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Why do YOU want to do Medicine?

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Reply 20
Original post by Chief Wiggum
I've seen you make a couple of posts where you give advice that you think will "impress the admissions tutors", but I don't really think it's good advice.

Indeed. I think that particular advice would go over woefully in an interview. 'Oh, so you don't think we'd have thought to put procedures in place to minimise mistakes? You think you, a medical school applicant, might well be the one to come in and sort it all out for us? You didn't think to read any further into the matter than some Daily Mail articles?'. Ridiculous.
Original post by Ronove
Indeed. I think that particular advice would go over woefully in an interview. 'Oh, so you don't think we'd have thought to put procedures in place to minimise mistakes? You think you, a medical school applicant, might well be the one to come in and sort it all out for us? You didn't think to read any further into the matter than some Daily Mail articles?'. Ridiculous.


Original post by Chief Wiggum
I've seen you make a couple of posts where you give advice that you think will "impress the admissions tutors", but I don't really think it's good advice.


I think that user goes about her apparent anti-doctor agenda in a very confrontational and counter-productive way.

I also think that its an important issue though, and that a candidate who demonstrated actual knowledge of things like never events, how mistakes are made and how we try to prevent them would be pretty impressive. I guess its whether that's achievable for someone pre-uni though.
Reply 22
Original post by nexttime
I think that user goes about her apparent anti-doctor agenda in a very confrontational and counter-productive way.

I also think that its an important issue though, and that a candidate who demonstrated actual knowledge of things like never events, how mistakes are made and how we try to prevent them would be pretty impressive. I guess its whether that's achievable for someone pre-uni though.

It could be great if the applicant was particularly interested in the subject and it somehow came up (after being asked about errors directly, or perhaps if a question came up like 'what have you found interesting on the subject of ethics in Medicine', at a stretch?). I really struggle to see how it could be put over in a way that wouldn't be taken wrong if it didn't come up (or if mentioned in a PS), though. I'd have thought it'd be taken to show ignorance/arrogance (if discussed in a 'I want to come in and fix this outrageous problem' sense) or perhaps as a sign of misplaced interest (eg 'perhaps the applicant would be more interested in Economics and/or Risk Management and such if they're really that focused on this particular thing').
Original post by nexttime
My take is a little different. Yes a lot of doctoring is paperwork and some of it makes **** all sense but most is actually pretty important; when you're trying to co-ordinate so many different specialists you need to have good communication. You save far more lives signing off on some anti-clot medication than you do performing CPR or something. Its a part of 'saving lives'.

But that should perhaps tell you that what we mean by 'saving lives' is a little different to the public's perception. Its rare that you get a person coming in who needs instantaneous life-saving treatment and then they get completely better and live many years. The vast majority of cases are confused demented old people who have multiple things wrong with them. You might 'save' them, but actually they'll be back next month with the same thing - its life extension not 'saving', and their quality of life drops with every passing year. For many others you fix them up a little and then realise their current living situation is that they're incontinent and living in their own excrement, haven't showered in months and are severely malnourished as they can't use the kitchen any more, yet somehow they're insisting on going home and not to a care home/sheltered facility. If they can be convinced organising that can take months. The hospital gets clogged up with dozens of these cases then can't take new actually sick patients from A&E and ambulances end up queued outside the hospital and you get stories like this. Maybe in the meantime the patient picks up a pneumonia or rolls out of bed and breaks a hip and dies because of their general frailty, and the family kick off at you as they think its your fault. Or then you've got your crazy patients who come into A&E every 3 days with nothing wrong with them at all but you have no choice but to treat each presentation as if it might be real.

And then you have to remember that in a modern setup, whilst it may feel like you're alone and over-worked, actually there are a lot of people looking over your shoulder: nurses, seniors, the daily ward round... what you actually did would have been done by someone else in the vast majority of cases. Especially if you consider that if you hadn't got into med school, someone else would have taken your place. Are you definitely doing a better job than whoever they would have been? I don't think you can ever claim you extended someone's life until you can say that you caught something someone else in your position, nor anyone else in the team, would not have caught.

Its an important job. Even the paperwork. However, you rarely 'save' lives. Your one part of a machine that works to slightly extend them.


+1 i've reached my limit today but this is exactly the way I see things as. Most of your inpatients have multiple comorbidities. There are a few ways doctors do save lives like (identifying an appendicitis case etc), but then again if you weren't a doctor someone else would be and they would probably do just as good a job as you.
Yay, we got through the first page without at least one neckbeard posting that Dr. Cox quote.
monies like every other person obviously
Original post by ja1

Could you elaborate? Particularly on the second part


Medicine is all about working as a team.
In our healthcare system it is very rare for a doctor to be able to say "I saved this patient's life", as any individual patient has many doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals looking after them.
Would i be considered for Medicine?

This is my current profile:

GCSE: 8A's, 3A*'s, 1Dist*

AS-Level: Maths: A, Chemistry: A, Physics: B, Further Maths:/, Biology:/

A2-Level: Maths: B, Chemistry:/, Physics:/, Further Maths:/

BTEC's: A2-Level: Dist*



":/" signifies i'm taking the modules in Year13



Predicted Grades:

Teachers have hinted at one of these combinations:

Chemistry A2: A/A*

Maths A2 after retakes: A/A*

Further Maths A2: B/A

Physics A2: A

Biology AS: a



Work Experience:

1 Year at Nursing Home

2 Days clinical skills sessions

1 day pain clinic

1 day pre-op ward

2 days Mental Health nursing



planned:

1 week Mental Health Nursing

1 week GP's



UKCAT: unknown, test to be taken on 18th Sept 2014





Any advice?

Thank you


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Mutleybm1996
Would i be considered for Medicine?

This is my current profile:

GCSE: 8A's, 3A*'s, 1Dist*

AS-Level: Maths: A, Chemistry: A, Physics: B, Further Maths:/, Biology:/

A2-Level: Maths: B, Chemistry:/, Physics:/, Further Maths:/

BTEC's: A2-Level: Dist*



":/" signifies i'm taking the modules in Year13



Predicted Grades:

Teachers have hinted at one of these combinations:

Chemistry A2: A/A*

Maths A2 after retakes: A/A*

Further Maths A2: B/A

Physics A2: A

Biology AS: a



Work Experience:

1 Year at Nursing Home

2 Days clinical skills sessions

1 day pain clinic

1 day pre-op ward

2 days Mental Health nursing



planned:

1 week Mental Health Nursing

1 week GP's



UKCAT: unknown, test to be taken on 18th Sept 2014





Any advice?

Thank you


Posted from TSR Mobile


There are plenty of the " Am I good enough for medicine?" threads and this isn't one of them. Please find the correct threads to post in. On a side note, yes you would be considered by some medical schools.

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