ATAR Notes: Forum
Uni Stuff => Faculties => Health sciences => Topic started by: MelonBar on February 13, 2016, 12:06:26 am
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Moderator action: this thread has been split from Medicine FAQ / So You Want To Be A Doctor and is aimed to be a thread about discussion pertaining to med school experiences, studying, pre-clinical and clinical years, etc. and beyond; to build a medical student culture in AN.
Points to note:
- If you want to ask questions about the UMAT please take them here
- If you want to ask questions about the GAMSAT, please take them here
- If you want to ask questions about interviews/MMIs, make a new thread in this board
- If you want to ask questions about UoM MD (Chancellor's) vs Monash MBBS, or BSci vs BBiomed vs BBiomedSci, search the forums as your question has probably been answered in great detail already
- If you want to ask questions on what doctors do and the intern crisis, read this thread first and ask questions in there (which may or may not be added to the FAQ), or if they are pertaining to med school then here may also be appropriate
Thanks.
How was week 1 melb md'ers?
Had first real pbl session, am youngest in group, avg age = 26 wat. Everyone's so on point with the discussions it's hard to get into the case, Had like 12 lectures this week, feeling out of my depth already !
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Split this as it's not really FAQ and could become a thread in it's own right :)
Had a chat with an old school mate who is now an MD2 at the hospital I'm BMedSci'ing at, good to see him doing well :D Also now I've got some good exposure to the course structure of each of Monash, Deakin (via Eastern) and UoM mwahahahahaha here come the comparisons at the end of the year! :P
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Yup, had first week of examinable content and I'm already behind. Having no background in micro/immuno/path definitely does not help :(
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Will give a one week overview once I start this monday especially given how it is a flipped classroom system :)
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Histology is a pain but luckily Micro/Immuno has been helping me get through Foundations so far.
But jfc being around so many smartasses makes you feel dumb/average in comparison. Everyone is so on point in CSLs!
We had our first clinical tute this week as well, which was mainly teaching us how to introduce ourselves, take a history of the complaint by following the cardinal framework and also asking about past history.
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How was week 1 melb md'ers?
Had first real pbl session, am youngest in group, avg age = 26 wat. Everyone's so on point with the discussions it's hard to get into the case, Had like 12 lectures this week, feeling out of my depth already !
So people know mediciny stuff in week one!? Did you move to Waurn Ponds, or are you traveling everyday?
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Yup, had first week of examinable content and I'm already behind. Having no background in micro/immuno/path definitely does not help :(
I know dem feels hahaha. In all honesty the whole of pre-clin felt that way to me, things got exponentially better in clin years where I did much better :D
We had our first clinical tute this week as well, which was mainly teaching us how to introduce ourselves, take a history of the complaint by following the cardinal framework and also asking about past history.
Ah yes, the old history tutes. Worth mentioning that the history is probably the most important part of your patient interaction, having a solid foundation will put you in good stead :)
edit: Having spoken to a few MD2s last week, it seems UoM doesn't use Talley and O'Connor in first year? If that's true and you don't use it, I'd highly recommend using it anyway for this year. Not sure why they wouldn't use it given it's widely considered to be the gold-standard text for clinical history-taking and physical examination all the up to and including registrar years.
So people know mediciny stuff in week one!?
Yeah some people pre-read in the holidays and whatnot, really not necessary. Although I did find it useful for 4th year where my workload was high, but otherwise not at all necessary.
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Just going to say that I'm really glad this thread was made and I look forward to hearing about what you have to say. :)
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Just going to say that I'm really glad this thread was made and I look forward to hearing about what you have to say. :)
Haha hoping that we'll shift med school discussion away from UoM and Monash chat threads and into this one, get this board some med students (and doctors) and not just year 12s asking about medicine hahahaha ^_^
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Haha hoping that we'll shift med school discussion away from UoM and Monash chat threads and into this one, get this board some med students (and doctors) and not just year 12s asking about medicine hahahaha ^_^
That would be great. It's been really difficult to get an accurate sense of what medical school is like, because it seems like the majority of people who have turned to the internet have had a negative experience. I'm pretty much at the point where I've accepted that I don't think I'm ever going to be 100% on a career path and that I'll need to take a leap of faith. Medical school makes me nervous, but at the same time I feel like I need to give it a go and not write it off (and potentially regret it later). I'd have no qualms in dropping out if it didn't suit me, but I think I need to find out for myself.
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That would be great. It's been really difficult to get an accurate sense of what medical school is like, because it seems like the majority of people who have turned to the internet have had a negative experience. I'm pretty much at the point where I've accepted that I don't think I'm ever going to be 100% on a career path and that I'll need to take a leap of faith. Medical school makes me nervous, but at the same time I feel like I need to give it a go and not write it off (and potentially regret it later). I'd have no qualms in dropping out if it didn't suit me, but I think I need to find out for myself.
I think you're far from alone there. The way I see it, it's pretty much impossible to be 100% sure of a course or career until you try it. Even as a med student who has now done all their exams, I can bet my bottom dollar that despite my expectations and preparation, intern year will be something different, and again for every subsequent year.
It's /normal/ to feel a bit apprehensive or unsure about what's next, especially when they can be pretty big decisions... But it's also exciting and rewarding, and that's what keeps me going :)
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anyone care to enlighten me on their experiences in terms of work life balance and free time? Anyone have had any time to travel overseas as such?
Does it get even harder to do so as you progress to internship,etc?
Thanks :)
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anyone care to enlighten me on their experiences in terms of work life balance and free time? Anyone have had any time to travel overseas as such?
Does it get even harder to do so as you progress to internship,etc?
Thanks :)
In terms of work life balance, it's achievable. You hear stories of med students slaving away in the libraries until 2am every night... but you only hear of those because those are extreme situations and you never hear the far more common story of the student who puts in a couple of hours a night and still gets through alright. There are people in med who balance work, study, social life, sport, etc. with ease. Personally, I don't work or tutor, and I only play sport socially sometimes, so I have a lot of potential free time and don't ever feel particularly stressed about my study load (exception was the infamous 'Week of Death' last year where we had 5 consecutive days on exams in a week... bad times!). Obviously, as you move up the chain through internship, residency, registrar, etc. you have less and less free time because you have more obligations and responsibilities, in addition to more study for the various exams that exist later down that line (during those exam times life may temporarily = work + study hahaha). edit: I'd like to add that it can take some time to strike that balance, you'll inevitably be feeling like you're drowning at times, but there will also be times where you're swimming at a Thorpe-level, eventually you'll find your jam and you'll be Hackett-ing through in the long-run (apologies to people who don't know anything about swimming athletes!) :P
You need to be prepared to make sacrifices to study medicine, but you don't need to sacrifice your life for it.
