Last ICA at Barts

So yesterday i sat my last ICA of medical school! 

I was a little behind the ball, and didn't quite realise it was going to be the last in course assessment (part of Paper A) of my medical school years... until my friend texted me at 1am in the morning to wish me good luck. I couldn't quite believe it.

That's it; no more in course assessments, and what simply stands between me and my medical school final exams, are these 4th year exams in 2 weeks time.

Quite scary, how quickly time has flown by!

On a positive note, the ICA yesterday turned out pretty well (i hope, it still needs to be marked). I normally blog about how i'm revising for it etc, but this time round I simply didn't have the time as I was so busy reading the material again and again, and making sure I did a lot of emq questions.

So... with only 2 weeks to go, the medical school has organised a few optional revision lectures for us (love the medical school), with a few hours dedicated to each module. I'm not sure i'll be attending all of them, but a few i think are pretty much essential (O&G!!).

So here's hows revision looking so far:

Care of the Elderly
CSP
ENT

Dermatology

Neurology 

Neurosurgery

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Ophthalmology
Orthopaedics 

Paediatrics

Psychiatry
Rheumatology

Sexual Health and HIV
OSCEs

Whilst i've got a chunk of it striked off, there's a problem of actually remembering it all... !!

Here's 2 weeks of a lot of reading, emq questions practising, and general junk food consuming - hello chubby tofu!

Derma-holiday + revision update

"Derma-holiday" - it's in the name!

The dermatology placement so far has been as described, pretty much holiday-esque. There's just 3 clinics to attend in 2 weeks, and the rest of the time.. well that's all private study or teaching sessions.

That said, dermatology is far from simple. In principle (from the books) it seems pretty straight forward, but when it comes to seeing these skin conditions, unless it's screamingly obvious (Psoriasis - silvery plaques on the extensor surfaces).. then sadly for me, everything pretty much looks the same.

Triple diagnosis

So last week, i was paired up with my friend (T) for the dermatology placement, and amidst a slow paediatrics dermatology clinic, i showed T my nails. I've got these weird dark vertical lines running through a few of them. T whips out his hands and goes "oh, me too, they're just normal i think". We sort of just left it at that.

Today in clinic, on a 2 week referral (i.e. something suspected to be pretty sinister), comes a young lady. After sitting herself in the chair opposite the consultant, she puts her hands on her laps, and indicates to these lines in her nails. The consultant asked us to come closer and have a look, and asked us what we thought of them.

It was exactly what T and I both had! - and before I could even process if it would be a good or bad idea, I stuck my hands out, and said: "oh, i have these too, and always wondered if it was a fungal infection or something".

So in clinic, there's the patient, myself and T all examining and comparing our nails with each other, and the consultant googling images to reassure the 3 of us, that it's simply a normal occurrence.

... being the medical student with a bad case of medical student syndrome, this was a pretty good day - getting a clinic done and a diagnosis all in one morning.

Revision left to cram 

So there's now only 34 days till end of year exams, and just 17 till the ICA!
Here's what's left to be done:

Care of the Elderly
ENT

Dermatology

Neurology 

Neurosurgery

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Ophthalmology
Orthopaedics 

Paediatrics

Psychiatry
Rheumatology

Sexual Health and HIV

... best make full use of my dermaholiday! REVISION TIMES!

Revision - [27 Days + 44 Days] left

That's 27 days to the last ICA of the year (Rheumatology, Orthopaedics, Dermatology and GP), and just 44 extremely scary days left till the first end of year exams!

Monday 15/07 - Section B (EMQ/SBA)
Tuesday 16/07 - Section C (Data Interpretation)
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Monday 22/07 to Friday 26/07 - Section D (OSCEs)

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Thursday 01/08 - Examination Board Meeting
Friday 02/08  - Results Day

Year 4 is meant to be the hardest year, and well, there definitely is a LOT for me to go through before the end of year exams.. here comes the list!

Care of the Elderly
ENT

Dermatology

Neurology 

Neurosurgery

O&G

Ophthalmology
Orthopaedics 

Paediatrics

Psychiatry
Rheumatology

Sexual Health & HIV

................................. and somewhere along the line i swear i had some public health and ethics that i've completely forgotten about...

So yes.. i best get cracking on with my revision!