generic Flashcards
what do you think patients value in a doctor?
- communication in a non-depreciating way
- empathy and sensitivity
- makes them feel valued, not a waste of time
- involves them in decision making
Which area of medicine would you like to invest more money into if you were the health minister?
- PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE vaccination, screening, educating public on certain lifestyle choices that can reduce chances of certain diseases
- MENTAL HEALTH sector, its a growing problem in our current society, especially after pandemic
example of when you failed
- i understand there may be times in medicine when I may fail and it is important to be able to cope with this and learn from it to prevent it from happening again
- piano failed grade 7, was quite upsetting as I usually get higher marks
- support network of family and friends helped me to feel better and look at the positives (I can improve)
- talked to piano teacher about where I can improve, focussed on this my weaker areas e.g. sight reading, practising in smaller chunks everyday (much more consistent approach
- got a distinction for grade 8
Was there anything in your WEX that surprised you?
-in GP surgery, I was surprised by how many patients came in having googled their symptoms already and having exaggerated expectations
Was there anything in your WEX that made you sad?
-when doctor informed patient that they had an aggressive metastatic cancer and there wasn’t much else they could do, patient and daughter very very upset, doctor offered support services for patient’s mental health, community support groups
What do you think is the greatest medical discovery in the past 50/100 years?
last 100:
- penicillin (antibiotics): Alexander Fleming 1928
- controlling heart disease e.g. stent surgery and statins, cardiovascular diseases = leading cause of death globally
- blood typing: Karl Landsteiner 1901
last 50:
- next generation sequencing: Nick McCooke
- Crispr Cas9: Jennifer Doudna & Emanuelle Charpentier 2011
If you were hosting a dinner party and had to invite 3 people, dead or alive, who would they be?
- Greta Thunberg: can discuss with her how she overcame stepping out the norm, how did she manage to access a global platform and share ideas
- Stephen Hawking
- James Watson
- Shinya Yamanaka
What are your future plans?
C: start practising as a doctor in training and help people
A: get involved in research opportunities
M: get involved in teaching
P: continue with my hobbies
what is your biggest weakness?
- often take on too much
- need to recognise my limits and know when to stop or ask for help
- i have recognised this weakness and am trying to work on it by prioritising certain activities depending on its timescale and asking others for help with some tasks if they were available e.g. at one point I had a music exam, volunteering event to plan, interview and a medic society session to run -> asked a friend if they could take over the medsoc session for that week
challenges facing doctors in 21st century
- Clinical: mental health, especially after pandemic, ageing population
- Academic: public expectation, complex technology
- M/financial: funding and staff shortages
- Personal: difficult to maintain work life balance
covid survey
- 20% said that they struggled with mental health over lockdown (although could be more as not many would want to admit it)
- almost 40% of participants felt their workload increased significantly over the lockdown period
- More than half of the participants felt they did not receive support from the NHS with regards to mental health during the pandemic
- In the future, I would like to extend this survey to include other members of the MDT to increase the study’s diversity of opinions and its reliability, also do a follow up survey to see if responses change.
- article from the British journal of psychiatry outlined possible reasons for mental health problems healthcare staff can face and why this may be exacerbated by the pandemic. 1. the perceived stigma associated with mental health problems and anticipated damage to future career prospects -> avoid seeking professional help 2. increasing no. of patients and PPE shortage increased worry about infection (passing it onto their family members) and stress for healthcare staff
- gave me good insight into how stressful medical profession can be and how medics need to adapt their ways of working and develop strategies to deal with the situation without compromising patient safety
what was the last challenge you faced? how did you overcome this?
india trip-
S: volunteering at a charity eye camp
T: provide the patients with suitable glasses that matches their prescription
A: communication barrier was a challenge but used hand gestures/actions, facial expressions (non-verbal methods) instead
R: was able to communicate the important information
R: was able to find a way around the problem without panicking
give an example of when you had to deal with a difficult person
oxfam -
S: whilst working at the till a customer was angry because she had been charged more than was on the label the last time she visited the store
T: diffuse situation and address concern
A: asked someone else to take over at the till, took her to the side to have a private conversion and stop other customers feeling uncomfortable, listened to her concern, apologised on behalf of another volunteer who must have made a mistake, called manager to ask if the customer could be given a discount on the next item she purchased
R: customer was much happier
R: i stayed calm whilst sorting out the problem and tried to come up with an appropriate compromise
what aspect of medicine do you think you will find the most challenging?
- emotional aspect: seeing people at some of the hardest times in their lives, experienced this when a resident at the care home i volunteered at passed away
- looking at it as a privilege to help patients through their hardships and having a good support network of family and friends when i find it difficult to cope can help
what have you done to prepare for medical school?
- volunteering at care home, India and befriending service: allowed me to develop empathy and communication skills further
- WEX: primary and secondary care, gave me a realistic insight into the day to day lives of a doctor and about both the positives and challenges in medicine, reflecting on how I think I will be able to cope with these challenges
- keeping up with medical current affairs e.g. in News Scientist for interest and breadth of scientific knowledge, help me when thinking about ethical dilemmas
