All 2 entries tagged Summer

Visiting GOSH

I decided that despite a year of intense studying, I had not quite had enough of sitting in a lecture theatre. I had been lucky enough to win a free ticket to GOSH Summer School and having passed first year, I was excited to get on a train to pop home for a couple of days so I could commute to London. However, come 8:50am on the Monday morning, I was not enjoying the crush on the train.

I got to GOSH for 9:15am and picked up my name badge and they had changed it to say second year which was lovely! I ended up chatting to a medical student from Vienna before we had our first session of the day from Prof. Fertleman about her life as a paediatric consultant. I really enjoyed her talk as she was lively, and you could see the passion she had for her job. I also found out later she likes to terrorise the junior docs after she ran after one of them on their first day shouting “They are stealing the notes, they are stealing the notes” before catching up with them and saying “Only joking, I’m your consultant, let’s start the rounds, shall we?”. I think I would have needed a week off after that scare if it had been me.

We also had a couple of talks from surgeons at GOSH which was my original career plan. The surgeries to correct birth defects were fascinating to listen to and I could see myself coming away from the brain and to the pioneering surgeries in this field. This defect away from my norm surprised me as I was pretty much set on my career path! We also had a talk from Prof. Paolo De Coppi about his work in regenerative medicine. He was part of the team that created the first stem cell tracheal transplant and the recipient is still doing well two years later. This again was incredible to learn about as these Stem Cell transplants will become the norm for us as we progress through our career.

We were also given a lot of careers advice through dedicated careers lectures and a career fair. The idea of an F3 year between qualifying and starting specialty training kept being repeated to us over the course of the three days so it is something I need to look into. The careers fair was useful because we were able to talk to consultants without the traditional student-consultant barrier and I got some insight into different specialties which has made me think about what I want to do when I qualify. One of these was PICU (paediatric intensive care unit). The consultant was lovely and was open and honest when we asked him about why he has chosen PICU over NICU. I was also able to chat with the professor who had run a session for us on the first day in which my group won the presentations and a GOSH textbook! I was chatting to him about getting into research and what consultants expect from their medical students when it comes to helping out on projects in hospital. He was lovely and told me to just get out there and do it. It did boost my confidence a bit because being in a lecture theatre where you are the only one who didn’t get straight A’s at A Level, you can feel a bit like the underdog. I also had a conversation with one of the Neurology consultants at GOSH about how best to prepare for applying to work in the neurosciences and the answer was what I was expecting: Get involved in research and show dedication. He seemed receptive when I was talking about my undergraduate degree so I am hoping that is a arrow in my quiver already.

After our careers fair we also had a GOSH arts session where we had 44 medical students standing up all singing, and I have to say for a bunch of people who have seen the inside of a hospital more than their own homes over the past couple of years, the harmonies were really good!

We also had a small drinks party after the second day. This was held on top of GOSH hospital and you could see out all over London. It was a beautiful day and we were being shown buildings such as the royal collages around GOSH. It was a lovely evening just getting to talk with other med students from different universities. I even bumped into a F1 from George Elliot! I also got talking with a soon to be F1 about being a medic at Glastonbury and he was telling me about how they managed to get discounted training though having a large group so I’ll be looking into getting a couple of Warwick guys down!

Overall the three days were invaluable to me. The best advice I received all week though from the medical director at GOSH was “you shouldn’t ever change yourself to suit the job you are going for, instead be bold and be the person to be different”, so I guess surgery has a quirky, excitable medical student heading their way!

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 19 Jul 2019 11:51 |  Tags: Abbie Gosh Mbchb Student Summer Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Summer's out, let the hard work commence!

So we are already two weeks into the second year and it’s feeling like the summer was ages ago. Although, this term our timetable is much nicer than it was last year, so we can’t really complain! We no longer have our Friday sessions at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire for anatomy, and now have a full day in hospital on a Monday. We also have a lot more free time during the week which allows us to go over the days lectures, do the Self Directed Learning work that has been set, and basically work at a much more relaxed pace.

The first week back mainly consisted of lots of holiday discussion. Most people wanted to make the most of our final long student summer and so went on fun, exciting holidays. Some people worked at jobs back home in order to have enough money for this next year (the NHS bursary can be great for some, or a real pain). For others it was just simply a time to relax and get away from studying for a while. A few lucky students went to Grenada for an anatomy master-class and spent five weeks doing dissection in the Caribbean. But whether people backpacked across Asia, or simply lounged on the sofa catching up on TV, I think everyone came back feeling more ready and prepared for another year.

Our second year starts with a 12 week block called Advanced Cases 1. This block is intended to build on what we learnt last year, adding more detail and information, and assisting us in understanding more about what is involved within the healthcare setting. It is also to help get us ready for after Christmas when we will be on placements. Our Mondays in hospital, for example, are split between bedside teaching (similar to what we had for half a day last year), procedural skills, and clinical learning opportunities. The clinical learning opportunities are to help give us the chance to spend time with various healthcare members and departments within our hospitals and GP surgeries, including management areas. Last Monday we had our first day and I had a great time first shadowing a matron and then spending my afternoon in the mortuary. It was fascinating finding out what matrons actually do – it was a lot more about ensuring the best opportunities and care for patients than I had realised. It was also really interesting to see what exactly goes on in a mortuary, and to understand how important it is to have a good relationship with all staff members to guarantee the best care, during and after life.

All in all I think this year will definitely bring new challenges and difficulties, but now that we have done the hard part of laying down the ground work, it should be much more enjoyable. Not that first year wasn’t – but I think after already having three years of a lecture based course I am looking forward to getting onto the wards, and hopefully we can start seeing what we have learnt and begin applying it!

Megan Earle : 09 Oct 2014 13:08 |  Tags: Gp Healthcare Mbchb Rachel Summer Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem