Speaking at Villiers Park Fantastic Futures Event

I then had the opportunity to speak at the Villiers Park Fantastic Futures event that also celebrated the hard work of its student participants this year.

The Fantastic Futures programme exists to help provide support to students of Year 10 - Year 13 in the Swindon area. The programme includes the mentoring scheme I was part of and has the opportunity to have an e-mentor who is studying the course and/or is studying at the university a student is interested in applying to. They also have exhilarating opportunities to go to universities as part of residential trips to engage in set tasks and practice those teambuilding and leadership skills!

It was amazing to hear all of the great student stories at this night too! I had a fantastic opportunity to speak to some parents as well who wanted to know more about the work of Villiers Park from a student alumnus because at the end of the day, I don't work for Villiers Park but individually endorse them so much! Thank you so much if you did come and speak to me at the event! If you were interested in the blog and I sent you in this direction, thank you for visiting! If you are interested in keeping updated on my journey, please do submit your email on the right hand side of this page under "Follow by Email!" to get updates when I post (which isn't too frequent, but usually when I have something to post!). Feel free also to read back on my journey for advice from Year 11 and onwards!

Photo credit: Villiers Park

In this speech, I discussed my struggles again throughout A-Levels but how rewarding it was to secure my place at university. I have included my speech below in case you wanted to read this also. It is slightly repetitive compared to the last one (but remember I did only go through school once so the experience is the same! haha) but I did adapt it to tailor for this evening.

Villiers Park logo.

My speech:

Hello! My name is Josh and I am a student who worked quite closely with Villiers Park to fulfil my aspiration of studying medicine at my first choice university. I have been part of Villiers Park for the past five years when I went into Year 10 at Lydiard Park Academy.

The journey into university unfortunately wasn’t a straight and narrow path. But Villiers Park helped either eliminate or reduce every obstacle that I encountered.

Through mentoring sessions, I would meet with my mentor to discuss my recent activities. I would explain to Julie how stressful I’m finding things, how I’m worried I’m not going to get the grades and how I cannot find a balance. I was struggling very much through Year 13 as I still wasn’t reaching the entry requirements of my offer from Bristol University. I suffered in silence from the beginning and telling myself that I could deal with the issue independently because I felt quite embarrassed and ashamed that I wouldn’t fulfil the expectation of going to university this year. However, when I spoke to my mentor about my situation and how I was on the verge of giving up, she gave me that confidence again that I could do it. And by talking and developing plans of actions, I knew I could cope for another two-three weeks before the next session. I found the mentoring sessions as an opportunity to vent about my struggles but find solutions to them. My mentor would have open ears and be a voice that provided that guidance and support I needed. As soon as I had opened up about not coping with the change in learning style and needing to adapt my revision regime in A-Levels, my grades improved!

Before this, Villiers Park helped me decide on which university I wanted to apply for. I attended sessions of ‘MedSoc’ from Year 10 which was a group of aspiration medics who wished to study medicine, like me. Here, I could hear from guest speakers directly about their experiences, ideas for placements and even how to construct the perfect personal statement. When it came to exploring universities, I went on many open day trips to different unis. It was fantastic having the mentors with us at the open days because their experience and advice meant that we were asking questions at the open days which I may not have thought of if I had gone with my parents. For example, when going around open days with family, you mostly think of cost of living, student loans etc. Whereas I was asking questions about the course structure, unit content and about placements because we had been informed about the significance of asking these questions. For this reason, I was able to eliminate my long ‘perfect’ uni list to just the five I was going to apply for – with Bristol being my first choice because I felt that course would suit me the best. I have also been running a blog that follows my journey throughout my medical training which I hope has been helping the current prospect medics with their decisions to pursue the degree and what to expect.

The residentials I have been on with Villiers Park has allowed me to develop skills which have benefited me throughout my school years and I’ve carried it on into university. We would learn investigation skills, how to be involved participants and how to manage time appropriately. Anyone can practically work in a team, but I feel that through Villiers Park, it taught me how to work in a team effectively. Three years on, I am still in contact with a lot of my peers and it’s interesting to discuss the differences in the medicine courses in Bristol to Nottingham to Liverpool.

University has been an amazing experience so far. I’ve learnt how to balance my priorities and juggle the time I spend on work and learning with maintaining a social life! My course has been everything I expected and more! I have had fantastic opportunities to become more stuck-in and enjoying placements so much, I am now working as a healthcare assistant in Southmead Hospital! I have made great friends while at university. You are surrounded with people from diverse backgrounds that differ from your own but you all share similar passions and interests! I would recommend university because I feel it is an experience like no other! You will enjoy studying more when it’s in a subject you’re actually passionate about. You meet likeminded people and grow an exciting social life while developing yourself as you grow independently.

As well, before Villiers Park, I would not be stood here in front of you now speaking. I learnt ways to become more of a confident speaker all through the events and activities that I attended throughout the year.

University has been such a challenge but a reward for all the hard work it was worth! It’s so much better finally learning content that I am passionate about and enjoy reading. I am really happy that Villiers Park are still in contact with me because I feel I owe a lot to them. From the staff in Foxton to the mentors, past and present, who have helped me – thank you. And I say it every year but it won’t add up to how grateful I actually am. The skills Villiers Park have taught me has made me the person I am today.

Thank you for listening.

Speaking at Villiers Park Scholarship Programme Celebration Evening

Haha. Why am I smiling like an idiot?

I had the pleasure of being asked to speak at two Villiers Park events this week, one being for the programme I am a scholar for and the second for being a recently set up sister programme, "Fantastic Futures".

At the scholarship celebration evening, it was amazing to sit and hear all of the stories the scholars have created and shared from Year 10, all the way up to Year 13. It was a shame hearing all of the activities they had taken part in, and not being a part of it anymore! From the residentials and trips to the luxury of having an amazing mentor...!

