6th year experience

Hello everyone,

This is me again after a long time of telling you that “I will have a blog post about sixth year”. Well, after all it’s finally here!!

The last year of medical school was so intense, challenging and beautiful all at once. However, throughout the year I faced ton of moments that made me in a very low mood. I wish this year to be the highlight of all years and you only face the goodness.

Make sure to keep imagining the graduation night and all of its glory, it will be the best moment of your life, something from another world.

Disclaimer, this is an overview of the year some parts are not written in full details. If you want more information, please ask questions and refer back to the files in med214 google-drive link. Now, let’s start talking about the rotations and the subjects of the senior year:

• Forensic medicine:

(Lectures were on Sunday from 8 to 12)

It was very interesting and attention catching subject, it was amazing for me and the topics were so diverse. But the most frustrating thing that some doctors don’t give you the presentation and you have to rely on other methods to study the topics (we have written documents for those lectures made by us med214 and previous batches).

We did have midterm that covers few lectures and it was a good reflection of the study material. On the other hand, the final exam wasn’t the same for many reasons which include a larger amount of material and the short answer questions and pictures that needed some extra details.

Forensic medicine project \ presentation (review article) was a fun challenge that you must start working on it as soon as you choose your topic. Make sure to ask the doctors for help to make your work stand out. The more time you put into it, the better chances you get to publish it later one.

• Research

(You have Sunday afternoon for the research meetings as schedule or you could arrange with your mentor at any time you want)

We all said to you to choose your research group so wisely!! (This is the most important point) Research was and will always will be the area that I enjoy working on it, this is your chance to work on something that you are interested in from 0% to 100%. Help each other while working as a group and remember the final report of the research will be a reflection of team work other than anything else. Keep everything aside and work as one, please!!

Ask questions to your mentors and don’t be shy, this is a major project that need the highest quality of performance and the least mistakes. With your project you could discover something new or chance something in real life practice. MAKE it with passion and remember you are A DOCTOR and RESPONIABLE.

During the research day you will see that your hard work has paid off and all of the time that you put into it is worth it.

• Emergency medicine

(From Monday to Thursday, you could have one day or two off)

This rotation was and still is the highlight of the whole year for me, you will get an amazing experience through attending the shifts at different time “starting from 7 a.m. up to 11 p.m.”, You will see how work flow differs from time to time and you will get the chance to meet different people and learn from them.

Shifts are short (4 hours only) and your time will be done so soon, make a very good use of the rest of your day. For me personally, I thrived and lived my best life during this rotation and went out a lot with my friends.

In the rotation you are required to fill up the logbook and attach the BLS certificate with it. Also, you have to make a presentation as a group and present it on Mondays’ seminar every other week (lucky your presentations are your study material which is mainly from ABC book), and prepare for your simulation sessions by reading about the topic for each session.

The end of rotation slide OSCE was from what we covered in the seminars. The overall opinion from F1 group that it was good (if you act professional and show excitement throughout the ER rotation, this is going to be reflected in your exam).

The final exam was a different story, for me it was difficult and I don’t know what to tell you to do!! But you must review your material again to refresh your memory. OSCE exam was average and most us did well because it based on your previous clinical skills with emergency focus. Again, you must review the information to be able to answer some of the questions on the stations.

• Geriatrics

(Four days a week for three weeks)

Let me say that this short rotation is different, because you have to make a change in your history organization and ask about things that you don’t usually ask patients. Doctors did a great job in covering most important geriatrics topics that will save you time when you study for the finals. You will have lectures and interactive PBL sessions that will make the information stick to your mind.

You will have teaching sessions that you must prepare cases for (you have to come at 8 a.m. to prepare a case because teaching starts at 9 a.m.). During teaching you have to participate and be part of the group.

You are required to take a detailed history for a patient and present it to the doctors to be evaluated and asked about. Also, you have to prepare a five minute presentation about the topic have chosen randomly for you.

The final exam was from the topics that covered in the rotation and from the two resources that doctors recommended (GEMS tools and geriatrics on glance). OSCE covered special tests and ulcer examination for our group (three station).

