This guest blog is written by Ka Yuet Kenneth Au-Yeung, a Medical Student at the University of Birmingham and a member of Birmingham Widening Access to the Medical Sciences.
1. A stressful shift on the paediatrics ward | Confessions of a junior doctor
This video offers a quick glimpse of the working environment in a paediatric ward. Not only will you see how busy doctors are during winter, but you can see how much responsibility you will have as a junior doctor! They have to be organised, knowing what each patient needs and what to give them next. But they have to act quickly too: their bleeps go off at any time and they call back almost immediately. Junior doctors must also decide whether to discharge a patient: Do they send them home when they are not fully recovered, with risk of worsening their condition but freeing up beds? Or do they keep in patients but deny new patients who may be severely ill? These are decisions that junior doctors have to make every day! Being smart is clearly important, but amongst all this chaos you have to keep calm and think clearly. There is no room for error! Be ready, aspiring medics!
2. Which medical schools should I apply to? 5 simple rules. An insider’s guide to medical school # 3
This is a concise summary of how you should choose a medical school. Applying to medical school is stressful, and it doesn’t help when you can only choose 4 of them! The video explains the factors you should consider when making your decision. He is a medical student himself, so he has experienced all of this before. Hopefully this can answer some of the questions you may have!
3. Weekend doctor on call | Surviving on Costa Coffee | The Junior Doctor
This vlog is made by a junior doctor; it gives a realistic perspective of what it is like to be working on the weekends at an acute medical unit. The junior doctor describes her exhausting shift and long hours; imagine working for 7 days a week with 13-hour shifts at the weekend! It also shows you that hospital doctors move around a lot, not only within their wards but they need to go to other departments to discuss about patients. Remember that being a doctor means that you have to work with many other doctors too. The vlog also shows you a little bit about the life outside medicine, not a lot though since she is on call for the weekend. It is important for doctors to have a life outside medicine; doctors are never too busy to do something that they truly enjoy doing! The channel is great to explore as there are many other similar videos, focusing on work as well as her family life.
4. Equipose – clinicians’ involvement in medical research
If you thought that studying medicine only meant treating patients, you may change your mind after watching this. Doctors are heavily involved in other aspects of medicine too, one of which is research. This video comprises of perspectives from patients, clinicians and researchers on the effects and the importance of research. Caring for patients has always been the first priority of doctors, but without research how will medicine advance? Researching is one of the most challenging yet rewarding aspects of medicine, focusing on future advancements rather than present practice. This also shows you that as a doctor there are so many different opportunities to explore. If you do not enjoy clinical practice, you can still achieve a lot with a medical degree. You can mention this if you want to impress your interviewers!
5. On the frontline of Covid-19: Diary of a British Doctor
How can I end this blog without mentioning this pandemic? This is such a rare occurrence, but it can happen to you when you become a doctor. Again, the vlog shows that doctors are human too and they experience the same problems as normal people, including struggling to find food in supermarkets. But more importantly, the doctor highlights the change in policies, what it actually is like to work on the frontline and gives his opinion on the situation. Despite his concerns over the lack of personal protective equipment, he still works extremely hard to take care of the patients A good message to take away is that however tough and demoralising the situation may be, doctors should still act in the best interest of patients at all times. Medicine is a wonderful career, but you must choose it for the right reasons!
By Ka Yuet Kenneth Au-Yeung
A huge thanks to Kenneth for all the time and effort he put into putting this blog together.
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