By the end of about week 5 in first year I’m pretty sure most people can no longer be bothered giving feedback, despite the constant emails on the subject. Personally I think I’ve come up with a much better way to rate things we’re timetabled to attend. Something along the lines of:

Was <whatever> more useful than:

1. Spending the time reading about the topic
2. Spending the same amount of time at the gym
3. Spending that valuable time in bed. Asleep. (Or whatever.)

The very good classes are the ones better than spending the time reading about the content. Classes which involve something practical almost certainly are better than reading it from a book – they’d probably score highly here. Lectures probably have to do a little bit more in order to get the top mark. The vast majority that I’ve experienced do not quite equate to me reading it from a book. Thankfully PBL has saved me from having these lectures as my principle method from which to learn. (Take home message – PBL = good).

Going to the gym is fairly productive, certainly for most people. There are a few who would rather sit in any lecture than go to the gym but we’ll consider them the minority. I could probably suggest those people need to go to the gym more, but that’s a bit nasty. A lecture which is better than going to the gym (but not quite as good as reading the topic) is doing not bad. Could be improved but that’s ok. That’s what feedback is for, yeah? The majority of lectures (and the non-practical classes) probably sit somewhere in here. Does the feedback have an effect? Who knows.

A class which is not quite as useful as spending the time in the gym is struggling a bit. This is when students start falling asleep.

This brings us on to the worst of all classes – the ones where you could be sleeping. And, considering the quality of the lecture, you’d be better doing so. There are always going to be the odd few who like ever lecture. They’re also the minority. Probably the minority in the minority from earlier. A sad number of classes fall in here. Can’t we make them better, please?

I’m sure it’s possible. I’m slowly becoming more interested in medical education perhaps because (I think) I can spot the problems or, perhaps because I think things could usually be better. There are many ways things could be improved, I’ll try to see if I can summarise the more obvious ones in a later post.

Out of interest though, is this just Glasgow? Do other students (medical or non) suffer terrible lectures?

And isn’t that a more useful type of feedback? Instead of being given a mark out of 5, wouldn’t you rather know students would rather be asleep than at that class? Hmm, frustration!

Before then I have to try and learn as much as I possibly can (and hope I don’t miss anything that comes up). The problem I’m finding is the lack of exam this year has left me a bit aimless. I certainly don’t enjoy exams, but they do make you learn. I have many ideas about how I would change the course set up, but that’s another post.

My current block placement is in general practice. Last year I really liked my attached GP placement – it was small and friendly. We got specific teaching and there was lots of time to discuss things. Ok, so I only went there every 2 weeks but this year I simply feel much more of a burden on the practice. So much so, my timetable is fairly laughable. This Wednesday, for example, I’ve been told to go to reception in the afternoon. Sigh.

This shouldn’t be taken as offensive to receptionists (who, I’m sure, are frequent readers!) but I simply don’t think I’m really going to get much out of it. My computer skills are, I believe, fairly good and I don’t think they want to spend time teaching me their system just so I can answer some phones.

All in all I’m finding life as a student pretty annoying at the moment. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know anywhere near enough to be “out in the wide world” but I often wonder whether I’d be feeling the same at different hospitals, medical schools or even in a different country. By far the most enjoyable part of my year so far was the student selected component (SSC) I did in neonatal medicine. I liked the subject, sure, but I also felt like part of the team.

Is this important though? Can I honestly say I learned more there than I have done elsewhere? Difficult to tell.

The flip side to this is how will I feel when I’m actually not a student any more? At the moment I think (and hope) i’ll enjoy it but time will tell. In the middle of all of this, thinking about jobs is something I feel I should be doing. Certainly it’s still early but I have many things to consider.

Firstly, do I want to think about an academic foundation post? This is a tough one. It may help balance the fact I didn’t intercalate and I certainly have an interest in teaching and (clinical!) research. But is this post necessary? Will it help? More importantly, do I stand a chance? A great proportion of people in my year have a intercalated (or other) degree. They will surely be more preferentially linked to one of these jobs. Another concern is the actual rotations themselves. Should I pick an alternative I’m more likely to end up doing things in the foundations years that are more towards what I currently would like to specialise in. This is something I think is now very important, since we don’t have a lot of time to search around lots of specialities.

However, academic foundation posts don’t recruit through the standard method. I’ll need to decide before the summer whether this is something I want to do or not.

Llots to consider. Another worry niggling away at me is whether I’ll be able to stay in Scotland at all (assuming I apply for a traditional programme). If so, where abouts? If not, where else? My current academic standing isn’t great and the talk about changing the system could be either good or bad. Ideally I want to be in the West of Scotland and certainly Scotland as a foundation school was under subscribed this year. Lets hope it stays the same!

Got a few other things I want to write about – UKCAT for one and then something geeky. Just need to find the time!

Pocket Prescriber 2010

I kind of stumbled across this little book recently. So far, I quite like it. If you use the BNF regularly, you can probably get a bit of help out of this little gem. It aims to give the reader a quick snapshot of what you actually need to know about a drug.

Unlike with the BNF where you need to find the drug then find the drug’s parent to read about cautions. Then you need to search through an appendix or two to find the possible interactions. This book takes the commonly prescribed drugs (I haven’t found any particular omission yet, common and not so much) and tells you everything all at once. This includes what the drug does, when to use it, when not to use it, what to be careful of, what to tell the patient and how much to prescribe. For certain drugs there is a fairly noticeable extra bit where something important needs mentioning. This continues in a helpful A-Z fashion for 160 or so pages.

Following this is a useful chapter on the rationale behind selecting certain drugs. Covering topics from antibiotics to antidepressants. There is the potential for a lot of time saved here. Ok, so it’s never going to match ever local policy but you won’t find it in the BNF at all! Plus, compared to our local Therapeutics manual – this thing doesn’t need a backpack to carry it.

With still a few more sections to go, the next is on areas often considered difficult to prescribe. Insulin, anticoagulants and thrombolytics make up the majority of this section. All the advice is evidence based and articles are fully referenced for the background reading if required.

Almost there, but not quite. Next is an appropriately named Miscellaneous chapter covering everything from common side effects to the use of intravenous fluids. Also sneaked into the end of that chapter is a discussion on the all important CYP450. This is an easily accessible version of important pharmacology which otherwise would probably require a textbook. Useful for the (heh) quiet times when a bit of revision can be squashed in.

Better still though is the final chapter – medical emergencies. The focus is on the immediate recognition and management. I would hate the thought someone would quickly be consulting this text in such a situation but it no doubt happens. Personally I aim to learn this chapter before I graduate…we’ll see how that goes. Just in case though, the front and back inside covers fold out to reveal ALS algorithms as well as the NICE guidelines for TIA and stroke.

My only real complaint about this book would be the extreme use of abbreviations. I appreciate they’ve tried to keep the text small – successfully, it’s tiny! – but there were at least a few that threw me for a minute. Nevertheless, it’s a great book – although probably more so for junior doctors than students. However, if you know anyone studying for finals, Christmas present?

So what’s been happening?

I’ve finished neonatal medicine, now switched completely to old-age psychiatry. As I will frequently mention I have no aspirations as a future psychiatrist. So this should be a bit of a nightmare for me. Thankfully it’s not quite that bad. Compared to my last block I’ve got a lot more free time to spend (mainly sleeping). Unlike the last block I have to write up roughly 1 case a week. I’m still trying to get used to that. Most others in my year have been doing this for a couple of blocks already. No idea what will happen when someone actually sits down to read these!

Working in an old-age ward is leading me to question the cognitive abilities of my family. I’m questioning whether I can really give them an assessment as a Christmas present?

First aid has again become an increasing part of my free time. Not quite what it once was but for some reason I seem to enjoy it. Maybe I’m just strange, but there you go. Glasgow on Ice is back and I’m spending a few evenings there. Hopefully the rain will eventually stop and we’ll get proper winter weather.

I should probably take this opportunity to mention the efforts the British Red Cross has contributed to the Cumbria flooding. A substantial amount of the rescue equipment and teams has travelled down from Northern Scotland to help. Unfortunately the regular media hasn’t really given much mention to BRC. The same should be said of the International Rescue Crops who are another voluntary agency responding to some considerable disasters in and out of the UK. Personally I hadn’t even heard of these guys until my major incidents module and was quite surprised to hear what they can do. Plus, given the origins of their name, I was quite interested in them. If you haven’t heard of them either, go have a look at what they do.

Not trying to become a complete charity case but it is impressive that there are people out there who respond to such incidents without even a bit of worry about recognition.

Closer to home I’ve recently been involved in the admissions committee for applicants in 2010. I don’t want to mention too much of it here since it is an ongoing process but I will probably spend a bit of time on the UKCAT in the near future. Interviews started today (I believe) so good luck to those who have them!

Unfortunately I’m quite a big X Factor follower. Personally I’m a Joe or Stacy fan, simply because they can sing. Loved Lucie, sad to see her go. It’s worryingly close to the final now, which means it’s almost Christmas. Shopping? Done none of that! Tomorrow is fortunately pay day so I should maybe start thinking about it.

That’s quite a good bit of catching up. I’ll try in future to do some smaller posts more frequently. Even though I say this it probably won’t happen.

8am – leave flat

9am-12pm – Interprofessional stuff with the pharmacists (was better than expected, think I had a lucky group)

12pm – Lunch & walk back to the west end

2pm-5pm – Radiology lectures >.<

5:05pm – Grabbing a chocolate bar

5pm-?pm – Lecture on more major incident stuff & debrief of recent exercise

6pm – Red Cross meeting

6:45pm – Time I actually left other meeting to go to Red Cross meeting

7:50pm – Time I left Red Cross meeting

8:15pm – Home

All in all, that’s a lot for someone who’s been in for a couple of hours a week for the past month. Sadly I seem to like days that are busy and I worryingly hope it’ll be like that for a while starting tomorrow.

I’m expecting a lot from this next block (neonates). I’m hoping to try and get an audit completed since this is a common thing post-qualification and I’ve done nothing of the sort so far. There is also a bit of hope that I can experience some of the neonatal transport in the West…we’ll see.

Out of Uni I’ve been busy 1) trying to get an update of my IPB mod released, 2) doing some first aid for the Red Cross and 3) trying to produce some sort of fancy booklet for a conference. Not to mention sorting out what I’m doing for my elective. All this whilst going to the gym as frequently as I can (I’ve become a fan of the 8-9am slot!). To counter my gym habits I’ve become a keen baker too, serving a batch of cookies into work last weekend.

Kind of means this blog is being abandoned (sorry!) but I’ll keep doing the best I can.

Welcome to Edinburgh...

It’s been a while now since my last post. I’d love to say that things have been hectically busy but this is not really the case. I’m now into my 4th week of 4th year with only 2 left to go before I’ve finished 1/10th of my final years.

So why has it not been too hectic? Unfortunately my “cohort” timetable is a bit medically challenged (at least before Christmas). I’m current on an SSM/SSC looking at Major Incidents, soon to be followed by one on neonates (which, I guess, will have some medicine in it). After that will be my first “proper” block – psychiatry.

So what have I been up to? Well in truth I’ve been holding out for some pictures to show. They should be worth it, but they’re not forthcoming. Instead, I’ve managed to find some video from Edinburgh Evening News here (hit play). The article basically explains what is going on. I can’t find myself in the video (I’d be on a stretcher) but will hopefully be able to get some sort of pictures in the future.

