Slowly, Slowly...

Painfully, bit by bit, I'm getting closer to doing these blinking FPAS questions. I've sat down, I've brainstormed and I've come up with some ideas. Nothing fully written out, not even a first draft, but a nice list of useful bullet points of cases and learning points I got from them.

These questions are really succeeding to make me feel completely inadequate. What personal achievements do I have? Why do they all sound so stupid? Why don't I have publications, presentations, motivation?!

Non-medic friends and family are always exclaiming that I must be clever and I must be so proud of what I've achieved, but these questions have really made me pick myself to parts. It's not a nice feeling and to be honest I can't wait until they've been handed in.

I've heard of quite a few people who've already submitted theirs. Does this mean they've been working their socks off? Are their applications amazing? Have they just rushed it because they don't care? Do they have so many things to write about that they found it so easy it was done in a couple of hours?

Deadline is in just over a week so I might stop moaning about them by then. It's going to be tough to put the application to the back of my mind until the 8th of December when jobs are allocated.

Lily xXx

Popular Questions

So it looks like the simple act of posting up the FPAS questions has caused me to get an insane number of hits, well and insane number for this little blog anyway.

I wonder what people are hoping to find when searching? For some it will just be curiosity and wanting to look at the questions. For others it may be advice on answering the questions. Part of me wonders whether some people are out looking directly for ideas. I'm not sure how well that would be tolerated if plagiarism issues come up for some applicants? Apparently 2 applicants were excluded from the application process last year. I wonder what they did afterwards?

Having paniced and got myself into a state over my lack of personal achievements last last, I decided to pick up the knitting and leave the questions for a few hours. I'm so glad I did. Looking at them with fresh eyes this morning they aren't so horrible. Don't get me wrong, they aren't nice. But they aren't awful either.

Hopefully by bedtime tonight I'll have drafted an answer to the first question, and that should get me started. On a roll so to speak. I want to have the application done by Sunday night as I don't want it hanging over me while I start placement next week. I'm not sure how realistic that is?! Question for last years lot... how long did it take you to complete the application?!

Lily xXx

The Dreaded Questions

Today was the day that final year medics in the UK were both dreading and anticipating. The release of the "white-space questions" for the foundation job application process. Lots of people have been asking what they are, so here you go...

2. Effective team working can have a significant impact on the quality of the patient experience. * Describe a clinical case you have observed where there has been a multi-disciplinary approach to discharge planning. Describe how the interactions between the multi-disciplinary team impacted on the quality of the patient’s care. What have you learned from this experience about effective multi-disciplinary team working and how will you put this into practice as a foundation doctor? 3. Learning happens in a variety of contexts, some of which are opportunistic and some of which are planned. * Describe a clinical situation which provided you with an opportunistic learning experience. What approach did you take to consolidate and extend this learning? Compare this approach to how you may follow up a planned learning experience. How will you use these experiences of learning to improve the quality of teaching others? 4. Being able to prioritise tasks is an integral competence of a practising doctor and may be challenged by many factors. * You are the only foundation doctor on a busy surgical ward, and you feel under pressure to complete the tasks expected of you. A foundation doctor from another surgical team asks if you will hold their bleep for the second time this week as they want to go to theatre to observe an operation. What would your initial response be to your colleague? What factors would influence this response? If you had to hold the bleep, how would you prioritise the tasks? What additional learning needs does this situation highlight for you? 5. Communicating information to patients can be a complex undertaking. * Describe a clinical consultation that you have observed where the specific cultural, social or family circumstances of the patient posed additional challenges. Identify the techniques used within this consultation that contributed to this patient’s experience. What other approaches could have been used in this situation? What did you learn from this which you can apply to your future clinical practice? 6. Essential attributes of a foundation doctor are the ability to deal effectively with pressure and the ability to prioritise tasks. * Describe two different personal achievements to demonstrate that you possess both of these qualities, relating each achievement to a single attribute. For each attribute, give one specific example of how your achievement can contribute towards improving your performance as a foundation doctor.

I'm not going to share my answers until after the application procedure is over. This is to avoid any potential plagiarism issues. It's safe to be said that I am bricking it though. Personal achievements? Is getting through med school not a sodding achievement enough for you people?! Seriously. I've achieved nothing, so this question is worrying me.

I think a bottle of vino to lubricate the thinking process is needed...

Lily xXx

Getting in the Groove

After my initial panic at the start of the week, followed by complete mental brokenness, I think I'm back on form.

I've enjoyed some of the lectures we've had this week, but overall I'm glad I'm not still in my preclinical years. Clinics are definitely where the fun is. We've had a strange bunch of lectures. Mainly covering basics and trying to teach us how not to actively kill our patients in 9 months time. One lecture however was a little strange. It was all about coping mechanisms doctors have. Basically we all deny everything, act like hypochondriacs, shag anyone who moves and make really awful jokes about it all. This means we're going to ruin our own lives and probably commit suicide. Great then.

I'm itching to get back on the wards. I want to clerk patients, I want to formulate management plans, I want to follow the junior doctors around hoping to gain all their knowledge by osmosis. Mostly I want to start honing my practical skills and revising everything I need to know for finals. It feels like the last sprint now, so I want to give it my all.

Lily xXx

World's Most Annoying Man

It's been a while since I had a proper rant. Now I'm thoroughly Londonised again (read: stressed out) I think ranting is what I'll do best.

Today I want to rant about people that I don't think should be allowed to pass medicine. Well one person in particular.

Just for a moment think of the qualities you'd want in a doctor. As well as knowing their medical stuff if you're like me you'd want someone responsible and caring with a certain degree of matureness. Not a complete dickhead.

Unfortunately it was my pleasure (NOT!) too spend an entire day of lectures sitting in front of the Worlds-Most-Annoying-Man. I'd heard about him in passing before. It turns out that I'm not the only one he irritates. Apparently he's arrogant and tries to shag all the nurses and doctors. I was willing to just laugh that off as boyishness. Until yesterday.

He spent a whole day of lectures talking. Not just "what did you watch last night on TV?" chatter, but rude and obnoxious comments. "Ha ha ha ha... it's not only needlesticks that give you AIDS" during our occy health talk (rich coming from the man who's reported to have started a chlamydia epidemic last year....). Wolf whistling and singing songs at female lecturers as they came in (not big or clever), and generally trying (and failing to be funny).

Seriously. Can you be struck off for being a dickhead? I really hope so. If not I really pity his patients!!

Lily xXx

Broken

This is how I feel after the first day of every year.

Completely, utterly and irreparably broken.

Strangely this is quite a good feeling. Nice, satisfying exhaustion and fear.

It's amazing how just one day of lectures can be so draining. Especially when those lectures are all on admin things.

Seems like today the uni has just been reminding us what's expected of us and that no matter how hard we work there aren't enough jobs for us all at the end of this year. Oops. I'd have found it more upsetting if I didn't feel a little sorry for the foundation programme lady who came to talk to us and was practically laughed out of the lecture theatre. Temporary insanity occurs when you tell 500 people who've been studying 5 years that they might not have a job at the end of it.

I've been given a log book full of skills to get signed up in the next 9 months. It looks far too thick to get it all done. I'm at the denial stage of things where I don't want to look at it in detail quite yet lest it give me some kind of nervous breakdown. For me the next few weeks are going to be completely concentrating on foundation applications.

Once I've beaten jet-lag that is.

Until then I'd quite like a slave to unpack, clean my flat, cook me dinner, rub my aching feet, take lecture notes and brush my hair. Applications via email. No weirdos.

Lily xXx

So It Begins...

This time tomorrow I'll be popping on my shoes, grabbing my coat and slinging my handbag over my shoulder, leaving my flat for a late start at uni. The first day of the new academic year.

As per usual I've left everything to the last minute.

I'm still at my Dad's, haven't done my washing for elective and haven't sorted anything out for tomorrow. I need to go to the supermarket and drive all the way back to London.

All my procrastination has been Foundation Application based. I've been reading the rough guide and trying to make some decisions. Where should I apply? I've also been thinking about the white space questions. Although applications open tomorrow we don't get to find out the questions until the 11th. That gives us less than a fortnight... eep!

Lily xXx