So it’s been a long year – 52 weeks to the day today since we started and today is the first day of our summer holiday. Has it been worth it? Absolutely – it has been long, it has been hard but it’s also been enjoyable; there’ve definitely been some laughs, there’ve definitely been some tears and most importantly, there’s been a lot of learning on a steep curve.
Some days were better than others, some days were longer than others, but the overall trend was a positive one. I saw people right at and near the start of their lives and I saw people nearing the ends of their lives and a lot of people somewhere in between; talking to patients, and sometimes just giving people a bit of a chat in what can be a scary period for any of us – it really is such a privilege.
So what advice did I get from the people in the year(s) ahead of me that I felt was invaluable and would like to pass on to others? And what did I learn myself that I wish I’d known when I started?
Before I move into this part of this post, I’d like to give a little shoutout to some people who are now starting their jobs as FY1s and say thank you to those people (they know who they are) as without their help and guidance, I’m not sure if I would have gotten this far this year without you – if you support and look after your patients as well as you supported and looked after all of us, I have every confidence you’re going to do very well.
Now for the important part: what would I say to me if I had to do it all over again (which is still a possibility…)
- Get stuck in as much as you can, especially before Christmas time, when exam fever is still just a distant dream on the horizon for everyone involved; there are honestly no better teachers than the patient’s you are seeing. Talk to as many patients as you can, whether that be talking to them in general, taking histories, examining them (all with their permission of course!) as everyone has a story to tell and some people have lived with their illness/condition for a long time and may know a significant deal about it, and sometimes it’s just nice as the patient to see a smiling face that they can talk to for a while.
- Portfolio – you will be told this 1million times by everyone and we always all make the same mistakes, year after year; do not leave the portfolio to near the deadlines. Portfolio is heavy if done all at once but luckily enough someone (I actually think the portfolio team…) have posted a thing advising how often you should do certain things, in case you haven’t seen it, here it is again:
- Case discussions – 1 x 4-week block
- Record of Patient’s Seen (RoPS) – 1 x week
- PDPs – 1 x 4 week block
- Reflective questions/Reflections – 1 x 4 week block
And remember that with some of this work e.g. case discussions, you’ll be doing them for block assessments anyways so just make sure they’re written in the right format and you can upload the same one from the block assessment into your portfolio – this really takes the weight off having to adapt 2 or 3 case discussions that were in different formats, into portfolio cases right before a deadline (which I did and it was fairly stressful!)
3. When you need help, ask for it – we have all been through it, and certainly myself and a lot of other people will be happy to help if you need it; as suggested above, it was invaluable having help from the year above us and now, we can try to provide that role for you, if needed. There are obviously other places you can go to for help; portfolio supervisors, educational supervisors, block supervisors, peer mentors, and of course the official university support channels. But the key thing is, that when you need help, ask because it is a long year as is, and will be harder if you are struggling with something the whole way through it too.
4. DON’T forget to have a life outside medicine – this year you will have some early starts, some late finishes, some night shifts, day shifts, long days of tutorials, 9-5s etc. but don’t give up that sport you love, give yourself some time to chill out in front of the PlayStation (if you are so inclined), just get outside and walk around for an hour, go to the pub with a few friends every now and again, join societies still if you enjoy the things they do, because you work hard, you need unwinding time too or burnout will become all too real a reality.
5. Speaking of burnout – study as much or as little as you feel you need to initially, but don’t commit yourself to 10 hours a day right from the get go. This is a long year and you need to pace yourself; this is the definition of the phrase “it’s a marathon not a sprint.” There is still time for the final sprint in the last number of weeks/months before the exam period actually starts and its important to remember that because I personally don’t think I would have survived if I had started intensively working, right from the outset.
6. I appreciate the following point is not feasible for everyone – but when the week off in October comes around, or Christmas Holidays or the April break comes around, try to get out of Dundee if possible; a change of scenery is only ever a positive thing. Its ok to do some work over these times as well if you want to or feel you need to, but do take some sort of a holiday too, you do need some time off as well.
7. The fourth-year project – by now you should already pick one so I’ll not give my usual speel on picking one you’ll enjoy because it makes it easier to motivate yourself etc. etc. April seems like such a long time away, and in some ways, it is. I found it incredibly difficult to motivate myself to spend that “half day a week” doing it and ended up with a mad panic because in February I only had half of my project done – I got it finished but it was a stressful time; everyone told us not to do that but a lot of people did so again, the fourth year project is a marathon, not a sprint, try to get it done in chunks at a time rather than all at once.
8. We’re all different and we all work in very different ways and remember that when people are talking about the block they’ve just finished; they may have not liked it at all and tell you how horrible they thought it was but that can also be because they simply have no overall interest in that specialty or find it really difficult to do and therefore get no enjoyment out of it; try to go in with a blank slate, regardless of what people said already because some of my favourite blocks this year, were ones my friends told me were the worst overall and vice versa.
9. Don’t fear blocks that get you out of Dundee, and don’t be disappointed if you end up spending the whole year in Tayside. Outblocks are a great opportunity to do things a little differently and an opportunity to really get to know some new people, both in your year and from other years/other universities because you have to live with them. Some blocks seem to better as out-blocks, others as in-blocks, overall they’re much for muchness and you’ll get a similar experience and learning from them all. In the same specialty, things that are common, are common regardless of whether you’re in Tayside/Fife/Lothian/Glasgow/Highlands and Islands etc. and this at the end of the day is the majority of what you will be tested on, not lots of minutiae.
10. Last but not least – enjoy the year to the best of your ability. Like everything, including real life, it will have its ups, it will have its downs. Sometimes you’ll feel like you’re doing what you love and everything is going swimmingly, other days you may feel tired and defeated but the important part is, that the more you engage with the activities of the year, the less you’ll feel like that and, I’m going to say this again because its SO important, but almost everyone needs a little bit of help sometime during the year, I needed a lot at times from my friends who were in the year above and also in my own year, so when you feel like things aren’t going your way, come find me, or someone else who has been through this year already, or someone you can talk to, or a support service within the university or anyone else you think might help – just find someone who can try to help you and then, it will get better again.
*additional point added in edit*
11. Don’t forget that you still need to eat, sleep, toilet regularly; ward work is great experience and it is useful to hang around waiting to see a rare and cool procedure but don’t skip lunch or dinner or have them very late every day if you can help it, you’ll feel rubbish and tired and demoralised very quickly!
Thanks for reading and good luck with Fourth Year – it really is an excellent year once you get the hang of navigating it!
Fearghal
Medical Education 