Saturday 7 March 2009

Friendly/Scary FY2

Had a very quiet shift today (weekend shifts tend to be) - generally i was just making several trips to pharmacy, did a lot of obs, and i had a really interesting (but some-what scary) conversation with a FY2.

The FY2 himself wasn't scary, in fact hes really friendly, helpful, and ever since we found out we had both done an undergrad in biochemistry at kcl before applying to med as a grad (what a coincidence!), hes been happy to find out how im finding the job and to teach me random things (today he was explaining the ecg belonging to a patient on the ward - though to be honest i didn't really understand that much of it - too many new technical terms). What was quite scary however, was the conversation we had today where he told me about how he thinks the courses are getting easier, and medical students are now less prepared for their foundation years than "back in his days" - and he feels he doesn't know as much as his peers when they were SHOs. Maybe i am just a bit pessimistic, but this is definately something i am worried about - not that i don't think the teaching will be good enough when i eventually start, just that i worry about not knowing enough.

Im sure i have a lot of time to worry about this in the years to come and i should just enjoy what i have left of my gap year. Afterall i am now into my 6th month as a HCA (feels like its gone very quickly!), and if following my previous plans, this would be by last month before fitting in some travel. However, with the current economic crisis, i think i'm going to work for a few more months, possibly till June/July before setting off somewhere for a few weeks. Although its less travelling time, I think the little extra cash will be helpful next year (!!)

2 comments:

Suesue said...

Okay...i may be a 2nd yr biomedical science student at kcl and know nothing BUT it is true...i mean i am terrified that i will graduate knowing nothing...i have a test tomoro which i am avoiding and i am pretty sure medical students now are clueless...remember there are always new developments and craming those in aswell with the old previously new things makes your head explode...am i making semse??

Tofu said...

I think i know what you mean - You're not alone in feeling terrified about graduating knowing nothing (!!) - when people ask me biochem related questions, i always warn them im a "fake biochemist". i ought to know my biochemistry inside out, but most of the time i... feel like i don't.