January 2007

Happy New Year!

I wish all members a happy and fulfilling new year 2007. Some members are busy preparing for their entry into medical school later this month. At the same time, GAMSAT candidates are honing in on their study programmes. Many thanks to Ambo, for sharing her inspirational story of her journey to medical school at University of Western Australia.

Ambo's Story

Ever since I knew what a 'job' was as a kid, I wanted to be a doctor. Unfortunately at school I was not exactly a model student, and didn't get anywhere close to the marks needed for medicine. I felt lost and had no idea what to do with myself after Year 12. With two weeks until uni preferences were due, I enrolled in medical science because at least I would be learning something medical!

In my first couple of years of uni, I was still very distracted and was getting bad marks. I was heavily into sport and had a lot of pressure put on me to leave uni and pursue a career in my chosen sport. So I took a year off studying to try it out. Ultimately, I was drawn back to uni as I craved the intellectual challenge and loved learning medical stuff. Upon finishing my med science degree almost 10 years ago, I realized that I hated research and lab work. It was definitely not what I wanted to do with my life. The graduate entry medical program had just started up and I got hold of the ACER practice tests, toyed with the idea of sitting the GAMSAT. In the end, I never had the guts to go for it.

After I finished medical science, I worked as an Intelligence Analyst, doing projects for different law enforcement bodies throughout Australia and in liaison with some overseas agencies. The work was interesting and challenging, but again I was drawn back to health care by a desire to do something in the medical field. I decided that being a paramedic might be fun so I studied a degree in Paramedics and loved it. I got good marks that time around at uni, and it reignited those thoughts of studying medicine. I find working as a paramedic to be extremely rewarding, but the medicine bug just never went away. I had a desire to push myself personally and professionally beyond what I can do in ambulance. Again 10 years on, fear of the GAMSAT, or more so the fear of failing, was the only thing stopping me from chasing my dream.

After much encouragement from family and friends, I decided I would face that fear and sit the GAMMY this year as a trial run (or so I told myself in case I failed!). I undertook a preparation course and their advice was that the easiest areas to improve were Section I and II, so I worked hard every day deconstructing Section I questions until I understood why I got answers wrong. I also wrote heaps of practice essays. I was so overwhelmed by the science section (not having ever done any Physics, and no Chemistry since 1995!) that I thought I would forget about Section III for 2006 and study science during the year, so I would be ready for my second GAMSAT attempt in 2007.

By some miracle I remembered enough basic science to scrape through Section III and ended up with an overall gammy of 59 on my first attempt. Not the highest score around, but hard work took my Section I mark from 51 in a scaled prognostic preparation course test, to 67 in the GAMSAT. I faced my fear and won. Getting an overall mark of 59 was one of the proudest moments of my life!

I went on to apply for University of Western Australia and I have been fortunate enough to have been offered a place in 2007.

I wouldn't have been able to get as far as I have done without the support and advice from all of the wonderful members of Paging Dr. I hope, by writing this, that I can encourage anyone, who is overwhelmed by the idea of sitting the GAMSAT, to just go for it. Don't be scared of failure like I was. Don't let yourself use it as an excuse like I did. I think most Paging Dr members will agree that once that desire to study medicine is sparked, the fire never really goes out. Best of luck to everyone sitting the GAMSAT in 2007 and beyond!

Australian GAMSAT Application Closing Date is 29 January 2007

If you have applied and paid on-line, you must also send your passport sized photo by 29 January 2007.

UK GAMSAT

Let us send our best wishes to the UK medical school aspirants, who are sitting GAMSAT this month. Many UK medical schools use the GAMSAT exam, provided by ACER, to select their students. It is always interesting to observe the UK experience. UK GAMSATTers were the first to notice that ACER used trial questions which are not included in your final result.

Study Groups

Paging Dr has a sub board to help members meet other GAMSATTers and form study groups. Working in study groups has its advantages and disadvantages. The success of the group depends very much on the motivation of the individual members and their ability levels. Study groups work best when:

• Members agree on a plan for the next meeting. It is burdensome to show up at a meeting with all your test papers, physics, chemistry and biology textbooks - and then decide you want to practice essay writing.
• Members complement each other in their areas of expertise. For example, one person might be strong in humanities and can support people with science backgrounds with Section I and II.
• Members are committed to attending regular meetings. Group members need time to get used to each other and discover each other's strengths and weaknesses. Last minute cancellations and no-shows slow this process.
• All members can access a study venue which allows talking and plenty of table space for study materials. Some public libraries have areas where visitors can talk.

Essay Writing Thread

Paging Dr's essay writing thread is for peer review of member's essays. When posting your essay, please include the quote, to which you are responding and add a title. For your own reference, you should note how long it took to write it. Your essay should be handwritten as you would in the real exam; then typed into a forum post.

Posting and reviewing of essays is entirely voluntary. You may post an essay at any time. We are dependent on other members logging in and having the time to review your essay. I suggest that essay writers start early if they want to improve their writing skill. Towards the final weeks, many people are submitting essays and we may not have enough reviewers to review them all.

Finally, there is no reason to be shy about posting your essay. The point of the exercise is to help you determine where you are with your writing and what areas need to be improved, if any. It is better to know this now than after GAMSAT!

Paging Dr. Homepage 2.0

If you are reading this, then you know that Paging Dr. has a new homepage! Members often ask for information on topics related to graduate-entry medical programs. This web site helps you find the answers by making all the relevant information available in one place. We provide the web links to help you find the information from official sources.

Many thanks to the members who tested the homepage on their computers and let me know what adjustments were necessary. Also, thanks for your suggestions to improve the homepage. The homepage depends on your input for keeping it up to date and relevant to your needs. If you notice any interesting websites/blogs which should be included, please click on the FEEDBACK button and share your ideas.

2007 Entry Offers

Congratulations to the following, who received offers in the past month.

To date 119 members have received offers for a place in either Graduate Entry Medicine or Dentistry in 2007. Although some members have elected to decline their offers, we appreciate everyone entering their offer details in the 2007 Entry Offers thread. This information is useful for future candidates, who seek to know the entry criteria of a particular school.

While many members are excitedly preparing for their first year of medical school, a number of candidates are still waiting to hear from Flinders University and University of Western Australia. Hang in there! It is nearly over. I look forward to announcing your offers in the next newsletter. Good luck to all who have been patiently waiting!

February 2007

When Disappointment Turns to Joy!

Due to the complex range of offers now available, several Paging Dr members had their offers upgraded! Jilliano and Nic06 received declinations, which were replaced by offers. Orfeo and ScienceGeek received FFP offers, which were upgraded to BMP. BatGirl and SAAmbo's BMP offers were upgraded to CSP. AppleTree received a letter congratulating her for receiving a place with ANU. Then ANU declared the letter was sent in error. AppleTree's disappointment turned to joy when she received a real offer from University of Newcastle. Congratulations to the following Paging Dr members, who reported their offers:

We look forward to hearing about your experience as new medical / dental students. Please share your first impressions in our First Day at Medical School thread.

Good luck to Gemmbo, DC and Milo, who plan to defer their medical school studies till 2008.

Australian GAMSAT Applications Closed on 29 January 2007

Late applications, up to 9 February 2007, are accepted with a $90 late fee. Visit ACER's website for details.

Thanks to the many members, who are assisting our GAMSAT candidates with essay reviews and science tips. Please keep the momentum going. One of the strengths of Paging Dr is our ability to support each other through trying times. The next two months will be stressful, particularly for GAMSAT virgins. Any support is always appreciated.

Buyers and Sellers Beware: Copyright Infringements

At the bottom of the main menu, we have a Classifieds category for you to buy/sell GAMSAT study materials. Please remember that it is OK to sell the originals of your notes. It is illegal to make and sell copies of your notes. If we discover you are infringing copyright, your thread will be deleted. Members who notice such infringements should use the Report to Admin button at the bottom of the offending post.

Member Photos

Thanks to everyone, who has sent a photo! Considering the size of our community, our photo album is surprisingly small. Don't be shy. If have you have a good photo from Christmas, New Year or a medical school keg party (the more incriminating, the better ), please send it to PagingDr2007@yahoo.com.au.

Forum Facelift

A few changes to the look and feel of the forum have been implemented. Your profile now has options to choose a skin (colour scheme) and banner. There is a new category called Life as a Doctor to discuss internship, postgraduate training and lifestyle issues. Some sub boards have been promoted to the main level to simplify navigation. A new board, YouTube, has been set up for you to share your favourite YouTube videos.

Miss-G-`s Story

When I was 15, I asked my Dad (an ob/gyn) if medicine was hard. My parents were divorced, he worked in Saudi Arabia and was back on a visit. He looked at me with some sadness, and told me I didn't need to be a doctor to be a healer. I took this as a lack of faith and never gave it another moment's thought. I'd like to say that I ploughed on despite my obstacles, but that would be a lie. I was an angry teenager, terrible student, I failed year 10 thanks to absenteeism (but they put me up anyway), and I stopped going to maths and science in year 9. I got my VCE, but received no score because I didn't bother showing up to an exam.

My Dad died a year later from secondary melanoma that had gone to his liver. Watching someone die like that gives you a very clear choice between becoming a screw-up, or doing something with yourself. So I went to TAFE with some prodding from my Mum. I felt like a loser doing a dead-end writing course, but my co-ordinator issued me with a challenge. "Just hand in your assignments on time, even if they're not perfect. Don't be like my brother, who is 35, and still hasn't started anything because he can't get it perfect. If you do this, you'll get into uni".

So I did, and I got my first distinction, and it was addictive. I finished TAFE with an average of the same, and got into Multimedia and Media Studies (most of school wagging had been done in the computer room, building websites) and I absolutely loved it. Twice I got the highest mark in my year level. I won the short film festival. I was determined to be a TV producer. I finished uni, got a graduate job as a media coordinator ... and hated it. Eight months into it, and I was waking up wishing I could break my leg so I wouldn't have to go to work that day.

A friend suggested medicine to me and I laughed her off. Medicine was for the 99.95 people, the smart, super hard workers - not a former delinquent, media graduate! But she pushed, she told me about the GAMSAT and how I should give it a go. One day a few weeks later, on a Sunday morning, it hit me that it was really what I wanted. So I started to study secretly for it, knowing that anyone who knew me, would laugh. I started studying the October before, but my own poor self confidence, zero maths and science knowledge (I'd stopped going to maths as soon as algebra got beyond addition and subtraction), and the 12 hour work days I was doing really held me back. By March, I knew that I wasn't going to make it.

Something snapped. I handed in my resignation much to their shock (my manager snapped "just you remember this when you don't have the money to buy bread!"), and decided to sit the exam anyway, knowing I'd fail. I told my family, who were shocked, but managed to contain their reservations.

The exam was hell. My partner was overseas, it was my birthday, I forgot to eat breakfast and didn't bring any lunch. My nerves were the worst part, my hunger the second. However, I walked out of there elated that I'd just sat it. I got my results and wasn't surprised by my science score, but was incredibly surprised with the S2 - I got 55 /81 / 40 overall 55. The 81 is what made me think that maybe it was possible - that, and I knew that if I got to the interview stage, I would be alright. (You don't work in media without learning how to talk to people!). A 50 in the science and a repeat of that effort might get me over the line!

So I started doing bridging courses. I got a part time job as a medical receptionist, and started studying all my spare time. I worked through high school textbooks, I learned how to transpose equations. I felt proud when I learned what an anion and a cation was. I got a tutor, joined a study group, and did Des O'Neill's prep course. I'd study for five hours at a time for a week, and then do nothing the next week out of exhaustion. Two weeks before the exam, Kurly and I were doing 8 hour study sessions, feeling like vomiting afterwards!