I personally haven't traveled overseas, but that's more because I couldn't be bothered and didn't really want to rather than not having the time. Holidays are the time to go overseas and it's very common for people to go on a South East Asia bender, or the old "Euro trip". Furthermore, during the year, you can [pay] to go to conferences that interest you overseas and get official conference leave to do that, although not many people do that just because the cost:benefit ratio isn't really in your favour :P There are also opportunities to go on exchange, speaking for Monash there are semester-long or year-long exchanges with Monash Malaysia and there are also elective rotations in final year which can be done overseas. It's also not uncommon for people to take gap years to travel, most commonly after MBBS IV or MD3 from what I've been hearing!
Had first real pbl session, am youngest in group, avg age = 26 wat.
Haha plenty of oldies over in Deakin. Probably because they don't have pre-reqs. From my exposure to them at Eastern a couple of years ago, lovely bunch :)
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Personally, I don't work or tutor, and I only play sport socially sometimes, so I have a lot of potential free time and don't ever feel particularly stressed about my study load (exception was the infamous 'Week of Death' last year where we had 5 consecutive days on exams in a week... bad times!).
Please tell me this Week of Death is just a fourth year thing..
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Please tell me this Week of Death is just a fourth year thing..
Just a fourth year thing :P But the good news is that like 98-99% of people pass (after supps)! :D
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Hey meddies,
just wondering, if during your preclinical years, whether anyone did anything involving making medical connections? I've been looking at a few things like Monash Minds, and I'm wondering how beneficial these things are, like are these things something worth worrying about later, or should i be proactive now?
On a less serious note: what's your favourite thing about med? (like being specific, could be a certain topic, or an activity, or a feeling idk)
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just wondering, if during your preclinical years, whether anyone did anything involving making medical connections? I've been looking at a few things like Monash Minds, and I'm wondering how beneficial these things are, like are these things something worth worrying about later, or should i be proactive now?
Much easier to make 'connections' with senior clinicians or registrars once you start working around them. Most of your tutors, speaking for Monash, during pre-clin years will indeed be GPs and whilst it's good to make a positive impression on them, they're probably not the type of connection that can get you involved in research, holiday placements, etc. etc. I'd be waiting until clinical years where you can let your work ethic and knowledge impress your seniors.
But then again, 'making connections' certainly isn't something to be worried about, for my BMedSci I sent someone I had heard of an email out of the blue (having studied at another clinical school the year previously) and here I am (and couldn't be happier!), lots of things come down to being in the right place and the right time and by taking a leap of faith when that time and place comes your way, and hence are not worth worrying about.
On a less serious note: what's your favourite thing about med? (like being specific, could be a certain topic, or an activity, or a feeling idk)
I think my favourite aspect is having the opportunity to learn something interesting that I know will one day make a positive impact on someone's life on a daily basis. For the last couple of days, I've been putting in some hard yards to understand the physics of MRIs (and the various nuances associated with all pulse sequences). Even though I have a keen disliking for VCE physics, putting this stuff into a perspective where I can better understand and appreciate different scans and hence, improve my diagnostic reasoning, makes things soooo much better.
So yeah, that's a very broad favourite, but it's my favourite nevertheless :D
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Even though we're still going through basics, I'm having a lot more fun with the clinical side of medicine. As terrifying it will be to talk and examine patients.
Got to measure blood pressure via the auscultatory method and finally nailed it after all of those failed attempts in HSF. This time I palpated the brachial artery first until I put the steth on when the pulse disappeared... Don't think I've ever been so excited for a long time for something so simple. Definitely practising this more tonight for kicks.
Also had our first role-plays, and half the time I was thinking about what the next question to ask was and not really listening. Also forgot to ask for the patient's name wow. But yeah clinical classes are way more fun than sitting through hours of lectures!
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Congrats on getting the BP, a satisfying moment indeed! :)
Also had our first role-plays, and half the time I was thinking about what the next question to ask was and not really listening. Also forgot to ask for the patient's name wow. But yeah clinical classes are way more fun than sitting through hours of lectures!
Definitely takes practice. I think things start to come together in MD2 for you guys. The transition from "asking questions based on Talley and O'Connor lists and my somewhat scripted template" to "asking questions based on my dynamic DDx list and using Talley and O'Connor lists to not miss red flags" is one that takes time and practice. Would definitely put you in good stead for clinical years and OSCEs to get a mate and practice taking histories and doing physical exams on a weekly or biweekly basis :)
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Took my first 'mentor' tute of MBBS III and MD2 students, good keen bunch of 'kids' (some are older than me!) :) Should be an awesome year :D
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Oh pi, we're having a clinical school tour of Epworth on Friday. I'll be looking out for a certain red jumper/blue shirt.
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For those who've already completed a year (or more) of med, how do you take notes? During VCE I'd just write summary notes at the end of each chapter/topic - I understand that different people have different techniques but how would you go about taking notes? Is it better to write notes after each lecture, or during each lecture, or at the end of every topic (I'm not entirely sure whether there are topics as such in the med course so please correct me if I'm wrong)?
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Oh pi, we're having a clinical school tour of Epworth on Friday. I'll be looking out for a certain red jumper/blue shirt.
Shame I won't be around on Friday :(
For those who've already completed a year (or more) of med, how do you take notes? During VCE I'd just write summary notes at the end of each chapter/topic - I understand that different people have different techniques but how would you go about taking notes? Is it better to write notes after each lecture, or during each lecture, or at the end of every topic (I'm not entirely sure whether there are topics as such in the med course so please correct me if I'm wrong)?
I found writing notes at the end of every lecture (ie. lecture summaries) was the most useful for pre-clin. If you have time to do the extra readings, and I'd only really say it can be worth it for Theme III and IV, then you can add notes to the corresponding relevant lecture notes as well. But don't worry too much if you can't do the readings, most people never get a chance.
Some people I know swear by flashcards and all sorts of other study methods, but those never really worked too well for me.
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For those who've already completed a year (or more) of med, how do you take notes? During VCE I'd just write summary notes at the end of each chapter/topic - I understand that different people have different techniques but how would you go about taking notes? Is it better to write notes after each lecture, or during each lecture, or at the end of every topic (I'm not entirely sure whether there are topics as such in the med course so please correct me if I'm wrong)?
I personally just watch the required material and read the required readings. I tried anki but realized quickly that it wasn't effective for me but I might start using it for anatomy. My goal is to pretty much read about the material from different sources which the readings itself do. I don't really like note taking it is too passive for my liking and can easily trick you into thinking you know the material when you don't. However this might not be as effective as for you as I enjoy the extra understanding as it helps me while for some it might just complicate things.
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Has been remarkably similar to Biomed so far, just more content to deal with.
Really enjoying the clinical tutes. I've always had it in my head I'd prefer the science/research aspects of med better, but the clinical tutes are getting me really excited to actually get out there and work with patients.
