful of any extra knowledge in the hope that it will help me when it’s my turn to cope with these difficult situations, although I'm prepared to feel like I said all the wrong things the first time knowing that after reflecting I will be better next time.

An equally pivotal moment in a patient’s life that we get to witness is their birth. In my first couple of weeks of CCE2 at University Hopsital Coventry and Warwickshire I have had shifts on the Labour ward (both day and night!) and have also spent time in the community with the midwives. These have been amazing experiences and have made me think a lot about what specialty I see myself in. Working with the team of midwives and Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctors was great, I got to spend lots of time with the patients and was able to provide a lot of practical help to the midwives as well as be a much needed distraction for some of the women whose contractions were pushing them over the edge! I was able to observe both natural deliveries as well as some emergency Caesareans.Seeing the team come together to ensure that it is no longer than 30 minutes from the time of the call to when the baby comes out was incredible. Seeing the midwives, anaesthetists, theatre staff and obstetricians all working as one to ensure both Mum and Baby are safe was incredible and I had tears in my eyes on several occasions. As a second year medical student we are limited in what we can do and therefore how helpful we can be, but we can talk to patients and reassure them, and nowhere is this needed more than on the Labour ward. Leaving my 13 hour shift and saying bye to a patient I had worked with for the last six hours I was really touched to be hugged by both the patient and the midwife who said I was a pleasure to work with, hearing this was so rewarding and makes you realise that no matter what stage of your medical career you can make a difference. I’ve learnt that One Born Every Minute is not entirely accurate but the Labour Ward is certainly filled with some very special moments that are great to be part of.

In our first year we learnt a lot about health inequalities and the effects of social deprivation on the health of both mothers and children. Nowhere is this highlighted more than when working with the community midwives. The community midwives spend a lot of time educating patients about their health and wellbeing and also take part in multi-agency schemes designed to support families in a variety of ways. Seeing pregnant mothers living in damp, overcrowded housing makes you realise just how important health professionals are in tackling poverty and social isolation. Working with the community midwives we spent a lot of time trying to find a good place to listen to a heartbeat in the antenatal clinic in cases where a baby was especially active (apparently a sign it’s a boy!) as well as spending time on postnatal visits ensuring families were coping and checking for signs of postnatal depression. What I really liked about Obstetrics and Gynaecology is that it is a specialty that takes a holistic approach, the whole family and social circumstances around a patient are relevant and can have a huge impact on outcomes.

As well as cooing over newborn babies I presented my summer project at the Warwick Academic Medicine Society’s annual conference, an amazing day filled with excellent talks from both staff and students and tonight I start my first week of the optional Student Selected Component (SSC) in Medical Education. There is definitely never a dull week as a medical student!

Joanne

Sarah Hill : 30 Mar 2016 09:58 |  Tags: Birth Caesareans Care Joanne Labour Mbchb Medicine Midwife Midwives Palliative Patient Student Ward Wards Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Extra Extra…

From bedside teaching in first year, through advanced cases 1 in second year, and now as a fully-fledged clinical medical student I have always been based at Warwick Hospital. Warwick is a small hospital with a small A&E department. You start to recognize familiar faces in the corridor and bump into other students regularly.

With our first 10 week block coming to an end that’s all about to change as myself and my fellow students at Warwick prepare for Core clinical education 2 at UHCW. UHCW is a major trauma centre and a much bigger hospital, the chances of me getting lost are very high! Students at UHCW and George Elliot will all be moving onto their next placement too and I don’t think I’m the only one feeling a bit nervous having got used to how one hospital works.

Having survived CCE1 my history taking and examination skills have greatly improved and I’m starting to think more like a doctor. Formulating a differential diagnosis and thinking about investigations in a systematic way. I can take blood, insert cannulas and take arterial blood gases (which helps the junior doctors greatly so they have more time to teach!). I’ve got used to just going up to people, introducing myself and asking what they do and if I can come with them-being a bit pushy as a medical student seems to be a skill in itself.

Apart from more practice in different clinical specialties I have a few start of block resolutions. One is to teach in Peer support. I benefitted greatly as a first year student so really want to be able to give back and help out the current first years. The other resolution is slightly contradictory but it is to do LESS!

There is so much extra teaching and events on at Medical school it’s easy to get a bit carried away. In the last few weeks I have attended a suturing workshop run by the Surgical Society. This was a great event, we were taught using pig skin in the Surgical Training Centre at UHCW by current surgical trainees. Getting the chance to learn different types of suturing techniques was really fun and learning in such a small group meant you had lots of time to practice.

I also attended an Airway Management session run by the Trauma and Emergency Medicine Society. As a medical student you might think we won’t be managing airways but you would be wrong. My first day in theatre with an anesthetist and I found myself managing an airway and administering oxygen at the same time!

Another interesting evening was spent watching 3^rd year students studying an optional SSC in Medical Education give presentations on various medical topics. Seeing the different teaching styles was very interesting and was a great opportunity to learn more about the medical education course that I would really like to take part in next year.

A slightly more nerve wracking evening was at an event that I had organised with the Psychiatry Society. I organised for the President of the Royal College to come to Warwick as part of his tour of UK Medical Schools. The event was a great success, we had a really interesting talk accompanied by delicious M&S snacks and we had a good turn out from our members.

Despite really enjoying all these events I definitely need to find a better balance between extra things, study and time to relax! So this is something I’m going to work on going forward into CCE2.

Joanne

Megan Earle : 21 Mar 2016 09:24 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem