It’s that time of year again when exams rear their ugly heads. Not for me though—this year’s exams are long over. Instead, the third years are facing their first OSCEs (objective structured clinical exams). Last week, I volunteered for one of the numerous mock OSCEs organised for them by various well-meaning educational student societies. I don’t know about them but it was certainly an educational experience for me.

Osler said, “no one is more interesting as an object of study than a student.” Apart from a poorly-timed kidney stone just before Christmas, I haven’t had much experience on this side of the bedside manner so it was truly an education to see what medical students like me look like from the patient’s perspective. more…

“Oh, you do medical humanities,” they say, before making excuses to change the subject or sidle away from me. Of course, that’s if they’re being polite. My friends just make fun instead.

During this year of my studies, I have intercalated in a degree in biomedical science. This culminates in an academic project. While my friends have spent the last two months pipetting ad nauseum and complaining over their manifold mistakes, I have been learning about the social and cultural context that medicine fits into. Books, films, and poetry have been my apparatus; workshops, museums, and galleries have been my laboratory. more…

27 October 2010—sitting in a plane taking off from Paris, flicking through the Lonely Planet to Guadeloupe that I had just bought at the airport, I cast my mind over the events of the last year leading me to this departure for a six month post in the French Caribbean…

Keen to build on a background of dual nationality, I was interested in the possibility of spending part of my training as a junior doctor in France. After a bit of research it seemed unlikely that I would be able to do a direct swap of placements. I decided to take advantage of the offer of a year “time out of foundation programme” from my deanery in the UK, with the comfort of near guarantee of an F2 post on my return. My initial idea had been to try to apply for a locum post in France.  These are few and far between and not easily planned in advance; furthermore I wanted to be in a training position, given my junior status. I was advised by English and French colleagues to get a post as a French “interne” i.e. junior doctor in training, so my only option was to sit the “Examen Classant National” (ECN)—the much dreaded national ranking exam—a bit like a foundation and speciality application all rolled into one nightmare… more…

The award-winning experiential health website, healthtalkonline.org, launched a new section devoted to carers of people with a terminal illness on Wednesday. The website’s real life stories are proving a valuable resource not only to patients but also to health professionals.

healthtalkonline already hosts thousands of videos of people talking about their experiences of different medical conditions, from autism to pregnancy. The new section features 240 video clips taken from interviews with 40 men and women who have cared for a dying loved one. They cover the hidden aspects of caring, from dealing with financial issues to coping with conflicting emotions following the death. more…

One of the worries about medical students is that they are not well connected to the real world. The come mostly from privileged backgrounds, enter the monastery of the medical school at 18, and spend the next 10 years focusing on passing exams and learning basic clinical skills. It’s not surprising that many come to feel uncomfortable in the messy, even ugly world of the NHS, cogs in a dysfunctional machine. Well, I’ve seen the answer.

And the beauty of the answer is that while doing great things for the medical students it does even better things for a very deprived group—asylum seekers and refugees. Many students and recent graduates from St George’s, University of London, and some students from other universities in the area, work with asylum seekers and refugees through the Klevis Kola Foundation. more…

Whenever I read a story or novel about doctor and patient interactions, I’m often bewildered. Primarily out of interest, but also because I feel like I’ve been short changed.

How come I’ve never come in contact with a pregnant evangelical Christian who requests her obstetrician to cut her fallopian tubes during a C section so that she can no longer have kids? Or similarly, why I have I never met an elderly, demented patient who has an extensive and valuable art collection, but has been swindled by her maid and is now left penniless? more…

Recently, you heard from Johnny Meldrum about why health professionals should care about climate change, and their role in the climate change negotiations. More than ever before, health professionals were present and engaging with the UN climate talks in Durban. During this conference there has been: a health summit, 6 official side events, two health-related actions, and numerous other informal and peer-to-peer education sessions. But how far have we really got at having health meaningfully included within the climate change negotiations? more…

As a medical student with the incredible opportunity to represent the voice of health at the UN climate talks in Durban (COP17), the day before my departure I was confronted with the following headline on the front-page of The Guardian: “Rich nations ‘give up’ on new climate treaty until 2020″ more…

I began my eight weeks a total novice with only a small amount of previous writing and editing experience. Never did I imagine I would leave as all of the above.

The Clegg scholarship is an eight week work experience placement at the BMJ offices in London and the only scholarship of its kind. Whilst academic writing and research aspirations are forefront in the minds of many medical students, few are taught the components of a good article or ever exposed to the post submission process and the journey to publication. The Clegg scholarship bridges this gap, offering medical students a unique insight into the world of medical publishing. more…

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” reads the banner greeting women as they emerge from the British pregnancy advisory service (BPAS) clinic in Bedford Square. This banner along with a handful of campaigners is part of the “40 Days for Life” campaign, a pro-life vigil praying for an end to abortion. The London branch of a larger scale operation across America, the campaign started on 28 September and ended on 6 November. Participants including nuns and monks from the Catholic Church have spent weeks outside the clinic doors of BPAS, the leading provider of independent abortions in the UK. more…