hey!

um...im going to have interviews coming up soon to get into medical school, and wondered if there was anyone here that could help me by telling me what:-

the most difficult thing about being a doctor is?

..you think the NHS will be like in the future

..the 'bad things' about medicine

..what the medico-legal aspects of medicine are

..whether doctors practice defensive medicine and why

..you think the biggest challenge facing doctors and nurses will be over the next 10 years

and........i think thats it!


...for now

thanks........i'll be eternally grateful if anyone can help me !

Try having a look at the BMA's website, http://www.bma.org.uk, or have a look on amazon, there is probably a plethora of books on how to get into medicine, not all aimed at the US either.

Or you could see if Chas has any advice for you?!

ooh - was it your birthday? how old are you? happy belated birthday!

thanks for offering to help me...so are you one of the "scary" people then that interviews prospective med-students? eek

but im sure you'll give me good advice!

talk to you soon hopefully...ive asked emma very very nicely for the "directions" to the sscret garden...sounds scary!

quote:

Originally posted by Frodo:

so are you one of the "scary" people then that interviews prospective med-students? eek

umm... no. youll find the only scary people around here are all the regulars of this board!

Directions have been sent!

okay....the secret garden thingy doesnt work very well for me. ah well....

emma, give mona the gc site address. that might help. im still at work right now, so wont be back home until very late. ill try to catch you all there next time.

Hey

Man, those questions are hard!! Brings back memories!

I think it also largely depends on which medical school you are thinking of applying to as they all vary a lot both course and interview wise

Do you have any ideas?

Will have a think for you

Good Luck

Jen

x x x

hey..yeah, some of the questions are pretty hard. i had a mock interview today and lol..i was asked what the biggest killer diseases are in developing countries.

i said HIV/AIDS but the interview guy laughed. apparently its malaria...i completely forgot how malaria was transmitted! but that was a wierd question

this was wierd - why do drug companies put less into combating malaria than diabetes?

is it cos diabetes is on the increase in richer countries? also - the reason why malaria is such a problem is because the pathogen thingy is becoming resistant to anti-malaria drugs so if new drugs were developed, surely the cycle would be repeated and the malaria pathogen thingy could develop resistance to that aswell?

hmmm, i think im talking crap! eek

quote:

Originally posted by ribspreader`:
emma, give mona the gc site address. that might help. im still at work right now, so wont be back home until very late. ill try to catch you all there next time.

I did give her the gc site

Yep think drug companies put more money into diabetes cos its on the increase in MEDCs and therefore there is a better incentive (financial)

With Malaria, mainly a disease of LEDCs and the problem is once you have caught it, it can reoccur in your life, lying dormant in the liver cells, then when they rupture it is reactivated, i think.

Different drugs work at different stages of the parasites life cycle but some only work in some malarial areas, as well as there are 4 forms of malaria. Some (2 of them i think) can be eradicated if you get rid of them via drugs, before they enter and rupture the red blood cells.

Therefore it is mainly prohylatic use (ie prevent it before you get it) Expensive for the people who need it.

Sorry is a hard topic and not sure how much you want to/need to know!!

hope it helps somewhat!

Jen

x x x

thanks....are u med student?

Yep, can remember what it was like, the interview process, i mean!!almost 4 years ago now!!knew all this random stuff that i've forgotten now....

can't wait to the end of term, only 5 days to go, yeay!!!

jen

x x x

hehe. cool. which university are you at?

is a junior doctor one that has newly qualified?

in this country, a "junior" doctor is any training grade doctor, ie all ranks below consultant. consultants are considered fully trained and therefore "senior". this is whats meant when you see these terms in the press. we still use junior and senior informally at work though, like a first year registrar would be more senior than a second year sho for example.

its worth noting that the whole training system in the uk is changing though. currently, the whole country is in transition, with the old training system overlapping with the new.

the traditional system has always been:

