In this post Student Advocate Shraddha Sriraman (Medicine) reflects on her experience of clinical years, and offers 10 top tips for making the most of the opportunities available.
1. Know what’s expected of you
Check your portfolio requirements and try and plan exactly how you’re going to achieve these goals, e.g. getting 2 histories a week to keep you on track to meet your targets. Planning this out in my first week helped me figure out exactly what needed to be done.
2. You’re not expected to know everything
Coming to placement can feel a little daunting, especially after a couple of years of lectures. It can be tricky to put the content from Year 1 and 2 into real-life, but you’ll definitely get used to it in time! Everyone’s first couple of histories can be a bit rusty (I look back on mine and laugh at the quality). The goal is to show progress in your clinical skills throughout the year and in time you’ll gradually become more confident in your aptitude.
3. Use Online Resources
Online resources can be incredibly valuable when there’s no more structured lectures to support your learning. For medics Passmedicine and Quesmed are valuable resources to emulate the exam situation, with tens of thousands of multiple-choice questions and mock tests.
4. Practice OSCEs
Practice, practice, practice! I was incredibly nervous with my OSCE skills at first, but roleplaying uncomfortable scenarios with you friends or family is honestly the best way to practice your skills. I worked in a group of 3, with one as the examiner, patient and student, and found this worked pretty well. Make sure that the examiner is as strict as possible, as that’s the best way to learn what the mark schemes are looking for. For the medics: Geeky Medics have several free OSCE checklists for a range of stations which were quite helpful!
There’s no better experience than talking to patients on real wards, so definitely make the use of it when you can.
5. The majority of patients enjoy talking to you
When I started, I was quite nervous about chatting to patients. After I got into the groove of it, a lot of the patients really enjoyed having a chance to talk to someone. You often have more time to spend with patients than other staff have, so it’s also really useful to the doctors when you present – you might’ve found something they’d missed!
6. Always have a pen on you
Or even 2 pens. You may find that some get (inadvertantly) taken by doctors if left lying about!
7. Practice the entire examination as often as you can on wards
Getting used to rehearsing it makes it stick much better in time for OSCEs. Patients are great to practice on so you can get used to giving them instructions and explaining what you’re doing as you go.
8. Get feedback on your histories and exams
I found this really constructive. Practicing at bedside is helpful to get feedback from clinicians on your technique.
9. Share your goals with the doctor
Let the doctor you’re with know what you want to get out of the day at the beginning – they’re more likely to be helpful! For instance, if you need to get 2 clerkings done, a drug chart and a mini-CEX, letting a doctor know makes them much more likely to give you patients to clerk and help you get the most out of your time on placement.
10. If you’re not sure what to do… ask the doctor ‘How can I help?’
In these situations be proactive and show your willingness to assist rather than waiting around with nothing to do.
by Steph Hook, French and Spanish student and Bristol Futures Advocate