The last week I’ve been thinking about what i could possibly write in my personal statement about the work shadowing I’ve just done. TBH for me it has just become box ticking as I know I want to do medicine now and nothing is going to confirm or change my mind that happened a few years ago now.
So what did i do??
-Shadowed in a baby clinic ( I so want a kid right now)
-House visits – just wow
-Went out to a homeless hostel
-Sat in on surgeries
-Shadowed district nurse
TBH I’m not going to post exactly what i learnt or intend to write about as our PS are checked using plagiarism software which scans the net for similar phrase.
The main point that came out of this for me that is different to what i had experienced on previous work experience was the desperation along side of wealth near where i live.
I personally come from a comfortable well off family where both my parents are in the police force and we have a business, I’ve never known my family struggle for the basic of life ie we have never had to think where is our next meal coming from or how am i getting to work tomorrow.
These people struggle for even the basic necessities never mind the thing i take for granted ie Dad I neeeeeed an iPhone, Dad can i have some money to go out etc. Im most of us have done this and i imagine alot of medical applicant will have purely due to a significant proportion of medical applicants coming from the middle class.
I slowly realised how much I would struggle to relate to these people if i ever become their doctor, not out of lack of wanting to but rather never having been in that position myself. It also made me think twice about my attitude of get off your arse and get a job, it really isn’t that easy for some people ie those with long term medical conditions etc.
I’m going to come back to this later as I’m really struggerling how to express what i want to!
Over all yes this work experience although not changing my mind on what i want to do with my life it has changed my attitude to a significant proportion of our society which must not be forgot or sidelined.
Unfortunately right now i don’t have time to do any significant work in this area but it is defiantly something I WILL be doing in the future.
Step 1 Convince dad to donate all the leftover food (Tonnes of it) from the business to the local homeless shelter at the end of the night.
Friday, 30 October 2009
iPhone
Just a quick post to see if this works. Got the new toy on Tuesday and still trying to work out exactly how to use it. I've got a proper post wrote actually on my application to post up!
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Work shadowing
With the GP was great more on that later when i finish my diary!
Just heard back from all the local hospitals and its a no on the work experiance front. Seen as most graduate entry programs expect significant work experiance I think this could be the end of trying to get into graduate entry before i have even sent my UCAS.
WHy is it so hard to become a doctor goes off to cry in a corner!
Just heard back from all the local hospitals and its a no on the work experiance front. Seen as most graduate entry programs expect significant work experiance I think this could be the end of trying to get into graduate entry before i have even sent my UCAS.
WHy is it so hard to become a doctor goes off to cry in a corner!
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Case studies - laptops suck
“A67 year old leukemic patient developed bacteraemia in hospital. It was suspected that his plastic central line catheter was colonized as indicated by the swelling at the point of entry in his skin. Blood culture showed gram-positive cocci in clusters.”
Thats my case study seems easy enough however my laptop picked tonight to totally corrupt and i have now lost all my work, so dont expect to be around for a few days!
Thats my case study seems easy enough however my laptop picked tonight to totally corrupt and i have now lost all my work, so dont expect to be around for a few days!
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
The downside to group work and shadowing
This is meant as rant rather just some info on why group work is bloody hard work.
One of our modules is analytical biochemistry which is an ok module however we have a presentation to do on the 1st week lab. Luckily everyone in our group but two are good mates so it should have been easy hmm not.
Why can’t people just do their work and get off their backside to come into uni.
*We need to compile our data however one pair out of the 4 pairs has made the standard curve but hasn’t actually tested the sample
*One can’t be bothered to send me the results and doesn’t want to come in on her day off ie tomorrow
*Two pairs couldn’t be bothered to stay back after lecture on Monday so we are now going to be doing it tomorrow ie the day before its due
Ohhh don’t you just love group work.
Now for something I do love
£4 for small piece and regular side at Pizza hut I think we have found our new dinner hide out for this year yummy.
Shadowing in less than a week so should be blogging every night then, went up to have to find where I am going yesterday and the surgery is huge. Hopefully that will give me something to mention on my personnel statement as all the GP shadowing I have done previously has been at small town/village surgeries where as this is in a deprived area of a major city so I expect the patient will be significantly different even if the clinical conditions are the same!
One of our modules is analytical biochemistry which is an ok module however we have a presentation to do on the 1st week lab. Luckily everyone in our group but two are good mates so it should have been easy hmm not.
Why can’t people just do their work and get off their backside to come into uni.
*We need to compile our data however one pair out of the 4 pairs has made the standard curve but hasn’t actually tested the sample
*One can’t be bothered to send me the results and doesn’t want to come in on her day off ie tomorrow
*Two pairs couldn’t be bothered to stay back after lecture on Monday so we are now going to be doing it tomorrow ie the day before its due
Ohhh don’t you just love group work.
Now for something I do love
£4 for small piece and regular side at Pizza hut I think we have found our new dinner hide out for this year yummy.
Shadowing in less than a week so should be blogging every night then, went up to have to find where I am going yesterday and the surgery is huge. Hopefully that will give me something to mention on my personnel statement as all the GP shadowing I have done previously has been at small town/village surgeries where as this is in a deprived area of a major city so I expect the patient will be significantly different even if the clinical conditions are the same!
Friday, 9 October 2009
Volunteering
Im now back being a regular hospital volunteer. Ive been doing some meeting a greeting which basically involves pointing people in the right direction or if they look like they won’t be able to find their way ie older people taking them down to where they want to be. Now im the sort of person that managed to miss multiple 30foot motorway signs for Hexham however I didn’t realise until I ended in Morpoth a good few miles further north.
I haven’t managed to get anyone lost yet. This week I took a parcel collector (blonde moment and I can’t think of a better way of putting it) down to a ward to collect what I thought was going to be a simple letter. Uh huh I thought wrong but it was actually quite good.
The parcel was 8 boxes of donated medical supplies to a clinic in Pakistan I didn’t realise medic over here were able to get so involved in medicine in poor country and it is defiantly something I can see myself doing in the future. I really take my hat off to the medic who is organising it.
A funny if stupid video
I haven’t managed to get anyone lost yet. This week I took a parcel collector (blonde moment and I can’t think of a better way of putting it) down to a ward to collect what I thought was going to be a simple letter. Uh huh I thought wrong but it was actually quite good.
The parcel was 8 boxes of donated medical supplies to a clinic in Pakistan I didn’t realise medic over here were able to get so involved in medicine in poor country and it is defiantly something I can see myself doing in the future. I really take my hat off to the medic who is organising it.
A funny if stupid video
UNI update
Well we’ve been back long enough to form opinions of our new lectures all of which I would say are ok apart from a certain one. He has us for one module and im beginning to hate it. Course work accounts for 40% of our module mark which is great and allows for you to bank and significant proportion of the marks need for a 2:1 or indeed a 1st before even stepping foot in the exam hall.
Brilliant I hear you saying. Well 10% of these marks come from two case studies which are easy enough in their selves if we had been taught what he expected. Ie does he just want the biomedical test or does he want the pathological basis of the disease. Does he want an explanation of how they cause symptoms or even what these symptoms are I feel a headache coming on. Have an appointment with my tutor on Monday to discus it and hopefully get some idea of what to do.
Other than that nothing much to blog about, taekwondo is going good and my grade is getting scaringly close also have work shadowing soon. Haven’t been doing as many HCA shifts as I hoped but that will improve once I get back into the habit of juggerling twenty things at once.
The uni taekwondo club starts back on Sunday and we managed to sign up loads of people at fresher fair so it will be interesting to see how many turn up seen as the session is free we expect quite a few.
Ill leave you with a song im currently addicted to have on repeat.
Britney spear – 3 or 1,2,3
Brilliant I hear you saying. Well 10% of these marks come from two case studies which are easy enough in their selves if we had been taught what he expected. Ie does he just want the biomedical test or does he want the pathological basis of the disease. Does he want an explanation of how they cause symptoms or even what these symptoms are I feel a headache coming on. Have an appointment with my tutor on Monday to discus it and hopefully get some idea of what to do.
Other than that nothing much to blog about, taekwondo is going good and my grade is getting scaringly close also have work shadowing soon. Haven’t been doing as many HCA shifts as I hoped but that will improve once I get back into the habit of juggerling twenty things at once.
The uni taekwondo club starts back on Sunday and we managed to sign up loads of people at fresher fair so it will be interesting to see how many turn up seen as the session is free we expect quite a few.
Ill leave you with a song im currently addicted to have on repeat.
Britney spear – 3 or 1,2,3
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Came across this today really makes me wish my parents would hurry up and move so i can spend all my summer holidays there
You know it's July in Florida when:
Hot water comes out of both taps.
You find out that a seatbelt buckle makes a pretty nice branding iron.
Yes, it gets hot in Florida. But did you know it got this hot?
The trees are whistling for the dogs.
You find out that you can get sunburned through your car window.
The birds need to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.
You burn your hand opening the car door.
The temperature drops below 95 and you put on a sweater.
You can make instant sun tea.
Shade determines the best parking space, not distance.
Farmers feed their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying hard boiled eggs.
When you step outside at 7:30 a.m., you break into a sweat.
Potatoes cook underground. This is convenient because all you have to do is pull one out and add salt, pepper and butter.
You discover that asphalt has a liquid state.
You realize that it only takes two fingers to steer your car.
One day one day i will live in a hot country
You know it's July in Florida when:
Hot water comes out of both taps.
You find out that a seatbelt buckle makes a pretty nice branding iron.
Yes, it gets hot in Florida. But did you know it got this hot?
The trees are whistling for the dogs.
You find out that you can get sunburned through your car window.
The birds need to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.
You burn your hand opening the car door.
The temperature drops below 95 and you put on a sweater.
You can make instant sun tea.
Shade determines the best parking space, not distance.
Farmers feed their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying hard boiled eggs.
When you step outside at 7:30 a.m., you break into a sweat.
Potatoes cook underground. This is convenient because all you have to do is pull one out and add salt, pepper and butter.
You discover that asphalt has a liquid state.
You realize that it only takes two fingers to steer your car.
One day one day i will live in a hot country
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)