Head First 2020

Head First A SUMS Transition Guide for Stage 2 2020

Head First 2020 A guide for incoming stage 2 students of the SMP Copyright 2020, Sydney University Medical Society Director of Publications: Brooke Carmody Content: Toby Plasto Design and Layout: Brooke Carmody Cover art adapted from Joseph Halevi, 2015

Contents What Is This Thing? 4 A Note From The Director 5 Best Events of Stage 2 6 What To Expect From MD Projects 7 What can I expect from each block this year? 8 How can I survive the paediatrics SDLP? 10 The Ophthalmology Log Book? 11 How Do I Prepare for the PopMed Exam? 12

What Is This Thing? Hi All, I hope you’re all enjoying the end of holidays and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things… Just a quick note to let you know what this document is all about! Brooke and I have spoken to some Stage 3 students and gotten their in- sight into a number of aspects of second year and what we can expect from each. All the responses are exactly as they were written and you can do with the information what you see fit! Hopefully this will be of use to some of you and help to answer some questions that might arise during the year. As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments for me! See you all soon. Toby Plasto SUMS VP (Advocacy) 4

A Note From The Director To my fellow stage 2 cohort, Just when I thought Feet First was over, Toby had the lovely idea to make a similar (albeit, smaller) transition guide from stage 1 to stage 2. With my inability to turn down a good idea, I agreed, and here we are. Within is all the content collected by Toby straight out of the mouths of the re- cently finished stage 2 students. This kind of content is built to calm nerves, answer questions before they even arise and to overall enhance the start of the year. On another note, if you find yourself wanting to contribute your draw- ings, words, opinions, art, photography, memes or spicy takes on being an SMP student, consider submitting for Innominate magazine by email- ing [email protected]. I’d love to have a wild variety of content to put into the first edition for this year! Looking forward to crying together this year, Brooke Carmody Director of Publications 5

Best Events of Stage 2 Halfway Grad Ball. • “Getting to halfway is a special occasion and it’s a the last time to celebrate together before everyone gets split up in Stage 3.” Mass Casualty Simulation. • “Wonderful way to let our hair down once that exam period was over!” • “Mass trauma simulation was the best. • “Halfway grad ball was a really good end Definitely participate in it, you will learn to the year and way to celebrate with so much about yourself.” friends.” Rural Bus Tour • “Halfway grad ball. It’s a great celebra- tion of your accomplishment to make it through two years of medical school • “The rural bus tour- lots of fun and great (mostly) unscathed, and it’s the last time to explore the regions and check out po- your cohort will be together before the tential future campus’” clinical years begin.” • “Halfway Ball, the best event.” Holidays. • “Half year break - heading away was fantastic after a huge exam.”“Honestly, the two-week break after Block 7/RSA1 be- cause it was 110% deserved” 6

What To Expect From MD Projects “The 4th milestone is difficult time-wise so make sure you get on top of that early. Others are fine.” “Prepare early - all of Stage 2 is early preparation and working hard up- front. Don’t stress out too much, just chip away at everything early on, and the end of the year will be so much more manageable. “I got amazing advice from my colleagues in the year above me - the ones who got their work done early thrived - those who didn’t bother really suffered.” 7

What can I expect from each block this year? Neuro. “It was super interesting, with really structured lectures throughout the block. I thoroughly enjoyed the extra practicals too because it was super hands on and thorough.” “Everything starts to tie together and make sense.” “It was really difficult but so fascinating.” “The information is really interesting and I think it was taught well.” “Hard and doesn’t really come together till the end (or even afterwards), but it is fascinating and the teaching while in a weird order is very good. Get stuck into the anatomy hard, and early to make sense of it.” Oncology. “Oncology - brings everything together.”  “Oncology block. Most enjoyable block being immersed at clinical.” 8

Renal. “Everything starts to tie together and make sense.” “Renal was great, but challenging. It has interesting physiology.” “Renal - it was SHORT.” Gastro. “Everything is well taught and you finally get the big picture view of internal medicine.” “Incredibly interesting content and finally felt like everything was making sense and the body systems were coming together.” 9

How can I survive the paediatrics SDLP? “Get in contact with your clinical school because chances are, the staff knows someone who has a baby who would be okay with being interviewed.” “The clinical schools are a great resources and are able to find you children from their communities.” “It’s far simpler than you think - just fill out the forms they provide as best you can, and make your project succinct. Do it properly the first time - even if it re- quires the extra few hours or work - don’t risk needing to resubmit - it’s a big time sink that way.” “START LOOKING EARLY.” 10

The Ophthalmology Log Book? “18 activities need to be ticked off. You need to have done 6 sessions I think and each session is 2 hours. Make sure you book early.” “Try and do a big chunk of it during renal! It’s the big- gest time between exams” “Plenty of time, you can get opthal patients in the ED as well.” “It’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about it.” 11

How DO I prepare for the PopMed exam? “The week of the exam is fine and also don’t expect the formative to reflect the exam.” “PopMed is a barrier and hence it requires a bit more time than a passing glance. It is by no means a diffi- cult exam. Going over the readings and slides for your lectures is a good start. Additionally, key health issues facing our society such as climate change, road trau- ma and smoking are worth reading about to become a better practitioner.” “Give it 4-5 days, and read every lecture (just read through and make notes, don’t watch the lectures). They may ask what the ‘Anthropocene’ era is (srs), and they often ask questions from the required readings (this is where they catch students out).” “Definitely memorise Haddon’s matrix as it will 100% come up.” 12

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If you’re thinking, “Wow, how on earth do I get words from by brain into a SUMS magazine? Is this amazing feat even possible for a medical student such as myself?” The answer is yes. It is possible. Contact Brooke Carmody: [email protected] to contribute in the future or for more information. Head First 2020 A guide for Stage 2 students of the Sydney Medical Program