On the day of the exam, I was so pumped. I knew exactly what to expect, I followed Dietitian's excellent food advice thread, I'd worked out my strategy. I didn't come out elated though - I found most of what I'd studied for on S3 wasn't there, and all the things I'd let slide, were - but I was determined to do it again next year. I didn't feel my essays were as good either, although S1 seemed easier. The following months were torture, I was pretty convinced I'd failed but there was that tiny, frustrating hope. There were delays with ACER, and the day they arrived I wasn't expecting them. When I opened the envelope, I wanted to cry, laugh, faint, and throw up, all at once. 66 / 86 / 54 overall 65.

I chose the University of Sydney so my partner could work up there too. The interview went well, I thought, although as soon as I walked out, my mind fell over itself, thinking about what I should have said. However, I was genuine, friendly, and stood my ground the whole way through.

Offers came early - straight into my junk email box, and without this forum, I would never have known! USyd offered me an MRBS place, my second preference after a full scholarship I am still in shock over this whole process, but very happy, and indebted to this wonderful forum.

If I were to give any advice, it would just be to keep trying, and try everything. Cover your wall in sticky notes, do whatever you need to make sense of the things you find hard. Don't put limits on yourself, and most of all, don't feel bad about yourself. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, and do what it takes to follow your dream, no matter how hopeless it seems. Let go of that hopelessness, let go of your pride (that tells you rubbish about genius 99.95ers or to put rules and limits on yourself about your own entry), and just do the work. Some people can get 70+ on the science section and say they did no study - don't assume that you're not good enough if you need to work hard to achieve that. Everyone is different, you are no better or no worse for doing it YOUR way. Once you're in, it doesn't matter how you did it - the way it feels makes all that stuff evaporate. I worked my arse off and got a good score and I am proud of that. I failed it the first time but did it the second and I am proud of that improvement too, probably moreso than if I had just cruised my way in, and never really understood what it takes to work hard for what you want - and achieve it.

From the bottom of my heart I wish everyone the best of luck. You will get there. Just keep trying, don't give up, and don't be your own worst enemy!

Thank you, Miss-G- for sharing your story with us. I expect all 2007 GAMSATTers to be totally inspired.

Good luck to all first year medical students, who commence school this month! We look forward to hearing about your experiences. If anyone would like to contribute to the newsletter, please send me a pm.

March 2007

A Tribute to Our Community

Over the past 20 months, you faithfully contributed lengthy posts about the medical profession, medical school and interviews. You also posted your essays for review and helped each other solve science problems. Most of this treasured information is now lost. We were all betrayed.

Seven days ago, and just four weeks before GAMSAT, the forum was shut down before anyone could save its valuable resources. For whatever reason, the owner decided to delete the forum. The remaining staff all had stuff to do: we should have been studying or relaxing before work, but we spent all of Sunday putting together a new forum as fast as we could, so that those who were freaking out about the GAMSAT, would still at least have some kind of resource, at the very least, some kind of moral support.

Why take our whole day doing this? Because we wouldn't have got through without this forum ourselves. They tell us at uni that doctors teach for free, because someone taught them. We should all do this regardless of profession, we should all give back what has been given to us before. So we put the board back together, devastated at the loss of so much good information, much of it really highly specific science information, and put up what we had left, then emailed everyone whose email addresses we could find.

Out of this despair, something amazing happened. Without being prompted, you pledged your commitment to rebuild the forum. To our surprise and joy, you began digging through your hard drives and Google cache to restore some of our lost treasure. We should not have been surprised. Loyalty, support and a sense of community is what Paging Dr is all about.

Although the forum must have an owner, nobody owns the Paging Dr community or the information it contains. Nobody owns, or has the power to destroy, the many friendships formed here. Nobody can break our community spirit. And above all, nobody should underestimate our resilience.

Paging Dr's welcome message brags about being addictive and Australia's Premier Forum for Graduate Entry Medicine. This week, we learnt how powerful that addiction is. Over two hundred members signed up during the new forum's first week.

We are not saying this forum has the best staff. Every forum needs to be staffed. Our role is to facilitate a forum which encourages values of honesty, sharing and caring. The rest is up to you.

We thank you for your messages of support. Your magnificent efforts to restore our lost resources have also restored our faith in the human condition. Each of us is deeply touched. We salute you.

A Fresh Start

With the new forum, everyone begins with a new post count. Here is your chance to make a strong impression in the forum! Post often and make your presence felt.

Profile Setting: Mass Email Opt-In

If the forum has to be out of service for a period, we would like to give you advance notice. In order to keep you informed of system outages, we suggest you set your profile to Mass Emails: Opt-In. If you choose to 'opt-out', we can only contact you via the forum.

Forum Basics: How to Load an Avatar!

An avatar is the picture which appears beneath your name in your profile.

1. Find a photo/picture which you like.
2. Upload this photo to an online server such as ImageShack, preferably change the resize option to 100x75 or 100 x 100.
3. Once you have hit "Host it" and the new page loads, copy the URL for "Direct link to image"
4. When you are logged in on the Paging Dr Forum site, click "My Profile" which is located on the blue bar beneath the banner, then click "modify profile". Paste the previously copied URL into "avatar URL" and adjust the size accordingly.
5. Click "modify profile" at the bottom of the page and voila! You have a new avatar!

Medical School

The university year is now well and truly under way. UQ kicked off their year with a run through the streets of Brisbane dressed in scrubs, courtesy of a government department. Griffith and Sydney had, by all reports, debaucherous times at their orientation camps. Flinders Paging Dr members preferred a more relaxing picnic. Members from ND, Melbourne, ANU and UOW are undoubtedly so involved in med school social life that we have lost track of what they are up to! Tell everyone what you and your classmates have been up to in the Welcome to Medical School board.

