I'm a medical student, AMA

I'm writing a blog post atm about what it's like to study medicine - would love to answer main stream questions on the blog post for the benefit of others as well as other questions here :smile:

Reply 1

Etomidate

Feel free to contribute to the many threads that already exist in this subforum.

Reply 2

rehmanator

Original post by TeenToDoctor

I'm writing a blog post atm about what it's like to study medicine - would love to answer main stream questions on the blog post for the benefit of others as well as other questions here :smile:

do you get any free time?

Reply 3

Milzime

where do you study / what made you want to study there?

Reply 4

alanaro

Did you sit the UKCAT, and if so what score did you get in each sub-section?
Which medical school are you at?
If you were to study a different degree, what would it be?

Reply 5

Helenia

What do you know that the rest of the medical students and junior doctors on this forum don't know?

Reply 6

TeenToDoctor

Original post by Helenia

What do you know that the rest of the medical students and junior doctors on this forum don't know?

I'm Jon Snow - I know nothing.

Haha, on a serious note I'm not claiming to be a medicine guru - when I was applying for medicine I didn't have anyone in the family/friend circle to answer my questions and the internet was one of my main sources of information (a lot of that information came from yourself actually so thank you!). It's nice to help hopeful medics and I personally found every bit of advice I received useful so I'd like to do the same for others. :smile:

Reply 7

TeenToDoctor

Original post by rehmanator

do you get any free time?

I've only finished first year so far so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but yes of course! That's not to say it isn't busy and I can see the difference when my friends studying other subjects have an 8 hour week whereas I'm often in medical school from 9-5 or 9-6 on a daily basis. Regardless, it's still fun so no regrets :smile:

Reply 8

username2752874

Original post by TeenToDoctor

Is money the main incentive for you being a doctor?

Reply 9

drinktheoceans

What did you find was the hardest part of applying to medicine?

Also, what is the step up from A Levels to a Medicine course like within the first year?

Reply 10

Hippysnake

How would you deal with this case I saw a few weeks ago?
A 38 year old lady presents to A&E with PV Bleeding of 1 hour duration. She has no co-morbidities, is not on any medication and has no allergies. After taking a brief history you realise that this PV Bleeding was caused by her husband inserting his clenched fist into her vagina and then thrusting rapidly.

On examination she is alert and comfortable. She's tachycardic at 112bpm. Her CR is 3s and she's maintaining her BP at 110/68. Her chest is clear and there is a soft systolic murmur over the aortic area with no carotid radiation. No other findings on general examination.

On PV examination, you see a torrential gushing of bright red blood from the vagina. It is practically impossible to see where it is coming from and no amount of gauze can stem the flow momentarily long enough for you to determine the source. The blood has soaked through her pad, the sheets on the bed and is now on the floor, ceiling, all the walls and has covered both the nurses that were standing at the far end of the patient.The gynae reg is at home, and there's a gap in the gynae SHO rota so the gen surg SHO is covering everything, but he's in theatre assisting with an emergency lapartomy.

Briefly outline your management at this stage.

Reply 11

TeenToDoctor

Original post by drinktheoceans

What did you find was the hardest part of applying to medicine?

Also, what is the step up from A Levels to a Medicine course like within the first year?

Ooo interesting question.

1. Probably the wait. It's hard, especially when your friends have applied later than you and gotten their offers far earlier than you.

2. This may vary from person to person - depends on how quickly you learn etc but I'd say the number of concepts you'd cover in 2 weeks of A2 biology is roughly a day or two days worth of lectures. It's pretty intense and imo the jump is bigger than the jump between GCSE and AS but of course that's not to say it isn't doable (and enjoyable in a really weird way lol)

Reply 12

X_alwayssmiley

Medical school is stressful, my question is, how challenging did you find the exams and did it differ between students ? There's no one type of medical student, but in your opinion, what's the most important characteristic to being a good one and ultimately a good doctor?

Reply 13

Helenia

Original post by TeenToDoctor

Indeed - that's what all the many other threads in this forum are doing - feel free to get stuck in and help out answering questions!

But for those of us who've been around a while, the newbies coming in and doing a self-centred AMA without engaging with the forum are a little...tedious.