All 157 entries tagged Student

The results are in….

I PASSED!!! I actually passed! I am now a second-year medical student. Typing those words is so surreal. I honestly didn’t think I would get here! I had basically convinced myself I had failed this year, I kept re-guessing all my answers and was a right state when we reached results morning. The results were due to be released at 10am so by 9:55am I was a wreck. I was just sat slumped against my bed nervously watching the clock tick over to 10am. I had to physically talk myself into opening the link with our results. I was terrified. I eventually made my thumb move the 1cm to my screen and opened the link:

“Congratulations, you have been deemed satisfactory for this set of examinations”.

I gasped. I read the line over and over again. I had passed. I was a second year! In complete honesty, I still think the med school are going to send out an email saying they had mixed up the results. I keep staring at the page as if it is playing tricks on me. In fact, I have it as my lock screen just so I can keep checking it’s not a dream. It is silly to dramatize this but I had fully convinced myself that I was never going to pass first time, that I was totally reliant on the re-takes.

I called my mum crying down the phone and I am not sure who was happier! Now I have to think about what I want to do over summer. I’ve been offered a place in GOSH summer school which helps students wanting to go into paediatrics and now I know I don’t have to re-take, I am really looking forward to that opportunity! I won a £100 ticket by simply re-tweeting their tweet, twitter is very handy!

We also had our summer ball which was before results meaning we could all relax without the weight of results looming over our heads. It was a fantastic evening and it was nice seeing my year all dressed up and looking amazing having had some sleep since exams ended. We happened to have it in the same venue as we had our welcome ball in which was a nice little circle to complete the year off! It was nice to celebrate with members from the other years as well as they had been as bigger part of our year as the lecturers here. We got a photo of our student seminar team that has to be one of my favourites here at med school. I got home quite late/early with a huge smile on my face knowing I had nothing to do the next day.

We also had our final open day of the year and it was a bittersweet day. It was lovely to meet everyone, but we were also working with Dr Roebuck in clinical skills who we had recently discovered was leaving us. Dr Roebuck’s lectures are infamous, and we are going to miss him next year, he has been a huge help to us all explaining concepts in the clearest way possible. I don’t think I am ever going to forget the human broad ligament or the lectures with chocolate, skittles, drinking competitions (don’t worry it was squash)!

I still can’t believe I have passed. I’m sitting here, still not believing it! The new first years will soon be upon Warwick for their offer holder’s day. I remember mine as if it was yesterday and I even found the running order in my room when I went home. It feels amazing to think I can actually start planning for next year now such as medic families, student seminars and neuroscience society without having to add the work “if” in front of my sentences. I want to run a science demo competition next year as it was something I loved back at my old university so I need to set the wheels in motion!

I guess now, it’s time for a complete break. I need to give my old brain a bit of a rest and to have some much-needed therapy time with my pets! My friend is working the fridge festival in Edinburgh, so I am hoping to pop up to Scotland to experience it! I am also watching Andrew Scott in the Old Vic over summer as well which is a small pick me up I bought before exams and cheers me up every time I remember I am going! A huge congrats to all my year, whatever the result, we got to the end! Here’s to an incredible summer and a slightly more relaxed second year!

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 25 Jun 2019 09:03 |  Tags: Abbie Exams Mbchb Results Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bones, Bones, Bones

Over the last two weeks I have been very busy finishing off my protocol for my research project for third year. So, at the beginning of third year, we have this module called Student Selected Component 2, which is where we pick a research project and undertake it. As part of this, we have to write what’s called a protocol, which is basically a roadmap as to how we will undertake our project. My project is to do with Cremations in the UK and the role General Practitioners play in this process, which is slightly unusual! I am excited to start my project as it is the first piece of research I have done where the idea and execution will be entirely led by me. Slightly terrifying, but exciting too!

We also started Core Clinical Education 3, for which time period I am on placement with an Orthopaedic surgeon (bone surgeon) and also attached to maternity. The block started with a bank holiday, which is never a bad start, and then I was helping out on the Warwick Medical School open day, where myself and the other student blogger Abbie were giving a presentation on being a student here. I think this is a hugely important part of the open day and also important for students who want to come and study here. I attended an open day when I was applying to Warwick for Medicine and the presentation from the students was far and away my favourite part of the day – hearing from current students about what the course is actually like is so important when deciding if it for you. I would recommend that anyone who wants to apply to come here apply to come to the open day if you can as you will get a real insight into what Medical School is all about.