If you have photos to share, please click on the "submit photos" next to our welcome message. Please remember to ask anyone who features in a photograph for their permission to post. Many people enjoy the anonymity that the forum provides and we would like to respect this.

AMSA Convention

AMSA Convention registration opens on March 28. If you are keen, make sure to get in early and secure your ticket to the biggest med school event of the year.

GAMSAT

On 24 March 2007, GAMSAT will be held. We all know how important this exam is for you and wish all of those sitting Gammy on the 24th the absolute best of luck. The TIPS FOR EXAM DAY thread is a great place to learn from those who have been there before.

To those, who have already been there, we appreciate you are very occupied with medical school. Yet any help you can give with essay reviews or science problems will be gratefully received.

April 2007

There is Life After GAMSAT!

Congratulations to all our GAMSATTers for completing one of the most difficult exams of their lives last weekend. Thank you for sharing your experiences through the debrief threads. We hope this was helpful.

Now the long wait for the results begins! Fortunately, ACER has improved the delivery system for your results. This year, your results will be advised by email, thus ending a time honoured tradition of Paging Dr members stalking their postmen. No longer will we be:

• Peering out of our windows, scanning the street for the postman
• Jumping whenever we hear the sound of a motorbike
• Setting up a webcam so that we can monitor our letterboxes from work.
• Double-checking the empty letterbox just to make sure we did not miss that A4-sized envelope.
• Checking our neighbours' letterboxes in case it was delivered there.

This year, you will be continually hitting of the refresh button on your mail program. This is progress.

Medical School Admissions Staff at Paging Dr

We extend a warm welcome to Susanna and Maxine, medical school admissions officers from University of Notre Dame Sydney and Griffith University respectively. Their member names are:

ndssom:   Susanna will be answering questions about University of Notre Dame Sydney.

max3:   Maxine will be answering questions about Griffith University.

If you have a query about either of these schools, you may post your questions. We are grateful for Susanna and Maxine's time. We do not expect them to post answers which can be easily found on the school web site. In the spirit of self-directed learning, we ask you to do your research first.

While You Wait For Your Results ...

After you receive your results, you will have about four weeks to decide which medical schools you will choose on your application form. Therefore we suggest you start your research now to find out what is the entry criteria of each medical school. The information is freely available from the sources listed below.

• Review the University Entry Requirement tables on the Paging Dr web site. These show a quick comparison of different interview and offer criteria. The information in these tables is correct for 2007 entry. The tables will be updated for 2008 entry when this information becomes available.
• If you need more information, read last year's Graduate Australian Medical School Guide. This year's Guide will be available when you get your results.
• If you still need more information, visit the home page of the universities which interest you. A list of home pages is available at the Paging Dr web site.
• Calculate your GPA. Member DistantCube has created an Excel worksheet to assist you with your calculation. Click here for more information.

More Things You Can Do ...

• Get your academic transcript ACER wants originals or certified copies of your academic transcript. The result notice is not sufficient. If you have not finished your degree, get a transcript for the subjects you have completed to date.
• Contribute an autobiographical story to the Newsletter! Member stories are by far the most popular part of our newsletters. You do not have to be a medical student to contribute a story. If you would like to share a little - or a lot - about your life, send a PM to one of the staff.
• Visit the rest of Paging Dr's boards! For those, who have never ventured outside the GAMSAT boards, a whole new world awaits you.
• Enter the CHAT LOBBY. We introduced the live chat sessions via the CHAT LOBBY two weeks before GAMSAT. These proved to be very popular. Click on the CHAT LOBBY button on the welcome message of the main forum page. If you want to let people know of your availability to chat, post a message in the CBox. (The CBox will continue to be a part of Paging Dr.)
• Visit Paging Dr Museum. As the previous newsletter was going to print, we were still in the process of securing the old forum. Unfortunately, we could not save all the data. The former owner of Paging Dr deleted the boards which we valued most. Click here for more information.

AMSA Convention

AMSA Convention registrations opened on 28 March 2007 and were fully subscribed in twelve hours. If you wish to attend, and you have not registered yet, register NOW. You may get a ticket if the tickets are redistributed. For more information, visit our AMSA Convention thread. You might also be interested in AMSA Forums.

Forum Etiquette

Please do not try to convert anyone to your way of thinking, whether it be your internet browser/religious preference or any other kind of preference. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and should not be made to change it because you do not agree with it. If someone offers an opinion with which you disagree, then either disagree in a friendly way or ignore the thread/post.

If a discussion thread descends into a personalised rant between a small group of members, the thread has effectively been hijacked. Other members feel excluded and cannot participate in the discussion. When this happens, Paging Dr staff may choose to:

• Lock the hijacked thread
• Move it to the RANTS board
• Delete the posts which strayed off topic
• Delete the thread itself.

A lot of time and effort is put into composing some posts. Please think twice before jumping into hijack mode. If in doubt, start a new thread in the RANTS board.

Custom Title for 100 Posts!

After you have authored 100 quality posts, we offer to place a title of your choosing under your display name. Read more about this unbelievable offer here.

Forum Basics: How to Copy Text From Another Member's Post

Instead of hitting the reply button, press quote (which is located below the reply button).

The text from the other member's post will be copied inside [quote]   [quote] tags. When you hit Post Reply, the text will appear inside a box. It is possible to have a second set of [quote]   [quote] tags nested inside. This is when you are quoting someone, who is quoting someone else. This will produce a box inside a box.

Paging Dr Staff

The title Senior Member has been replaced by Board Moderator. While Senior Members had access to staff discussions, they had no authority to moderate boards. Kranky, LintLustre, ScienceGeek. have been appointed as Board Moderators. They are authorised to moderate the boards which bear their names. If you wish to raise an issue about any of the boards, please send a PM to the moderators of that board.

