Owner: Unprotected Text URL:http://uptext.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2007 06:49:24 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A scallywags journey through medical school. Site statistics:Click here
Medical Mindset 2007-06-23 08:02:00 Anticipation, anxiety, excitement, enthusiasm and uncertainty are the concoction of feelings I’ve experienced over the past 5-6 months. As the suspense builds so does the intensity; but exactly what frame of mind should I start med school with? I suppose the best thing would be to go back and reconsider how I felt about starting my BSc at Royal Holloway.When I finished sixth form I was in all honesty, young, naïve and very unsure of myself. So unsure that I took beta-blockers to curb my anxiety, I threw up a lot and all because I was scared about who I was. I didn’t know. When I started university I was surrounded by people who probably felt the same and regarded me as I saw my own friends, confident in themselves. This gave me something to play up to and slowly I developed my character as I saw fit keeping many of the same principles I’d always had – I just never realised I had them.So I’m finishing Holloway more the wiser, but with the same degree of uncertainty about the Read more:Mindset
The 'Med' Factor 2007-06-23 07:18:00 Are med students that different to other students? Sure, we must have our reasons for pursuing such a career but in terms of personal attributes does med school require a certain ‘breed’ of person?Today much emphasis is placed upon development of communication skills consequently sacrificing a scientific knowledge-base that for centuries made up the core of the medical degree curriculum. PBL ‘D.I.Y’ medicine is replacing this in many schools across the world. I am about to start my journey at such a school, albeit with what I’d like to think as a scientific knowledge-base already established from my Biomedical Sciences BSc.When applying for med school, I specifically chose a PBL-based course. Personally I feel I’m lacking in the ‘med’ factor essential for the social-communicative side of medicine. I am a little concerned by this, and I hope that I will be able to develop such interpersonal skills to become a good doctor. Standoffish – that is how I perceive myself. I
Another Day, Another Blog 2007-06-23 06:41:00 I was so sick of 'Confessions of a Biomed Student' that after a long hard think, I chose the name 'Unprotected Text'. COABS was not a catchy name and quite frankly, nobody wants to read about the mundane tales of laboratory science. Unfortunately some bastard stole unprotectedtext.blogspot along with unprotected-text.blogspot and hasn't posted on them for the past 4 years. Instead I have had to settle for uptext.blogspot which is fine! Enjoy the new, brighter layout I am using. I hope it symbolises a more optimistic me, or rather just makes my blog more readable. I'll leave COABS up if anyone wishes to browse through the archives but from now on, a new chapter of my life calls for a new blog!
Top 10 things I’ve always wanted to learn 2007-06-27 14:35:00 (But couldn’t because it wasn’t Biomed)10. Anatomy through dissection/prosection – Death for many is a taboo, and this is true for me. I am curious, if not a little apprehensive about seeing a dead person for the first time…especially if they’re lying on a cold metal slab with a bag over their head and a 10” retracted hole running down their chest exposing their half dissected organs.9. How to read X-rays/CTs/MRIs – You see it on all the medical shows “looks like a compound fracture of…” or “a subdural haemorrhage” or “an aneurysm about to burst”. I don’t really understand what is being said but I am fascinated by the brief glance of medical films you see in those shows.8. PBL – Most people who do PBL find it a novelty at first and then quickly tire of it. I will not be an exception. Still I’m looking forwards to a different, more interactive style of learn
ing than I’m used to.7. How to use a stethoscope properly – I get that there are different en Read more:things
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The Book Dilemma 2007-06-26 16:43:00 Amid the mounting costs of a medical education there is the obvious expenditure for books. I have already acquired a small library from my BSc many of which will come in useful over the next 5 years. The other thing I have learnt about buying books from my previous degree is that although I may have good intentions, buying them does not guarantee I will use them. Furthermore, the content often becomes obsolete and in my final year of Biomed I spent far more time looking at PubMed reviews and papers than in the chapters of the recommended books of the courses.My Biomed Library:Barts have published a list of nine ‘essential textbooks’ that will come in useful particularly in the early years of the degree. Of those nine, I already have two from Biomed (1+4 below) leaving seven potential purchases: K&C. Clinical MedicineMartini. Fundamentals of Anatomy and PhysiologyBaynes. Medical BiochemistryRang. PharmacologyUnderwood. General & Systemic PathologyPorter. Psychology & Sociology A
Medical Degree Mythology 2007-06-26 05:50:00 I think I may have blogged about this in the past, but from yesterdays conversation with my bank manager I felt the need to bring it up again. It really surprises me how little people seem to understand about the process of a medical education.Yesterday’s conversation went:Me: “Hi, I’ve just graduated and noticed my bank account has just been changed to a graduate account. I would like to revert back to a student account as I am starting another degree.”Banker: “No problem, have you got the offer letter on you so that we can photocopy it?”Me: “Yes I do…”*hands it over to the banker*Banker: “Oh! Medical school? So that’s got to be another 3 years?”Me: “…no, another 5 years”One of my old school friends, who last week graduated with a first class degree in history from Durham, seemed to think that I’ll “be looking forwards doing a PhD”.Other things said to me include:“So you’re gonna be like on scrubs!”“Isn’t that basically what you’ve just Read more:Mythology
A Trickle of all Knowledge 2007-06-25 13:14:00 Something that always has annoyed me in the past and no doubt is likely to annoy me even more in future is the general expectation by everyone that you’ll probably know the answer to any question they have about medicine and science. Questions that aren’t even related to what you may be studying. For example, a few weeks ago at a friends BBQ a conversation on the ability to time travel cropped up…as these things do (maybe I should avoid those friends in future?!)Them: “I wonder if it will ever be possible to go back in time, I think I heard somewhere that you need to travel around the sun above the speed of light though…is that right Harry?”Me: …I’m sure that medical students are more often barraged by questions relating to the health of those asking. Questions such as “I’ve got a headache and have been feeling slightly dizzy this week, also my right knee has been clicking lately and I’ve had difficulty passing gas, what do you thinks wrong with me?”I guess ther Read more:Knowledge
Penniless, and then some 2007-06-25 07:21:00 It is now time for me to start thinking realistically and draw up a budget for the next 5 years. I knew it wouldn’t be cheap, and living in London doesn’t help at all, especially with it being recently voted the 2nd most expensive city in the world to live in. Worse still I am a graduate, meaning the government won’t give me an extra £3,000/yr in tuition fee loan. I hate you Blair.“If you are intending to stay in London for 52 weeks you will need at least £10,000”- Barts and the LondonOuch, that’s approximately £50K for the length of my course. I still have access to a maintenance loan and thus so far my budget reads:Maintenance loan for 5 years: ~£25,000Med school costs for 5 years: ~£50,000Now it doesn’t take a genius to see those figures don’t quite add up. Fortunately for me I have savings, baby-bonds and a good work ethic that once combined may just cover the total cost without resorting to either begging a fat-cat banker for a ridiculously high interest loan
Cut-Throat Learning 2007-06-29 07:21:00 There is no doubt in my mind that applying to medical school was the single most coveted and stressful thing I’ve encountered in my life. A transitory paradise was reached April 26th 2007 – the day I got into Barts. For me this was fleeting – I hadn’t secured my place until I met my offer. From then on I was elated, knowing that all I had to do was turn up in September and start to learn medicine.That has now subsided and a new paranoia is creeping through me. I have reached the ‘am I good enough?’ phase. The application was competitive, and med school itself seems also a highly competitive medic-eat-medic environment. Students are ranked in order of academic success throughout the 5 years. Not everyone can be in the top quartile, or indeed even the top half. There will always be the bottom of the year, students who had the ability to achieve AAB in their A-levels. I am not one of those students.Biomed for me was a lax, non-competitive course. No-one particularly cared how Read more:Learning
Summer Plans 2007-06-28 08:27:00 “Make sure you relax the summer before medical school”This is the message I have been told over and over by current and prospective students alike. This is what I intend to do, it shall remain a study-free time.Things I want to try over the summer:Play guitar/drumsStart joggingLearn to cook some more imaginative food for next year (recipes welcomed!)Learn some basics in another language…I’m thinking Japanese?Holiday for a week in EuropeGet a job and earn some dollarKeep bloggingVisit some art galleriesGo to the zooBuild my own guitarHmmm that was harder that I thought it would be… any more suggestions? Read more:Summer
Missed The Mark 2007-07-04 13:42:00 I received my degree breakdown today. It’s bitter-sweet, to the extreme. I can’t work out whether to be pleasantly pleased or unbelievably pissed off. I knew I got a 2:1. What I didn’t expect was to come 13th in the year out of 120. Those of you who read my final COABS blog post will know that in my year only 12 people got firsts.So here it is - the borderline for a first class degree is 70.00%.My final average – 69.875%Three years of work, and I missed the mark. Just.*****I look back upon the viva I had, I guess I was a borderline candidate and had the potential to be bumped up. One of the questions I was asked by the visiting examiner was regarding a question I had answered in my exam 5 weeks earlier. It was a question regarding drug targets in trypanosomes, we spoke briefly about Melarsoprol and what a nasty drug it is. Then he turned to me and asked ‘so, can you name any other trypanosomal proteins as drug targets?’*blank*I just couldn’t remember at all. It was so inc
It's going to be a long year 2007-07-02 07:28:00 The medicine machine closed in on me yet again as I came across next year’s timetable online:The entire first term is taken up by a FunMed module; I guess everyone has to start somewhere. There are a few obvious differences in comparison to my previous Biomed timetable. Firstly, the terms are longer, several weeks longer starting earlier and finishing later, with only 2 weeks off at Christmas and 2 weeks during Easter (before I would have probably had 3+4 weeks).I also never used to have any teaching during the summer term, which is all to change, with another 10 more weeks of learning before revision time. Then there is the biggest downer – ‘exam time’ at the end of the first term. I never had exams just before Christmas during Biomed! Finally I’ve had to say goodbye to my precious reading week (or ‘Biomed lecturers cannot be arsed with you’ week).Looking at this it becomes clear that I should enjoy the next 11 weeks of summer left before I start.Still, I can’t wait!
Vindicated 2007-07-02 07:16:00 I received my CRB check today so if there was ever any doubt:And all that for only £36!
Pretty dry for a white guy 2007-07-01 07:31:00 The thing that struck me most about the interview day was walking out of Whitechapel tube station, standing on the pavement opposite the Royal London Hospital and realising I stuck out like a sore thumb.I was wearing my black pin stripe suit, polished new shoes, smart shirt and Debenhams silk tie. My hair waxed to perfection, polished glasses and cleanly shaven. There I was, a skinny white guy in one of the most diverse places in London. It must have looked like I’d gotten on the wrong tube line or something, as I am fairly sure I was the only white guy on that street, and dressed up for it.Quickly I made my way to the medical college, acutely aware of my minority status. I knew it had been described as vibrant and cultural, but hadn’t expected it to this extent. In the interview I was asked how I felt about living in east London. I blurted out some miss-world style bollocks kicking myself as I said it, knowing it was making me look like a complete ponce yet unable to craft my sent Read more:Pretty
Empathy issues 2007-07-08 07:06:00 Mother: “Harry,” *exaggerated whine* “I’m ill…”Me: “Oh, well I guess you should take it easy”Mother: “Come here and feel my forehead, I’m burning up”*flaps her arms around in a vain attempt to cool her down*Me: “…no it’s okay, I believe you”Mother: “I’ve been sick already, actually sick”Me: “Right…”Mother: “Don’t you care? I wouldn’t want to be one of your patients if that’s how you’d treat them.”Me: “Fine then don’t be one of my patients”Mother: “How can you not care?!”Me: “Because…you are not really that ill”Mother: “You should be more caring, you wouldn’t expect that from someone who’s going to become a doctor”Me: “You wouldn’t expect a doctor to try and blow up Glasgow airport either, but there you go.”And what do you know; she’s walking around perfectly well and contently the next day. In all honesty I would have been a little more empathetic if it hadn’t been made into such a drama.
Riddle me this 2007-07-07 05:57:00 A man is dug up from a glacier, he has been perfectly preserved despite being frozen for many thousands of years. Then it dawns on you, this man is in fact, the first man - it is ‘Adam’. How can you tell this?Hint: It has nothing to do with fig leaves.***See comments for the answer! Read more:Riddle
Tribute to a photograph 2007-07-05 10:34:00 I was 6 yeas old when my class did a project on the ancient Egyptians. In my mind, it was the most interesting topic we ever studied and one I’ll always remember fondly from my childhood. One autumn afternoon we were told all about the Sahara desert, where it was, how big it was, and the animals that lived there. Later that day toothbrushes and a palette of red, orange and yellow paints were handed out. We used the brushes to flick the paints onto paper, building up layers of sand-like spray. As it dried the paper was mounted onto dark red cardboard creating a border around our sandscapes. All the children had to think of a sentence describing their deserts. These ranged wildly from ‘the desert has lots of sand’ to ‘deserts are sunny’.For my picture I decided to write ‘the desert is very, very hot, with very little water’. I thought nothing of it at the time and handed it to my teacher to be put on the classroom wall amongst the others. She then turned to me looking surpr Read more:photograph
On living in halls 2007-07-12 15:36:00 Having applied for first year accommodation in the halls of residences, I’ve begun reminiscing about the last time I lived in halls 3 years ago. Back then I was a young, impressionable and bright-eyed teenager. There were a couple of finalists also in the halls, who were noticeably less energetic. Granted, this was right at the beginning of the first year with many of us young 18yr olds living away from home for the first time.I have been considering how I will feel, being one of those older students. I don’t want to be kept up till 5am with a 9am start just because there are no parents around. I don’t do 3am fire alarms. Some nights I don’t feel like drinking, let alone getting wasted. Yet this from experience is likely to be the case. I am also a little concerned for the communal kitchen spaces. If it’s anything like the halls I knew, then anything in cupboards or fridges shall be up for grabs. I don’t do food sharing, and I don’t pay to feed others.I’m not entirely s
Open Day 2007-07-09 05:42:00 This may surprise some, but I am yet to actually look around the medical school I’m starting. Why the hell would someone accept a place on a 5yr course without even checking out the place? Let me explain…I didn’t expect to get called up for an interview there; it was in my opinion the most competitive school I applied to. So when I did receive an interview I was needless to say shocked, and overjoyed. At the interview day we were told that there were no tours as the students had exams on, that this wouldn’t be a problem as successful candidates would be invited to attend a post-offer open day a few weeks later.I was successful, yet the open day fell on the same day as one of my university finals. I e-mailed the school asking if it would be possible to have a look around some other time and they suggested that I come on one of the applicants open days.Time constraints meant I had to accept one of my offers as a firm, and not wanting to go all the way to Hull-York I chose Barts a
The Open Day 2007-07-14 12:41:00 Apologies to my small readership for the lack of posts this week. I have been busy in London meeting up with various people, and visiting various places one of which was the Barts medical school for an open day. As promised I have a slew of photos for your pleasure.10:55 – Arrive at Whitechapel tube station:Ah the Royal London hospital, sudden recollection of standing in front of it in my suit feeling sick to my stomach moments before my interview.10:57 – Make my way to the futuristic ‘Blizzard Building’ where the talks are held:It was very shiny and I could see my reflection from across the road. There is also a striking contrast to the very old medical buildings found around the area.11:00 – Talks take place in the ‘Perrin lecture theatre’:One thing that became clear as soon as I walked in was that Barts have a whole lot more money that Royal Holloway ever had. This mach-daddy of a lecture theatre totally trumps anything I’ve ever been in before. The dark green is str
Thinking way too much 2007-07-17 09:40:00 Since getting into med school, a lot of my friends and family have been asking “What sort of doctor are you going to be?” In short, I have absolutely no idea. Much of my work experience has been at a GPs surgery, and although it can be very interesting and quite an attractive career path I don’t think it’s the one for me.It’s a long time until I have to decide exactly what I want to do; hell I haven’t yet started medical school! The open day I went to last week had a talk on ‘a day in the life of a helicopter emergency doctor’ and of course by the end of it, everyone wanted to have that job.I’ve started reading a book on medical careers, if only to get a flavour for what the future could hold. Unfortunately it was published about 6 years ago and hence most of the information doesn’t seem to fit – in fact the whole career pathway is modelled on the pre-MMC system of PRHOs, SHOs and registrars.I’m not entirely sure on the accuracy of different levels of competitiv
