What are the clinical years like?

[Beatrix]

A lot of people seem to enjoy them better than the pre-clinicals but are they as good as some claim they are? How much time do you actually spend in a hospital and what kind of things are you allowed to do? Do the doctors treat you like crap? Do they ask you alot of questions and then make a big deal if you can't answer them or do they just not care?

I have only just applied to medical school so I don't have to worry about it right now. Just wondering.

Cheers

[pennylane87]

It really depends what med school you're going to apply to....

At Liverpool we're getting clinical placements now, in 2nd year, so as you can imagine there's a lot we don't know, and the doctors don't really expect us to know it so it's all right, but if a consultant laughs at you for not knowing something it's not really a big deal, just look it up later.

And yes, it's much more fun!

[Gizmo says -]

really dying to start clinicals.

after all, i wanna be a doctor, not a flippin researcher.

[Clarkey]

Tiring, i'm absolutely knackered.

But better than lectures!

[Renal]

Depends on where you are, what you're doing, who you're with, who's your firm, etc.

In short, it's the most boring, most interesting, most exciting, most depressing, most lazy and most busy part of medical education.

[a.s]

Its true - you can go from lazying around in the common room watching neighbours to assisting in surgery. It's really up to you (well at around 3rd year it is) - ie how much you make of it. But there are always going to be days when you feel like shit/bored/depressed and you just want to go home... and not just back to your student house but actually back home home.

[Gizmo says -]

clinical years - they are the bread and butter of your nana sandwich.

[rjm]

All depends on how much effort you put in and how much you want to learn. In my day (a few years ago now), you were attached to a consultant team, and you decided what you did, the keen students would go on every ward round, to clinics, to theatre etc, the not so enthusiastic ones wouldnt know where theatres were by the end of the 4 week block. You have to be self directed. There usually is organised consultant teaching, but you have to make the most of opportunities available to you, noone is going to spoon feed you. The junior medical staff are usually prepared to teach but students are not their priority, so you have to be flexible. As a HO, my priority was to get my jobs done and see to the sickies, if all that was sorted, then I loved teaching but often that wouldnt be until 3.30-4pm, problem is when you tell students, come back at 4 and we'll do a teaching session then, they rarely do. They lose out. On the otherhand, if there isnt millions of students, I am often prepared to let people help out with my jobs, bloods, cannulas that sort of thing, good practice, but the students have to appear keen and willing, but it still takes 10 times longer with a student than on your own.

People will laugh at you/tell you to go away if you lack basic knowledge. One of my regs threw some students out of theatre because they didnt know that diabetes was a risk factor for MI, told them there was no point in watching complex surgical procedures if they didnt know basic medicine! Fair enough. Most of the time people wont laugh at you but tease out information and be supportive.

Everything seems scary when you are a long way from it. For me, the thought of being a registrar is scary, so it makes sense that the thought of being a clincal student is scary when your not even in med school

[Gizmo says -]

sounds fair enuff to me rj.
i knew diabetes was a risk factor for MI when i was a fresher nurse assistant.

[rjm]

I think a lot of people in the street would know that.