Glasgow medics - help??

[Meg456]

Hey sara7000,
questions i asked were along the lines of:
Firstly, what do you like best about studying at Glasgow?
And what do you not like so much?
Whats the PBL approach like?
How good is Glasgow medical school for student support?
Any features of the course you think are worth commenting on/unique features?
I've heard anatomy is a bit tricky to learn because of the structure of the course, is this the case or is it just a rumour?
How are you assessed?
Patient contact from first year -whats that like?
How did you find your interview?

[sara7000]

thnx jaykay thts great alot of things clarified there.
meg456 thts fine lol

[knowno]

Hi! Im an international student, offered by Glasgow a conditional offer for Med. Can anyone provide me the recommended booklist for year 1?? I appreciate your help

[sara7000]

knowno congrats on your offer. May I ask when was your interview? I had mine 1st of Dec and I still haven't heard anything and I believe I am an international

[knowno]

I had my interview ard 6th december at KL. So hav u got any news yet?

[Rex The Red]

Hi! Im an international student, offered by Glasgow a conditional offer for Med. Can anyone provide me the recommended booklist for year 1?? I appreciate your help

With regards to buying books, id really REALLY recommend you wait till end of block one till you start buying books, as you wont know untill you've spent a few weeks in the study landscape whether your allegiences lie with Tortora or Martini (you'll understand that when you start!!)


You get given an extensive booklist but you dont actually need to buy books as you can just work in the Medic Library/ The SL where they have lots of everything.
It's just handy to have books in your flat so you can go home and eat and finish your PBL at home instead of having to walk all the way back in!

But personally id recommend the only three books you'll definitely need are a physiology book, an Anatomy book and a Clinical Medicine book.

for first years, generally ive found there are really three types of people, those that use martini, those that use tortora, and those that use wikipedia!
i personally prefer martini for physiology, Clinically orientated anatomy (for anatomy!) and Kumar + Clark for clinical medicine.

but like i said, buy them as you need them; if you buy the whole book list it's around 500 pounds!!

In the first block you'll use histology (tissues and thier structure) books and cell biology books a couple of times but mainly will use mainly physiology and anatomy books, and only really getting to use clinical medicine books in third block and onward.

Also the SL has these brilliant little books called "crash course", which give a really good overview of everything, so i find just working in the SL is fine and if anything a more effective way of studying - Assuming there are enough books to go around and desks to work at that is!

[knowno]

With regards to buying books, id really REALLY recommend you wait till end of block one till you start buying books, as you wont know untill you've spent a few weeks in the study landscape whether your allegiences lie with Tortora or Martini (you'll understand that when you start!!)


You get given an extensive booklist but you dont actually need to buy books as you can just work in the Medic Library/ The SL where they have lots of everything.
It's just handy to have books in your flat so you can go home and eat and finish your PBL at home instead of having to walk all the way back in!

But personally id recommend the only three books you'll definitely need are a physiology book, an Anatomy book and a Clinical Medicine book.

for first years, generally ive found there are really three types of people, those that use martini, those that use tortora, and those that use wikipedia!
i personally prefer martini for physiology, Clinically orientated anatomy (for anatomy!) and Kumar + Clark for clinical medicine.

but like i said, buy them as you need them; if you buy the whole book list it's around 500 pounds!!

In the first block you'll use histology (tissues and thier structure) books and cell biology books a couple of times but mainly will use mainly physiology and anatomy books, and only really getting to use clinical medicine books in third block and onward.

Also the SL has these brilliant little books called "crash course", which give a really good overview of everything, so i find just working in the SL is fine and if anything a more effective way of studying - Assuming there are enough books to go around and desks to work at that is!

Thanks for guiding me along! But are the books in glasgow more expensive? I really want to buy some medical books to read up more before my semester starts as it will give me a headstart ahead of others. So for physiology and anatomy books, which author will you recommend? What are the popular books used by Glasgow Medical students in year 1?

And one more question, do you recommend me to buy my medical equipments such as stethoscope in Singapore rather than in Glasgow? cos I am afraid that it is more expensive over there.

Anyway, are you an international student from Glasgow?

[Rex The Red]

Ummm i bought all my books from this website which i found to be cheapest :]

EDIT: I personally prefer Martini + Nath for physiology and Clinically orientated anatomy, though still undecided whether i prefer Kumar and Clarke or Davidson for clinical medicine... hmmm.

In short: Martini is more "grown up" and concise, Tortora is... well actually... all i have to say is just what other people have said thats that its "often wrong" and is "Wikipedia's bastard younger brother" (the last comment perhaps being a bit of a joke ;] ), i think it's alright for some stuff as it has nice pictures and tables, but i personally like nitty gritty detail more than summaries, hence why i like martini.

Clinically orientated is just brilliant; i think the fact ive had other medics steal it off me before ive returned it back to the shelves pretty much proves that!!
/EDIT

And slow down son!! enjoy your freedom while it lasts block one is pretty intense, so as much you'll relish the chance to work, i promise working now is a bit pointless, cos you get to discuss it with your mates who'll also be doing it ;]

Regarding equipment, i remember fretting that i couldnt get a tendon hammer and a stethoscope, but as far as im aware you dont need a tendon hammer till second year, and the only thing you really need is ONE labcoat. And even then thats only for Block 2 when you get to cut up dead people
The labs in the science block are mainly contamination hazards so they make you wear plastic aprons instead of the white cloth ones anyway!

Buying a Stethoscope is supposedly a good idea, but so far i only got to use it once for the blood pressure taking clinical skills session and thats it. But please do NOT buy a 120 pound Littman Cardio III!! If you wait till freshers week the British medical assosciation do a stall where they give a discount for a Littman Classic SE II aswell as free membership
and i promise you'll end up using it more often as a prop for parties out dressed up as a doctor or when your medic mates come round and you randomly decide to listen to each others chests than in clinical skills! hahaha

And nah im not, im an English student :] which i suppose is pretty international in comparison... ;]

EDIT: didnt answer his question!

[Rex The Red]

oh and you can get the labcoats for 15 pounds in the university library.
tendon hammers are 10 pounds and stethoscopes are roughly 50 pounds? i think..
also available from the library!

[Skyllo]

And slow down son!! enjoy your freedom while it lasts block one is pretty intense, so as much you'll relish the chance to work, i promise working now is a bit pointless, cos you get to discuss it with your mates who'll also be doing it ;]

ROFL, this time next year you'll be laughing at yourself for saying that. You didn't even have proper coursework in block 1! When I go back to look at first year notes I'm amazed at how tiny a PBL is!

I second not buying books until you get the chance to try using a few different ones. Some books one person will love and another person will hate.

You won't need a tendon hammer until 2nd year and when you do get it, get one like this:

Patella Hammer Queen Square Plastic Handle 32.5cm in Diagnostic Equipment > Patella Hammers from Mediclick online medical store >

and not one with the triangular head as they're rubbish! You need the flexibility in the handle.

The stethoscope discount with BMA isn't much, it's about £5. If you can get a Litmann Classic SE II for less than £50 new, I'd go for it. I know people that avoided getting a stethoscope until before the 2nd year OSCE!