In my speech, I exclaimed about how much Villiers Park really did help me begin my journey into medicine and I cannot preach how incredible their work is. Villiers Park is made up of a great group of people who are so loving and encouraging and want the best for everyone they are supporting.

My speech was delivered during the celebration evening at New College, in Swindon.

The following abstract was taken from the article from Villiers Park's website (as was the photograph in this post). The original article can be found by following this link.

Josh Drinkwater, 19, from Swindon, is studying his first year of medicine at University of Bristol. He returned to speak about life after his four years on the Swindon Scholars Programme.  “I can stand here today and talk to you because of Villiers Park,” said Josh. “My A-Levels were horrible. I tried to sail through but I found I couldn’t cope with managing my time or my stress. A simple review with my mentor, of how I was studying and learning to prioritise helped me through. I still use the skills I developed on the programme, such as communication skills, in my training – for example when I’m talking to patients in clinical settings.”

Villiers Park logo.

My speech, because there were some important things in it I wanted to highlight to you guys, the readers, too!

Hello! My name is Josh and I am a student who worked quite closely with Villiers Park to fulfil my aspiration of studying medicine at my first choice university. I have been a Villiers Parks Scholar for the past five years from when I went into Year 10 at Lydiard Park Academy.

My first year of uni has been very eventful! I have been on many placements from inside Southmead Hospital to doing home visits in Yate, just outside of Bristol. My course has involved lectures on maths, sociology, law, anatomy and biomedicine and even involved going into dissection rooms for a hands-on way of learning about the body.

But I can stand here today and talk to you because of Villiers Park. If it hadn’t been for being a scholar, I probably wouldn’t have achieved my goal.

Firstly, there was trying to become the ‘perfect’ candidate that universities desire. Villiers Park helped me through that by teaching me skills that I thought I already had within me. Instead, I learnt how to apply my skills in different applications. With the communication skills that I learnt in masterclasses throughout the years, I have applied these to my part time job at John Lewis but also even today when I talk to patients in a clinical setting.

Residentials helped build-on pre-existing team working skills. We were all close friends in my cohort so we worked well anyway, but the residentials taught us how we can work effectively. But I could demonstrate all of these skills in my interview for medicine.

I was part of a group called MedSoc which was put together by some of the mentors here today with the aim of helping prospect medics reaching their goal of studying medicine. The workshops would include interview practices, how to select the university for you and what exactly medicine consists of – delivered by presentations and guest speakers throughout the year. MedSoc catalysed my passion for medicine and gave me a driving push which I never knew I needed. I am now privileged to say that I’ve had the opportunity to be on the other side of that table now in the workshops as I delivered a presentation in January to students who were looking at studying a Health Science after they have completed their A-Levels. I have even set up a blog to help inform the students on what studying medicine is really like to help aid them in their decision to pursue it and prepare them for their interviews.

After briefly mentioning it, A-Levels were horrible. I can tell you now that A-Levels are probably the worst thing that you’ll encounter on your path into university. It is completely different to GCSEs so you need to adapt quickly because the “gap” between the two are definitely as big as what the teachers make it out to be. I struggled with my A-Levels I’ll admit and I found them extremely challenging. But that is the beauty of having a mentor as a scholar. At the beginning of the year, I tried to sail through making out to Julie that I was coping. But as it progressed, I realised I couldn’t deal with managing my time and stresses on my own. My mentor was not only open ears that wouldn’t judge me for admitting I was struggling, but was also a handy friendly voice of guidance that provided that support and advice that I needed. Just a simple review of how I was studying, what I was struggling with and possibly implicating a new method of prioritising the content I needed to learn helped me through. It was at that point I admitted I needed the help that I could change the way I worked. It allowed me to then start making progress that was apparent in practically the very final mocks before my summer exams of Year 13.

So I owe it to Villiers Park really. Not only did you help me with finding the university that I really wanted to study at through mentor meetings and workshops, but you helped fuel that passion that I had for medicine. You helped prepare me for my interviews which I was luckily successful in to then receive three out of five offers. The next challenge was achieving those grades, which I have already explained was tough. But, you picked me up again and put me back on the tracks and the support given was enough for me to then sit my exams, more confident than I was a few months before, to then reach those entry requirements and get into Bristol University.

But it didn’t all stop there. Even this year, I am still using the skills and foundations that I had learnt throughout being a scholar. I passed on the tips I learnt from doing a literature ‘dissection’ on a residential to my friends as we were completing an assignment based on three science papers that were in the New England Journal for Medicine. I use those team working skills practically all the time in clinics and facilitation sessions when I am with my group. And finally, I have built on those communication skills and have used them when I’ve been delivering presentations to small groups, speaking with patients on wards or even preparing speeches for presentation evenings! So I would like to say a massive thank you to Villiers Park, as I do every year, but I can’t put into words exactly how grateful I am and how proud I am to call myself a scholar of such a great programme.

As some quick words of wisdom to current scholars, just remember you are the one in control of your destiny – which actually sounds really cheesy but it’s true. Your teachers teach you the content, the past papers help consolidate the knowledge and your mentor is there to provide some guidance and support. However, it is your hard work and determination that will get you to your end goal, whether that be an apprentice or university. Use the resources around you but try your best in everything you do and you’ll have that sense of pride when the outcome is what you intended. Don’t blame the teachers, don’t blame the paper but I’m not saying blame yourself!! But take it as a stepping stone of learning and the best way to learn is through making mistakes. 

I wish you the best of luck in the future. Thank you for listening.

Summary of Year 1

Let's do an overall summary of Year 1...

• I arrived at university and met my flatmates. I had to make all new friends from my course and my student accommodation, who thankfully remained by my side throughout the whole year!
• I did house viewings and decided on my accommodation flat for next year!
• I learnt soooo much! From anatomy, to law, to sociology, to ethics, to histology, to biomedicine to biochemistry! There has been so much content on each individual system in the body which you can't help but feel excited to turn up to lectures.
• I have handled a lot of cadaver specimens and have been exposed prematurely to death. I have also taken part in shadowing a pathologist during a post mortem.
• I have taken part in clinical shadowing at GPs, where I did some clinical skills and did individual home visits. Here, I learnt how important communication is when it comes to talking to patients.
• I have also shadowed doctors at Southmead Hospital and have been taught by both patients and the teaching fellows about body systems and some clinical skills - such as taking blood pressure, blood glucose levels, auscultation and palpation.
• I completed an essay project, as well as an art project. This is based on medicine being both a science and an art.
• I have worked as HCA as part of the course, where I worked four shifts of 7 hours and one 12 hour shift.
• I loved being a HCA so much, I then went on to apply for a job as a healthcare assistant in Bristol. I went for the interview and then received my job offer. I then attended the training and now awaiting some shifts to sign up to!
• I have completed my exams, January and Summer and passed to progress into Year 2!

I can't believe how much I feel I know ever since starting just less than a year ago!

Year 1 has been filled with some very exciting moments and I have enjoyed every second of university life. You are so independent and have so much fun which is incomparable to any other experience I have ever had! I would say I would love to do it again, but I'm really excited to go into Year 2!

I hope all of your exams go well and you receive the results you both want and deserve. Have a great summer, and I will speak to you in September if not before!

...and the results are in...

Guess who is 20% a qualified doctor??? ME!!!

Yup, somehow, I passed my exams! I feel like it was a huge reward for all of the hardwork that I put in towards the end of the year (from the beginning of May up to the exams) even with the circumstances going on.

I will use this chance to say about the grading with medicine as well! I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the last posts so I'll say here, medicine does not have the standard first, 2:1, 2:2, third etc. scale which is used to measure and assess other courses.

So you will hear that a lot, "Did you get a first or a second in your exam?" around the university. But medicine is simply a pass or fail. This then determines your next progression into the following year. So because of this, I have completed Year 1 and will progress to Year 2 next year!

I'm progressing into Year 2!

Thank you to everyone that supported me, especially the past month. I am truly grateful for everything.

Training as a HCA

Exams are now behind me, so I have been busy concentrating on my HCA role!

I had the pleasure of going to Southmead Hospital to undergo my beginning training as a healthcare assistant. I was lucky to be told that I only needed to attend the first day of the five-day induction because I was a medical student.

Looking at the programme, the first few induction training sessions were about patient safety, hygiene, human factors in the delivery of care and the importance of communication and rules of social media. Other days involved safeguarding, dementia etc - which I had already experienced when being introduced as a HCA for placements here in December!

The beautiful Southmead Hospital!

The training was delivered in a lecture theatre in the Academy. I was sat with other healthcare assistants, student nurses, porters and domestics who were also just starting their jobs.

The training was very informative and was a great opportunity to revisit things I had forgotten since December! I collected my uniform and have received a new ID badge (which I can keep alongside my medical student one!) so it feels all so real now!

I am waiting for the actual starting date to which I can sign up for bank shifts now.

Cheeky coffee and bacon butty for the journey to Bristol!

I was supposed to be attending manual handling the following Tuesday but this was last minute cancelled. Therefore, I'm waiting for this to be rearranged and then I will fill you in again with how that was!

Summer Exams

Preparing for the exams has awful and sadly not because of the stress of exams. Whilst at university, I was informed by my friends at home that a close dear friend of mine had passed away at his university. This came as a great shock to me and I wasn't prepared to process such news as devastating as this. I was fortunate enough to attend his funeral and speak my eulogy that aimed to portray his fun and exciting character that I miss dearly. His funeral was the 6th June, whereas my first exam was the 5th June and my second exam was the 7th June. So sandwiched between the two examinations, I had to travel home promptly within the time to ensure I would make his funeral.

...

But the main question - what were the exams like?

Short answer: Difficult! Haha.

It's nothing like A-Level testing. The exam MCQs give you five possible answers to a question that could be a one line to a whole paragraph describing a patient's history. You guarantee that you will find yourself deciding between two answers and then it's pot luck if you aren't confident to the answer!

The exams were also weighted massively on the delivery of teaching. The majority of the exam was on physiology and function, closely followed by anatomy and then broken up into questions on the sociological, behavioural and ethical aspects of the course.

Here is an example of a medical MCQ! (And how I would approach such question in an exam situation)

Which cranial nerve is responsible for the abduction of the eye?
a) CN II
b) CN III
c) CN IV
d) CN V
e) CN VI

So... the breakdown on this question. You could either work out each individual cranial nerve and what it supplies, but I found it was always quicker to just dissect what the exam question is both asking for and looking for.

I'd begin with a quick sketch of the eye...

A small sketched diagram I would draw next to the question that I've annotated. The line on the left represents the nose, showing that this eye would be the left eye.

On the sketch, I would quickly drawn on the eye movements and the name of the muscles that are responsible for this. I would have learnt this mainly from my anatomy sessions when I located these muscles on cadavers and learnt their functions. Then, in the neuro case, I would've elaborated on each individual cranial nerve and what motor supplies they have.

I would then draw the names of the eye movements:

Another small diagram showing the names of movements of the left eye.

This is important because I need to be able to understand what movement I am trying to identify. In this case, abduction is the lateral movement (meaning the eyeball moves away in a direction away from the nose). Comparing the diagrams, it is clear that lateral rectus is the muscle responsible for abduction of the eyeball.

Then, I would just have to either remember from my revision that the lateral rectus muscle is innervated by CN VI. Or, I could've looked at the answers in turn. Cranial nerve six, CN VI, is actually called the abducens nerve. So this would've saved me time if I had remembered the common name of this cranial nerve! Or I could've worked down the functions and remember that CN II is the optic nerve which provides sensory information of sight etc. Or, remembered that CN VI is the only cranial nerve to supply the lateral rectus muscle ... which causes eye abduction!

It may not make sense now, but you'll be laughing how easy this is to understand when you complete your first months of medical school - trust me!

If you are looking for my opinion of the exams, I would say they were very difficult. They were quite confusing and used a lot of application! I know in the example, I gave an MCQ which would be structured similar to how the teaching would be delivered. But there were a lot of questions on symptoms and a list of possible conditions which we had touched on throughout the year.

I found the second paper a lot harder than the first. Obviously, the circumstance of my friend's funeral being present during my revision time didn't help either, but I will confirm that I did apply for extenuating circumstances. Results day will tell me more!

Good luck to everyone else who has exams at this time!

Preparation for Exams

At the moment, I still attend university in the week because we are still learning content. We are still learning about the Neuro system (which involves the brain, central nervous system and peripheral nervous system) and the Endocrine system (which involves the glands and hormones around the body). As mentioned before, this content is being delivered through lectures, facilitation sessions (because we are doing CBL), laboratory sessions and the clinical placements at the hospital and the GP.

How the majority of my days were spent throughout May!

Between these hours at university, I have been finding the time to balance revising for my exams. I have two exams this year which are both written multiple choice exams. Whereas in my January exams, if you can remember, I had to complete a written examination of MCQs (multiple choice questions) but also a 'spot' function exam (which involves cadaver specimens with pins labelling structures we should identify / explain their function fully) - but in my summer exams, I just have two written papers! Both of these exams are MCQs, 80 of them, which will test all aspects of the course from the beginning (Yes! ... from September 2017!)

So, I had to revise all of the ethics, all of the behaviour and social sciences (including sociology), some of the law content and the biomedical parts. Alongside this, I had to revise anatomy, histology and the function of each of the structures I could identify from a variety of photographs.

The worst part about revising for these exams is that I love working from past papers! They were my 'go to' resource which helped consolidate my knowledge. But unfortunately, I have no bank of past paper questions to go by! Some of our lectures though did give a small example of what a multiple choice question concerned with the lecture would look like, so I did stick all of those into a document that I printed and made an attempt at.

I did find quite a few online MCQ flashcard applications which had pre-made Year 1 medical questions which were composed by other medical students. Obviously, there were a lot of questions I didn't know because they weren't part of my curriculum. Therefore, I broke up the content and searched for questions on those individually. For example, looking up quiz MCQs on 'Anatomy of the Thorax' or 'Histology Images of Epithelial Cells'.

My exams are in the beginning of June which is very late in comparison with my friends. My friends finish their exams mostly in the middle of May, where they will be heading home for summer. So, I will be revising in the flat alone! Some of my friends from other universities studying other courses had a few exams at the end of April and were done for the summer! I'm very jealous.

To revise, I found the best way to learn anatomy was to study myself! I drew on my body quite a lot, highlighting different areas which were important to remember. For example, remembering the palmar arches in the hand, and whether it is the radial or ulnar artery which supplies them mostly individually.

With all of the other notes I had typed up based on attending my labs and lectures, I practised writing them out by hand in a notebook. It was quite good practice to consolidate my learning in this way, as I was reading my notes and then testing whether I could reproduce the information on a blank page. If I made an error, I could learn from such mistake.

I drew on my arm to try and get an idea where the structures were located on myself.

This was also during the period of the heatwave that hit England! You can imagine how horrible it was to sit in the library as the scorching sun shone through the window and burnt your arm. It was more of a killer getting invited to join mates in pub gardens when you know you should be studying hard!

Caffeine overload! To stay awake, I found myself turning to Red Bull and coffee for the boost I needed!

I did give in though, I cooked a barbecue for my flatmates and we sat on the field drinking ciders and soaking up the sunshine while it was here!

Barbecuing on the downs!

Completed Art Project!

So this was the final project for my Year 1 creative piece. Yes! My very first art project has been completed and submitted - what do you think?

On the backboard that I stuck down the prescription medication to, I used empty tablet packets and some packets containing ibuprofen and paracetamol to add to the 'pharmaceutical' effect I was aiming for.

This was the reflection that I submitted alongside my creative piece:

Following the experience of meeting a kidney transplant patient on a home visit, I was profoundly affected by their dependency on such a wide range of treatments and drugs. It made me question whether the independence of home care has any great distinction from treatment on a ward. Due to how overwhelmed I was by the number of medications required for this patient’s basic survival, I decided to explore and emphasise this by use of an assemblage art piece constructed from mixed media.

The patient I have based this piece on suffered from two polycystic kidneys, hence why she had a kidney transplant. After the encounter, I went home and researched exactly what a polycystic kidney was and a brief explanation to its causation. When I saw how the polycystic kidney can become filled with large infected cysts, I thought this would be a perfect condition to replicate using clay. I have previous experience with clay and seek enjoyment in portraying ideas in a 3D and visual form.

This is the final product. The clay piece was mounted onto the board and the 'No Nails' set, I added pieces of string to show the connecting vessels and tubes! The red represent arteries (especially the superior mesenteric artery and the renal arteries), the blue represent the veins (being the renal veins) and the white represents the ureters that connect the kidneys to the bladder.

This three dimensional representation of how this ongoing treatment could be experienced by the patient, demonstrates how, even after the completion of a renal transplant surgery, the patient will never truly regain their independence from the medication. The patient did exclaim her dependence on the medication and did give an explanation to each of the tablets’ mechanism of action and its role in keeping her alive and preventing the rejection of the kidney. I couldn’t remember each tablet individually, so I found the NHS leaflet on renal transplantation which gave a run down of medication that is prescribed to a kidney transplant patient. I made the designs of the medicine boxes myself with a quick easy explanation on each of them (similar to how the patient described them to me).

In my piece, I have assembled the anatomy of the urinary system (including other abdominal organs). One thing that really stood out for me was the fact that they still keep both of the original polycystic kidneys in the patient’s body. I always assumed they were removed during the surgery, but I was told by my GP that they would only do this if the kidneys posted a further risk to the health of the individual (eg. It became cancerous). So, I wanted to educate the viewers of my piece that they do keep the kidneys within your body and that the transplanted kidney is placed into the iliac fossa.

Here are all the tablets I also made for the project, but didn't end up using!

Small tablets, pills and capsules that were created using clay.

Art Project...in progress

If you are interested in how the art assignment is working out at the moment, I have so far finished making the centre piece which is the anatomical representation of the abdomen. Being clay, it needs to dry out before it is fired and can be painted.

I'm thinking at the moment of painting the whole abdomen in its true colours (ie. slightly pinkish stomach, purple-like spleen, dark red liver etc) or painting them in paler pastel colours and the three kidneys in darker colours to bring attention onto them.

I plan to make small pills and capsules out of clay to represent the medication, and to stick this in some areas of the abdomen to show the reliance and dependence to keep the system working.

The holes in the hilum of the kidney and the major vessels in the centre (inferior vena cava and the abdominal aorta) will have coloured piping stuck into it which will connect them up. The clay was too fragile to roll thinly and connect as blood vessels (and the ureters), therefore I will do this after it has been fired.

The two kidneys have polycystic kidney disease, which meant I could use smaller pieces of clay rolled into balls to produce these cysts that are growing all over the kidney. I even scooped some clay out to represent burst cysts. The transplanted kidney is located at the bottom left.

As mentioned, the main purpose of my piece is to represent the dependence on medication (I was overwhelmed by the number of drugs transplant patients are administered after their operation!). So as the background of the board which my clay will be mounted to, I have designed these drugs based on the actual medication.

Example, I have found the name of certain immunosuppressants which are prescribed to renal transplant patients and have designed these on my computer (some based on their actual packets I could find online) and then printed these out and stuck them as a montage on the wooden board. I have also measured up and printed some of my own medication packets to stick to the boxes of over-the-counter medicines I had bought for this project. By doing so, I also have spare medicine packets that I can stick to my work too.

The montage of different medications that a renal transplant patient may be taking. I designed the packets online and stuck them to the board as a montage background for my clay piece.

Assignments.... science vs. arts!

At the beginning of the year, I remember laughing with my flatmates how great it is that we don't get as many essays compared to other subjects. One of my flatmates who does biology is always complaining about another essay or report she has to do.

But, we were set an awful essay on discussing *something* and its impact on human health and wellbeing. The *something* had to be appropriate and from a certain list we were given (ie. diet, exercise, loneliness etc). I decided to do how owning a dog affects human health and wellbeing, which I thought initially would be very interesting. Was it? Of course not. For every paper that said owning a dog lowers your blood pressure, there was a study that proved that wasn't the case.

My essay based on the impact of owning a dog on human health and wellbeing. One of the hardest parts of writing this essay was actually trying to reference using the Vancouver method as opposed to Harvard, which is what I'm used to!

It was very complicated and repetitive, but I ploughed through. I lost out on a really good night, but I guess it was my fault for leaving it until the week it was due. Literature reviews and breaking down medical scientific journals is a talent that I really don't think I have compared to my friends.

My uni though is trying to promote this concept of medicine being both an art and a science. Therefore, we have also been set an art assignment. We have to base this on a clinical encounter that we have had or observed.

I have decided to create a reflective piece based on a patient that I met whilst doing a home visit in my GP placement. She has polycystic kidney disease, and her poor kidney function led to her having a kidney transplant. I was very shocked to learn that unless cancerous or posting a serious threat to life, they keep the kidneys inside you! I always thought they removed it during a transplant, but no!

The patient told me about how she believes it's the medication that is keeping her going. So I have based my art project solely on the amazing concept of a renal transplant, but also the dependence on medication to stay alive.

The plan for my art piece: an anatomical representation of the abdomen with the transplanted kidney (from the posterior abdominal muscles, to the bladder, major blood vessels, two PKD-affected kidneys, a transplanted kidney, to the liver, the stomach and the spleen). This will be moulded out of clay, dried over the holiday and fired in a kiln in the final week and ready for the deadline of the 20th April. Surrounding my clay piece will be the tablets a renal patient will be taking to prevent rejection or any infection post-operation. I have researched these drugs online, and through the use of NHS renal transplant information leaflets which are given to patients before or after their transplant operation.

The beginning base for my anatomical representation of the abdomen, crafted out of clay. On the paper is my rough plan of how I plan to lay out the structures.

I will keep you updated on how this turns out!

Term 2 Done, One to Go!

...and shot to that!

That's another term completed, with just one more to go! This year is going so fast, I thought the teachers in my sixth form were exaggerating when they said it'll go this quickly.

This term has been full of the more sciencey anatomy body stuff which has made it 10 times more interesting and gripping! The labs have got more interesting definitely with an extension on the histology content, looking at how the epithelium of the bladder allows it to expand and return to its original shape etc.

This is what the typical student kitchen looks like - piles of washing up that "will be done tomorrow, I promise"

I have somehow survived on the amount I've drank and the fact I've probably eaten twice my body weight in pasta and jarred tomato and basil sauce. But one day I did cook for myself and my flatmate by surprising her with my steak-cooking skills!

The steak meal in discussion - including the homemade peppercorn sauce that sounds revolting on paper but tastes and smells perfect in person.

I made my own peppercorn sauce out of Vodka, gin, pink lemonade, ground pepper, baking powder, gravy, milk and butter - and it tasted like it had been made in a top restaurant (if I say so myself). If anything, it was very peppery and if it wasn't eaten fast enough, it would solidify and slide off your steak! If you want the recipe, just private message me!

I gave a talk to aspiring medical students for Villiers Park based on my experiences.

I've had the honour as well to be invited back to my school to give a talk regarding future aspirations post-18. Before this though, I was invited back to give a presentation to aspiring medical students at Villiers Park (in MedSoc that I was once part of) and explaining what it's like to be a first year medical student, how to get in and if medicine does seem what I expected! The students that attended (30+ I think!) asked some great questions throughout the slides and I can't believe that this time last year I was sat in their seats listening to a guy give a talk in MedSoc.

I recommended they read this blog, so they could be viewing this article with you!

Until next term, have a great Easter!

Getting the job as a HCA!

Prior to finishing this term, I had to complete some more hospital shifts as a healthcare assistant. During my week, I had the opportunity to work on the ward for complex needs. This allowed me to develop experience working with patients with high dependence and little or no independence at all. The majority of my shift involved taking observations and speaking with the patients and nurses, or helping patients feed or go to the toilet.

On break...with a disgusting cold cup of coffee...

I have recently really enjoyed working as a healthcare assistant so decided to apply for the job at the hospital as a Band 2 Healthcare Assistant - which I am happy to say I got the job! It could possibly mean I could stop commuting to my hometown to work in my retail store (where I have been working now for three years) and live permanently in my new city and work at the hospital there.

In this article, I'll describe some of the questions I was asked in my group interview regarding working at the hospital as a healthcare assistant...

• Why do you want to become a Healthcare Assistant? What are you currently doing?
• Have you had an experience which demonstrates your excellence in quality of care you deliver?
• Have you had an experience which demonstrates your respect for the patient and their dignity?
• What characteristics should a Healthcare Assistant have? What characteristics have you listed, do you demonstrate? (And provide some examples)

I also had to take part in a 30 minute numeracy paper and a 30 minute literacy paper in the assessment centre.

I got the results two days later, saying my job offer is conditional on a reference from my current line manager which was successful!

All of the nurses I have worked with have said that the perfect doctors have been healthcare assistants once in their life. Apparently, it creates great doctors who sympathise with the rest of the team and respect all the staff on the ward as you understand everyone's role, stresses and job role. This reduces the chance of a "pretentious doctor walking down the ward like they're better than everyone else."

Strike and Snow!

You can't escape it. I'm sure you've read it for yourself in the news, but the majority of university lecturers are currently on strike due to changes in their pension.

Some of my friends have been massively affected by these strikes! One of my friends who studies politics at my university has lost out on around four weeks of teaching. They have stated there will be some amendments to the end-of-year examinations to cater for this loss, but he has still had to pay for nothing for the past month!

Caption says it all really - bored students with their lecturers on strike have nothing better to do than try to score their teabag in a cup.

For us medical students, we weren't affected! We had one lecture on diet and nutrition which was cancelled, but the majority of our lectures and tutorials are delivered by actual NHS doctors. Therefore, they have the NHS pension so are not affected by the striking conducted by university lecturers across the UK.

But we were affected by the Beast from East! The university deemed it unsafe for students and staff to attend university so it closed its facilities. I lost out on a tutorial and a lecture, but I had managed to get to my placement in the hospital that morning!

I loved the university's response to the snow... they shut the university for the safety of the students. But the students retaliate by sledging down the steep hills in the uni accommodation on just trays from the catering cafe or recycling bin lids. I feel to be honest that closing the university put our safety at risk!

There was a massive bread crisis in all of our local grocery shops - how on earth will we have toast in the morning?!

Snow settled all over the university accommodation and the city. It made waiting for buses (if they ever arrived) harder when the benches are covered in snow. The Beast from the East forced you to buy that cappuccino from the cafe, otherwise you'd freeze to death!

Birthday Blues - away from home!

All of the cards I got to open on my 19th birthday at uni.

I don't know whether you guys are in the same boat as me, but I am a March baby. Therefore, just like other years, my birthday has always fallen in the centre of a school term so I'm used to having to spend the day at school before I come home and celebrate my birthday. But for the firs time, I was actually away for my birthday at university!

I was dreading it, but my flatmates made my birthday great! I enjoyed every second of it! They threw a surprise party for me when I got home from university with presents and a collection of photos of us all and they also posted embarrassing photos and videos of me on social media for my birthday!

I video messaged my family from my halls, which wasn't the same but as good as it gets. I took all of my cards to uni so I could at least open something from home, but I really did enjoy spending my 19th birthday with great people.

I love fish (and am a fishkeeper myself) so my flatmates made me a sea themed cake! And it tasted amazing!

We then went out, dressed as the Spice Girls for the themed night at the student nightclub. My birthday was a Monday, so it's student tradition (like a religion!) to go out and we celebrated my birthday! My flatmate, who has never gone to a club before and doesn't usually drink alcohol, came out especially for my birthday which made it even better!

Case-Based Learning

CBL = case-based learning; this is the type of teaching which my university is using to deliver its information to us medical students.

I find this such a great way of learning and it's very useful because it keeps all the information together. Each cycle is the same, just with a different system. So far for this year, we have studied the musculoskeletal system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, gastrointestinal system and the urinary system. After the holiday, in term 3, we will be studying the neuro system and finally the endocrine system.

The cases are taught in two week cycles. These two weeks contain three facilitation sessions, one day of labs (and one session in the anatomy dissection room), one day of placement (GP or hospital, these are rotated) and ten lectures that deliver information on this section.

At the beginning of the cycle, we are given a case (of around 500 words) which will introduce us to a condition or complaint being presented by a patient regarding the cycle. So for cardiovascular, we had a patient with high blood pressure. In the musculoskeletal case, we looked at the use of anabolic steroids to develop muscle mass. In the urology case, we looked at two people who drank a certain amount of water before a marathon and the effects of dehydration etc. The problems described in the case will then be explored in our lectures for this case.

As an example, I will be using the respiratory case:

• Three facilitation sessions where we discuss the current case that has been presented to us. We sit and go through the learning objectives in the first facilitation session at the beginning of the cycle. We can identify parts of the case we don't understand that may not be or fully covered in lectures, so we will distribute and delegate presentations to each other and present them in the following facilitation session. We have another facilitation session mid-cycle to work out where we all are, and then a final session to conclude the case and clarify any final information we are struggling with or want help with (from the guidance of our facilitator who supervises us).
• 10 lectures - all delivered on the respiratory system but divided up across the two weeks. In these lectures, we learnt about the anatomy of the lung, how the lungs ventilate to provide gaseous exchange, what is gaseous exchange and the respiratory and metabolic responses within the body (at a cellular and organ level).
• One lab session in anatomy where we used cadavers to study the respiratory anatomy. In this session, we located the lungs, the pleura and other structures in the chest and mediastinum. But we also learnt about reading and interpreting x-rays of the chest and an introduction to taking a chest examination.
• I had placement in the GP, which meant I had the opportunity to do a home visit and meet a patient who had severe asthma. On the home visit, I was able to use my history taking skills to listen to the patient and understand the difficulties she experiences, but also apply the knowledge I had learnt in this cycle about the pathology and physiology causing her symptoms.
• People that had placement at the hospital for this cycle had the opportunity to practise percussion (banging your fingers on the chest to produce a sound which can signify hollowness [from air] or dullness [from a build-up of fluid]). There was also the chance to auscultate the chest (use a stethoscope to listen to the different lobes of the lung) and where to place the stethoscope.
• One lab session using the simulation patient to look at the effects of hyperventilation and climbing in altitude on the patient's respiratory rate, consciousness and oxygen saturation levels.
• One lab session on the effects of exercise on respiration (so doing an exercise activity and measuring the increase in respiratory rate etc).

This is the same structure for all of the cases.

Labs - about talking?

This might be hard to understand, but we do have labs...not in labs...and not a pipette in sight!

These labs are based on consultation skills. They are endorsed with our placements, either in the GP or the hospital, which in turn strengthen the lectures and tutorials on a particular aspect of the consultation.

The consultation is broken up into different elements. These elements obviously craft together to make the perfect consultation with the purpose of finding out what is wrong with the patient (by taking a history and an examination) and then interpreting your findings to come to a conclusion and then a plan of action (such as medication).

If we are given a part of the consultation, like examining the complaint which is being presented to us by the patient, we will have a lecture on this. In the lecture, we will be taught about the purpose of taking a history of a presented complaint, and the type of questions we will have to ask. We can even hear of examples of when this goes wrong, or poor practice in doctor consultations that leads to poor outcome for the patient.

After the lecture, we meet in our small tutorial groups of around eight peers and discuss what we have learnt from the lecture. These are our "labs".

These labs involve a lot of role play. Such as acting out particular consultation scenarios, structured by a plan that has been prepared for the session. For example, we could be pretending to be Mr Smith who has a family history of cardiovascular disease and I have just presented very high blood pressure and need to answer my peer's questions (as the doctor) to help them breakdown my presented complaint to build up a possible diagnosis and plan of action.

These lectures and tutorials can be delivered either in the university or the hospital I'm doing my placements in.

The labs also involve developing communication. My university's Medicine course was updated last year (I'm the first cohort) to provide more teaching on the communication aspect of being a doctor. Imagine having a doctor who didn't know how to talk to you or deliver the information correctly or understandably. Therefore, this year they are focusing on providing more teaching on this! So in the labs, we learn how to use vocal cues in our consultations to give better understanding (eg. the importance of paraphrasing to show understand and using it as an opportunity to make sure you've collected all of the relevant points).

For example, we ask patients "What is your past medical history?" and they often think only of diseases and illnesses. They'll tell you about their pneumonia or chest pain ... but they always forget surgery! So make sure you ask whether or not the patient has had any recent surgery, as this can explain symptoms. Abdomen pain can sometimes be explained by previous surgery in this region creating weakness in the bowel.

Postmortem?!

I had an amazing opportunity to observe a postmortem this week! I am lucky that my facilitator is a pathologist who works in a coronary court to carry out postmortems on patients who have died 'suspiciously' (not like forensic murder!)

So what is a 'suspicious' death? According to my facilitator, this is where a patient has died unexpectedly, but hasn't seen a GP in the past two weeks before their death. This tends to be when a body has been found at home, and the death has come as a shock.

I was really shocked to how the postmortems are carried out. They are nothing like how they are portrayed in the media. The body is examined in a brightly lit lab - there is no small light dangling in a dark room with four people surrounding the body with their tools. In fact, there are four bodies being examined at the same time with one person doing it.

I won't go into the details in my blog, as I understand there is a line. But I would recommend you look at how they examine the body. They remove every organ from the body before examining each organ in detail. This is important to identify any health issues which may not be directly obvious from the outside as you are after all identifying the cause of death. For example, it is hard to look at a body that has been found, and see that the person died of a cardiac arrest. A postmortem will reveal hard crunchy coronary suggesting atherosclerosis that could've resulted in a myocardial infarction that killed the person. I would recommend you looking at the method they use to remove these body parts as I found it particularly fascinating.

This is an experience I was delighted to have the opportunity to take part in. I feel it endorsed my anatomy, as it was the most recent view I have seen of the internal anatomy of a human. Especially when the organs were removed, it was amazing to relate them to how close they appear in standard anatomy labelled diagrams! The liver is that red/purple colour in real life, despite it appearing greyer in the anatomy labs.

What's harder than searching for the phrenic nerve? Searching for a house for next year!

This is something very crucial that, I feel, was very masked from all my Year 1 preparation for university! You must be prepared to start house viewing, basically from November.

Yes, you read that correctly. You will start university in September. You will enjoy the beginning of term, all the way through to October. Then in November, you should be getting prepared to start accommodation hunting ready for Year 2!

This is my flatmate, from Year 1 and now Year 2, signing the tenant forms and confirming our house for next year!

This is because all of your peers and other students at university will roughly be looking all at the same time. The student letting agencies will be releasing properties slowly, but will be turning them over very very quickly.

Here is my little nifty guide to help prepare you for this, because house hunting was everything but enjoyable (to an extent!) and easy!

1. From September/October, this is the perfect opportunity to start flatmate-hunting! You should be using this time to work out who you should and shouldn't be living with next year. This is crucial stuff, because it's ridiculous how you're house hunting so early yet you're not sure whether or not these people are still wearing their "first impressions count!" masks and could actually change as the year progresses. Personally, I feel living with your current flatmates is a safe option as you can address problems fairly early on (eg. "Please can you start washing up after you've cooked?" or "Please don't use my tray if you're not gonna wash it?" etc) ready for next year.
2. Some people do choose to keep medic-orientated. So if you've made some great friends in the course, or even across other courses, then maybe consider living with them next year! Either way, I have found in my city that finding accommodation for a larger house (ie. 6/7 people) is a lot easier than a smaller house (ie. 3/4 people).
3. Book as many viewings as you can in different properties - don't go by the photos! This works in two ways: don't judge a property by it's naff photos because the 'small' bedroom photographed could turn out to be the best in the house and the one you want! And, don't judge a property by the way it looks in the photograph without seeing it for yourself. If I'm honest, I didn't practice what I'm currently preaching as this is what I've done. I have put down a deposit and paid the agency fees to a house I haven't seen, my flatmates went to the viewing whilst I was on placement so I haven't seen my house!
4. Booking as many property viewings will educate you on what you should be looking for: mould, condensation, cleanliness, washing facilities etc. Make a list of things that are important to you, such as en suite bathrooms or a living space, and help this to refine your searches when booking different property viewings.
5. If current tenants are in the property as you are viewing, use them as accurate reviewers of the landlord! Use it as an opportunity to ask questions for honest answers, like how quick are repairs done and what are the catastrophic disadvantages of living here? Like neighbours that hate noise or a leaky roof in the winter may not be highlighted in the paperwork or leave the estate agent's mouth whilst she's giving you the viewing. It's also the perfect time to ask about how much the bills are for the property as you will need to factor this into rent.
6. Review your estate agent that you're using to buy the property before you go ahead. We did this after - just to find that our estate agent is currently rated 1/5 stars because of their inconsistency, poor professionalism and reliability. For example, the tenancy agreement that was emailed to us was full of awful spelling and grammar mistakes.
7. Have your deposit and the agency fees at the ready. Be prepared to make a payment of around £1,000 in the November-January period if you have currently secured yourself a property. I had to pay £500 in agency fees, and then the deposit of around £485. Obviously this was the greatest shock, because I did not have £1,000 ready to transfer towards the beginning of my first year in university!
8. Finally, you need to be quick. My flat were fairly quick on the ball. We started searching in November and got the house sorted in January/February. My friend however only secured their house towards the end of March, he was very worried he wouldn't have a house for next year! But also, you will be viewing the property alongside other students who are viewing at the same time. In every property, I feel I was viewing houses with three other groups. In one property, we were looking at the larger bedroom and walking downstairs when the estate agent then told us that the other group had already signed the paperwork and had just bought this property and she 'apologised' we were too late.

You have been warned! Make sure you are prepared to go house hunting, and have £1,000 (roughly) ready to be able to put a deposit down on the next house for Year 2. And of course, make sure you choose the right flatmates to live with!

If you can't, and find yourself struggling, my social media at the moment is full of people advertising for new flatmates. For example, someone who has had to dropout of university for unseen circumstances, and is looking for a new flatmate to replace them. So if you do miss out, or can't find the suitable people to live with, keep your eyes peeled on the social media platforms!

Exam Results

When I left you before Christmas, I described about my stresses of exam revision over the holidays but also the structure of the exams I took part in.

I can happily say I have passed both exams! Thankfully, I have clearly revised what I had needed to for my advantage and have managed to somehow score greater than that pass percentage so that my grade sits in "green".

We were sent a generic email prior to our exam release time (which is set at a certain time and date, so we had to wait until 1:00pm for our results to be released). In the email, it was detailed what the pass mark was for both exams, and a general average. As it appears in the email, on average everyone has passed which is great for the year group!

But now that these exams are over, we get to move on and knuckle down more into the case-based learning aspect of our course.

A small side note though, I did take part in a fairly difficult consultation while completing my GP placement. While sat in the GP surgery, the GP I was shadowing met a patient who was battling with depression. He had progressed to a serious stage, where he contemplated ending his life and his value in this world. I found it very interesting to observe how the GP approached the patient's feelings to help break down the presented complaint in a comfortable matter.

To be honest, the appointment really hit me as I sat there. Hearing how the patient was describing his own worth, I realised how important mental health and wellbeing really is. Its significance is often suppressed. I, myself, have battled with mental health issues in the past with low mood (but I am grateful for the prescription medication which helped me get back on track). But today I witnessed when medication isn't the answer as the complaint is far more serious.

My partner and I from the placement then went home to discuss how we felt. Sometimes it is very important to speak openly but privately (respecting confidentiality) if you are struggling to cope. Many universities, including mine, have specialised student support which is readily available for you to approach and seek help if you do need it.

I feel for the situation you are going through right now, as I have experienced it myself. Whether it be application stress or exam stress, you can pull through this! Don't let it affect your mood, and if it does, monitor it closely. If you notice your mood deteriorating fast, whether it be a personality change (for the worse) or your attention/concentration being very weak, seek help and support and you'll be back to normal. Remember though, talk and use these support networks.

It was nice to sit down and enjoy a bottle of wine with a friend in the bar conservatory, talking about our results.