The Senior Member title will be retained as a non-staff title to recognise loyalty and support for the forum.

We would like to wish you a safe and relaxing Easter Holiday!

May 2007

Forum Etiquette

Paging Dr's Global Forum rules were published last month. We wish to thank all members for observing our rules. Forum discussions have continued to be stimulating and informative without being emotionally charged.

GAMSAT Results Released this Month!

It is only a matter of time until ACER ends the tortuous wait for results. At this stage, we still don't know whether they will arrive in an email or if you have to login to the ACER web site to access them. What we do know is that you will receive an email soon to tell you how to get them.

All Paging Dr staff and non-GAMSAT-result-waiting members wish you all the very best in the coming weeks. Some of us know how difficult the final few days of waiting can be. This is the first of many other waits: wait for interview offers, wait for interview, wait for offer letters, wait for enrolment packs, waiting to start.

We will have a no-chat thread set up for posting your GAMSAT results. Posting your results is entirely voluntary. Because you will want to congratulate each other, there will be a separate thread for congratulatory messages. We do this so that we can keep the results in one tidy thread for future reference.

2008 Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Guide

ACER promises to release this guide in mid May. In the meantime, you should read the 2007 version to get an idea of what to expect. For information about minimum GPA levels and how to calculate your GPA, please refer to the links on the left hand side of the ACER Graduate Australian Medical School Admission page.

The Paging Dr web site's university requirements comparison table will be updated accordingly when the 2008 Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Guide is released.

RTFM - Read the Manual

RTFM is an information technology term meaning read the manual. After you get your results, there will be many questions about the application process. Before posting a question in the forum, we expect you to have already:

• Read the 2008 Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Guide
• Accessed the appropriate University web site
• Checked if your question has already been answered on the forum.

We expect to receive many questions. It is only fair that we pitch in and help each other where we can rather than burdening other members with a simple question.

If you cannot find the answer to your question, please post in the Application Process board for GPA and application form discussions. For discussions about specific universities, please post in the Universities board.

If you did not sit GAMSAT this year, and you plan to apply for 2008 entry, you must obtain an application form directly from ACER.

Forum Basics: Bookmarks and Email Notification of New Posts

Bookmarking allows you to receive an email whenever an interesting thread has been updated. There are two steps to the process. First, you must bookmark the thread. Second, you must request an email notification for the bookmarked thread.

To bookmark a topic thread, please follow these steps:

• Go to the thread you wish to bookmark.
• Click on the button at the top left of the first post.

To receive an email whenever this thread is updated:

• Click on the word 'Bookmarks' on the white menu bar below the Paging Dr banner. You will see a list of all your bookmarked threads.
• Click on 'Manage Bookmarks'
• Choose 'Notification by Email' next to the thread you just bookmarked.
• Click on the 'Update Bookmarks and Preferences' button.

CrankyPants' Story

I am never going to be one of those people who say that they always knew that they were destined to be a doctor. (Not that there is nothing wrong with that. It just isn't me.) I have never been the kind of person who is attracted to glamour or prestige, as I don't think of myself as glamorous or prestigious! Society's view of being a doctor seems to fit under both of these descriptions, and, having no experience with real doctors first-hand outside of a GP's office, I did not know any differently. Striding around the wards in a white coat while issuing grand proclamations and giving orders. "Nurse, 10cc's of isoprobademoropafol, stat!" would be the last thing I would want to do.

My ideas of what I wanted for a career changed constantly, sometimes every week or so. I needed something challenging that deals with people, that involves organising and a fair bit of hands-on work. There are a great many careers that fit this description. I considered medicine, but decided that I was afraid of blood after seeing a classmate break her nose at a year 12 camp.

All through school I was a talented music student, good at languages and writing, and enjoyed reading. I went overseas to study in Germany for six months after graduation and came back not really knowing what to go on and study at university. I wanted to help people, and I was good at music, so I figured that the music therapy course at UQ would be an ideal option. I auditioned for the Bachelor of Music degree at UQ, and was offered a place.

I enjoyed studying music and made many lifelong friends, but there was something missing. It wasn't stable, it wasn't "real" enough, and I wanted something more tangible, something that was more of a "career". Music therapy, while being ideal for some, drove me insane. It works for some patients, but I felt that there wasn't enough hard science involved in the journal articles (for example, one article I read came to the ground-breaking conclusion that patients were "sad" when the therapist no longer visited them) and there was no such thing as a stable job. I considered medicine, but thought that it would take too long to finish the course, and I was in a rush to graduate and earn money.

Being three years out of school and feeling old (which I laugh at now), I wanted the fasted degree I could do and come out of with a guaranteed job. I chose radiography. The majority of students in the course were very science-oriented and quite driven, even though they would often scoff at how easy things were. I didn't find anatomy easy. I even had nightmares about the anatomy exams! To be honest, I didn't particularly enjoy the course and was worried at how jaded many of the radiographers seemed when I worked with them on prac, and of course, the fact that I didn't like blood. I again tinkered with the idea of medicine, but I was about to get married and wanted a stable income. Besides, people I knew who I thought were smarter than me had sat the GAMSAT and failed. How could I possibly do it?

I spent a few years working in large public hospitals, and to my surprise, LOVED working in emergency and theatre. I loved the midnight to 8am shift in emergency, not for the hours (which were torture), but because of the team work, the nature of the medical emergencies we were dealing with, and the adrenaline buzz when you are all working together as fast as you can around a major trauma victim. I even got over my fear of blood after months working in interventional angiography and the cardiac catheterisation lab, and found that I looked at gory wounds with the fascination of a 10-year-old boy .

Of course, I also loved working with patients. There is something special about being there to help in such a difficult and traumatic time in somebody's life. I think you learn a lot about people by being there during some of their worst moments, and you learn a lot about yourself. I try to view each patient as an individual, and try to let them know that I see them as a person, not just a number. Unfortunately in radiography, this isn't always possible, particularly in an area where you are sometimes expected to take more than 100 chest x-rays in the one shift.

