Great new blog. Definitely worth a look

IntriguingFacts.com

Let me know what you think, and please leave a few comments

Swansea Reserve Interview List

It may not sound like much but I have made it onto the interview reserve list for Swansea. This is the furthest I have got so far and is very encouraging.

I have decided to go about my preparation with the attitude that I will be offered an interview. This is not that I am being big headed in assuming I will definitely be asked for interview, but more due to the fact that if I am called for interview it will be at very short notice.

For part of my preparation I have invested in the book Medical School Interviews: A Practical Guide which can be found here. The book offers a vast array of possible questions that you may face during the interview. As well as sample answers, which are all well and good, the most invaluable part of this book is the guidance that it gives for each question. This ranges from suggested reading on a particular topic to area to avoid when answer certain questions.

Although I haven't read them myself a few other books to consider are:

How to Succeed at the Medical Interview

Succeeding at your Medical Interview

The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success

That's all for now folks, and good luck to everyone still waiting to hear about places.

Sad demise of humorous medical acronyms

Medicine has changed in many ways over the years. Some of these changes have been on a very grand scale while others more microscopic. One of these small changes has been the demise of using humorous acronyms in patient’s notes. Doctors used a jumble of jargon and acronym as code so as to disguise their true thoughts towards patients etc. In 2003 the Ethics & behaviour Journal complied a list of slang terms used by doctors in London and Cambridge. It will become obvious as you read them precisely why it was decided such practice was not particularly PC.

Betty Someone with diabetes
Bundy But unfortunately not dead yet
Cheerioma Patient with a highly aggressive, malignant cancer
CCL Chronic low life
CBT - Chronic burger/biscuit toxicity (obesity)
Coffin dodger Elderly patient
CUBE Completely unnecessary breast examination
Departure lounge Geriatric ward
Digging for worms Varicose vein surgery
DTS Danger to shipping – in reference to larger patients
FLK Funny looking kid
Freud squad Psychiatrists
Gassers Anaesthetists
GPO Good for parts only
Guessing tube Stethoscope
House red Blood
HIVI Husband is village idiot
HTK Higher than a kite
LOBNH Lights on but nobody home
Pest control Term applied to psychiatrists by casualty officers
PFO Pissed, fell over
PRATFO Patient reassured and told to f*$! Off
Removal men Department of care of elderly people
Rose cottage Mortuary
Rule of five If more than five orifices are obscured by plastic tubing, the patient’s condition is considered critical
Slashers General surgeons

Please let me know if you have any other favourites you would like adding to the list.

Money Worries for Prospective Med Students

So who else is worried that the current financial situation in the UK is going to make financing student life difficult? I certainly am.

I always knew that the financial implications would be tricky if I manage to secure a place. However, I have always told myself that I will deal with that hurdle once I meet it. Given the amount of doom and gloom that is being broadcast at the moment I am thinking that this was an unwise decision. A number of questions I have to ask myself are:

Will I be able to sell our house quickly enough when the time comes?
What will rising rental prices do to my budget?
Will I be able to secure enough funding from banks etc to cover living costs?
What will be the effect of rising living costs on projected budgets?

I am sure many of us are in the same boat and it is not a very pleasant boat to be in. In fact, I think this boat has a ruddy great hole in it!

Over-reaction? Maybe, but it is still an area that requires a lot of attention even for those of us lucky enough to be offered a place.

Comments welcome :)

Helpful Forum

To anyone who is looking for a site to gather information on not just universities but also the application process etc, you cant go wrong with New Media Medicine. Use the following link:

http://www.newmediamedicine.com/

The site also looks useful for current medical students as well as junior doctors

Why this Blog

I am a 30 year old graduate who has been attempting to get into Graduate Medical School for the past three years. Why? you might ask.

I come from a medical family, father is a doctor and mother is a nurse. However, school results were never even close to consider Medical School at that point even though it's an area that has always interested me.

So my life ambled on though university in Sheffield which was then followed my a number of jobs in IT but never managed to settle for very long. I was starting to feel that I was getting pigeon-holed into a job I didn't want to do. I have always had an interest in Sailing so when an opportunity arose to apply to take part in a Round-the-World Yacht race I jumped at the chance.

Preparations for the Global Challenge Yacht Race consumed my life for the next four years right up until October 2004 when we set sail. Unfortunately for my crew our medic, a very well qualified cardiac surgeon, pulled out of the race leaving us short of any medical cover. It was at this point that I jumped at the chance to be sent on the medics training course a few months before we set sail. At this point I don't think i realised the enormity of the task that I had just taken on. I would be responsible to the medical well being of 17 of my crew in some of the most dangerous seas on the planet. I therefore spent the next 10 months looking after my crew and thankfully there were no major injuries, although I did always have the support of on-shore medics as well as the medics from the other boats who were always within radio contact (apart from the time we decided to try to sail to Madagascar - but that's another story).

This was the spring board for my attempts at Medical school as my whole crew were very supportive and felt that the role of medic really suited me. I must also admit that I enjoyed the role, even if the responsibility was occasionally alot to bear.

So here I am now, third time lucky attempting to get onto one of a few Graduate Medical Programs. Unfortunately I have just heard that my GAMSAT results were not good enough for Derby or Peninsula but I have my hopes pinned on Swansea or Southampton which happen to be my favoured choices anyway.

Please come back often as I hope to add a post at least every week. These will include, the ongoing application saga, as well as hints and tips on how to get there. My first word of advice however is , your never too old. I am now 30 but since the government is determined to see us working until we are 70 its never too late to change your career.