• Electives

(Four weeks, each specialty for 2 weeks)

You can choose one or two electives from a variety of specialties (medicine, surgery, histopathology, ENT, ophthalmology, radiology and anesthesia). When you make your choice “they will let you choose 4 specialties” you will get 1 or 2 out of them depending on your GPA in comparison to other students who made the same choice.

This is your time either to chill so much or to formulate an opinion about a specialty, for me I chose specialties of internal medicine even though I’m not going to choose it as my future career. I’ve done this learn more and those 2 systems in the human body are so fascinating to me to this day!

I chose Gastroenterology and Hematology. In Gastroenterology I mostly attended endoscopies and observed doctors, there wasn’t a ton of teaching. The best thing that they kept on asking us questions, and to get a good evaluation at the end you have to show yourself to them.

For Hematology I made sure to read about it and refresh my memory (I used my trusted resource onlinemeded videos). The consultant made sure that we attended all of the team activities, round and clinics, she kept on asking questions and wanting us to read more. At the end of the 2 weeks the evaluation satisfied me because it differentiated my hard work from others.

To get an idea about each specialty you can ask other students about them, I cannot speak for anything that I didn’t experience myself.

• Internal medicine

(6 weeks rotation and 1 week for long case exam)

This is the rotation that every senior medical student worry about it the most, because you have to learn a lot and study a lot and face the LONG CASE exam that will make you capable of graduating as a good junior doctor. “FYI, it wasn’t that scary and that dramatic”

For 6 weeks you will have teaching sessions that you prepare cases for and you will be evaluated for your participation in them. The topics that covered in the teaching and the most important ones and the practice of the examination it also has been so important. To do well, you have to put time everyday to practice by taking a history and performing a physical examination. (History and exam are the most critical things that you must learn to pass the long case)

For studying I used the teaching information, Kaplan lecture notes and onlinemeded videos and notes to study for the long case and the final exams.

Throughout the week you have to prepare a presentation to present to your group (each 3 to 4 students will share one topic), the consultant with you will help you to get the objectives and make sure you covered what’s important.

Moreover, each week you have to make case report, which is basically consist of history, physical examination, investigations, treatment and follow up. You should submit it to your consultant at the end of the week. (The consultant might tell you the number of students in each case)

The internal medicine rotation is divided between 3 different hospitals “KFUH, KFSH-D and DCH” you will spend 2 weeks in each hospital and the long case exam will be divided between those three hospitals as well.

When it comes to written exam, we had a mid-rotation exam that wasn’t easy specially the EMGs, while the final MCQs was kind off more acceptable. For OSCE, it was variable when it comes to difficulty some stations were easy while others were more difficult.

• General surgery

(1 week of lectures, 7 weeks of rotation + clinical skills)

This was the last rotation of the senior year! We started the rotation with a full week of lectures from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Every single day, those lectures are the only ones that you will get throughout the surgery rotation. Make sure to sleep early and study those ton lectures before the end of the rotation.

You have to sign in everyday at 8 a.m. sharp (either at the department door or morning report auditorium) and sign out at 3 p.m. Each week will be with different subspecialty of surgery, you will attend their clinics, rounds, operations and get teaching as well. You will spend 2 to 3 weeks of the rotation in KFSH-D.

You have to fill a logbook for every week (write the diagnosis and management of 10 patients and write a full case for 1 patient) then you have to give it to your consultant to be evaluated.

We had clinical skills every Thursday covering multiple topics and practicing few things, some of them are repeated ones from previous years and some are new and exciting for us.

To prepare for each week read about the specialty from surgical re-call and for overall studying there are many books, online resources and lecture presentations to study from them.

For end of rotation OSPE \ slide OSCE, it came from the pictures that has been mentioned during the 1st week of the rotation “memorize the pictures and read about those conditions”. While for final MCQs it was from most common surgical topics and some questions we were familiar with from the 4 year. Finally, OSCE exam was amazing and a great end of this rotation. Stations were easy or average and you mostly depend on your previous skills and knowledge.

My grades differ in each rotation, some of them I got high marks while others I lost a lot. So, work hard to get the highest marks in easier rotation to save your GPA in the more difficult ones.

Thank you so much for reading the post, I hope you get something from it.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me and I will answer them

Wish you a year full of great moments and success

See you soon

Bye