Some of the work I do outside of uni is public speaking/communication based stuff, so I'm seeing some of that pay off in the clinical tutes which is kind of nice. You can feel quite, well, inferior in med sometimes so it's nice to have those small victories from time to time I guess :)
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What are you doing in your clinical tutes? We just did HPC and PHx, and I agree I'm enjoying this side of medicine :)
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Yeah this week we went through taking BPs and going through past medical history and FHx (we were also supposed to also do BMI and waist/hip but were already 20 mins over). Next week we move onto full physical exams.
But yeah PCP is defs more relaxed, fun, refreshing and relevant to future practise!
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Had our tour of Epworth today. It's such a nicely designed hospital! I would love to be a patient there. And the small cohort probably doesn't seem too bad either, but I'll still probably preference the other clinical schools on top.
Foundation block MST done too. Bring on Cardio!
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Had our tour of Epworth today. It's such a nicely designed hospital! I would love to be a patient there. And the small cohort probably doesn't seem too bad either, but I'll still probably preference the other clinical schools on top.
For some reason all the MD2s at epworth seem to be in the library more than the wards... Which I find to be very unusual. And the MD4s who are around don't seem to be keen on giving them any guidance on what to do (and many don't have the guts to approach me or other final years from Monash hahaha). That's a big disadvantage there imo, a lack of MD seniors (or interns, etc.) to guide them and give them direction.
Having said that, yeah definitely a very classy hospital, all the staff are so nice and I've had no issues in getting things done there as people so so helpful to go that extra mile to help me out. The new ED also looks amaaaaaaazing.
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Just curious, do you guys spend all week in hospital as well instead of uni?
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Just curious, do you guys spend all week in hospital as well instead of uni?
We do in clinical years (Year 3+)
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Just curious, do you guys spend all week in hospital as well instead of uni?
We spend years 2-4 in hospital, only first year at uni :)
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anyone care to enlighten me on their experiences in terms of work life balance and free time? Anyone have had any time to travel overseas as such?
Does it get even harder to do so as you progress to internship,etc?
Thanks :)
3rd year Usyd student, we just started our full time clinical placements 6 weeks age (we used to do 1 day per week in hospitals before 3rd year).
Free time has gone out the window... this last week I've had four 12-14 hour days, leave the house at 6am and get back 8.30-9pm, 2 days ago I slept on a hospital couch at 2am and got up and straight back to work the next morning. So it's exhausting... Not everyone's experience has been that way - I know a lot of students who do 9-5 and that's it, so I think it's very true that you get out whatever you put in. Good luck!
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Free time has gone out the window... this last week I've had four 12-14 hour days, leave the house at 6am and get back 8.30-9pm, 2 days ago I slept on a hospital couch at 2am and got up and straight back to work the next morning. So it's exhausting... Not everyone's experience has been that way - I know a lot of students who do 9-5 and that's it, so I think it's very true that you get out whatever you put in. Good luck!
If I ever get there...that is something I look forward to for some reason. I can't quite put a finger on it, but something about having to sleep on a hospital couch, instead of going home seems awesome. It's something about being so involved in it, that you have to sacrifice something you've taken for granted your whole life.
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something about having to sleep on a hospital couch, instead of going home seems awesome.
Done it once at the Angliss, heavily over-rated :P
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Yewww guise. thoughts on eastern health/bokky hospital for placement? Really tempting to return to melbs but apparently the more rural/regional placements (geelong, warnambool, etc.) are pretty solid too. What are the pros & cons of metro vs rural for year 3 and 4 clinical years ?
Thanks!
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Really tempting to return to melbs but apparently the more rural/regional placements (geelong, warnambool, etc.) are pretty solid too. What are the pros & cons of metro vs rural for year 3 and 4 clinical years ?
Thanks!
Pros of clinical in Warrnambool:
-my mum is a GP there, and does tutes for Deakin medical students :D
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Yewww guise. thoughts on eastern health/bokky hospital for placement? Really tempting to return to melbs but apparently the more rural/regional placements (geelong, warnambool, etc.) are pretty solid too. What are the pros & cons of metro vs rural for year 3 and 4 clinical years ?
Thanks!
Eastern Health has it's pros and cons, and I feel quite sorry for you Deakin folks because I think your third year is an absolute nightmare (and I think it's very poorly organised by your Faculty too). I was at Eastern and had tutes and was friends with a few of the Deakin kids, lovely people.
Pros:
- Lots of opportunity to study, you have heaps of free time
- Lots of opportunity to see patients and do procedures (basically you can do whatever you want if you have supervision)
- Staff are super friendly, never had any issues with doctors not wanting to teach me stuff
- Box Hill is new (I was there DURING the transition from new to old Box Hill!) and is a very nice place to work at
- Cheap Asian food everywhere
Cons:
- Barely any formal teaching in terms of lectures and tutes in comparison to other Monash clinical schools
- I didn't feel well-supported by the clinical school admin in comparison to my friends elsewhere
- You don't get many rotations, basically three a semester: med, surg, ortho (thanks to your Deakin curriculum grrr....), so not much exposure to the various specialties
- Maroondah is not new and looks terrible
- Cheap Asian food carries a real risk of food poisoning
Feel free to ask me more about Eastern, I was there for all of third year and for o+g last year too :)
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If I ever get there...that is something I look forward to for some reason. I can't quite put a finger on it, but something about having to sleep on a hospital couch, instead of going home seems awesome. It's something about being so involved in it, that you have to sacrifice something you've taken for granted your whole life.
Aggressively try to reign this in, it's not a sustainable approach to life and medicine is hardly worth being that involved in. Being rosy about this sort of commitment isn't healthy :(
Doing a rural placement can make it a bit harder to get references and things for your intern application, depending on the staff and location and so forth but there's no reason to avoid it (assuming, of course that you're happy to relocate for a year).
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Aggressively try to reign this in, it's not a sustainable approach to life and medicine is hardly worth being that involved in. Being rosy about this sort of commitment isn't healthy :(
Doing a rural placement can make it a bit harder to get references and things for your intern application, depending on the staff and location and so forth but there's no reason to avoid it (assuming, of course that you're happy to relocate for a year).
Wait...so employers don't like students who had rural placements? So even if someone gets into Deakin BMBS, they aren't guaranteed an internship like FFP kids? I thought all CSP students were pretty much guaranteed an internship. I'm prepared to move to Geelong if its necessary.
:o :'(
Yewww guise. thoughts on eastern health/bokky hospital for placement? Really tempting to return to melbs but apparently the more rural/regional placements (geelong, warnambool, etc.) are pretty solid too. What are the pros & cons of metro vs rural for year 3 and 4 clinical years ?
Thanks!
Can you choose your placement? Is it based on academic merit, or completely random? What would have a better chance of getting you an internship?
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Wait...so employers don't like students who had rural placements? So even if someone gets into Deakin BMBS, they aren't guaranteed an internship like FFP kids? I thought all CSP students were pretty much guaranteed an internship. I'm prepared to move to Geelong if its necessary.