This week I also attended some clinical sessions with the orthopaedic surgeon I am attached to for the duration of this block. Orthopaedic surgeons deal with a huge range of issues, including disorders of the bones (fractures, dislocations), muscles and tendons (including sprains and tears). I went to fracture clinic on Wednesday, which is where people who think they may have fractured a bone may come to have their bones X-rayed and reviewed by one of the surgeons, who may recommend surgery or bed rest. Our consultant is amazing and really keen for us to get involved with everything, so we were sent off to talk to some patients and do some examinations. Then we presented back to the consultant and we had a look at the X-ray together, where we had to have a guess what was going on. This was really fun and was almost like being in a smaller (bone related) A+E department.

On Thursday, we attended theatre with our consultant, and were told to “scrub in”, which is where you wash your hands multiple times in a specific way and put on a surgical gown and sterile surgical gloves. This was our first time doing this so it was a little scary, but luckily, we had a friendly scrub nurse to help us and advise if we were doing everything right. Once scrubbed in, you aren’t allowed to touch anything, or even scratch your nose, so you have to distract yourself to avoid being driven mad by those little itches! Luckily, we had plenty of distractions as it was a large operation so we were able to get involved and help hold things and even help close the wound with one of the trainee surgeons (under very close supervision). I had never thought I would enjoy surgery that much, but it was great fun and very satisfying to be getting stuck in and fixing the patients problem there and then. I still don’t know what type of doctor I want to be – but you never know, I may go into Orthopaedics!

Jordan

Charlie Gallan : 18 Jun 2019 15:07 |  Tags: Jordan Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

If you need me, I’ll be sleeping.

ITS OVER!!!!

Exams are finally over, and with that last sound of the buzzer marking the end of the OSCE station, I could feel the biggest grin stretching across my face. I have made it past the exam period!!

It has not been easy, and I can safely say this was the most stressful and exhausting two weeks of my entire life (and that includes my dissertation!). We had our first exam on Monday 3rd June. The SAQ. This had been the paper I was most worried about as it relied on us knowing the knowledge well enough to write it down. I had practised short answer questions over and over again. The exam was ok! There were some questions in which I did not know the answer to but I tried to logic it out and come to the best conclusion I could offer.

I was pretty happy afterwards, a couple of us went to the Duck on campus to have some food as a treat and just to have a break before hitting the books again. I walked back up to the MTC with Dan and we spotted a Heron walking around in the Tocil lake, apparently, they are meant to signify that a change is coming in your life and you need to embrace it. I hope that is a message of good change.

Day 2 and we hit the first MCQ paper. This. Was. Ridiculously. Hard. I was trying my best to apply my knowledge but I just felt deflated coming out of the room. Thankfully, I had an email saying I needed to pick up a parcel from the post room. It turns out my best friend from my old uni had sent me an exam survival package including hot chocolate, sweets and a book. It was the best pick me up I could have asked for. I tried to go back to the MTC to do some work but I was just frustrated at myself from the day’s events and I could not take anything in so I decided to go home and just fall into bed watching random videos on YouTube about asthma and ECG’s until I fell asleep.

Day 3, the final written! I was in such a good mood when I woke up. Today was the last day I was going to have to sit at a desk for a while, and I could not wait. I was still a bit apprehensive as I was worried about what was coming up based on the exam the day before. However, this exam was so much better, I could piece together the puzzle for most questions and others, I just had a good stab at.

Coming out of that exam was a huge breath of fresh air, I was ridiculously happy it was all over. The sun was shining and all of us headed to the Duck after to celebrate the end of writtens. It was a fantastic afternoon and I went to bed with a massive grin on my face. I had stopped worrying about how it had gone and instead I was just basking in the fact the exams were over.

Thursday arrived and this signalled the beginning of 6 days of “Hello my name is Abbie, I am a first year Warwick Medical Student”. The OSCE’s had arrived. We practised the exams on each other constantly, so much so I can probably do the Cranial Nerve exams backwards. This, however, did not stop me forgetting to ask the patients name and date of birth at the beginning of each station (facepalm). I am not sure how the OSCE’s went, it could go either way, the same with the writtens. I am just ridiculously happy it’s all over; I have not stopped smiling. I am looking forward to getting up tomorrow and doing what I want, when I want, or I could even not get up at all! (Though, that won’t happen, I am not someone to spend all day in one spot, I can barely last an hour in a lecture!).

The next two weeks will be about relaxing and enjoying any scrap of sun that comes my way. We have summer ball on Friday which I am really looking forward to and I am popping home to get a bit of respite from uni. The results are on the 24th so I guess I will find out how I did then, just keep your fingers crossed for me guys!

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 12 Jun 2019 08:32 |  Tags: Abbie Exams ITS Mbchb Revision Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

It’s the final countdown!

