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Reflections of a First Year Medical Student
From The Student RoomTSR Wiki > University > Choosing a Subject > Medicine > Reflections of a First Year Medical Student At the end of my first year at medical school, I have made a list of things that I think would be useful to those applying for or going off to medical school or even things that I wish I had known before coming! 1.Medicine is not as hard as everyone makes out, least not the first year. You will be around intelligent people, true, but you will most definitely not be married to your desk and textbooks. On average, I have 2/3 hours of teaching a day, much less than what I had at Sixth Form! No one gives a toss about your A levels, module grades, GCSEs, UKCAT score, even where you got your degree from at the end of the day. When it is 2AM on a dark and cold ward and you are the House Officer on call, the old lady in front of you drowning in her own fluids will not look at you and ask any of those. 2.Depending on your course (like mine), you may do exams constantly throughout the year. Other courses only have them at the end. Find out early and plan ahead. 3.You will be expected to act in a different way to other students. The GMC and Fitness to Practice committees are always hanging over your head. How many other students can say they had a stroke victim pouring their heart out to them, age 18, or have a young mother hand her two week old baby over to you and expect you to know exactly what to do? 4.Don't rush into buying books. Wait till you get to medical school. Some people may want to buy you textbooks, but a lot of the time a.) your medical school won't use them or b.) they will be so infrequently used it is just a waste of good money. 5.Depending on your course (PBL based), you might want to consider buying a stethoscope. You will certainly need one if your course asseses your clinical skills through OSCEs. There is only one stethoscope you need, throughout your entire junior medical career including when you are a house officer/SHO. The Littman Classic SE. Don't buy anything else, you will just look a tool. 6.Keep up to date with your lectures. It is so tempting not to bother getting up one morning to go to them. 7.Be proud of your medical school. Get involved. You are going into a long and established career you are going into and your medical school provides a shelter for you until you can stand on your own two feet. 8.Learn the important stuff that you will need in practice, anything else just cram for an exam. Stuff like CVAs, MI, hypertension, heart failure etc. Don't bother with the likes of the random genetic disease that only specialist paediatricians see. 9.Get to know your medical news. Keep reading up on the latest developments in medicine. Student BMJ, BMJ, Lancet etc. 10.Enjoy it. Be proud you are a medical student. You are in a privileged position, one that you have fought hard to get to. Don't be afraid of being keen, or geeky...everyone else is as interested in this as you are! Read up on things you don't know about, learn other skills. It's a great feeling diagnosing your first relative! 11.A word about medic house/flatmates: I lived with 14 medics in my first year. I really enjoyed it, everyone had exams the same time, everyone else felt the lows and the awful reality that it is 5 years studying, everyone went out together. It is not bad at all! But you do get some quirky moments, for example sitting at the kitchen table eating food whilst looking over anatomy dissection pictures! Digitalis Thats all fair and great. I think your first year of med school will depend entirely on the person and med school that you are at. I'd just like to add my thoughts: 1. I found my first year incredibly hard, and still am. Maybe its the fact that im at a PBL uni, the amount of work is loads!, and with no guidance you dont really know what to revise and what not to revise. I say you should be more prepared for going into a PBL uni. Do a little reading before uni begins it wont hurt. Maybe even learn the anatomy of the arm and the leg in the summer holidays. You have to learn it eventually so you might aswell, it will just be one less thing you wont have to spend time learning when you get to med school. 2. Def dont buy any books, borrow them from the library thats what they are there for. I seriously could not help but laugh at the idiots who spent loads of money on books in my year, and i got through the entire year by just borrowing and renewing them at the library. It left more money for me to spend on more important things like clothes and food!! and i intend to do the same thing for the next four years. I only buy a book if im REALLY finding it helpful, or there is such huge demand for it at the library that i can never get it out, but these situations are rare. If you do decide you want a book, dont blast your money away at rip off places such as waterstones, or the uni book shop, go on the net, there are some real bargains out there, on places like amazon, and ebay, and if your really smart and your familiar with file sharing, some of you can even get online medical books for free ;). 3. Of course, keep up with your lectures if you can, but dont be disheartened if alot of things go over your head. They have done for me, but everyone feels the same, so ALWAYS remember that your fellow medics are in the same crappy boat as you!! 4. Yes BE proud of your med school. This is one thing i was not proud of for almost half the year, but at the end of the day your here to become a doctor and you have to enjoy it. Being a med student IS a priveledge (as already mentioned) at ANY med school (in the UK at least), so dont waste the opportunity to become a doctor. 5. My final point try and interact with people other than medics if you can, they are great fun and all, but it can be annoying hanging out with the same people, not to mention stressful. Some people need a change, so try getting to know people who do other courses at uni, trust me it will help. Medics can be too up their own asses sometimes. Good luck! Iceman_jondoe Peninsula Medical School 1st Year. All Medicine Articles
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