It’s bizarre. I’m a guy in my early twenties, and yet I find myself developing momentary crushes on female registrars and consultants who are about 20 years older than me. I have no idea why, as I don’t typically find myself attracted to people outside of my general age range. It’s probably something to do with the combination of competence and the fact they have authority over me. They don’t even have to be particularly physically attractive either.

Please tell me I’m not the only one 😂

EDIT: it’s actually year 3 exam if that changes anything
yes i know i should’ve started earlier and im deeply reflecting but my last block is GP and i was hoping to consolidate my learning then but now im quite worried since im actually not planned to see that many patients as i thought!
My plan is passmed and spranki since my pre-clinical knowledge is quite ok? i’ve just unfortunately not yet adapted to the shift to clinical management but i need to pass so please let me know which methods you used that helped?

I really want to spend this year getting comfortable with performing Dops/procedures on patients but not sure what's the best way to achieve this.

Any tips on which departments/wards are best to get these done:

- Venepuncture

- Cannulas + IV fluid line prep

- Injections

- Swab taking

- Wound care

Tbh I find GP placement to be really good for taking bloods and doing injections but I have my GP rotation last - just before exams so don't want to leave it last minute just in case

I’m starting my first year in medical school this week and a relative was talking to a local consultant in Tescos, who was apparently impressed by my A-level results (4A*) and said that I should reach out if I want to do a project in their specialty.

Obviously I will be absolutely useless in any sort of project as I’m only starting and know nothing, I’m assuming the consultant was just being polite and making conversation but on the chance that it could lead to something (even in a few years time), would it be worth reaching out with an email or through LinkedIn?

I’m assuming consultants get plenty of emails like this from students in clinical years and foundation doctors who actually have something to offer in a project, and I’d rather not come across as overbearing/annoying to a consultant who I will definitely run into in a few years (Northern Ireland so small community).

I’m well aware that in first year my priority should just be keeping up with the content but I’d rather not throw away a networking opportunity that could help my career in the future.

Any advice/opinions would be really appreciated.

Hi!

Spranki doesn’t seem to be downloadable anymore, does anyone know why and when it will be back up?

It just says “404 Page not found the page you are looking for doesn’t exist or has been moved”

Thanks!

I am planning on going abroad for my elective, but I was wondering about the conditions you have to meet for NHS reimbursement.

Im currently getting free accommodation by the hospital I have my placements at, and I tend to commute from home when I feel like it, but by the time I go on my elective I would've moved back home fully.

Does that mean I won't be able to claim the £82.50 back for my accommodation costs on elective?

Hi I’ve created custom revision set based on what topics we’ve covered so far using the MLA deck but I want to only do 1 and 2 hammer questions. How do I set them to that? I can’t see any difficulty options within edit
Thanks

How hard is it to pass 3rd year exams?

I’ve just started and I’m already feeling really overwhelmed and scared about the exams. I’m finding some of the lectures difficult to understand and I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to approach studying.

For those who have been through it, how did you structure your studying? What resources did you find most useful? I’ve heard people recommend PassMed and QuesMed, but I’m not sure whether they’re worth subscribing to.

I’d really appreciate any advice on how to survive the year and prepare for the exams without completely burning out.

How did you structure your week?

When did you usually study and how?

Roughly how many hours a week did you spend studying?

What resources would you recommend?

Is there anything you wish you’d known when you first started, anything that saves you from failing?

Any advice or reassurance would be massively appreciated!

Hi, I am a final year medical student (cannot change my flair for some reason), and beginning to think about where I want to do F1/F2.

I know my top choice, but struggling to work out my 2nd/3rd/4th preferences, etc.

Was wondering if anyone who has been through the process has any advice on things to look at to factor into decision-making?

TIA

As the title says, I'm looking for online sources, past QI's, posters to get ideas for a QI project we have to run for our final year. I haven't had much luck yet finding something substantial.

If it's going to help, we are trying to do a surgery themed QI and I am already in the process of asking around to residents so right now I just need a library or database of past quality improvement projects I can go through to get ideas.

Any tips would be appreciated

Hi. I am a 4th year Medical student in London. I went to Uni of St Andrews for first 3 years and achieved a BSc in Medicine. Now I am in my 5th year of studying and 4th year of MBBS in London. From what I see around, it seems like future specialties require so many things that will make your application competitive. E.g right now I am interested in Ophthalmology, Dermatology and Psychiatry, the latter being less competitive. However I have seen people who have multiple publications, posters, conferences and have teaching experience etc who manage to get in. What can I do now to make my application competitive? Are there opportunities jn foundation years to do anything? What things would you recommend doing right now to make my application competitive?
Do the grades for MBBS count for anything later in specialty applications? E.g being in 4th year I can spend more time studying and get better grades or work on other projects? Also does the BSc in Medicine also help with anything?
For my first 4 years I was mostly trying to get a pass and was just enjoying university, sports and travelling. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

I’m a final-year UK medical student and I’m planning to sit USMLE Step 1 in December, with my final-year UKMLA/medical school written exam at the end of January.

I’m basically starting proper Step 1 prep from scratch now. From now until December, I’m thinking of putting around 80% of my revision time into Step 1 (UWorld, First Aid/Bootcamp etc.) and keeping maybe 20% for UK-specific/final-year stuff.

My reasoning is that there seems to be a pretty big overlap in the actual medicine, especially pathology, pharmacology, physiology and clinical presentations, so I’m hoping that doing Step properly will give me a strong foundation for the UKMLA. Then, once Step is done, I’d have roughly 4–6 weeks of dedicated UKMLA prep to switch over to NICE guidelines, UK-specific management, ethics, prescribing, screening, etc.

The obvious issue is that I need to pass my finals to graduate lol, whereas Step 1 is technically optional, so I’m aware this is a bit of a risky strategy.

For anyone who has done both:

• How much did Step 1 prep genuinely help with the UKMLA?
• Is ~1 month of UKMLA-specific revision after Step enough if my general medical knowledge is strong?
• Would you keep the 80/20 split until December or start incorporating more UKMLA earlier?
• Has anyone actually sat Step this close to finals and would you do it again?

I really want to sit Step this year, and most likely will, but I also obv don’t want to screw myself over for finals. Interested in brutally honest opinions, especially from people who have taken both.

I'm a 3rd year, and starting this year we're going to have MOSLERs instead of OSCEs and I just wanted some tips and advice on how to prepare for them.

KCL student here and i cannot even begin to explain how annoying the system our school uses for sign offs is. Even if i get the person signing me off to fill out the feedback etc. on the spot they still need to go on their email to click and verify the sign off before it actually counts for anything. Everyone is HORRIBLE at doing this as they are all (very fairly so) busy and not checking their emails 24/7 for some random sign offs.

Just wondering if other med schools also use this system or is there another alternative e.g. signature in logbook on the spot I could raise to KCL to hopefully get this rubbish system changed?

TIA!

Just a pretty simple one. Do any of you guys think you’ll finish your MBBS and not practice medicine?

Maybe even go for jobs in law,tech,consulting, finance,etc, whilst completing foundation years so you have something to fall back on.

Would just be interesting to hear of the alternative plans people have or any graduates that did this.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get to write a chapter for a published educational textbook?
And general advice on how long this can take

Thanks :)

Just started third year and I’ve bought a passmed subscription as it’s apparently what a lot of people in older years used.

But I’m not sure how to use it. Do I just do the questions and learn that way or learn the conditions and then do questions?

I made ankis from my lectures in years 1 and 2 and that seemed to work pretty well so I might supplement passmed with anki but I’m a bit lost atm so would appreciate some help!!

anyone have contacts in malaysia who reply fast for elective?

Im going into my second year at medical school and I have tried cold emailing for research opportunities (only mananaged to email one person so far 😅) and they got back to me saying that they do have an opportunity for me to help out with a final year project at the dental school. The study itself is about a topic that intersects with medicine. I would be doing a review. I am interested and I think it would be good experience.

But it runs alongside my studies so I was wondering if its a good idea to take it as ik second year is intense. And also if it is okay/useful thing to do.

Any thoughts?

Thank you!

I’m a first year med student in the uk. I might get a part time job. It’s tutoring . I was thinking of doing it during weekends, mostly Saturdays. I am worried that I can’t balance mes school with a part time job. I would like to know if 1st year is heavy or not ? Do you think it’s doable ?

Thank you in advance .

I’m a final year student and just finished a block where I was paired with another student.
I had a good time on placement, thought everything was going well until feedback from our supervisor came out. He wrote nice sentences about the other student, and left mine blank. Objectively everything is okay and our supervisor probably didn’t expect us to compare notes but I can’t help but feel hurt/jealous of the other student’s “better” feedback.

I know I need to work on my self confidence and also try and learn from the other student, but it stings. How do you get better at not comparing yourself to others too much? Because I know this will be a recurrent thing while working as a doctor also..

How we feeling? Honestly have no clue how it’ll go

So, today while on wards I was told to scribe. I blanked as I low key do not know how?

I mean I know what to write but I got no structure. As a student I know you learn those things as an FY. I want to learn now to simplify my life.

Where can I learn the structure of writing notes? All I know you write it under progession notes:

Ward Round Name - Level.

PC:

Today:

O/E:

Plan:

Is that it? How can I make sure it stands out nice? I would appreciate any help!