All 22 entries tagged Joanne

Organised chaos…

No two weeks in hospital are the same, just as no two patients are the same. Routine is a word I am not familiar with at the moment. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it does mean I feel very busy and a little bewildered most of the time! These last few weeks I’ve spent time with a variety of different clinical teams. I’ve been in the TB clinic meeting a variety of patients with both latent and active TB which I really enjoyed. Rates of TB are increasing and it’s interesting to see the different groups of patients this can be a problem for, from healthcare workers exposed at work to homeless people living in damp conditions, and how the consultants and specialist TB nurses work with all these patients to help them.

I also really enjoyed my Child Health day which I spent in Paediatrics and in the Special Care Baby Unit (or SCBU!). I went on the Paediatric Ward round, meeting children and babies with their devoted parents who had slept with them in hospital overnight and then met the team who look after premature babies. In SCBU it was a quiet day on the ward with only two babies, the maximum capacity is up to 13 so the staff had lots of time to explain their work to me and the various complications that can occur in premature babies. I was just about to leave when a newborn baby was referred form the postnatal ward who was not able to feed and needed additional support. Seeing the team in action carrying out all the necessary checks highlighted to me that it’s never a quiet day in hospital and it’s is a real skill to be able to switch into action. Years of training prepare you for this and it is something which I’m only just beginning to appreciate.

In contrast to the quick action of the hospital GP seems relatively slow until you realise just how many patients are seen and how many problems each patient brings with them, all of which need addressing. Working efficiently to try and stick to 10 minute appointments is a skill in itself and many patients come in with multiple things they want to discuss which isn’t always possible. I am filled with so much respect with GPs with their ability to switch from one subject to another, even within one consultation. GPs are constantly making judgement calls about how ill a patient is, do they need a referral? Is it bacterial or viral? They make these calls in every consultation and in contrast to hospital doctors who have blood tests and imaging at their finger tips they have to do this based on their history taking skills and their in knowledge of the patient. Something that I’ve struggled to adapt to in second year is thinking about medicine in a multisystem way rather than compartmentalising things into separate body systems. When I’m on the respiratory ward I know I need to ask my respiratory questions and be thinking of respiratory disease but in GP a patient could walk through the door with anything. The breadth of knowledge that GPs have is something I’m severely lacking, but as with everything in medical school it will develop over time!

Developing our skills and gaining feedback is the main goal as a medical student in CCE and GP is great opportunity to conduct lots of histories and examinations in front of a senior doctor. Getting feedback from my first OSLER, an observed history and examination followed by questions about my differential diagnosis was terrifying but also really helpful. I now know which areas I need to improve but I also got a massive confidence boost when told about all the good things I already do. Proof that I have actually learnt something and that my quest to become a doctor is not the lost cause it sometimes feels when I’ve read the same paragraph about diabetes 20 times and are still none the wiser!

Joanne

Megan Earle : 10 Mar 2016 10:10 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A balancing act…

Now that we are on the wards I’m starting to fully appreciate the monumental struggle doctors face to maintain a healthy work life balance. The hours are punishing and the work emotionally and physically draining. Even as a medical student the balancing act is tough. At the moment I’m in hospital 4 days a week 8-5 and on my day in GP land we are in 9-7 to see a late surgery. An average day is a long time on your feet, a few periods of absolute terror (usually when taking blood and missing!) and a lot of mental effort. I usually get home and collapse in a heap, so finding time to study is difficult and finding time to relax even harder. Having said all that even after 4 weeks it’s getting easier and I’ve simply learnt that when it gets to a certain time I just have to switch off no matter what needs doing!

In first year I didn’t get involved in many extra-curricular things although I had a small part time job on campus. I’ve kept it up this year and I’m still enjoying a couple of evenings a week totally free from medicine. I speak to graduates of the university so I get plenty of helpful tips and advice from previous students, many of whom are now practicing doctors in the local area.

A big change for me this year has been getting more involved in societies. I’m involved in the committee with a new society that is gong out into schools to teach teenagers about mental health and reduce stigma. Getting involved in projects like this is great and you feel like even as a medical student you can make a real difference and get involved in causes that you are really passionate about. I’m organising a few talks and events this year with other societies and finding more and more people in the medical school who are equally passionate about those topics. You can feel a bit odd if you’re not really into anatomy or your sole aim in life isn’t to be a trauma surgeon, but there are so many graduates studying at Warwick and so many societies you will find people who share similar interests and passions and who will point you in the direction of some amazing opportunities.

