How much?? chemistry in Medicine (2 Viewers)

[+Po1ntDeXt3r+]

Sounds intriguing, really does.

May I put a few questions forward? My apologies for hijacking the tread.

1. Is there much lab work during the first year? For example viewing different specimens of skin disease (strange example, i know), do you use microscopes much?

2. Do you cover the history of medicine in great depth?

3. How much time is dedicated to hospital experience during the first year?

4. During the later years of your study is there anything you wish you paid more attention to, and were there times where you thought this is way too complex for me to comprehend, or too much for me to tolerate? What is it? And what would you do to better prepare for it?... can be a situation

non-UNSW perspective

1/ we had some not much... *rolls eyes..* gram negative bacilli! lol 3rd yr had dissection as an elective option..

2/ yes and no in various lectures usually.. best off reading NEJM there are history articles now and then

3/ 1-2 hrs a week.. minimal clinical interaction.. just for figuring out whos the sociopaths

4/ ummmm at my stage.. i think there is... i still have trouble with neurology... like the terminology/eponymous names... gets me.. e.g wernicke's vs brocas... is eqv to receptive vs expressive aphasias.. i cant remember which is which so i go WR.. BE lol it works.. i dun get confused even thought i know the symptoms, the clinical picture and the treatments... simple little things.. it takes the shine off ones performance

I find that its mostly about working to be a good diagnostician.. able to learn things lik suturing quickly after seeing it once or twice.. and answering correctly.. knowing both brand names and generics for meds... laymans and technical terms for diseases.. and above all knowing confidently how to reassure ur patient to the correct standards..."oh it just a malignancy you will be great..."- oh no they wont

explaining the risk of progress to prostate cancer/death if the PSA is less than 10 or 5 or 1..

personally I now realise the level that your patients are the final judge of your management ... the statistics are guides and even if the p value < 0.05.. inevitablely one of your patients will always fall in that 5% group.. and suffer from something different

P.S.. KT is the super awesome queen of the trolls.. and we so love her

 

[katie tully]

 

[Bacilli]

So given your experience with different areas of medicine, what specialty do you think you will pursue?

Last question, have you guys experienced first hand notifying a family that their relative has died? Curious to know when they push you to do that... if yes, I solute. Oh, and classmates dropn out, how often and is there a repetitive reason?

Thanks.

 

[KFunk]

So given your experience with different areas of medicine, what specialty do you think you will pursue?

Last question, have you guys experienced first hand notifying a family that their relative has died? Curious to know when they push you to do that... if yes, I solute. Oh, and classmates dropn out, how often and is there a repetitive reason?

Thanks.

I'm not sure whether that was an open or a directed question (it is certainly more relevant to Pointy given where he is at). I have managed to eliminate a number of things that I don't see myself doing: surgery, pathology, radiology, GP, O&G. Essentially I'm most attracted to psychiatry, internal medicine and paediatrics. I really need more exposure to different areas (psych in particular) before I can state my preference with any degree of certainty.

On your second question: from what I have heard it is unusual for a medical student to provide that kind of information. Partly because the medical student may not be well placed to field questions that family might have regarding management and the manner of death. Ideally the managing doctor should inform family members of a patient's death, though it can certainly fall to the reg or intern. Point may be able to provide some idea about when such 'initiation' tends to take place.

Those I am familiar with who dropped out either (1) couldn't keep up with the work load and/or time requirements, (2) had difficult personal circumstances or (3) said 'fuck this, I have more important dreams to follow' (or, alternatively, 'fuck this, med sucks').

 

[+Po1ntDeXt3r+]

So given your experience with different areas of medicine, what specialty do you think you will pursue?

Last question, have you guys experienced first hand notifying a family that their relative has died? Curious to know when they push you to do that... if yes, I solute. Oh, and classmates dropn out, how often and is there a repetitive reason?

Thanks.

physicianship, GP or pathology..

they start small
its "quit drinking/quit smoking.." (med school)
"you have to take this medication for the rest of your life" (medschool/intern)
then
"you have cancer" (intern/reg)
then
"im sorry but they have died" (reg/consultant)

its not into the deep end.. but thats a rough guide.. you slowly ruin someones life one part at a time..

it gets harder but you get more experienced

the dropout reason is usually .. "i hate this", "i should have studied more" and "god the med school is a cunt"... there are others...

 

[nottellingu]

You might have to spend some time studying for gamsat which would mean that ud need to know chemistry for one of the sections.

Why dont u try doing umat this year and transfer if u can ?

 

[katie tully]

I'm in my 4th year of uni, bit late for UMAT

 

[piitb]

another dreamer

 

[nottellingu]

I'm in my 4th year of uni, bit late for UMAT

I dont think it is. You would be a non-standard applicant and grads can apply to undergrad medicine it would just mean u spend more time in uni.

 

[Wooz]

I dont think it is. You would be a non-standard applicant and grads can apply to undergrad medicine it would just mean u spend more time in uni.

Yeah, we've got heaps of mature students including 40 year old mum's etc doing med.

 

[Lukybear]

^^ Really?? How old is oldest med student out there? Just curious to know.

 

[+Po1ntDeXt3r+]

oldest i have ever heard of was about 90 yrs of age..