While I loved working in a hospital, radiography still annoyed me. Sure, you could learn a LOT about the pathology and treatments involved in what you were doing, and it might make you a marginally better radiographer, but at the end of the day the actual work was not that challenging. Besides, not many people come to radiographers for their opinion on the progress of the COAD patient they have just x-rayed. I was still a technician (with five years of university and a huge HECS debt) in the eyes of nearly everybody in the hospital.

I wanted patient continuity, to learn more about each patient I was x-raying, and to be able to know and do what the doctors who were working around me were doing. I would go up to the ICU and watched them put in a NG tube past an ET tube with fascination and want to know exactly how they did it.. I'm sure they thought I was weird! I loved watching the orthopods at work, and saw the effort people put into planning the care of patients and KNOWING what was happening and what they needed to try to do, and then going ahead and doing it. I knew I would love to be able to do that, too.

More than that, I found that I am the kind of person who actually NEEDS the challenge of an absorbing career to be happy. I tried to avoid one for years and was miserable. I went to my 10 year high-school reunion, and one of the teachers there said something that stuck with me. When I told him I was a radiographer, not a radiologist, as I took the pictures and wasn't the doctor, he said "Oh, but you're more than smart enough to do either if you wanted." It was the nicest thing anybody had said to me in a while.

I decided that I had to give myself a serious shot at having a challenging career in an area that I loved while I still had the chance. I knew the GAMSAT was incredibly difficult, even for the gifted people I knew who had sat it and failed, and I knew I would have to work hard. I told myself and my husband that I would give it three or four attempts and then see where we were at.

Even though my attempt last year was supposed to be a practice run, I worked hard, getting up at 5am every day to study before work for nine months prior to the exam, and doing eleven full-length practice exams under exam conditions on my weekends. I knew from music that you have to go over things as they will be on the day to get yourself mentally prepared to do the best that you can do. I also knew that I would have to study hard while working as a doctor, so it was a bit of a trial run for seeing how I would handle studying and working simultaneously. I nearly gave up at the start, looking at all of the chemistry and organic chemistry that I had to teach myself. My husband was my rock during this time, always having faith in me.

With help from so many wonderful people on the Paging Dr forum, I worked on my strengths (essays and reading) while consolidating my weaknesses. Their group support was so fantastic and when we all went through tough times we could share and be supported. The GAMSAT is a tough exam, but preparing for it properly is also very stressful. I only told the one doctor at work that I was sitting it, as he was very supportive and had a son already studying medicine who had needed two tries at the exam to get in.

GAMSAT day came and went, and it was even harder than I thought. When I opened section three, I read through it the first time and realised with horror that I knew very few of the questions. I had to try to work it all out from scratch with the basic knowledge I had, and I got a massive headache during the last part of section three, and only just completed it, sitting there in the halls with my eyes closed for the last 20 minutes. I walked out convinced that I had failed section three, and formulated a study plan for next year's exam. I wasn't hugely upset as I had a stable job in Queensland Health and could learn a lot in the year leading up to the next exam that would help me later in life as a doctor.

Months later our results slowly dribbled out of Australia Post and I was live on the forum as I opened my letter, not believing what I read - 64! My section scores were 69, 71 and 57, meaning that I had passed every section and was in with a shot for UQ, the uni that I had fantasised about attending for medicine, but never thought I would get into.

I applied for an interview at UQ and prepared as much as I could, trying to flesh out answers to why I wanted to become a doctor and work out what I thought about topics like euthanasia, smoking, etc. The interviewers were good at grilling me but I thought they gave me a fair chance to prove myself. I knew I was competing with a lot of worthy people for a place, and had to convince them that I would be ideal. The whole experience felt quite surreal.

In November, our acceptance letters finally arrived, and I couldn't believe it - I had been given an unconditional offer of a CSP at UQ! I was going to study to become a doctor! It still feels surreal, even though I have just finished up at my workplace. Everybody has been so happy for me. As I left so many doctors wished me luck and told me that I would make a great doctor, which meant the world to somebody who never really thought she could get into the course.

Ideally, I want to work in a hospital and have a lot of patient contact. I'm tinkering with ideas about emergency, oncology, infectious diseases, psychiatry, and gastroenterology, however I fully expect to change my mind once I start working in various areas. Who knows, I might yet end up working in neonatal ICU! Stranger things have happened.

If I meet anybody who is interested in sitting the GAMSAT, I always tell them to visit this forum, do a LOT of practice exams, capitalise on their strengths while consolidating their weaknesses and expect to sit it the first time as a practice run. I also tell them that if I can do it, they can too. Better people than me have had to sit it more than once, and if they are prepared to do it as many times as it takes, they will make it through.

June 2007

After a predictably frustrating wait, ACER finally managed to get results out to 2007 GAMSAT candidates in a relatively timely, 21st century manner. Of course, it wouldn't be an ACER operation without a few hiccups, poor communication and a blatant disregard for its clients.

Paging Dr member, Gesax, discovered the results were available on-line five hours before ACER advised GAMSAT candidates. Well done Gesax!

Congratulations to all those who sat and survived GAMSAT this year. It is a mammoth exam and everyone should be proud to have actually had the guts to do it. As always, the Paging Dr contingent did very well, pulling out a range of very solid scores. Good work team!

Applications for Admission Open until 8 June 2007

Applications are now open for 2008 Medical School admission. Make sure you check the ACER website and ensure that you have included all the things which need to be sent to ACER or your chosen medical school! The Admissions Guide and the relevant university websites should be your first point of call for information. As always, the Application Process board is full of hints, tips and recommendations about the medical schools. Check out the University Requirements Comparison table on the Paging Dr website that compares the requirements for each university too!

Forum Developments

The range of smileys has once again been expanded so that there is a smiley for almost every occasion. You can view the full array of smileys here . They are really easy to use. Some have been added to the tool bar in the post message screen, otherwise you can type the shortcut that is listed in the photobucket page above each smiley.

The CHAT LOBBY has been very active lately with lots of members popping in to say hi. It is a great place to chat informally about whatever takes your fancy. If the CHAT LOBBY is empty, leave a message in the Cbox (at the bottom of the main forum page) to let people know you are available to chat. The CHAT LOBBY button is at the top right corner of the main forum page.

Forum registrations are presently suspended until 8 June 2007. This is to prevent the abuse of the forum by people who think it is OK to let members do their research for them. It is not acceptable to simply drop in, get a question answered and never return - not even to say thank you.

Interesting Threads to Help You Procrastinate or Wait for your Interview Offer

• Doctor Blogs Thread
• Medical Student Blogs Thread
• Cooking Tasty Stuff- What better way to while away time than cooking up a storm?
• Interview Experiences: NO CHAT THREAD- Previous interviewees: please post your recount of the interview for this year's candidates. :D

??'s Story

Do YOU have a story about your journey in life towards med school / enlightenment / anywhere interesting? If so, we'd like to hear from you! Send your story to ~Wunderbunny~.

July 2007

AMSA Convention

It is that time of the year again. Time to raid the $2 shops, Spotlight, the kitchen drawer, garage, anywhere you can think a fancy dress costume is waiting to be made. AMSA Convention takes place on 1-7 July 2007 at Adelaide. Several members plan to attend the Convention at Adelaide. We look forward to hearing some good gossip.

Lurkers: Please Note

While we believe forum participation is more enjoyable than forum lurking, we understand some of you are not yet ready to participate fully in our discussions. Unlike the previous Paging Dr forum, you do not have to be a member to view the boards here. Unregistered visitors can view all boards except "Accommodation" (registered members only) and the "Orange Room" (staff only). Forum newsletters are published on the Paging Dr web site. So there really is no need to create an account if you do not wish to post.

Money Matters Board

Money Matters is a sub board of the Medical Student Q&A board. This is the board for you to discuss:

• How you will manage financially throughout medical school.
• What are the differences between MRBS, BMP, QHBMS and CSP places?

More Sites to Visit Whilst Waiting For Your Interview Offer

• Interviews page, which has web resources for ethics topics.
• Home pages of the medical schools to which you applied.
• Members' advice on what to wear at the interview.
• Our YouTube board for entertaining videos posted by other members.

Forum Basics: How to Put a Ticker in your Signature

Beneath every post, there is a signature area, where you are free to add text or a small graphic.

A ticker is an image which displays the number of days to a special occasion. It adjusts itself every day. The following ticker counts the number of days till GAMSAT 2008:

To create a ticker for your signature:

1. Go to www.tickerfactory.com.
2. Follow the prompts to choose a ruler, slider, event name and date.
3. Copy the code in the box marked bb Code with CTL-C.
4. Login to Paging Dr and click PROFILE.
5. Click
6. Paste the code in the Signature: box with CTL-V.
7. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
8. Press
9. Note: This code also has [url][/url] tags wrapped around the [img][/img] tags. You only need to paste the code between the [img][/img] tags. You may delete the [url][/url] tags, if you wish.

For example, the coding for the above ticker is:

[img]http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10717;89/st/20080315/e/2008+GAMSAT/dt/14/k/6664/event.png[/img]

Cupes' Story

Unlike most other stories you'll hear, I never wanted to be a doctor as I was growing up. Despite parental and peer pressure, despite doing the requisite subjects in high school, despite an unusual inclination towards chemistry, I veered away from the sciences when I sent in my university course preferences. I guess in the end, the combination of these forces proved counterproductive and I was destined for a career in the social sciences.

I enjoyed my undergraduate years. The field of international relations was a personal interest which turned into an academic one. During my honours year, I started to seriously think about what I would do after I finished the course. Typical avenues like graduate programs, traveling, further study etc were considered. Since I wanted to keep all my options open (Heck, I even called Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific to ask about their cadet pilot scheme!), I sat the GAMSAT."just in case." So with minimal preparation and plenty of nerves, I ventured to Randwick and ended up with a 53 for my troubles.

"That's that", so I thought.

Later that year I applied for, and was successful in being selected, for an international cultural exchange program. As part of my preparation, I began researching the issue of 'Australian identity' and started to prepare myself for questions that would inevitably be directed at a person who looks Asian but was representing Australia. During a particular conversation with a friend, the question was asked: 'What if they ask you about that?'

By "that", she meant the scar I have.

You see, I am a burns survivor.

That the incident even occurred and so early in life almost points to a life of misfortune. But, I considered myself lucky. Other than what I had been told, I remember absolutely nothing about it. The emotional and mental scars don't seem to be there. The scar is the only evidence that it ever occurred. Curiosity fed a desire to find out more, the culmination of which was a better understanding of the quality of the treatment I had received, the support my family was given by the public health system and the medical professionals who worked within it. Thank you to the Children's Hospital and Dr John Harvey.

I was inspired. I really was.

During this time (late 2005), bird flu cases were being broadcast nightly in the mass media. As English was the second language of many friends and family, their anxiety levels increased substantially with each reported death. Visits to the GP proved useless as the assurances he gave simply did not seem genuine, a problem which was reflected in his lack of professionalism and the way he ran his practice, rather than his character. As the person who spoke the most English within the extended family, I was often asked for the latest updates of the predicted pandemic, particularly by relatives who were planning trips to countries which had figured prominently as destinations where birds and humans had being affected by the virus.

I felt that by being asked to explain the information being fed through the news, I was able to give these people a sense of reassurance which I found lacking.

It felt good.