Juggling hospital, a part time job, and extra-curricular commitments is hard enough but then the medical school throws in academic days which come with the usual lectures which must be prepared for and revised as well as our case based learning sessions. Our academic days happen every two weeks on a Friday and they are very long and busy days. They are usually around one topic so it’s quite an intense day where you question if you remember anything for phase 1, but it’s also a good chance to catch up with everyone over coffee.

This week we had our first day in GP. GP consultations are so different to histories and examination in hospital so I feel like I’m having to reinvent the wheel on top of everything else! Having said this I had a great day and saw a huge variety of patients and conditions. I even used an interpreter in one of the consultations. Working in different clinical environments is a juggling act in itself and I’m sure I’ll drop a few pins before I get the hang of it!

Joanne

Megan Earle : 10 Feb 2016 10:38 |  Tags: Gp History Joanne Mbchb Student Wards Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Core Clinical Education Begins

I wrote my last blog at the start of the Christmas holidays as I eagerly awaited the start of Core clinical education (or CCE). As usual I had grand plans for work and preparation over the Christmas holiday and as usual they never materialized. Getting ready for hospital on the first Monday back I was starting to worry about my chilled out holiday but after two weeks in hospital I’m glad I took the time to relax and recuperate before clinical life hit me! These past few weeks have been intense to say the least but definitely worth the wait.

CCE is the first fully clinical phase of the course here at Warwick, the next 30 weeks are split into 10 week blocks, each at a different hospital. I’m starting at Warwick Hospital which is a small district hospital. My base ward is a Respiratory Ward but in my timetable I also have time on the surgery, paediatrics and special baby care wards. Each hospital organizes tutorials on specific topics and we have lots more clinical skills to learn. In my first block I’m going to learn how to insert cannulas and perform Arterial blood gas measurements. It may seem scary to be learning all these clinical skills but once we can do them we can help out on the wards and get lots of practice in a safe environment. Much better than waiting till exam time!

I’ve been spending a lot of time with the junior doctors, some of which are only in their first year. Despite how busy they are they always have time to teach. After taking a history and examining a patient they are happy to sit down and talk through the case, show me the imaging results and teach on tricky topics. I’ve learnt so much from just these short sessions. I suppose that shows you that no number of lectures on lung function and pathology will help you understand unless you see it for yourself with the patient in front of you.

We’ve also had our first day with our community practice. We will be spending 3 days of every block in the community, learning about chronic illness management and how healthcare interventions are implemented in primary care. These community days complement our time in GP which I am really looking forward to. Some of us have also attended our psychiatry placement induction. Later in the year we will all have a 4 day placement in psychiatry and to prepare us for this we had a clinical skills day in psychiatry where we got to practice history taking with actors in a number of scenarios which ranged from an acute psychotic episode to chronic fatigue syndrome. I found this session really helpful as a psychiatry history is a very different skill, one which I’m looking forward to putting into practice.

My body hasn’t quite adjusted to the change in pace and finding time study in between all of our placements is tricky but it was all the clinical stuff that made me want to come back to study medicine so while I may be very tired I know it’s worth it!

Joanne

Megan Earle : 25 Jan 2016 15:08 |  Tags: Hospital Joanne Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

End of Lectures…sort of

My self and the other phase 2 students have reached the end of Advanced Cases 1. This means that from now on we are primarily based out in hospital in the partner trusts. Every two weeks on a Friday we will be at the medical school for a mixture of lectures, group work and case based learning, Junior Academic Days or JADs for short! I have mixed feeling about coming to end of the ‘preclinical’ phase of the course. While endless lectures can be mentally draining, the relative comfort of the lecture theatre is reassuringly familiar compared to clinical care in hospital or in the community. Being on your feet most of the day, trying to stop your hand from shaking as you attempt to take blood and then trying to think of differential diagnoses is both physically and mentally exhausting! It’s a feeling I’ve not adjusted to yet, so while I’m excited to move to the next phase of the course I do so with trepidation!

In between juggling lectures and CBL I also presented my poster from my summer research project this term. The Undergraduate Research Support Scheme is a university wide scheme here at Warwick that supports students to undertake a research project over the summer vacation. My project was to conduct a systematic review looking at the relationship between poor sleep and the development of obesity in children. At the URSS Showcase I was presenting my project poster alongside students who had done projects in diverse areas such as philosophical theory to sustainable water projects in Africa. It’s good to get involved in research early on at Medical School and take advantage of opportunities like the URSS scheme. We also have dedicated timetable time for research activities, in our last week of AC1 we’ve been told about our next Student Selected component (or SSC2) that happens at the start of Year 3. This is an 8 week block dedicated to a research project, this can be chosen from a list provided or we can develop our own, hence why we are being told about it 9 months in advance!

