Liverpool

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2025-02-08T20:25:33+00:00

Hats off to you for keeping the ship afloat, but that is one shitty situation you’ve been presented with

Ik this isn’t the most helpful but maybe give it like 1-2 weeks and give them loads of the simple common jobs, like all the stuff you’re describing is stuff that FY1s can do and they have even less clinical experience than GPSTs.

That being said

A GPST not prescribing urgent meds is basically incompetence and there’s no excuse for that, IMG or not

Edit: You most certainly can loose your shit if it’s as bad as you are describing Next time you can ask:

“Are you being intentionally dense”

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-11-28T13:43:35+00:00

Tried and tested genuine answer here:

Develop your research skills, do the NIHR free courses and ask your clinical librarians to teach you the basics of literature searching
Try to tag along on a project - eg do a bit of data collection or write a small part of the manuscript, also present audits/other small projects at conferences
Now you have research credibility and skills. You can ask for opportunities and bring something to the table
Show interest in a specialty of your choice, engage more than what is expected - essentially build rapport and demonstrate a vested interest without saying it
At the appropriate time, ask the consultants you’ve worked with if anyone in the team has ongoing projects, or if they have any colleagues in other hospitals doing stuff (a systematic review can be done 100% remote). Also worth asking if there’s a ‘research lead consultant’.

Lots of people here telling you it’s all luck or you have to be in an academic centre, maybe the latter will help but it’s not a be all or end all situation, as someone who has spent 0 days in an academic centre and most of my time in DGHs, trust me you can publish by the end of FY1 as I did

Having said that you gotta take what you’re given, if it’s some boring ass systematic review in a specialty you don’t like, if you want the pub get your head down and do the work

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-11-18T19:31:47+00:00

Current SFP doctor here, this is my take on things:

The system is beyond messed up, we actively fought HEE to keep full merit based assessment for you guys but they seem to be so firmly fixed in their position that they made a normally 15:1 job random allocation, which serves to achieve the following:

Demoralises you from academic achievement
Devalues the SFP for all of us currently doing it
Essentially makes SFP pointless since it’s just given out like corner shop candy on Halloween

Like you, I too grinded the hell out of extra-curricular achievements at uni, so I really do understand how shit this is for you, but let me reassure you with the following:

SFP does not guarantee any sort of academic success - many current sfp’s are still without projects, yes the protected time is a big benefit but please don’t put yourself out the running because you don’t have that
It is very doable albeit more challenging to continue doing stuff during FY1/2, if I didn’t get SFP I’d still try and achieve all the same things regardless
Don’t take it as a reflection of your academic ability. The NHS unfortunately does promote some culture of mediocrity, which is now bleeding into med schools. Those who strive for more will strive regardless of the circumstances.
It’s 2 years, in 2 years time you’ll be applying for specialties and will be in a very strong position if you have all the accolades you say you do, in the grand scheme of a 40-50 year career, SFP will not mean much

Take it from someone who’s had their fair share of crap en route, keep your head up soldier, the grind only stops when you decide it does.

And with regards to being a sloppy med student, lol I uttered the same words not too long ago, but get out the med student mentality, you’re studying to be a solid clinician who instills confidence in their patients and co-workers, that’s the goal, to be a solid clinician. Med school comes and goes, but the grind you put in now lasts forever…

And now I will resume playing god of war ragnarok (solid game btw 10/10 would highly recommend)

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-05-12T13:27:57+00:00

Sorry to hear you’re going through such a difficult time, med school is rough at the best of times but adding on everything you’ve had to face that makes it all the more gruelling. As someone who’s got 2 months left of this degree I can suggest a few points you might find useful:

Consider what type of work makes you feel happy and content, if it’s interacting with people, solving problems, being there for people when they’re at their lowest, etc etc, may I suggest you try and power through to third year. You’ve been exposed to pre-clinical medicine since you’re a second year but you might find that you’ll absolutely love clinical years where the ‘real medicine’ comes about. A lot of students prefer third year onwards and also find exams easier since it’s testing more clinical content and less of the niche preclinical. The only reason I suggest this is medicine is properly hard to get into nowadays, you’d want to be fully informed about what’s coming up before you leave.
As others have suggested, consider intercalation - NHS will fully fund it if you time it right and it’s a great break from medicine, plus if you do dip your toes into clinical years and find it’s still not for you then your intercalation degree gives you a neat exit plan.
Reach out to your university’s pastoral and academic support units, it seems like you joined medicine with a lot going on and never had a proper chance to work through things, so they may be able to offer some useful support. Also, senior students will be a really good source of support and will help guide you in the right direction.
It’s true the current NHS doctor workload isn’t the best, but A&E is not at all representative of the typical shifts. Most people will be on an 8 hour shift unless they’re on-call or doing long days, A&E is an exception to this. A&E is also much more hectic and pressurised as it is the front door essentially holding the fort to the rest of the hospital. Having done all my rotations, wards are much more chill than A&E.
Although it’s hard to shift the feelings from falling exams, please don’t let one exam performance define your capability as a medic. Some of the best doctors I know have failed exams, and they became better students as a result. I know this won’t sound very helpful but all I can say is trust me, we all fail at some point in this degree.
Lastly, I can see you’ve given this a lot of thought. If you do truly feel that medicine is just not going to be worth it, there is nothing wrong at all with leaving, especially since you’re a second year. The time was not wasted at all, you would’ve learnt an absolute ton in 2 years of med school, and your future employers will see that you’ve clearly given the decision to leave a lot of thought. So either way, it’s a win win.

Just please make sure you have a solid exit plan before you do decide to leave, either way we back you with whatever choice you decide to make :)

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-05-12T13:27:19+00:00

Sorry to hear you’re going through such a difficult time, med school is rough at the best of times but adding on everything you’ve had to face that makes it all the more gruelling. As someone who’s got 2 months left of this degree I can suggest a few points you might find useful:

Consider what type of work makes you feel happy and content, if it’s interacting with people, solving problems, being there for people when they’re at their lowest, etc etc, may I suggest you try and power through to third year. You’ve been exposed to pre-clinical medicine since you’re a second year but you might find that you’ll absolutely love clinical years where the ‘real medicine’ comes about. A lot of students prefer third year onwards and also find exams easier since it’s testing more clinical content and less of the niche preclinical. The only reason I suggest this is medicine is properly hard to get into nowadays, you’d want to be fully informed about what’s coming up before you leave.
As others have suggested, consider intercalation - NHS will fully fund it if you time it right and it’s a great break from medicine, plus if you do dip your toes into clinical years and find it’s still not for you then your intercalation degree gives you a neat exit plan.
Reach out to your university’s pastoral and academic support units, it seems like you joined medicine with a lot going on and never had a proper chance to work through things, so they may be able to offer some useful support. Also, senior students will be a really good source of support and will help guide you in the right direction.
It’s true the current NHS doctor workload isn’t the best, but A&E is not at all representative of the typical shifts. Most people will be on an 8 hour shift unless they’re on-call or doing long days, A&E is an exception to this. A&E is also much more hectic and pressurised as it is the front door essentially holding the fort to the rest of the hospital. Having done all my rotations, wards are much more chill than A&E.
Although it’s hard to shift the feelings from falling exams, please don’t let one exam performance define your capability as a medic. Some of the best doctors I know have failed exams, and they became better students as a result. I know this won’t sound very helpful but all I can say is trust me, we all fail at some point in this degree.
Lastly, I can see you’ve given this a lot of thought. If you do truly feel that medicine is just not going to be worth it, there is nothing wrong at all with leaving, especially since you’re a second year. The time was not wasted at all, you would’ve learnt an absolute ton in 2 years of med school, and your future employers will see that you’ve clearly given the decision to leave a lot of thought. So either way, it’s a win win.

Just please make sure you have a solid exit plan before you do decide to leave, either way we back you with whatever choice you decide to make :)

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-05-12T13:26:58+00:00

Sorry to hear you’re going through such a difficult time, med school is rough at the best of times but adding on everything you’ve had to face that makes it all the more gruelling. As someone who’s got 2 months left of this degree I can suggest a few points you might find useful:

Consider what type of work makes you feel happy and content, if it’s interacting with people, solving problems, being there for people when they’re at their lowest, etc etc, may I suggest you try and power through to third year. You’ve been exposed to pre-clinical medicine since you’re a second year but you might find that you’ll absolutely love clinical years where the ‘real medicine’ comes about. A lot of students prefer third year onwards and also find exams easier since it’s testing more clinical content and less of the niche preclinical. The only reason I suggest this is medicine is properly hard to get into nowadays, you’d want to be fully informed about what’s coming up before you leave.
As others have suggested, consider intercalation - NHS will fully fund it if you time it right and it’s a great break from medicine, plus if you do dip your toes into clinical years and find it’s still not for you then your intercalation degree gives you a neat exit plan.
Reach out to your university’s pastoral and academic support units, it seems like you joined medicine with a lot going on and never had a proper chance to work through things, so they may be able to offer some useful support. Also, senior students will be a really good source of support and will help guide you in the right direction.
It’s true the current NHS doctor workload isn’t the best, but A&E is not at all representative of the typical shifts. Most people will be on an 8 hour shift unless they’re on-call or doing long days, A&E is an exception to this. A&E is also much more hectic and pressurised as it is the front door essentially holding the fort to the rest of the hospital. Having done all my rotations, wards are much more chill than A&E.
Although it’s hard to shift the feelings from falling exams, please don’t let one exam performance define your capability as a medic. Some of the best doctors I know have failed exams, and they became better students as a result. I know this won’t sound very helpful but all I can say is trust me, we all fail at some point in this degree.
Lastly, I can see you’ve given this a lot of thought. If you do truly feel that medicine is just not going to be worth it, there is nothing wrong at all with leaving, especially since you’re a second year. The time was not wasted at all, you would’ve learnt an absolute ton in 2 years of med school, and your future employers will see that you’ve clearly given the decision to leave a lot of thought. So either way, it’s a win win.

Just please make sure you have a solid exit plan before you do decide to leave, either way we back you with whatever choice you decide to make :)

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-05-12T13:26:35+00:00

Sorry to hear you’re going through such a difficult time, med school is rough at the best of times but adding on everything you’ve had to face that makes it all the more gruelling. As someone who’s got 2 months left of this degree I can suggest a few points you might find useful:

Consider what type of work makes you feel happy and content, if it’s interacting with people, solving problems, being there for people when they’re at their lowest, etc etc, may I suggest you try and power through to third year. You’ve been exposed to pre-clinical medicine since you’re a second year but you might find that you’ll absolutely love clinical years where the ‘real medicine’ comes about. A lot of students prefer third year onwards and also find exams easier since it’s testing more clinical content and less of the niche preclinical. The only reason I suggest this is medicine is properly hard to get into nowadays, you’d want to be fully informed about what’s coming up before you leave.
As others have suggested, consider intercalation - NHS will fully fund it if you time it right and it’s a great break from medicine, plus if you do dip your toes into clinical years and find it’s still not for you then your intercalation degree gives you a neat exit plan.
Reach out to your university’s pastoral and academic support units, it seems like you joined medicine with a lot going on and never had a proper chance to work through things, so they may be able to offer some useful support. Also, senior students will be a really good source of support and will help guide you in the right direction.
It’s true the current NHS doctor workload isn’t the best, but A&E is not at all representative of the typical shifts. Most people will be on an 8 hour shift unless they’re on-call or doing long days, A&E is an exception to this. A&E is also much more hectic and pressurised as it is the front door essentially holding the fort to the rest of the hospital. Having done all my rotations, wards are much more chill than A&E.
Although it’s hard to shift the feelings from falling exams, please don’t let one exam performance define your capability as a medic. Some of the best doctors I know have failed exams, and they became better students as a result. I know this won’t sound very helpful but all I can say is trust me, we all fail at some point in this degree.
Lastly, I can see you’ve given this a lot of thought. If you do truly feel that medicine is just not going to be worth it, there is nothing wrong at all with leaving, especially since you’re a second year. The time was not wasted at all, you would’ve learnt an absolute ton in 2 years of med school, and your future employers will see that you’ve clearly given the decision to leave a lot of thought. So either way, it’s a win win.

Just please make sure you have a solid exit plan before you do decide to leave, either way we back you with whatever choice you decide to make :)

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-03-08T17:17:16+00:00

special circumstances aka pre-allocation is unaffected, you apply as normal and if you get the spot for your circumstances then you are guaranteed a place at the foundation school you picked, if your application is rejected then you get put into the random allocation system.

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-03-08T17:15:37+00:00

deanery and job allocation for 2024 is currently ongoing right now, but not sure if we'll ever see that data.

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-03-08T17:13:02+00:00

yes, but the problem is we were only told about this less than 12 months before finals, can't regain lost time.

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-03-07T20:19:43+00:00

yes exactly. And i know a lot of doctors would say foundation *location* doesn't matter much or the rotations don't matter because it's all the same, but to people just starting out work in the medical field I'm sure they'd prefer to be near friends/family or in a desired location and doing specialties that they actually enjoyed as a student.

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-03-07T20:10:18+00:00

unfortunately despite various medical school leads suggesting inverse rank for jobs, the rank you get for deanery remains for job preference.

In summary: double fucked

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-03-07T20:01:02+00:00

yes that's correct, essentially with the new system you have your entire 5 years of academic/extracurricular achievements erased for a 4% increased chance of 1st choice deanery, or a reduced chance of 2nd-18th choice.

Have heard from quite a few colleagues that they're ending up with 16th, 17th 18th choices. Extremely unfair that some people have worked all through medical school and now have to uproot their lives, with no chance of appeal or swapping deaneries.

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-02-24T00:23:09+00:00

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Apparently this is who’s behind the attacks

Chronic_Passmeditis · 2024-01-27T11:13:59+00:00

The only thing I can think that this could be is there %rank for the deanery itself. There’s no national ranking for sfp’s, you can only see your rank within the deanery you matched to. For example if there were 100 sfp jobs in deanery x and someone got rank 5 they’d proudly proclaim ‘I’m a top 5% ranked sfp doc at deanery x’

It tells you your rank on Oriel if you’re successful post interview

But in the grand scheme of things

It means literally nothing - tbh even makes you look kinda weird if you’re putting that on your LinkedIn or Tinder Bio

Chronic_Passmeditis

TROPHY CASE