TSR Med Students' Society Part III

I used Basic Robbins and Underwood. Underwood was a little basic so I'd use the lecture handouts more than a textbook at your stage to be honest. The "Big" Robbins is better suited for Final MB pathology, though it might be overkill. Part II-wise, what have you enjoyed about Part IA and IB? I loved immunology, mostly because my supervisor and DoS was in that field and manage to bring immunology into most of our supervisions. About half my year ended up doing pathology. Mechanisms of Disease will hold you in good stead for clinical stuff and Final MB pathology, but it can be really hard work. I'd try and do a project-based one and attempt to get published. I sort of regret doing a dissertation, but it did mean I had a really chilled out year and could concentrate on extracurricular stuff like JCR work and running a couple of university societies.

FWIW, I don't buy the argument that early clinical contact makes you a good communicator. It's much more innate than that (at least to an extent), and we get a ****-tonne of clinical communication skills teaching in clinical school to supplement that. Our first three weeks of clinical school concentrated on getting the basic examinations down and learning how to take a history. I don't think many people were shy or unconfident about taking histories or examining people after their first placement. Three weeks versus however many weeks of less high-yield work as a junior student with little background knowledge? I know what I'd pick.

As for practical skills, it's not difficult to find lots of opportunity to suture/cannulate/venesect/catheterise as a clinical student and get pretty damned good at it. Hell, I've managed to scrub for over 40 cases and over 250 hours as a student (mostly as first-assistant) off my own back and in my own time and have been told numerous times by consultants that I'm at an SHO-level, surgical skills-wise. No, I didn't do a surgical SSC.

As for practical skills, it's not difficult to find lots of opportunity to suture/cannulate/venesect/catheterise as a clinical student and get pretty damned good at it. Hell, I've managed to scrub for over 40 cases and over 250 hours as a student (mostly as first-assistant) off my own back and in my own time and have been told numerous times by consultants that I'm at an SHO-level, surgical skills-wise. No, I didn't do a surgical SSC.

london graduates fair very average on post-graduate exam performance. ucl course is lectures but it is random lectures on things that are not necessarily going to help you much when you start clinics. it is very different and unrelated often. much of the time in clinics is spent on pointless activities. places like nottingham, newcastle they teach their students better and they perform better on post-graduate exams so they teach them well there. there has been research into medical school and percentage failiure rates at post-graduate exams and the results show remarkable differences. it is the way we get taught that needs some reformation to match that of the better medical schools.

edit: dont neg rep me. there are good reasons why the course has been changed so radically from now on. it shows they are listening to the students that have done it. they have taken out pathology exams, they are cutting the exams in fourth year from three sets to one, they are allowing student to retake finals. it certainly will be better for you guys in the future so be grateful !!

Agreed. We don't have surgical SSC's and we don't get theatre rotations til fourth year, but I've scrubbed in on over 80 cases and feel confident cannulating and taking blood despite the fact the medical school's attempt at teaching that was to give us three venflons and a plastic arm to play with. Maybe it's overkill, but I'd rather that than be the FY1 that can't stick a venflon in (and I have heard of people getting to FY1 having only done 3 or 4 in their entire time at med school). And at least I can now focus on 4th year with the aim being to pass written finals, instead of trying to juggle learning practical and theoretical stuff together.

Do you know of a good orthopaedics book? I'm struggling to get everything into some sort of system. In all honesty, I don't think it will be a career choice for me, but still keen to learn as much as possible - fractures come up quite often in life...I'm itching to get back to general medicine

It seems that those who do surgical SSCs open doors for themselves to get a whole lot more shadowing/experience, I regularly hear friends talking about surgery they now get to observe, it's like an extended SSC for as long as you're in contact with the surgeons and as long as they're willing to have you

A friend's comment following his plastic surgery SSC:



what the hell???

end of rant, they're bloody lucky, I guess if I was that keen to do that same I'd just have to somehow ask a doc at the royal london/barts..

You don't get more non-traditional than Peninsula.

I think some people are being a little harsh saying that they will definitely know more of everything than us PBL people by the time we all graduate. Assuming we spend a similar amount of time working, it seems harsh to suggest that we will come out knowing less in every area. Perhaps cutting out some of the science is wrong, but I'm sure we will graduate being better at different things, rather than those with a more science based pre-clinical just being better at everything.

Wait, what? Why does my name say forum assistant?

Minor glitch in one of the overnight upgrades. Should be back to normal by morning.

Cheers for the advice. Our DoS has told us strictly to stay away from MoD and is telling us all to try and get a project. I'm thinking Pathology atm but unsure of options. Thinking Cellular & Genetic pathology and virology (or microbiology).

Also out of interest, how did you get so much work in your own time? Is it really easy in clinical school to get lots of extra experience if you are keen?

Quick question (long story, but basically know someone who's a bit of a chronic porkie-teller and hypochrondriac and as sympathetic as we try to be, she's a bit... questionable, sometimes):


She says she went to her GP with some problems (purely physical, she had a sore throat) and claimed in the end that they started to dig deep and asked her about emotional problems and diagnosed her with bipolar disorder (cyclothymic disorder) and since then her mood swings have miraculously been magnified. She was convinced of it before, but now it's been diagnosed it's her excuse for everything and whilst we've been very sympathetic and supportive, she admitted recently that she sometimes subconsciously thinks she magnifies issues that she has to make her more interesting.

something someone said to me recently made me wonder about it, though, and I do think it's a very fair point:

She said she was diagnosed with cyclothymic disorder by her GP. However, another friend, having family experiences of the disorder, didn't think they could diagnose her properly just by going to a GP, and thought that being referred to a psychiatrist is usually the way they go about it. I've been looking online and she appears to be right, but I'm not sure whether it is possible to be diagnosed through a GP anyway.

I'm not asking to be a sort of "I am right, she's lying" sort of friend. Far from it. However, I think if she does have the disorder and it is what is causing her behaviour, she needs some sort of mood stabiliser as I don't think the anti-depressants are enough. So I think if she has been suspected of having it, she should go to a psychiatrist and be diagnosed properly, so they can give her the help she needs as sometimes I don't think she realises how people can react to her, and as her friends we do love her but for her sake she needs to get it sorted.