As well as Systematic reviews and research projects we can also choose to conduct an audit. There are also lots of opportunities to get involved in audits while on our clinical placements. The Warwick Academic Medicine Society also helps students to find audit opportunities in areas they are interested in. At the moment I am helping my Psychiatry Buddy with an audit looking at Consent and Electroconvulsive Therapy. The Psychiatry Buddy Scheme is run through Warwick PsychSoc, students are paired up with Psychiatry trainees in the local area who they can meet up with for careers advice and tips in Psychiatry. I’m helping my buddy with an audit and I’ve also been shadowing her in clinics which has been a very interesting sneak-peek before I have my own placements in Psychiatry through the Medical School.

This past week we’ve had lectures introducing us to Core Clinical Education in January, different specialties came in to give us tasters of what we will be doing, for example as part of our obstetrics placements we will be on shift with midwives assisting on the Delivery ward, one of which will be a night shift! My last few weeks on placement have been filled with great experiences which have only increased my excitement for January. We’ve had some great bedside teaching sessions and I really enjoyed my time in theatres. I wasn’t scrubbed in so I spent most of my time with the anesthetist. I got the opportunity to put cannulas in for the first time and was doing lots of airway management completely on my own! With clinical skills you often don’t think you can actually do it in real life but in the heat of the moment your constant drilling and practice just seems to kick in! So thankyou AC1 for getting me as ready as I’ll ever be and here’s to core clinical education!

Joanne

Megan Earle : 10 Dec 2015 13:15 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

High Society…

So far Advanced Cases 1 has been much less stressful compared to this time last year when I was struggling to get to grips with Block 2 Blood, Lungs and Heart. We have less lectures this term compared to last year which has freed up time to do a bit private study (maybe), potentially do some exercise (unlikely) and get involved in some of the societies here at The Medical School.

As treasurer of the Psychiatry Society I have been involved in expanding the society this year, this has ranged from relatively simple tasks such as setting up a society email and twitter account to the more complicated tasks of applying for funding from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and then applying for a Business Bank account to manage this funding.

Receiving the funding from the Royal College has made such a big difference already, we were able to provide a nice range of refreshments at our most recent event on campus, a Psychiatry and Academic Medicine Taster evening.We’re also able to reimburse travel expenses for our members to attend a Forensic Psychiatry Symposium at Birmingham Medical School.Utilizing the resources and events throughout the region is really important and allows us to increase the number of opportunities available for our students and makes the most of our central location!

Another society I’m involved in is a new society called MedMinds.This society has been set up as an outreach scheme to to educate children and tackle stigma around Mental Illness. I’m one of the coordinators responsible for training volunteers and my official duties start this week by attending the training session for the MedMinds group at Birmingham Medical School who are helping us set up our own branch of MedMinds here at Warwick.I’m really looking forward to gaining more teaching experience and getting involved in outreach work, something I feel quite passionate about.

This past week we have had lectures on Psychiatric Illnesses.In addition to learning about symptoms and diagnoses we have also had lectures about the inequality that exists between physical and mental illness.People with mental illness receive worse treatment for physical health problems and are subject to stigma and abuse in many aspects of their lives. I hope projects Like MedMinds can help to change this.

I’m also hoping to do some teaching for the OSCE peer support sessions.Students in phase 1 attend clinical skills every Friday but after that it’s up to students to practice their examinations and histories in their own time which can make it hard to know if you’re doing it right for an exam!I found the OSCE support sessions last year so helpful for my Formative and summative OSCEs so I’m happy to give back by helping out with these sessions and giving tips and encouragement where I can.

As well as taking on active committee roles I also enjoy being a member of other societies and benefiting form the learning opportunities they provide.The Warwick Surgical Society organized a “Recognising the Ill surgical Patient course”.This was an amazing opportunity, a whole day at University Hospital Coventry that consisted of lectures on common pre and post surgical problems and then an afternoon filled with simulated scenarios.This was excellent revision and also great preparation for hospital in January.A full day course plus lunch only cost £10 for members.

Opportunities like this are invaluable and while you may feel very busy in medical school the reality is that later on you won’t have the time or the opportunity to attend events like this so I’m trying my best to make the most of it while I’m here!

Joanne

Megan Earle : 30 Nov 2015 09:54 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem