[frogs r everywhere]

(Original post by SaintSoldier)
Just finished my work experience in Cardiology

'Twas pretty cool

Amongst other things, I got to shadow an F1 who graduated from Oxford

Cool! I just had mine at a radiology deparment. Wasn't very glamarous. witnessing men being diagnosed with orchitis (swelling of the testicles) using ultrasound was not how I imagined medicine, but gave me a realistic view which was good!

[llessur123]

Jesus, everyone is so enthusiastic. It makes me nervous.

So far I've done 6 weeks in acute care of elderly, shadowed a consultant cardiologist, sat in on a diabetes clinic, shadowed a consultant obstetrician and sat in for a day in surgical wards yet I still feel like I'm lacking. I need some sporting clubs or something but it seems so irrelevant. Also have my UKCAT but it's painfully boring to practice.

I can't wait till the application process is over tbh. I'm boredddd of this now.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[SaintSoldier]

(Original post by HarryMWilliams)
What did you get up to?

Loadssss

I got to observe what goes on in the Cardiac Cath Lab, which meant I had to ditch my formal clothes and get into some scrubs! I felt like such a boss walking around the hospital in them

I sat in with a consultant in a few of his clinics, and I spent a lot of time on the wards with the junior doctors

(Original post by frogs r everywhere)
Cool! I just had mine at a radiology deparment. Wasn't very glamarous. witnessing men being diagnosed with orchitis (swelling of the testicles) using ultrasound was not how I imagined medicine, but gave me a realistic view which was good!

The only negative thing I saw in Cardiology was that it is quite repetitive. Everyone basically has the same few conditions, all of which have similar symptoms.

(Original post by llessur123)
Jesus, everyone is so enthusiastic. It makes me nervous.

So far I've done 6 weeks in acute care of elderly, shadowed a consultant cardiologist, sat in on a diabetes clinic, shadowed a consultant obstetrician and sat in for a day in surgical wards yet I still feel like I'm lacking. I need some sporting clubs or something but it seems so irrelevant. Also have my UKCAT but it's painfully boring to practice.

You've definitely done more than enough, you've got nothing to worry about

(I know everyone says that, but I'm being honest here)

Well I wouldn't advise joining a sports club just for the sake of your application, if that's what you mean. It's one of those things that you need to have done for a few years for it to have an impact on medical admissions tutors.

UKCAT = ****

I can't wait till the application process is over tbh. I'm boredddd of this now.

Same, although it's not because I'm "bored" of it. It's more because I just want to know whether I'm going to get in or not.

[HarryMWilliams]

(Original post by SaintSoldier)
x

Good to hear you got up to lots, thats what really matters!

I think I'm at the point where I want to get the UKCAT out of the way, fail various modules at AS and then just attack Year 13. I hate the lull over the summer holidays, I just can't relax in any way shape or form!

[Pride]

(Original post by HarryMWilliams)
It's not that you don't add the scores to your application. Granted by the time you get a BMAT score it will be too late but you can if you wanted add your UKCAT score to your UCAS application. Pointlessly in my opinion because as you say the universities have them sent, but you can add them.

well if you're going to be pedantic yes, you can...

[Gcayte]

(Original post by HarryMWilliams)
G'luck!

Thankyou! Ill post on here how it goes

(Original post by Anna-Jack-Hope)
Good luck!!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my ST25i

Thanks! Congrats on your amazing score! Im in awe!

[Richyp22]

(Original post by SaintSoldier)
Loadssss

I got to observe what goes on in the Cardiac Cath Lab, which meant I had to ditch my formal clothes and get into some scrubs! I felt like such a boss walking around the hospital in them

.

Haha when i was in hospital shadowing a rhemotologist he made me were scrubs and carry his sethoscope(Or whatever you call it) while walking inbetween traveling to patients. Everyone though i was a doctor!!

[llessur123]

(Original post by SaintSoldier)
You've definitely done more than enough, you've got nothing to worry about

(I know everyone says that, but I'm being honest here)

Well I wouldn't advise joining a sports club just for the sake of your application, if that's what you mean. It's one of those things that you need to have done for a few years for it to have an impact on medical admissions tutors.

UKCAT = SH*T

Same, although it's not because I'm "bored" of it. It's more because I just want to know whether I'm going to get in or not.

It just feels like I have all the same sort of thing so there is a risk I'm just going to end up writing a list on my personal statement! I do archery(lol) so maybe I could join a society and just throw it in there for a bit of variety? Who knows, I guessed that it couldn't hurt.

I don't know really, I lost my enthusiasm after I did my exams. I don't think I did great, purely down to laziness and underestimating how long I would need to revise. So if I don't get the predicted grades I'll have to take a gap year and I feel like that is quite likely so I don't like thinking about it

[frogs r everywhere]

(Original post by SaintSoldier)

I got to observe what goes on in the Cardiac Cath Lab, which meant I had to ditch my formal clothes and get into some scrubs! I felt like such a boss walking around the hospital in them

I know exactly what you mean my fellow doctor.

[AishaTara]

(Original post by Anna-Jack-Hope)
Hi all...bit of a mixed bag...

VR 900
QR 750
AR 600
DA 680

So yeah....kinda buggered up abstract a bit there!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my ST25i

VR 900? I swear thats the highest and at the nigh of impossible to get? but very well done just wondering how do u start preparing? I dont know how or where to start

[AspiringGenius]

I love wearing scrubs. I feel like a doctor

But through my Nuffield Bursary programme I have been able to shadow two consultants who see high risk patients before they have surgery so they can measure their risk, quantified as "preoperative risk of dying within 30 days of surgery". They do this by questioning the patients lifestyle, observing their health, and, if possible or necessary, measuring their fitness as a %of predicted peak Oxygen consumption when cycling on the excercise bike.

What I find most interesting is the drive away from paternalistic medicine. Although the risk can often be quite high, the consultant doesn't make the decision about whether the oaten had the surgery or not. The consultant gives information about their risk, and also probes the patients motives about surgery to perhaps make sure they have a realistic view of what their operation will achieve. The idea though, is that while the doctor understands the patients pain, they don't experience it, and it is the patients responsibility to weigh up whether an operation that is potentially life threatening is really going to improve their quality of life and if their quality of life is so diminished by their ailment, is surgery the only answer.

It's really interesting seeing a range of health problems, from knee and hip replacements to colorectal surgery and AAA repair.

Hope everyones summer is going well. I have to catch a train everyday that runs through a dew beach destinations. At the end of the day, I am often the only one dressed up in smart attire on a train full of beach goers. Such is life anyone else feel like this?

[Pride]

(Original post by AspiringGenius)
I love wearing scrubs. I feel like a doctor

But through my Nuffield Bursary programme I have been able to shadow two consultants who see high risk patients before they have surgery so they can measure their risk, quantified as "preoperative risk of dying within 30 days of surgery". They do this by questioning the patients lifestyle, observing their health, and, if possible or necessary, measuring their fitness as a %of predicted peak Oxygen consumption when cycling on the excercise bike.

What I find most interesting is the drive away from paternalistic medicine. Although the risk can often be quite high, the consultant doesn't make the decision about whether the oaten had the surgery or not. The consultant gives information about their risk, and also probes the patients motives about surgery to perhaps make sure they have a realistic view of what their operation will achieve. The idea though, is that while the doctor understands the patients pain, they don't experience it, and it is the patients responsibility to weigh up whether an operation that is potentially life threatening is really going to improve their quality of life and if their quality of life is so diminished by their ailment, is surgery the only answer.

It's really interesting seeing a range of health problems, from knee and hip replacements to colorectal surgery and AAA repair.

Hope everyones summer is going well. I have to catch a train everyday that runs through a dew beach destinations. At the end of the day, I am often the only one dressed up in smart attire on a train full of beach goers. Such is life anyone else feel like this?

this is true, but remember the doctor does still make decisions, that's why they learn about ethics. The thing is, they have to judge whether they feel the patient is competent enough to weigh up their options and make valid decisions. Age, degree of impairment from an illness, level of influence from others, maturity, so many things influence whether the patient is competent enough. Then when it's decided, normally the doctor either chooses in the best interest of the patient (or perhaps family members depending on the situation and the doctors opinions), or informs the patient of the information he/she needs to make valid choices.

[Anna-Jack-Hope]

(Original post by AishaTara)
VR 900? I swear thats the highest and at the nigh of impossible to get? but very well done just wondering how do u start preparing? I dont know how or where to start

Yeah, it is, and to be really annoying that was the section I found easiest and had loads of time left over, reading has always been a strong point of mine! Sorry

Prep wise I did 600q book, getintomedicine and the practice tests on the UKCAT website, I started by doing the short one to get a feel for it, then did loads of practice to work on technique, then did the two full mocks timed and the one in the 600q book

Good luck!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my ST25i

[Pride]

(Original post by AishaTara)
VR 900? I swear thats the highest and at the nigh of impossible to get? but very well done just wondering how do u start preparing? I dont know how or where to start

it's not impossible, you just don't make any mistakes.

It's actually quite common for Decision Analysis too, because when you're good at it, you make very few mistakes.

[AspiringGenius]

(Original post by Pride)
this is true, but remember the doctor does still make decisions, that's why they learn about ethics. The thing is, they have to judge whether they feel the patient is competent enough to weigh up their options and make valid decisions. Age, degree of impairment from an illness, level of influence from others, maturity, so many things influence whether the patient is competent enough. Then when it's decided, normally the doctor either chooses in the best interest of the patient (or perhaps family members depending on the situation and the doctors opinions), or informs the patient of the information he/she needs to make valid choices.

I was talking about the majority of patients who have the mental capacity to take in information and make an informed decision. For example, a high risk patient who is immobile may decide to not have a knee replacement operation if they are told that knee replacements are normally utilised for pain relief and increased mobility isn't certain or anything more than a bonus.

Of course it's different from patients who struggle to make informed decision, such as those with progressed dementia or severe learning difficulties.

This is just one area of healthcare, and the doctors role here is different from other places in the hospital- if they all had the same role then there wouldn't be so many types of specialist training. This case, I feel, is a really good example of the movement away from paternalism which is a form of ethics in itself. When I've shadowed doctors working in different areas such as mental health, it's a different story.

[Boom533]

(Original post by Gcayte)
Just booked my UKCAT for the 31st August, eeekk!

Same here! D:

Going through 600Q book now, getting nervous even thinking about it lol :P
worst case scenario, guess everything and hope for the best

[Lightingspeed]

Hi, does anyone think using the percentage from short test to get your score is a good indicator of current ability? I used this equation 6X + 300 where X is percentage. Does it reflect any accurate progress? Thanks

[OJC]

Hi guys, just wondering what kind of hobbies you've written (or intend to) in your personal statement because as much as I have volunteer work, i'm not musical or sporty in anyway! I used to compete and take part in handball competitions but that was in year 8 so I don't know if that's worth mentioning...

[TaraBelle]

(Original post by OJC)
Hi guys, just wondering what kind of hobbies you've written (or intend to) in your personal statement because as much as I have volunteer work, i'm not musical or sporty in anyway! I used to compete and take part in handball competitions but that was in year 8 so I don't know if that's worth mentioning...

I have no music or sport either, so good to find someone else the same! I'm gonna talk about school council and part time job as my extras I think

[Occams Chainsaw]

Hey guys