- junior (preregistration) house officer the first year in work, a year officially still under close supervision by consultants and your med school, after which you fully register with the gmc and can start formal training
- senior house officer a variable number of years (anything from 2 onwards), gaining basic specialist training
- specialist registrar a fixed 5 year program, higher specialist training, preparing for consultancy

but all this is being streamlined under the new mmc project, coming into force as we speak, bringing the uk in line with the rest of the eu and the world. youll be trained under this new system, so you really should understand what you are letting yourself in for. mmc may well be an interview topic these days, so be prepared! in other countries around the world, medical training involves early specialism division (the north american residency system for example), so in similar fashion, mmc says:

- 2 year foundation program (f1 and f2) the first two years, basic training in broad aspects of acute medicine in general, including rotation to gp, to make you "emergency safe"
- specialist training program (st1 onwards) variable length depending on specialty, leading to consultancy

did you get my contact details from emma? was in the secret garden a bit over the weekend, could have told you more about all this...

hi...yeah, emma gave me your email address. cheers!

im actually 'exploring' the secret garden now...think it may take me a while to get the hang of it..its a bit...strange!

Heya

Ripspreader wrote more than i know about it (scary huh!) but thought i would give you my tuppence worth. It seems to keep changing

- 2 years post-grad training before GMC registered instead of one F1/F2
- Rotations in surgery, medicine and GP now
- Apply with a system similar to "UCAS" (personnal statement, ALL exam results from 5 yrs on course)
- Need to start creating a portfolio from yr1 of course including
charity work, intergrating into medical school etc

I think this website explains it (hope i managed to get the link to work!)

http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/doctorsqual

hope that helps a little bit

jen

x x x

YEAY!! it worked



jen

x x x

quote:

Originally posted by Twinkle Toes:

Ripspreader wrote more than i know about it (scary huh!)...

i cant exactly not know about mmc jen... im an f2 assessor!

*lurks in the corner listening to the medical boffin types*

hehe

does anyone understand all this "privatising the NHS" stuff?

does that mean we'd have to pay for all our treatments like they do on.........ER?

i dont quite understand the point in privatising the NHS....cos the people that want and can afford better treatment have already gone private....

Hi,
As a first year Med student we've just started covering some of the legal sapects of medicine which as far as I can tell are things like obtaining informed consent for all proceedures by making sure that the patient fully undertands what they are agreeing to and that they are of sound mind and capable of making the descision. That said, I didn't get asked any of those type of questions in any of my interviews last year, they were all much more interested in extra-curricular stuff as anyone can real off why they want to be a doctor. However, probably depends on the Uni, where are you applying?

quote:

Originally posted by Frodo:
does anyone understand all this "privatising the NHS" stuff?

does that mean we'd have to pay for all our treatments like they do on.........ER?

i dont quite understand the point in privatising the NHS....cos the people that want and can afford better treatment have already gone private....

It probably means adding more fees. We already pay towards prescriptions, dental treatment, opticians and other things... With the lack of funding the Government might look towards adding extra charges, like a fee to see your GP.

Or else is could be related to PPP/PFI where private companies build new hospitals and lease them out to the NHS over a long period of time (eg 25 years) until the NHS own it outright. This is a saving in the short term, but in the long term it ends up costing the taxpayer more.

Or it could be to do with making more NHS services private... The cleaning/security/catering services etc went out to private tender while the conservatives were in power... maybe there's more they could sell off. Like ambulance services etc... in some places in the USA the ambulances wont pick you up unless you can prove you can pay for it!

The NHS also has doctors who do work for them and also take on private case work (Chas should be able to tell you more about that). Plus there is allegedly a lot of sharing between private and NHS hospitals and facilities.

Its very unlikely that the NHS will become completely privatised... although a lot of people moan and groan about it, it is an excellent system and people would much rather have what we have than have a system like in the USA.

i havent read it all properly yet - my eyes have gone all blurry and my brain hurts from last minute revision!! but THANKS A LOT!