Quick Round-up 2007-07-16 09:44:00 The good news:My ex-housemate (aka arsehole housemate to those of you who read my old blog) has finally sent my house deposit, and didn’t even try to scab any off of it! Not that there was anything damaged in the house, maybe I’m too cynical but I was sure I’d lose some.The bad news:That dumbass forgot to sign the cheque.*****More good news:I’m graduating tomorrow! Champagne, gowns, mindless cocktail chatter, the whole shebang.And the bad news:I have to get up at 6am to get there in time as the god damn university felt it appropriate to give us bio students the earliest graduation slot.Oh and it also means letting my mum loose in front of my peers. Read more:Quick
Overgraduate 2007-07-20 07:50:00 Harry BSc hons - Can you believe it?The ceremony was pretty awesome, and quite intimidating to walk into a room to have 500 people staring at you as you slowly process up and down to collect a cheap generic scroll (we don’t get our actual certificates till later this year). Also let the family loose in front of my friends, although on the most part they behaved themselves.I was pretty tired getting up so early for the morning ceremony, and getting home saw the consumption of several bottles of champagne. The rest of the day I frittered away, and I suffered from a heavy case of Sunday syndrome (where nothing seems to happen and all I want to do is go to bed, wake up and start a proper day) despite it being a Tuesday.Of course it wouldn’t be a proper milestone without my genius older brother passively trumping it:2002- I get my GCSEs (pretty average marks).- My brother (gets appointed head boy) and gets 6 A’s for his A-levels (some top in the country).2003- I get a mixed set of AS
The original wet weekend 2007-07-20 07:09:00 Ha-ha my little 14yr old brother just finished school for summer, walked home and got completely drenched by the rain. Oh how I’m glad I have nothing to do some days!More constructive post to follow…
Verbal Diarrhoea 2007-07-22 08:22:00 Something I’ve always hated in my education is this execu-speak lexicon utilised by ‘learning professionals’ (aka ‘teachers’) in this ‘new age of information and application’ (aka ‘today’). Words such as ‘active learners’, ‘study skills’, ‘learning spirals’ and ‘integrated curriculum’ I find particularly offensive, as their meaningless rhetoric is often used to cloud up the gap in said persons knowledge because either they have no communication skills and are thus unable to express themselves in a coherent manner, or because they actually have no idea what they are talking about.One of the draw backs of attending these new ‘problem-based learning’ schools are that they all seem to have adopted this contemporary style. I came across a particularly vulgar word Barts used to describe part of their course – ‘learning landscapes’. Right, that makes sense. My immediate reaction to this, other than the slightly acidic taste of my half digested break
Word for the wise 2007-07-24 10:52:00 Nothing screams 'paper-cut' quite like manually shredding a stack of the past 3 year’s bank, credit card, debit card, savings, mobile and utilities bills.My hands are RAW.
Accommodation Situation 2007-07-27 10:22:00 So it turns out I’m not going to be living in Mile End this year, but instead at Barbican. That’s shit-hot zone-one central London in my books. I was pretty pissed off to start with, as not only had I requested Mile End accommodation as my first, second and third choice, but I also had no idea where the hell Barbican was.So it turns out to be one of those mistakes I’m rather proud of. Whatsmore it’s cheaper than Mile End and I’ve read in forums that the halls themselves aint half bad. Combining my Google Earth skills with limited London knowledge and the friendly accommodation pack I was sent, I discovered that Tescos is a mere 50 metres away (though I’m a bit of a Sainsbury’s guy at heart) and medical school is walkable at around 30 minutes each way. I’m also informed that gym membership is included (see how long I’ll keep that up) and for Bart’s bonus points they threw in student possessions insurance. The only downside being there’s shared bathrooms which from Read more:Accommodation
So you want to be a doctor? 2007-07-29 17:29:00 After spending the past year hurtling round the UCAS carousel and thankfully getting off after one application cycle, I’ve learnt a few things about getting into medical school. Those of you who may have read my old blog will have an insight into what I went through, and what thousands of other people go through every year in their bid to gain a place at a medical school.I have decided that as a substantial portion of my readership are in the same position I was when I first started blogging, that I shall give a crash course in applying to med school, so buckle up.*****Why do you want to be a doctor?There is no single correct answer to this question, but it requires real consideration. Medicine is a life-long career; training is incredibly long and expensive to both you and the tax payer. Motivation is of huge importance for the duration of the course and beyond. It is physically and mentally demanding, as well as ethically challenging. You don’t want to waste your life.Think long
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