That's not what Russ said at all lol? He just said it may be harder to get references as hospitals apparently prefer consultant doctors (physicians or surgeons) over GP references, as these consultants are harder to come by in rural and regional areas and everyone will be trying to impress them as a result.
Your internship as a CSP student, for the moment, is still guaranteed. Although what will be the case when you plan to graduate medicine in the mid 2020s, who can say.
If I were you I'd be paying more attention to the first part of his post ;)
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That's not what Russ said at all lol? He just said it may be harder to get references as hospitals apparently prefer consultant doctors (physicians or surgeons) over GP references, as these consultants are harder to come by in rural and regional areas and everyone will be trying to impress them as a result.
Your internship as a CSP student, for the moment, is still guaranteed. Although what will be the case when you plan to graduate medicine in the mid 2020s, who can say.
If I were you I'd be paying more attention to the first part of his post ;)
AHK! I know. It's a long way away. I just realised my wording was extremely bad here:
So even if someone gets into Deakin BMBS, they aren't guaranteed an internship like FFP kids?
I meant this, as FFP students are NOT guaranteed an internship. Anyway, that makes heaps of sense, unlike what my conclusion was.
Okay then. Cheers pi and Russ! Helpful as always!
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Aggressively try to reign this in, it's not a sustainable approach to life and medicine is hardly worth being that involved in. Being rosy about this sort of commitment isn't healthy :(
Doing a rural placement can make it a bit harder to get references and things for your intern application, depending on the staff and location and so forth but there's no reason to avoid it (assuming, of course that you're happy to relocate for a year).
So so much respect for that statement.
Yewww guise. thoughts on eastern health/bokky hospital for placement? Really tempting to return to melbs but apparently the more rural/regional placements (geelong, warnambool, etc.) are pretty solid too. What are the pros & cons of metro vs rural for year 3 and 4 clinical years ?
Thanks!
It's worth mentioning that Geelong hospital actually isn't a rural hospital. It's RA1 just like Melbourne.
Obviously that's nitpicking, but I don't think you should expect the same experience in Geelong as you'd expect in other regional cities. I mean, Geelong has three hospitals, with a fourth opening next door to Deakin this year, so obviously its health infrastructure is far beyond most regional cities. Add to that the fact that you've got CSIRO down in Geelong and Barwon health and Deakin doing their own research, it's more city-ish than rural in many ways.
All that said, I've only ever been a patient at Geelong hospital so have a reasonably limited idea of what it's like to work or study there :)
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@pi Thanks so much for your write up man. Eastern health sounds really appealing. Someone in my year said metro places like eastern health have too many students (also from monash) so you get less attention from supervisors/opportunity to practice things. That was my main concern but your post suggests otherwise, I get a different vibe altogether.
Wait...so employers don't like students who had rural placements? So even if someone gets into Deakin BMBS, they aren't guaranteed an internship like FFP kids? I thought all CSP students were pretty much guaranteed an internship. I'm prepared to move to Geelong if its necessary.
:o :'(
Can you choose your placement? Is it based on academic merit, or completely random? What would have a better chance of getting you an internship?
I think deakin have a preference system in place, but beyond that it is random and not dependent on marks. Someone posted some stats on PD. Most people seem to get their first preference. Surprisingly, not many people from the deakin cohort 1st preferenced box hill. Geelong hospital on other hand seems really competitive. May reflect the number of locals in the cohort, and you'd be surprised how few melb kids are here.
Pros of clinical in Warrnambool:
-my mum is a GP there, and does tutes for Deakin medical students :D
Haha neat, I'm sure your mum's a great tutor. My clinical tutor at the moment is a GP from the geelong area, she's actually the best. In fact most of the deakin med staff have been amazing :)
So so much respect for that statement.
It's worth mentioning that Geelong hospital actually isn't a rural hospital. It's RA1 just like Melbourne.
Obviously that's nitpicking, but I don't think you should expect the same experience in Geelong as you'd expect in other regional cities. I mean, Geelong has three hospitals, with a fourth opening next door to Deakin this year, so obviously its health infrastructure is far beyond most regional cities. Add to that the fact that you've got CSIRO down in Geelong and Barwon health and Deakin doing their own research, it's more city-ish than rural in many ways.
All that said, I've only ever been a patient at Geelong hospital so have a reasonably limited idea of what it's like to work or study there :)
You're right, I was surprised how developed Geelong is when I visited for the 1st time. In my mind it's a huge town, no doubt it's RA1. There's also quite a number of private specialists working in the CBD.
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You're right, I was surprised how developed Geelong is when I visited for the 1st time. In my mind it's a huge town, no doubt it's RA1. There's also quite a number of private specialists working in the CBD.
Hahah the number of times people at uni will say to me "oh you're from Geelong, so you're a country boy!". Well sure, yes I am, but because I'm from a country town outside of Geelong...Geelong's the city to me hahah.
Definitely some decent stuff down their hospital wise, though it's close enough to Melbourne to not really justify having some of the more highly technical stuff in spite of the population size.
I'm curious to know though, have you heard anything about the Epworth? I asked at the Richmond one yesterday which Unis were getting it, and they seemed to have no idea about it.
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Just to fanboy about Geelong, there's an awesome neurologist there called Dr Peter Gates, huge fan of his book (and accompanying video) "Clinical Neurology: a primer", must-read for med students with an interest in the neurological examination imo :D
I'm curious to know though, have you heard anything about the Epworth? I asked at the Richmond one yesterday which Unis were getting it, and they seemed to have no idea about it.
I take some informal tutes of the MD2s (and Monash MBBS IIIs) there, what do you want to know?
edit: I think I misread, and you mean Epworth Geelong, oops!
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I think deakin have a preference system in place, but beyond that it is random and not dependent on marks. Someone posted some stats on PD. Most people seem to get their first preference. Surprisingly, not many people from the deakin cohort 1st preferenced box hill. Geelong hospital on other hand seems really competitive. May reflect the number of locals in the cohort, and you'd be surprised how few melb kids are here.
Fingers crossed the new random preferencing system at Melbourne (it sounds the same as Deakin's) produces a similar result.
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For Melbourne, after you preference the hospitals in your clinical zone, they assign a random number to each student. People are then plucked out of the lottery in order, and allocated to the hospital they want by going down their preferences.
Should be the case for clinical zones too this year.
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For Melbourne, after you preference the hospitals in your clinical zone, they assign a random number to each student. People are then plucked out of the lottery in order, and allocated to the hospital they want by going down their preferences.
Should be the case for clinical zones too this year.
Yep, that's correct. :)
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Did our first cardiovascular examinations today! Things I learnt:
*For medical students, examinations = theatre (just nod and look like you're actually feeling/hearing stuff)
*God curse the JVP
*Screw landmark variability
We also got allocated our first GP placements. Anyone got advice on how to make the most of it?
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Did our first cardiovascular examinations today! Things I learnt:
*For medical students, examinations = theatre (just nod and look like you're actually feeling/hearing stuff)
*God curse the JVP
*Screw landmark variability
We also got allocated our first GP placements. Anyone got advice on how to make the most of it?
That's pretty neat, we haven't started physical exams yet. I also have solo GP placement this week :)
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Ah yes, OSCE vs hospital clinical examination. Two very different skill-sets and mind-sets :P I always find it useful to pretend my pillow is a patient (can serve as a chest or an abdomen or a back) and practice on there to develop my routine. Sounds lame and sad af, but is more productive than finding a real person to practice on. Obviously during clinical years you have real patients so the pillow can be used solely for sleeping again :P
JVP is super important, the MDs in my tute last week seemed to have forgotten the basics of it, best to remember it! :D edit: the Monash students also forgot... -_-
I'd also refrain from nodding like you're hearing something. Reminds me of that patient we had once where three medical students claimed to have heard the heart but it was on the other side, looks very awkward. Be honest what you can and can't detect, so your tutors (and yourself) know what you need to improve on. Practice makes perfect!
We also got allocated our first GP placements. Anyone got advice on how to make the most of it?
What type of things can you do? I found, during my GP rotation last year, to engage in "parallel consulting" where I would take a patient in one room and the GP has another patient in another room. We'd both work the patients up during the consult, and then when the GP was done with their patient they'd enter my room and I'd discuss my management and get the scripts printed for them to sign. That might be a little above your level as a first year, but if you're able to take some histories (HOPC, PHx, FHx, Meds, SHx,etc.), take some blood pressures, give some shots, listen to some chests, that would be great experience :) Always try and be useful in any placement, if you're finding that you're not helping anyone, then you probably aren't helping yourself either.
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What do you guys do when there are too many med students on the team and the doctors are always rushing off + it seems you don't really exist to them :P When you ask questions - they give a really short reply!
That literally happened to me during my clinical placements haha. Seems such a waste of time because I'm not learning much, and there are pretty much 4 students to a doctor!
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What do you guys do when there are too many med students on the team and the doctors are always rushing off + it seems you don't really exist to them :P When you ask questions - they give a really short reply!
That literally happened to me during my clinical placements haha. Seems such a waste of time because I'm not learning much, and there are pretty much 4 students to a doctor!
The curse of being in big city hospitals? I was lucky(?) to do my third year(med/surg year) at suburban hospitals where my largest ever team was 1 consultant + 1 reg + 1 intern/HMO + me + maybe 1 other student. So I always get plenty of chances to get involved.
Ultimately, you need to find someone who likes you. Whether that be staying after hours to impress or suck up to someone, or getting their early to help out someone getting things organised for the ward round, or something else. One of my wealthier colleagues used to bring in chocolates for the team every other day, perhaps that's more bribery though :P
I think it's a little unfair to be asking people to teach you if you don't help them in some way. So I always put in the hard yards first by helping them out before asking for any favours. Be keen, be helpful.
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Oo thats lucky! I was in a city hospital (shared with another University who did Medicine!) There was even this occasion where there were 15 med students and 2 doctors in a ward round (when the doctors were on conference). Was pretty awkies :P
Chocolate sounds like a good idea :P :P Bribe the doctors with sugar high!! :P
Hmm would you reckon going rural is a good idea for a year or two? (During med school)
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Oo thats lucky! I was in a city hospital (shared with another University who did Medicine!) There was even this occasion where there were 15 med students and 2 doctors in a ward round (when the doctors were on conference). Was pretty awkies :P
15 students is absolutely ridiculous, definitely not a good learning environment of you guys or a welcoming environment for the patients. If rolls aren't marked or anything, I'd start a roster or something to ensure no more than 3 of you are on the ward at any one time.
Hmm would you reckon going rural is a good idea for a year or two? (During med school)
I personally haven't had much rural experience (spare the alcohol-fueled rural 2 week stint in Year 2 lol), but from my colleagues who have I have heard a lot of positive things. The student:doctor ratio is certainly better than 15:2, probably more like 1:1, and as a result you get much more involved. You do see less of the weird and wonderful (not that you need to see that at this stage!) and might get less structured formal teaching by hot shot Professors, but otherwise it's pretty good.
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Had tours of both St Vs and RMH this week. Still pretty torn over where to go. I think St Vs will be more comfortable for my learning style but I think that maybe I'll develop better self-directed learning skills at RMH which I'll need sooner or later anyway. The restricted after-hours access at St Vs is a bit disappointing though.
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The restricted after-hours access at St Vs is a bit disappointing though.
What do yo mean by this? You can't access wards after a certain time?
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What do yo mean by this? You can't access wards after a certain time?
Well generally there's no need. Patients shouldn't be clerked at odd hours just because the med student has some free time.
I'm guessing he may mean libraries etc?
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SVH restrict student access to wards/theatre/whatever and allocate students according to a roster. Other hospitals aren't as prescriptive and let you go wherever. You'll develop good independent learning skills anyway just of necessity. There are pros/cons to both models, although I'm not sure why you'd even want to be floating around after hours unless you had to. I tell my students to go home whenever they're there late but they never listen for some reason :(
e, although tbh i have lost all semblance of time and was really impressed that one of them was in on a weekend today
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I personally haven't had much rural experience (spare the alcohol-fueled rural 2 week stint in Year 2 lol), but from my colleagues who have I have heard a lot of positive things. The student:doctor ratio is certainly better than 15:2, probably more like 1:1, and as a result you get much more involved. You do see less of the weird and wonderful (not that you need to see that at this stage!) and might get less structured formal teaching by hot shot Professors, but otherwise it's pretty good.
I've heard lots of amazing things for the rural rotations as you get to do much more. Also I wouldn't say all the hot shot people are necessarily in the city one of my tutors for anatomy has a triple fellowship, two in surgery (Australia and England) and one in emergency medicine. He also said as a general surgeon he gets to do way more variety of work then in the city which was an interesting insight. I agree though for the more rare clinical cases they would most likely be more in the city hospitals.
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Also I wouldn't say all the hot shot people are necessarily in the city one of my tutors for anatomy has a triple fellowship, two in surgery (Australia and England) and one in emergency medicine.
I think you'll find people like that tend to be like shiny Pokemon :P Very rare hahaha. The vast majority of rural doctor are GPs with diplomas or keen interests in this or that so they can cover more bases.
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Hey guys, is there a good way to bring up deceased relatives tactfully when you're interviewing a patient.
Eg if your patient is an older person whose grandparents are likely to be dead, and you want to know what their health was like when they were alive in history taking. Maybe I'm overthinking things...
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I didn't see that this thread existed. Well...hello everyone!
Melon - "By any chance do you remember anything about your grandparents' health - any medical conditions they may have had?"
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Given the changes of the MBBS(hon) to Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 2017 will I be part of the last MBBS(hon) students?
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Given the changes of the MBBS(hon) to Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 2017 will I be part of the last MBBS(hon) students?
Probably. You might get a fancy medallion or something like the UoM MBBS grads got in their last year.
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Probably. You might get a fancy medallion or something like the UoM MBBS grads got in their last year.
Nice :). Out of curiosity for years 1 and 2 of your course did your cohort get to do dissections?
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Nice :). Out of curiosity for years 1 and 2 of your course did your cohort get to do dissections?
Not in Sem 1 of Year 1, but from there on we did weekly dissections :) In all honesty, unless you're very keen on surgery and anatomy, dissections aren't super helpful. Prosections are probably more helpful.
(split, moved and merged the last few posts)
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Any tips for steth buying?
I'm thinking littmann classic 3 or cardio 3. I heard cardio series has extra features that only a cardiologist would use, so it might detract from med school/general usage but iunnnnno.
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Any tips for steth buying?
I'm thinking littmann classic 3 or cardio 3. I heard cardio series has extra features that only a cardiologist would use, so it might detract from med school/general usage but iunnnnno.
Well there's also a Cardio IV now :P Either are fine for medical students, it's more-so anything with "Master" in it that's probably too much for medical students, you should get something with a turnable diaphragm. The Cardio III/IV has some use in paediatrics due to the convertible bell/diaphragm on one side. There are also other brands in addition to Littmann, but in all honesty pretty much everyone has a Littmann so I'd stick with it.
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Any tips for steth buying?
I'm thinking littmann classic 3 or cardio 3. I heard cardio series has extra features that only a cardiologist would use, so it might detract from med school/general usage but iunnnnno.
Most importantly though, you can get the cardio 3 in rainbow...so yeah, that should just about cover it?
Make sure you shop around though, and remember that Medshop.com.au advertises their prices without GST (which is actually against the law, but oh well...)
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I think you'll find rainbow (and other fancy bright colours and designs) steths become old pretty fast, and then just look a little odd and out of place on the wards (I've heard some consultants even call them "unprofessional"). The vast majority of people stick with traditional colours like black, dark red, dark blue, etc. and I'd probably recommend a colour along those lines.
A steth is used for not only physical examination, but it also signifies your role as part of the "doctor team" (even if you aren't there yet!) in the mind of the patient and can instill confidence, I can't see a situation (other than maybe with little kids in paediatrics?) where having a fancy coloured steth offers anything but a potential disadvantage. I haven't seen this happen, but it would be terrible for a patient to think less of you because your physical examination equipment looked like it was straight from an episode of My Little Pony :P
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Not in Sem 1 of Year 1, but from there on we did weekly dissections :) In all honesty, unless you're very keen on surgery and anatomy, dissections aren't super helpful. Prosections are probably more helpful.
(split, moved and merged the last few posts)
Ah I really wanted to do some but we don't have it in the grad version of the course given time and location constraints as my aim is surgery. I can always do the postgrad diploma in surgical anatomy though so not too fussed was just curious if they delivered the anatomy much differently.
Any tips for steth buying?
I'm thinking littmann classic 3 or cardio 3. I heard cardio series has extra features that only a cardiologist would use, so it might detract from med school/general usage but iunnnnno.
I recommend the 3M LITTMANN CARDIOLOGY III STETHOSCOPE: BLACK & SMOKE FINISH as it looks nice as :)
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I think you'll find rainbow (and other fancy bright colours and designs) steths become old pretty fast, and then just look a little odd and out of place on the wards (I've heard some consultants even call them "unprofessional"). The vast majority of people stick with traditional colours like black, dark red, dark blue, etc. and I'd probably recommend a colour along those lines.
A steth is used for not only physical examination, but it also signifies your role as part of the "doctor team" (even if you aren't there yet!) in the mind of the patient and can instill confidence, I can't see a situation (other than maybe with little kids in paediatrics?) where having a fancy coloured steth offers anything but a potential disadvantage. I haven't seen this happen, but it would be terrible for a patient to think less of you because your physical examination equipment looked like it was straight from an episode of My Little Pony :P
Yeah I see what you mean. Personally I do have one with some colour, but it's only on the chest piece whilst the rest is black. So it's conservatively fun.
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If you want to do surgery, it's quite likely that you'll end up doing some sort of post grad anatomy diploma so I wouldn't worry about it too much. The anatomy you learn in medical school is insufficient for the surgical entry exams from what I gather, especially as you forget so much of it.
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Speaking of anatomy, we had our first dissections this week. They got us to try "drain" the pleura and then open up the cadaver and see if we did it correctly.
With our table being all dissection newbies we had no idea what to do. Instead of cutting a window and then putting a tube in that, we pushed the trunk with the bluntish ends straight into the body instead. Ended up going right through a rib and puncturing the lung. Lol.
Then we cut a window to drain it laterally and ended up going through a rib again. lol
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I was just wondering what your thoughts would be about having to go rural to study medicine if you are assigned to that zone. With Melbourne assigning zones at random it has become a possibility for me and while I still think I'd take it, I'd probably struggle without having my family and support network around me (although one may argue that may be constructive experience which may make me a better doctor). Nonetheless, it is a factor in my decision. Is it as much of a sacrifice and bad as it seems, or is it actually quite manageable?
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I have friends who got sent (ie. they preferenced metro... but too bad!) rural for a year, and they had good things to say about it. I guess the important thing in the clinical years, especially the first couple for Monash/UoM students, is to get a good grasp of the basics and what is common. You don't really need (despite how interesting it may be) to see that case of a syndrome seen in 1/1000000 people until later in your training, so rural is more than ok to get what you need. Furthermore, I know at Monash the median exam scores and whatnot for rural vs metro kids seem to have no difference, so that's good. Granted, I haven't done much time rurally so I'm not speaking from experience.
Regarding your family supports etc, I guess you're going to have to move away from them geographically at some point eventually? 4-5 years post-VCE sounds like an ideal time to start building that new level of independence for yourself. Better make that move during uni where you have a bit more free time and your only responsibility is to pass, than during work where you've got a whole lot of real responsibilities. Food for thought I guess.
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Anyone wanna share there mbbs year 1/2 notes will pay in rare pepes.
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Anyone wanna share there mbbs year 1/2 notes will pay in rare pepes.
There are heeeeaaaaaaaps of notes on the MUMUS website :) You'll need an account of course https://www.mumus.org/resources
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Hey guys, can anyone speak about what life is like as an intern and resident? Like hours worked/week, shift length, overtime, "stress", night shifts, opportunities to do research. Do you have to fight other student dr's to practice procedural skills? I know there's a massive thread on pagingdr but I thought it would be easier to ask here then sift through it.
Also, how competitive is it to get into the melbourne hospitals? I assume its grades/cv/interview to get in like any other job, what are good things to have on the resume?
Thanks all
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Hey guys, can anyone speak about what life is like as an intern and resident? Like hours worked/week, shift length, overtime, "stress", night shifts, opportunities to do research. Do you have to fight other student dr's to practice procedural skills? I know there's a massive thread on pagingdr but I thought it would be easier to ask here then sift through it.
Russ can probably speak better for all of this, but:
- Hours are usually 7-8am to 6pm 5 days a week, and most people do unpaid over-time on top of that
- Research opportunities vary (as per medical school), a lot has to do with who you know, why you know them, and being in the right place in the right time
- Usually you do the procedural skills for your patients, so you're not fighting with other doctors as they have their own patients. As for medical students, you doing the skill is more important than them doing it, but you can assign a cannula etc to the med students if you want.
Even though it's tedious, definitely worth reading the PD thread too, simply because there are heaps of perspectives there.
Also, how competitive is it to get into the melbourne hospitals? I assume its grades/cv/interview to get in like any other job, what are good things to have on the resume?
It's competitive. All of those things are relevant, plus good references. Anything that you would consider good, is good to have on a CV: good grades, research, volunteering, employment history, etc. Worth noting that different hospitals weigh things differently.
As for grades, if you're keen, look up InternZ scores on the PMCV website, that's the scoring used for Victoria for all of UoM, Monash and Deakin grads. Basically they chuck your med school scores into a normal distribution that has a median of 3.5 and a mean of 1.0 so that it's comparable among unis. How this is relevant? eg. RMH only starts to consider people with a InternZ score of > 3.5, Austin last year was rumoured to take a lowest InternZ score of 4.1, etc. So yes, if you want to get into big hospitals like RMH, Alfred, StV, Austin, and Monash, then you're going to to need to be at least in the better half of your med school. To make matters more complicated, some hospitals secretly prefer their own students, notable examples include StV and Monash. However if you're fine to go to Western, Eastern, Northern, Peninsula, and other health services, then you can probably afford to have a lower InternZ score (in comparison).
I wouldn't stress too much about it, you should enjoy your med school experience :)
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Hey guys, can anyone speak about what life is like as an intern and resident? Like hours worked/week, shift length, overtime, "stress", night shifts, opportunities to do research. Do you have to fight other student dr's to practice procedural skills? I know there's a massive thread on pagingdr but I thought it would be easier to ask here then sift through it.
Also, how competitive is it to get into the melbourne hospitals? I assume its grades/cv/interview to get in like any other job, what are good things to have on the resume?
Thanks all
I much prefer answering specific questions because 'what is internship like' is pretty broad and hard to answer.
You work a 76 hour fortnight at a minimum and even on the lightest rotations (rehab, psych, ED etc.) you'll end up at 80. Surgery has averaged out at a 100 hour fortnight, gen med in the middle. The unpaid overtime isn't too bad after you adjust to the system and become efficient at the job (preround a half hour early, stay back the same) but there's always the occasional blowout.
The three compulsory terms ran something like this at my hospital:
ED 0800-1800 4x days a week
Surg 0700-1800 5x days a week (minus half day, plus weekend cover)
Med 0800-1730 5x days (same deal as surg)
Stress depends on the person. Some people find it bad, others don't. Some rotations are worse than others. It hasn't been too bad for me (other than adjustment periods) but I'm more laidback than a lot of my colleagues.
You might get rostered for a term of nights, which is usually a week on/week off system. Every hospital does it differently but it's usually from 2200 to 0800 (or similar). Some hospitals roster interns to night shift in ED, some don't. Switching between them messes your body up :(
You can ask bosses to get involved with research if you want. It's almost always just doing the paperwork for them but it gets your foot in the door and lets you either get tacked on somewhere as a sixth author or lets you get an author job with their next project. I've done some and it's really hard to find the time. We published earlier this month only because I'd done most of it last year and my current paper has been held up by me not having much time/inclination to work on it.
I assume you mean medical student by student doctor? They do what you tell them to, so if you want to do all your cannulas and venepunctures yourself then you can (hint, you don't). Getting the medical students to do them is really helpful to your workload.
Look up the CV template, you have very specific things to put on. Scholarships/academic awards are a really big deal because few people have them. Same deal for research. Marks are the majority of it because of the (stupid) z-score system allowing hospitals to easily rank you. Volunteering is only good if it's meaningful (ie a one off Teddy Bear Hospital is worthless, doing a shift a fortnight for 4 years of med school is great)
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Can you guys recommend a good source for general info about the Australian health system? Cheers :) Even if it's focussing on one aspect.
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Can you guys recommend a good source for general info about the Australian health system? Cheers :) Even if it's focussing on one aspect.
The Conversation recently did a series all about understanding our system
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Popped the OSCE cherry, ay!
5 hours of quarantine really does your head in. Defs need to bring some board games next time.
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Congrats! Hope it went awesome :)
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Congrats! Hope it went awesome :)
Cheers! It went quite well. 6 mins is never enough time to finish a full history though ::)
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Allocated to St Vincents for the next three years!
Being stuck at the same hospital for most of the time sucks for people who got their last preference though...
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Regardless of preference, it's really your attitude and willing to go the extra yard that impacts your clinical experience the most. I know people from both Monash and UoM who were allocated city hospitals but didn't get nearly as much out of their clinical years as some in suburban tertiary centres (and vice versa). Heard good things about St Vinnie's though, I'm sure you'll enjoy it :)
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Having spoken with a few MD1 students, I'm hearing there's definitely a step up in workload. Some people are telling me though that compared to undergraduate, which was largely focussed on being competitive enough in order to get into medical school, you should instead be less concerned about perfection when it comes to grades and try to be more holistic in your professional and personal approach to study/life. For example, I've heard from a couple of people that it's like impossible to study everything, so there's an onus on the student to study the things they think are particularly important or are known to be areas of weakness, and eventually draw the line as to when understanding is reasonable. How true is this? I've always been
fairly concerned with marks but I think I'm starting to realise there's a lot more to it than that and perhaps being intense about course content at the expense of all else isn't necessarily a wise thing in the long term. At the same time, I'd hate to "back off" in that area and then suffer the consequences. Thanks. :)
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You'll go crazy (or drive everyone around you crazy - arguably worse because in a "people profession" having people like you is a /good/ thing) if you focus too much on marks in med. It's just not realistic to learn everything, because it's actually impossible. Med is really a different ball game; the goal, in my opinion anyway, is to know enough so that you can back yourself to be a good junior doctor and to know things on the ward. There are people who I've seen slave away in the library during their clinical years... which means, sure, they might get a handful of extra marks on the written exam (big whoop in my opinion), but they're really wasting their time and the hospital's time otherwise.
My philosophy when it comes to med, and everyone has their own take mind you, is that I'm more concerned about clinically-relevant knowledge and experience rather than marks. Some might say the two come hand-in-hand, and they do to an extent, but there are certainly ways to go about increasing your marks without increasing your clinically-relevant knowledge and experience. To me, a few marks here and there aren't worth all the extra studying, I'd rather spend that time (if I am to study) doing something I enjoy, just as what interests me, or helping out on the ward, or seeing patients.
Furthermore, on a realistic note, marks don't matter all that much? No one cares about them after you get an intern job (unless you did a stellar job and won a bunch of awards, but even then...). As for how much they effect your intern application - not as much as you'd expect. Plenty of other things come into play, such as having qualities references, a solid CV (research, extra-curricular, etc.), a nice cover letter, and strong interview performance. So even if you did pre-occupy yourself with marks, you might be letting yourself down in those other areas.
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Yeah, it's impossible to learn everything. And not everything is going to be relevant for a doctor - it's not worth knowing everything that's involved in the replication of Hepatitis B, for example, but you need to understand how to manage patients, what complications might arise, how you would go around diagnosing it, etc. What IS important is that you take away what's clinically relevant, learn to not miss any red flags, recognise patterns, and try apply it in wards.
So far the MSTs we've had haven't been crazy specific (there are a few oddball questions now and then though...). There's a bit of application and understanding that's involved.
You'll also find that learning theory through books and lectures is boring af and you'll be itching to go onto the wards as soon as you can.
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Absolutely agree with pi and Shenz0r. It's impossible to get through everything and to understand everything.
With that said, it does take a bit of time to adapt to that. Personally, I'm still struggling with the fact that no matter how hard I try I won't be able to be across all the information, and that there'll still be quite a sizeable chunk of my cohort who out performs me. I think a lot of us are surviving first year knowing that the next three years will help us develop other aptitudes, not just our aptitude for cramming. I should probably qualify that by saying that PCP (principals of clinical practice) does give you somewhat of an opportunity to develop communication and examination skills, but even quite a lot of that still feels like rote learning info without actually fitting it into the broader scheme of things.
TL;DR: yes there's a lot and it does take a little bit to adapt the extra workload/the different environment
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A lot of the early knowledge you need to have, even if you never mastered it the first time round. It's easy to dismiss it as needlessly specific but be careful in avoiding it completely.
Your marks will be the single largest contributing factor to your internship application unless they've radically changed things, which can have implications for doing further HMO years there, so learning to the exam isn't inappropriate. No medical school really prepares you for the reality of the job and it's only practice that gets you there. Focusing on clinical skills and ward technique is commendable but it's not going to make a large difference since so much of what you do, you'll need to figure out as you go.
Clinical years are very different but they're still content intensive and you should still focus on the curriculum. You'll have fun regardless, you'll probably have a guaranteed job and you can figure the rest out along the way.
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How do you preclinical guys study? This semester didn't go well for me, never really found my stride. I need to find a better way to study/manage the workload...
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How do you preclinical guys study? This semester didn't go well for me, never really found my stride. I need to find a better way to study/manage the workload...
I don't think I ever found my stride in pre-clin haha, but I'd assume it would be similar to your undergrad? Build upon those study techniques I guess.
Something that I'd found really useful for med is inter-year study groups. These are a big thing in Monash (eg. year 4s teaching year 3s for a couple of hours a week after hours) and I think they're super beneficial for both parties. If Deakin has a culture of doing that, I'd definitely get involved, or even start your own culture haha. I've been doing that since year 2 and it's just a great way to revise and consolidate, both when teaching and when learning :)
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Any Monash students have any general tips for the end-of-year summative OSCE and Vertically Integrated Assessment (VIA) examination?
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OSCE - Practice in groups (3-4 people). Know all the physical examinations and system reviews inside-out, including the stuff you might not think of like eye and ear exams. Tutorials should have books with practice histories and marking schemes. Also look over explaining basic investigations (such as CXR, ECG, LFTs, PFTs, FBE and blood film, etc.) and other things you learnt in tutes (eg. contraception, asthma devices, etc.). Anything in PBL can easily be a full-on OSCE station.
VIA - Practice papers are your friend. Non-official ones may or may not exist, so ask past Gippy students for what they may or may not have used.
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Just dropping by to see how we're all faring? :D
I'm in the middle of thesis writing, so draining haha. I don't think I'm behind the ball though which is good! Also excellent to see the MD students I'm helping at my hospital improving and applying new concepts, I'm actually so proud of them hahaha. Having just put in my preferences for final year rotations, honestly cannot wait to be back on the wards full-time next year :)
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Just studying hard so I can make it to clinical years. This year has been a constant uphill battle but nearly at the end :).
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Neuroscience, Endocrine and Metabolism MST on Monday morning. 90+ lectures to gloss over this weekend. But ok maybe I'm really lazy or efficient because I've been spending more time chilling and relaxing rather than studying this semester.
Can I just go into wards already :(
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Hi Everyone!
I have a question that I think alot of people are wondering. (good one for Pi to answer I reckon)
How much of the following VCE subjects to you actually use in Medicine?
-Maths (methods and specialist in particular)
-Chemistry
-Biology
-Physics
anything thing else that is relevant
Thanks :)
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In medical school? Biology and a bit of chemistry. Mostly so you'll understand the baseline medical theory stuff, so you can then further understand the next thing. Zero math and physics.
Once you graduate, nothing you learned in VCE is relevant.
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Yeah as above really, just the very basic biochem and cell stuff from Bio and Chem, and it's all taught again to you in uni (albeit at a much faster pace). Physics pops up in fluid dynamics when doing cardiovascular physiology, but you don't really need to understand it deeply to get through.
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So with my subjects would I be ok especially for Monash Undergrad especially without methods? I can obviously do the biology course, but any other concerns with my subject selection?
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So with my subjects would I be ok especially for Monash Undergrad especially without methods? I can obviously do the biology course, but any other concerns with my subject selection?
Yeah you will be fine its all about maximising your ATAR and doing the prereqs. Note: I would do methods since it does open a lot more other undergraduate courses in case you don't get into the undergraduate program.
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Yeah you will be fine its all about maximising your ATAR and doing the prereqs. Note: I would do methods since it does open a lot more other undergraduate courses in case you don't get into the undergraduate program.
^ Agreed with heart
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Heard that all graduate med offers are out already! Congratulations to the new medlings entering next year!
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Any Monash students know what the attendance is like for year 3B (School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health) just curious for next year? That is if I do pass lol
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Any Monash students know what marks they use for z score cheers
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http://www.mscv.org.au/internz
Don't know which years are which at Monash. You probably need historical data on your cohort to be able to estimate it though.
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http://www.mscv.org.au/internz
Don't know which years are which at Monash. You probably need historical data on your cohort to be able to estimate it though.
Ah I got to improve loads for the clinical years then for a decent z score cheers. I thought they only used our exam marks but with research I found out they don't for our preclinical years :(
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How's everyone finding their year so far?
Just finished my second week on the wards, and it's been pretty fun! We haven't been able to do any procedures yet but wow I've found out how chatty some patients are!