So here we are, the last push before exams. I am slowly starting to get bored of revision, it has basically been a nine to five job these past couple of weeks and all I want to do now is to sit this paper and have a break. It’s been going ok revision wise though and I am really enjoying having a group around me whom I can rely on and have a giggle with when I am frustrated.

We have also recently had another open day. It was lovely to meet some of the prospective newbies and chat to them. In hindsight, it has probably given us some perspective over where we are now. I remember being so frustrated about not hearing anything or just wanting to be in the place I am today. A couple of people recognised me from my own blog so that was a bit of a proud moment and nice to know that I am helping people along the way. Jordan and I did our open day presentation and it was nice to get a few laughs and remind myself about the positive side of Med school and not just the doom and gloom about the upcoming examinations.

I packed up my little revision corner the other day and it felt real to think we are finally here. My hobbit hole in the MTC is looking bare and I plan to only revise a little bit after each exam, I can’t wait to not have to open those blue folders again. I didn’t realise how much stuff I had accumulated over these past 13 weeks! It should be interesting trying to get it all home on my bike!

In a turn of comedy, I have given myself repetitive strain injury from all the writing I have done! This does now mean I have to constantly ice my hand up and hope for the best when it comes to next week’s SAQ’s! I have pain killers but the remedy is not something I can do as I revise by writing and scribbling my way. It hurts but there’s not much I can do apart from plastering frozen hot water bottles to my arm the whole day through.

The second years have been lovely this past year with helping us prepare, I could not be any more grateful to them so a massive thank you to everyone! Especially my medic family and student seminar team, you guys are amazing and I am so grateful for everything.

I am reaaalllyyy looking forward to getting these done. I have booked my ticket to the summer ball and I am so ready to just let my hair down and celebrate the end of exams. I am so proud of my entire year group and how hard we have all worked. No one could have done anything more than we did, we have all worked ridiculously hard and put everything we have into these examinations so I really hope we all do well.

Good luck guys! I believe in you, we have got this!!!!!

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 04 Jun 2019 13:31 |  Tags: Abbie Exams Mbchb Revision Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The week off, and the week back

Core Clinical Education is a long block which makes up most of second year and runs from January-September, and is divided into three 10 week blocks – CCE1, CCE2, CCE3. We have a week off between CCE2 and CCE3 which is a much needed break from the day-to-day. Last week was the week’s holiday and I spent this in the west of Ireland! My partner’s family originally come from here and we had meant to go for a long time but never got around to it, so we decided that this week off between CCE2 and CCE3 was the ideal time to take a short break and head over (plus the flights were cheap at this time of year!)

In Ireland, I spent the whole week away from medicine and anything healthcare related, mostly climbing hills, walking on the beach and spending time enjoying traditional Irish music in the many pubs (along with a few drinks!). One day we climbed a local mountain, Croagh Patrick, which was advertised as a 4 hour, relatively difficult walk. As definitely not the sporty type, I was worried but it was actually perfect to get away from all of my worries on the ground and head up into the clouds, where there are no OSCEs or Medical exams. I did have a couple of scary moments whilst climbing (including nearly falling more than once), but managed to reach the top without too much ado. Light-heartedness aside, the week was the ideal break for me – Ireland is suitably detached from Medical School but also close enough and familiar enough to not entail a long journey.

After my lovely break, we had a bank holiday weekend with Monday off, which isn’t the worst thing to come back to. After a weekend of catching up with my family back home, I headed back to Warwick for an early start at the Medical Teaching Centre for our community day which covered the topics of Palliative Care and End of Life. For me the lectures were interesting and thought provoking, especially as I spent 2 years volunteering at a Hospice before starting here at Medical School. I found that I already knew a lot of what was discussed but I definitely learned a lot of new things, including some of the medications as someone reaches the end of their life. It is one of the specialities that I am considering for my future career as it involves looking at not only a person’s medical problems, but at the person holistically, but also from a personal, religious and social perspective.

Today we had our CCE3 indication at hospital, including tips from the module lead on how to get the most out of our 10 week placement. My assigned consultant is an Orthopaedic Surgeon, so I will be getting lots of experience in Musco-skeletal medicine, which is great as this is probably one of my very weakest areas, but also one that is bound to come up in end of year exams. In addition, in this block I also have time allocated to spend shifts in Obstetrics & Gynaecology (childbirth and female/reproductive medicine), so after the general induction for everyone, I then had a specific induction and tour of Labour ward and the birthing centre at UHCW. I am hugely excited for this, as I love Obstetrics and just babies in general, so I cannot wait for my Labour ward shifts which take place in week 6-8 of this block. These will be covered in a future blog from me and I will update you all on how I get on!

Jordan

Charlie Gallan : 30 May 2019 11:10 |  Tags: Jordan Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem