Tea and Coffee

Going to the local library equals librarians bringing you big steaming cups of tea or coffee. Priceless.

Statistically the FM will pass the written paper.

Just three more weeks, then Australia (elective time)

I'm BACK!

You heard!

The fuddled medic is back, mainly due to being unable to do any work this afternoon and decided to restart the blog.

This is bad news, because finals, yes FINALS are in three weeks, three weeks on Monday in fact.

Generic, oh no FM, thats terrible news! Well yes it is. And any kind words of encouragement would be appreciated.

But anyway, besides going to extra revision sessions and the clinical skills centre to practice ABPIs amongst other things she's still managing two and a bit hours of exercise a week and hopefully, finding time to write.

This will probably involve posts such as "A Day in the Library," or "An evening of learning of interstitial lung disease."

WATCH THIS SPACE

I'm a coward

Time to call it a day, I started blogging with Dr Grumble, Rant, Crippen etc. Now they have gone, whether by choice or force.

I have done this blog for nearly two years, it has been a pleasure to do so. But I have lost my enthusiasm for it. I look back at posts I've written over the last few months and the blog is not what is was.

Blogging isn't fun for me anymore, especially as I'm young and dont really want to be noticed by anyone.

Time to call it a day

Stereotypes

A woman from pakistan who runs a shop with respiratory symptoms = TB

A gentleman goest to spain and gets some symptoms = Legionella

A 21 year old woman with lower abdominal pain = ectopic pregnancy

A middle aged woman wo seems quite irritable with muscle pain = fibromyagia

Anything else? Pretty sure I can pass any remainding exams if I just learn all the steroetypes

Thinking

The FM is gearing up for exams, especially the OSCE where she/he will be forced to go round 12 lots of stations examining patients, discussing ethics or looking at radiology stuff. Or pretending a dummy has anaphylactic shock with the words "rash" written on its chest.

But the problem is these exams are nerve wracking and yet at the same time encourage people to make up markschemes and learn them by rote. They do not encourage thinking.

Take the abdominal station, if I see someone who is well (i.e. stable) in an OSCE, I can deduce that they will have bowel sounds and are very unlikely to have a uraemic/liver/CO2 retention flap.

But he/she still has to go through the motions of listening to bowel sounds etc.

Is this a bad thing? Routine is go isn't it? Aren't you less likely to make mistakes if you follow the same patter?

My time

The time is coming where the FM will sit the exams to end all exams (at medical school at least), will she have learnt enough?

Yep, its here, finals are 14 weeks away. Panic is starting to kick in.

But I've got this far?

Cheers..

..Ben Goldacre for pointing this out to the FM. Can someone please give a definition of the term "temporary dementia." Perhaps it refers to when the FM has had alot to drink (in her case just three pints will do)?