clinical years

[Kim leanne]

ok, i'm now comfortably settled into my second year and enjoying this year a lot more than the first year. My childcare is stable, we are settled in our new home and my kids are settled in their nursery/school.
But now people are scaring me about the clinical years ahead.

What will the hours be like in the third year when we are on the wards? will i ever see my kids again???

Non parents in my year (there are no parents except me )are all saying things about ridiculous hours and "how will you manage?" type questions.

[aspirant doc]

Non parents in my year (there are no parents except me )are all saying things about ridiculous hours and "how will you manage?" type questions.

Hello Kim

In my expereince so far being on the wards still has plenty of free time and it is nowhere near like doing a full time job. Yes, there are the odd night/evening things, but there is flexibility in these.

If non-parent medical students wisely spent all the time they actually waste telling people how busy they are.......

[Tangliss]

As far as I am aware (and I hope it's true ) clinicals are mostly 9-5with the odd night shift which are very few and far between. Most uni's make some allowances for parents if you tell the faculty your situation, this may involve seeing the clinical sub-dean to let them know so they can arrange your timetable accordingly. I suppose it depends on your uni. I recently choose my placement options for March, and because of my kids and EC as a result, I was given my first choice placement They also allow for 6 week summer holidays, which is something I only found out a few weeks ago!

[aspirant doc]

As far as I am aware (and I hope it's true ) clinicals are mostly 9-5with the odd night shift which are very few and far between. Most uni's make some allowances for parents if you tell the faculty your situation, this may involve seeing the clinical sub-dean to let them know so they can arrange your timetable accordingly.

That's exactly right. They're extremely helpful and have rearranged tutorials and other things and generally been very flexible about my situation. I dropped a wee email to the co-ordinator early in September just explaining that if I have to miss the odd thing or ask for things to be rearranged, it's due to parenting. They've been extremely helpful eversince. Sometimes clinical stuff on the wards is arranged the very day before, i.e. at short notice scheduled on a day I wasn't expecting to have to go to the wards. This is not a problem, I just explained to the consultants who had the misfortune of being in charge of me and they're great about it.

I guess they know that if I can't make it, it's not cos I'm lying languishing in my pit til three in the afternoon after a student night out dressed as a funky chicken or whatever they all do these days!!

[Tangliss]

Thanks!! I can't wait to start clinicals, at the moment I am writing my dissertation and don't feel like a medic at all.

Lol, funky chicken! Your uni sounds the same as mine.

[Kim leanne]

Thanks both of you. Once again the myths are nonsense!! My hubby is always telling me not to listen to the other students but its hard not to worry when they say things like that.

Glad to see you are both still going strong and look forward to when we all qualify!

[Dangbh]

@ Tangliss:

'They also allow for 6 week summer holidays'

Would you mind expanding on that a bit? This is a matter of considerable interest and importance for me! I await interview results for Nottingham GEM. I do much of the childcare for my two sprogs and need to know as much as poss in this regard!
According to the timetable at Medical Course Term Dates - Medicine and Health Sciences - The University of Nottingham, there is very little correlation between holiday dates and school holiday dates once the clinical course is underway, notwithstanding that mysterious 'including 4 weeks holiday' - if you had information that things are more flexible that would be very helpful to me!