As my SSM is loosely based around this sort of stuff I also went to the site the week previously. This was a much smaller group, giving the ambulance staff a chance to familiarise themselves with the equipment. Unlike the actual scenario though, that day was raining considerably. I was pretty glad to see the sun on the 16th, since we were lying around for ages. The ins and outs of the day are a bit much to go into but I would recommend the casualty bit for the future – just make sure it’s summer (money is also a plus).

Other things I’ve been doing in the last few weeks include confined space rescuing with the fire service here (in the tunnel in the last photo. I managed to cannulate…ok so the model had no blood but still….). Also with the police in their vehicle (or similar!). The camera is fantastic, beware!

Finally getting started with the Red Cross. Should hopefully be doing a couple of events in the next month, including the fireworks in November. It was that night, 4 years ago, where I first considered becoming a first aid volunteer. Somehow it’s taken the 4 years for me to actually go there are a first aider. As per last year I’ll (timetable permitting) be teaching the 1st years some sort of first aid. Being me I’ve went and decided to redo some of last years slides to try and keep it interesting. I can hope…

Also managed to go to what may have been my last appearance an Open Day. I was giving 2 talks to prospective applicants (both went ok…I think).

Now I’ll try and keep this updated a bit more!

Tortora	Now in a 2 volume 12th edition Tortora (as it’s affectionately known as) remains a favourite for 1st years. Covering most of the anatomy and physiology you will ever encounter, this is one a lot of people buy. Personally I would try and experiment a bit more, it’s a decent book but the faculty hate it. Some of the individual anatomy and physiology books offer more and explain things clearer.
McMinn's	Either this one or one of the updated Clinical or Colour atlases are faculty favourites for anatomy learning. I haven’t seen the updated books but I found McMinn’s a tricky book for beginners. Almost all of the images are based on dissected specimens which, although very realistic, make it hard to see what’s going where. I much prefer the (slightly larger) book below.
Moore	Recently updated, this excellent anatomy book tries to make everything seem relevant by relating it to clinical practice. Whilst perhaps a bit much for 1st or even 2nd year, I wish I’d bought it early and actually got the full use out of it. One to look at!
Colo(u)ring	Not to be laughed at, this book is actually really good at making you apply anatomy – which is generally quite dull. It does require a bit of time to get it usable as a book but for something you are only slightly interested in learning (something you’ve come across but not expected to know in detail, for example) it can be useful.
Fast Track	I’ve only come across this recently but I’ve grown to like it. It presents a question and answer format for the most important and commonly encountered anatomy topics. A chapter is finished with pictures (not the best of quality) which show some of the topics. Nice and small book, perfect for the train or similar.

Physiology (Almost certainly buy one of these)

Martini	Another book which tries, quite successfully, to combine both anatomy and physiology. Personally I prefer this to Tortora but the actual differences aren’t that great. Excellent for first year but I do feel eventually splitting the topics into two books helps – so may as well start this way. Sorry, Martini.
Vander	One of my favourite physiology books – explains everything with great clarity and has almost the right amount of detail. Can be very wordy some times and there is a lot of repitition but overall it’s a firm classic that is worth considering.
Pocock	A British book that has been recently updated. I hated the old edition with its very small font but I have to give credit to the changes. Probably one of the more detailed books, always the one I’d turn to when I was getting stuck.
Ganong	I’ve not yet seen this new edition but if the previous is anything to go buy this should be good. My major complaints with the previous were all formatting related, so hopefully this new one will be an improvement. One of the two Lange books that is well liked.

Medicine (Almost certainly buy one of these)

Kumar	Classic. Now in red. Enough said.
Kumar	Alternative to K&C. Worth a look, it’s a good book.
OHCM	Great…when you’re old enough. (Avoid until at least year 3, maybe even later – it’s updated regularly.)

Histology (Maybe buy one of these)

Wheaters	Full of big pink blobs – apparently tissues. Does a good job of making histology seem a little less mundane. Doesn’t quite manage it, unfortunately (or maybe that’s just me).
Stevens	Bit more detailed than Wheaters although I don’t feel the pictures are as good. Used together (a la SL – which has loads) they do everything you need.

Pathology (Maybe [not yet?] buy one of these)

Underwood	Great book for year 1 but I do feel it kind of lacks behind after that.
Rubins	Not something you’d want to carry far (it comes in a big horrid hardcover) but is by a mile (no MILE pun intended) my favourite pathology book. Diagrams are phenomenal and the descriptions are exactly what you want.
Stevens and Lowe	An alternative that (I’m sure…) was liked be the pervious head of year 1. Worth a look!

Biochemistry (Maybe buy one of these)

Dow	Still remains the recommended biochemistry book despite being years after her departure. Don’t even think about reading it, far less buying it. Don’t even take it off the shelf in the SL – seriously, people will laugh at you.
Medical Biochemistry	This book always gives me mixed feelings. I like the detail and it explains things well, but I think it’s not very well laid out. I bought it and haven’t regretted it but do try and see if you like it first.
Clinical Biochemistry	A very succinct book (like all the ICT books) but still one which is very useful. Probably the better of the 3, although not quite to the same detail as the previous ones. All 3 have authors tied to Glasgow so the faculty like them all. Your pick.
Crash Course	I really should mention this series of books (this one being great for the homeostasis block [new number escapes me]). They cover almost every speciality of medicine both basic science and clinical, ideal for revision (and when you’re lazy).

Pharmacology (Probably not buy one of these – maybe 2nd year)

Rang and Dale	The pharmacology book in my opinion. It has considerable detail but it’s in a very readable format and the diagrams are some of the best.
Pharm at a Glance	Another series of books (like the ICT above), this – recently updated – is on the best at a Glance book. I was once told to find a smallish pharmacology book and read it cover to cover. If I was going to do that, this would be my pick. Simply brilliant.

Clinical examination (Probably not buy one of these – maybe 2nd year)

Macleods	This is much liked by most clinicians. I sold mine and got the book below. The new edition may be improved but I found it too wordy and not well laid out.
OHCE	I simply cannot give this book enough praise – it’s fantastic. None (at least at time of writing) exist in the SL, which is a shame. Buying Macleods? Look here first. And no, I’m not getting commission.

I have reached the end of all the main books I’d recommend looking at for year 1. This is buy no means an exhaustive list – there really are lots of books out there. These are the common ones though and I’d be very surprised if anyone got through (and passed) 1st year without encountering a couple of books here. Suggestions welcome and I’ll try and keep this up to date with new editions but that’s easier said than do

However, I was a bit silly earlier this year and decided to buy iWork 09 (it being installable on Tiger). This means I’ll be buying the Box Set with bits of software I don’t need.

I’m looking at the cost of getting Leopard -> Snow Leopard + iLife but I can’t see it being less than £129. Can I resell the iWork from the box set?

Either way, silly me!

Edit: Maybe not! Apparently Snow Leopard will install happily on Tiger. In which case I’d have saved some money. Will be waiting for a few days to see how other people upgrading from Tiger get on (someone obviously will).

As it turns out this is fairly simple – providing you are using the application structure in version 3. Simply add your icon to the skin_cp folder as appIcon.png.

Done!

Couldn’t find anything about this when I searched so I thought I’d put it here.

Not perfect, far from it, but one that should last me a little while anyway. Or so I thought, anyway, until this morning when the thing refused to start. I’ve just tried it again and, although very close, still no joy. I don’t know if the fair bit of rain yesterday has cause it or whether I’m just unlucky but either way it’s rather annoying. Very annoying this morning infact, since I had to go get money for a taxi to get to work.

Take it back, try and fix it, I don’t know. Guess this is the welcome message from the car owners club. Sigh.