Generic Questions Flashcards
Tell me about yourself.
- Name
- Subjects at school
- Interests -> Football, chess and debating
What do you do to relax?
- Football
- Tennis
- Chess
- Debating
Why medicine?
- Primarily, medicine is a job that would stimulate my interest towards the human body and healthy lifestyle. For example, I’m always reading about the burden that chronic illnesses are placing on the NHS, and it makes me quite curious to see how preventative therapies contrast with treatment of illnesses. How can we prevent a gastric bypass operation by encouraging dieting? Not only is the range of approaches fascinating, but so is the idea that you can have such a tangible effect in applying them.
- Aside from this, the close-knit teams in medicine working in a structured environment mean that you can build a close rapport with a range of co-workers and patients, which I’m certain would motivate me to achieve my best.
- The really interesting thing about these teams is the way that there’s always someone more senior to you who can teach you and someone more junior to you so that you can also teach. This variety is what makes medicine so unique in my eyes.
Summary:
• Interest towards science -> Preventative vs treatment -> Obesity
• Tangible effect
• Close-knit teams allow building of rapport
• Teaching and teacher -> Variety is unique
What is your aim during medicine?
Use the CAMP structure (Clinical, Academic, Management, Personal)
• Clinical - I want to build up a base of knowledge that is strong enough to allow me to pursue the specialty of my choice, as well as a bedside manner than allows me to build a strong rapport with any patient. Personally, I’ve developed an interest in nutrition and intestinal health, so perhaps specialising in gastroenterology could be for me, but I understand that my time in medical school will shape my plans and understanding the work of a specialist or GP.
• Academic - I would like to always make sure that I am keen to teach those more junior to me, as I am aware of how critical this is to the development of doctors.
• Personal - I want to ensure that I have a personal balance outside of medicine, so that I can continue playing the sports that I enjoy and continuing my hobby of chess. I hope to also have time for the voluntary work I do.
What are the challenges involved in a medical career?
- Long hours + working over time -> Maximum 48hrs per week average for junior doctors (2016 contract)
- Vast amount of knowledge
- Ability to deal with grief + gruesome sights-> Sadness experienced at breast clinic on work experience
- Ability to teach and be taught simultaneously
- Effective communication with a variety of people -> Weed woman on work experience
Why did you choose Birmingham medical school?
- Excellent campus
- Close to home
- Course structure is great
- Only slightly PBL
- Small amount of contact hours per week (4) in the first two years
- Great hospital
- Medical school open 24/7
Why did you choose Bristol medical school?
- Wide range of intercalation
- Not too much contact time at start of course (Only 2% in first year)
- Nicely sized uni
- Nice city -> Green spaces
- Prosection
- Nice size of year
Why do you suit the integrated teaching style?
- Enjoy early clinical exposure
- Enjoy a mix of lectures and PBL
- Teaching system by system allows comprehensive understanding
What are the pros and cons of the integrated teaching style?
PROS
• Early clinical exposure
• Good balance of teaching methods
• Teaching system by system allows comprehensive understanding
CONS
• Clinical exposure can be premature
• Need a lot of motivation to the get the most out of PBL
What ways do you learn?
- Mixture of teaching styles -> Mostly lecture
- I find that learning similar content in a variety of ways helps my retention greatly -> So an integrated teaching style is excellent for me
- I enjoy being able to apply what I learn as a way of reinforcing it -> PBL and CBL is perfect for this
Medical training is long. What will make you stick to it?
• ?
What is something interesting you’ve read recently?
- New report published in the BMJ by David Ludwig and colleagues, assessing the effect of low-carb diets on energy expenditure and hormone production
- The percentage of carbohydrates in the diets was changed, while total calories and protein were controlled
- It was shown that for every 10% increase in the proportion of carbohydrate, energy expenditure increased by 52 calories/day
- Ghrelin was lower in low-carb, but leptin was also lower
- This was largely in support of Ludwig’s carbohydrate-insulin model, which states that high-carb diets increase insulin levels that move glucose into storage as fat and away from metabolically active tissues, as well as slowing metabolism and inducing a ‘starvation state’. It also affects appetite.
- The main concerns are about the lack of studies into the long-term effect and differing studies that show the opposite.
- However, it is important to understand the dangers of focusing too much on weight loss and not enough on the general health effect
- Safest bet is the Mediterranean diet, which emphasises: primarily plant-based foods, replacing butter with healthy fats such as olive oil, using herbs instead of salt, limiting red meat, eating fish and poultry at leat twice a week, enjoying food with family and friends, some red wine
