Survival Tips For Medical Students

Tonight I noticed a tweet asking for top self-care tips for medical students, and (unsurprisingly) I felt I had too much to say to fit it into 140 characters, so I thought it might be worth a blogpost. Being a medical student is an amazing experience, but it can also be incredibly difficult for lots of reasons. This post isn't supposed to be in any way comprehensive. I'm not an expert, by any stretch. This is just a collection of suggestions and ideas based upon my own experiences and those of people I know.

Work hard.
Medicine is hard work. Most of it isn't intellectually particularly stretching, but there's a vast amount of stuff to learn and the majority of people will have to do a reasonable amount of work to keep on top of it. I'm not advocating becoming a hermit, but going to most of your lectures, showing up on the wards and keeping up with reading will mean exam season is far less stressful. If you have to actually learn everything from scratch, rather than just revise it, you'll be giving yourself a far more difficult task than is necessary.

Play hard.
It's also important to make the most of being a student. Go to toga parties. Play pub golf. Go clubbing whilst dressed as a giant chocolate bar or do garlic and chili body shots from the Med Soc president. Or don't, if you'd rather not. But don't feel like doing an academically demanding degree means you have to  miss out on the student experience. A boss of mine once said "you can resit an exam, but you can't resit a party". I'm not sure that's the most sensible advice, but find a balance that makes you happy. Whether it's partying, music/sports/drama societies, volunteering or just reading novels and watching trashy TV, doing fun stuff is important. Keeping up with friends and enjoying yourself is an essential way of dealing with the stress you will feel from time to time. Speaking of friends, they're really important. Make sure you keep up with those outside of your course, too. Non-medics are brilliant for allowing you to properly relax and giving you a sense of perspective (medic friends are great and can relate to a lot of what you've experienced, but have an awful habit of talking shop so you don't truly escape medicine around them).

But don't forget to sleep.
Seriously, sleep is really important. When you're trying to balance partying and studying, sleep can seem like something you don't have time for, but it's essential. Everything seems worse when you haven't been sleeping well. As a medical student, you've embarked on a pretty awesome journey, but you need to be on top of your game to make the most of it.

Eat well.
OK, so it's boring, but it's another essential. If you're spending long days in lectures and then going out drinking, it can be tempting to sustain yourself on Pot Noodles and Red Bull, but there's no way you'll be at your best if you aren't getting a decent amount of vitamins, minerals, fibre etc. Sorry guys, your Mum is right about this one.

Exercise.
Similar to the above, exercise is useful for both keeping you physically at your peak and helping beat stress. As a naturally lazy person who would rather exercise by lifting a spoon from ice cream tub to mouth than go anywhere near a gym, I totally get that this is not top of some people's agendas, but it's amazing how much more energy you have after a swim or run. Even a brisk walk around the block is better than nothing.

Cry.
Sometimes you will see things that really resonate with you and upset you. This is absolutely OK. Allow yourself to be upset. Talk to a friend. Have a cry. I still get upset about cases from years ago (such as this one), Remember that if there ever comes a time when sad things don't bother you in the slightest, you probably want to think about a change of career.

Take a break.
OK, so this might go a little against what I said earlier about working hard, but it's important. Sometimes, things will get on top of you (see previous point). You might be unwell. You will have stressors in your life outside of medicine. If you're struggling, give yourself permission to take a sick day. There's no point dragging yourself in when you aren't going to be properly concentrating. Doctors are absolutely terrible for going into work when they're unwell. It does noone any favours. Learn now to spot when you aren't well and sort it out early. Even if you're cruising along fine, don't spend more time working than you have to. If your registrar says you can leave early, do. Don't spend the holidays in the library. Having time off is vital to your emotional and physical well being.

Don't let the b*st*rds grind you down.
There are horrible people everywhere. Some of them will be in your year, some will be your seniors, some will be non-medical colleagues. Giving you a dressing down if you're rude or you really don't know your stuff is fine, but nobody should be bullying you. If they are, report it. Snide remarks, sniggering behind your back, deliberately telling you lies about teaching sessions or criticising your appearance or personality is not acceptable. People who do this are, frankly, arseholes. They're probably covering up their own insecurities by pointing out yours. They may well be jealous of how awesome you are. Either way, it's not cool. Don't let it get to you. (But if you're actually being bullied, tell someone. There is help to stop this kind of thing from happening.)

Be the best you you can, not a second-rate someone else.
This is more general life advice I suppose, but in medical school where you're surrounded by brilliant people it's easy to constantly compare yourself to other people. Try not to. The people who may seem the best at uni are not necessarily the ones who make the best doctors. Focus on your weaknesses, by all means, and work on improving them, but don't assume that anyone who really understands the kidneys or can do a super-slick neuro exam is better than you at everything. Maybe you have a really lovely manner with confused old ladies or perhaps you know intricate details of the coagulation cascade. Whatever it is, you'll have something you're awesome at too. Remember what it is you do well, feel proud of it, and work on improving other stuff so that you become the best doctor you can be, not so that you can beat someone else in an exam.

That's a very brief run-down, but those would be my top "survival" tips. Most of all, remember to enjoy it. You're on your way to doing the best job in the world, and you're going to be awesome at it.

What A Week!

The Learnaholic has had a bit of a rollercoaster week. After scary-but-actually-ok hospital appointment on Thursday, Friday was the last day of my surgical placement. Big relief as I didn't enjoy it much (although it was much, much better latterly). I also had visitors in the form of Mummy and Daddy (and puppy) Learnaholic for the weekend.

Despite plans for long walks along the beach and going out into the hills, miserable weather meant we actually ended up spending a lot of time drinking coffee and eating cake. Absolutely not complaining! Also, Daddy Learnaholic is very clever and fixed all the things around the flat which have been broken (like the kitchen light which didn't work for almost a year...). I had a bit of a heart-to-heart chat with Mummy Learnaholic about my "issues" and it turns out I am rubbish at hiding things because she's known all this stuff for years! It's good that she knows what's going on though, means I won't be constantly biting my tongue around her in case I give things away. We had a really nice weekend together. I do really miss them as I'm so far away most of the time. That was the first time I'd seen them since Christmas.

On Monday I started my new placement, however this was overshadowed by the death of a family friend. It was very sudden so everyone was pretty shaken up by it. I feel a bit guilty about being so far from home at times like this, as I'm not able to support people as much as I'd like. I also can't make the funeral. I will send a note and some flowers to his wife but I haven't quite worked out what to say just yet. I don't suppose there is ever a "right" thing to say or do in this situation.

This week of placement has been all teaching, so I haven't met any patients yet. I did have to go to the mortuary on Tuesday morning for teaching in confirming death and all the associated paperwork, which was pretty difficult under the circumstances, but I suppose it will be coming in pretty handy once I'm working. I've also done some "breakaway techniques" training so that I can escape from aggressive patients, which was good fun although the bruises still haven't gone away! The rest of teaching was less eventful, but I did enjoy getting to role-play a stroppy teenager (although I may have traumatised one or two of my classmates!).

Yesterday I had to go back to my last placement to get all my paperwork signed off as my supervisor wasn't around for the last couple of weeks I was there. I got an unexpectedly good mark. After our last meeting, I was expected a bare minimum pass, but I actually got the same mark as I got for my medical placement before Christmas, so either I impressed all the other staff whilst he was away and they fed back to him, or he really felt sorry for me because I cried last time I saw him! He did mention the importance of "work-life balance" again which is getting a little dull now but I appreciate that he meant well.

This week has also caused a bit of a career panic. On Wednesday morning we had a careers session. Although it was largely focussed on psychiatry and general practice, all the comments about how difficult and expensive post-graduate exams are, how competitive it can be to get onto specialty training etc made me panic a little. On top of that, my supervisor yesterday was emphasising the importance of a strong portfolio to me. In his words, nowadays "noone gets in for being a nice chap or knowing Mr Smith" and it's important to have lots of publications, presentations, extra-curricular achievements - eek! I am, however, trying not to think about it too much. I think I work pretty hard and have a not-too-terrible CV so far. At the moment, my biggest priority is passing my OSCEs in June!

I'm quite looking forward to next week. I'm starting my new placement (psychiatry) properly on Monday. I'm also meeting up with a couple of friends during the week, and on Thursday I think I might go to my first "Skeptics in the Pub" event, which should be fun. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend x

Struggling a little

I know before I even write this that this is going to be a moany, annoying, rather teenage-sounding post. I am warning you now so that you have the option of clicking on that little red X in the top right-hand corner of the screen before I bore you to tears.

As I may have mentioned, I am not at all enjoying my current placement A couple of weeks ago, I went to see a consultant I'm doing some work with as we needed to discuss the paper we're attempting to finish off. Being a) lovely and b) perceptive, he soon noted that I wasn't my usual self (apparently I'm normally rather "Tigger-ish") and asked what was wrong. Without going into too much detail, I mentioned that I was having a bit of a rubbish time on placement. To cut a long story short, the following week I ended up going and having a chat with him about what was happening - largely hoping for some advice. This culminated in him going to speak to my current supervisor to explain the situation (I didn't know he was going to do this until after the event). That prompted me to email my supervisor myself and telling him basically that I was having a bit of a rubbish time, apologising for probably spending less time on the wards than I should and assuring him that I was keen to learn and was using time off the wards to study.

I thought this was pretty much the end of it and planned to ignore the bitchiness and crack on with the final few weeks of my block. However, although I still have 2 weeks to go here, my supervisor is away for those 2 weeks so we had a meeting on Friday so that he could do my final assessment. It was honestly one of the strangest meetings I've ever had. He wasn't impressed with me at all, so I basically told him that I was very sorry but I'd been really struggling and I felt that rather than stay on the wards feeling useless, I would rather study privately as it would be more productive. You know how uni likes to remind students that they're adults and in control of their own learning? Seems this is only true when you decide you learn best the way they tell you to learn... He wasn't horrible or anything. In some ways I wish he had been, but there we go. Anyway, he's actually going to give me my grade when he's back to give me 2 weeks to get myself a better mark...

Once we'd finished discussing what an inadequate student I was (ok, I'm exaggerating), we then moved on to what seems like everyone's favourite subject at the moment - my lack of a life. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that he actually made me cry when he brought this up. There are only so many times you can stand to be told that you're fat, lazy and pathetic without getting upset. Ok, those weren't the exact words he used, but his persistence in telling me it was important to exercise and keep myself physically fit hammered the point home well enough.

I can't say there is much point to this, but sometimes a good rant helps, even if it's only through the medium of my keyboard!

A Life Outside of Medicine

It's official. I need to get a life. This isn't an epiphany I've had after getting particularly excited about some trivial scientific finding or having yet another rant about the misuse of apostrophes (although I confess they are both frequent occurrences). This is the realisation that when several senior, experienced people tell you something often enough, they are quite likely to be correct.

I did, once upon a time, have a life. When I was doing my first degree I was very involved with the drama society (committee positions, acting, directing...), I was a class rep on numerous occasions, I did all sorts of things with the student's association, I volunteered for several charities... In and around all this, I managed to somehow do enough work to get a good degree, had a job and went out a fair amount.

My descent into loserville began quite slowly but started at about the same time I got into medical school. As I was staying at the same university, I'd been elected onto the drama society committee again. Unfortunately, because the medical school is on a different campus to the rest of the university and because I had a fairly full timetable, I wasn't able to make the majority of meetings, so I had to resign almost immediately. For my first couple of years, I was still quite involved in the student's association, but as fourth year started and I got busier, I had to take a back seat with committees. Irregular holidays which no longer occurred at the same times as school holidays meant I was no longer able to volunteer at holiday play schemes.

I don't say any of this to moan - it's hardly an unusual set of circumstances and I'd be surprised if a lot of other medical students haven't found the same thing. Towards the end of last year, when I was revising all hours for my exams, I basically stopped doing everything - drinking, socialising, going to the gym...

This has got to change. I may sit here argue that medicine is what I enjoy and what makes me happy, but I'm only kidding myself when I say that I'll get through my foundation jobs without some other hobby or thing to do. My social life has taken a bit of a battering this year because my friends are on placements here, there and everywhere so there are fewer people around to do things with.

From now on, I'm going to make a concerted effort to do things. Non medical things. Things that I'm not doing to help me with exams or boost my CV or make contacts. Things that I'll be doing just because I enjoy them. Tonight, I'm meeting with a friend I haven't seen in years for a drink and a catch-up. As I haven't been out socially since before Christmas, I feel that this is a decent start. I'm also looking at local bands/orchestras to see whether there is anything I could join. I was really into music whilst I was at school but have neglected it recently. I've had a bit of a dodgy chest recently, but once that's cleared I'm going to get back into going to the gym. Rather than just doing my own thing though, I'm going to try and get to some classes, that way I might meet new people as well as exercising.

I'm a bit out of ideas for now but I'm definitely going to take this "getting out more" things seriously. Oh, and I'm not doing any revision at the weekends anymore. Not until nearer exams, anyway!