So with some strong encouragement, I made the decision to re-sit GAMSAT. At the time, I was acting purely on instinct. In the meantime, I applied to do a Master of Public Health as a way of easing my transition from a social sciences background to a clinical sciences career and also as a fall back option. International relations combined with public health policy was a good way of using my skills and interests. But medicine was a career that I believed to be at the forefront of human endeavours in this century and will provide me with a sense of satisfaction that I seek in anything I do.

It was a gamble.

I consider myself quite fortunate to have received an offer and look forward to the challenges which lay ahead.

Cupes is currently studying first year MBBS at University of Queensland.

August 2007

Interview Offers

We look forward to hearing about your interview offers later this month! As usual, we will open a thread for you to record your offer and GPA/GAMSAT scores. Disclosure of this information is voluntary. The information will be used to let everyone know what the cutoff scores were. We will update the Paging Dr calendar as new information from other schools become available. Keep an eye on the calendar on the main forum page.

Interview Preparation

Paging Dr does not recommend any brand of interview preparation course over another. The best publicity for any course is from the people, who attended them. We encourage you to use the forum to discuss courses, which you attended this year or in a previous year. If you do not wish to attend any preparation course, there are ample resources on the web. For starters, visit the Interview page on our web site and bookmark our Interviews board.

Interviewers use various tactics to find out who you are as a person. They may ask directly about your motivations and experiences. They may describe a scenario and ask you to respond to it. They may seek your opinion on some ethical issues. In all situations, you need to be relaxed and honest with your responses. We cannot tell you what the correct answer to any question is. The "correct" answer demonstrates how well you know yourself and your preparedness for the study/practice of medicine.

Forum Basics: Google Search

You remember there was a post about something but you can't quite remember where you read it. Despite having the boards structured as logically as possible, we know it can be difficult to find the information you want.

To find information, use the Google search box. It is located at the bottom of the main forum page, beneath the Cbox. Unlike the previous forum, all boards are open to viewing by visitors. This means that Google is able to index our content.

The Forum's Default Search

It may take a couple of weeks for the Google robot to index our most recent posts. If you are looking for a very recent (less than two weeks old) post, use the forum's default search facility. Click on SEARCH in the menu bar directly beneath the banner. Remember to set the number of days to search. By default, this facility only searches posts from the past seven days.

50 Posts for Medical and Dental Students

When this forum re-opened, the 50 posts for green stars rule was waived. We knew there were many 2007 entry members, who had already achieved this post count. For 2008 entry, this rule will be reinstated. It is still important to encourage active participation in the forum. A forum is only viable if it has active members. Some members disagree and think they would be more motivated to post if they got their green stars from the beginning. This is not fair to our loyal members. Many of you have already achieved in excess of 100 posts and been rewarded with a custom title. 50 posts is not a lot to achieve between now and October/November.

Fletcher's Rural Randomness

Fletcher is a third year MBBS student at University of Queensland. Having completed a two month rural secondment, Fletcher has kindly agreed to share some of his experience (originally written for friends) with Paging Dr members.

O-week (UQ's Orientation)

During the initial briefing period, we revised basic skills (suturing, cannulation and venesection, plastering etc) which was useful. However, we also had a boatload of lectures, most of which was revision, so not really needed for orientation most of us felt.

There was one very good video shown on the issues in small outback indigenous communities ... pretty confronting stuff when you see the impact of white settlement and its flow-on effects, ravages of booze, drugs, domestic violence etc. What we saw was a community heading towards extinction unless some major changes are instigated somehow. The community was literally dying off, either by poor health and disease, violence/trauma, or substance abuse.

It was also interesting from the perspective that these are not problems which were caused by or can be solved by any one group. As European-Australians we have plenty to answer for, however indigenous communities need to, almost by definition, be just as proactive in promoting alterations needed for positive change (empowerment to do so is obviously a major issue of course). Bottom line though is the problems run deep, are inherently complex, and just don't lend themselves to the simple solutions people so often bandy around.

All in all an interesting insight into indigenous issues, one of those ones which leaves the room uncomfortably quiet afterwards (be it through the emotional shock or, for some students, pure apathy). It even left our lecturer in tears. I have no illusion about what I am heading into on placement - that it is probably going to knock me for six, and that there is going to be a lot of upsetting things going on out there. I'm also sure that my presence isn't going to make much difference to anyone there ... the hope is that the experience I can take away with me and use in a positive sense somehow in my future endeavours and practice.

Arriving on placement - remote NT (1000 km from Darwin)

Following orientation in Darwin, my first impression on arrival in my (temporary) new home was that the town obviously had its problems. A weird manifestation of this was that, on buying a bottle of "wine" from the pub (read: crappy room at the servo with a sign saying "PUB" out front), I was informed that, by law, the bottle has to go straight into a car (how this helps anything, I don't know). Fortunately, the publican trusted my story and allowed me to ride home on my bicycle with brown-bagged wine in hand (a classy look no doubt!!).

The health clinic itself is small with three nurses, two aboriginal health workers (these guys operate as a "link" between the indigenous folk who have difficulties accessing/understanding our services), and one doctor. The doc is an amazing guy, spending the vast majority of his career overseas doing aid work (including MSF), and is now one of the longest serving remote doctors going around. The fact that he has stuck at this for so long speaks volumes about the guy's character. Very few doctors remain in such areas beyond a few months, let alone a year or two. Many do short stints for the money, or come with good intentions but succumb to the stressors of the job or isolation. He has been out here for close to ten. An amazing man.

Anyhoo, off to a remote clinic tomorrow, 2.5 hour drive from here. I'm assured it will be interesting and beneficial to my education with a very large dose of the issues prevalent here - chronic otitis media (ear infection), scabies (mite infestation in the skin), and impetigo (skin infections), and failure to thrive (usually malnutrition) amongst the children; then diabetes (plus its billion complications), and heart disease amongst the adults. The one common link between all these conditions one way or another, I am told, is the abuse of alcohol.

First day

On my first proper day of placement, I went out with one of the senior nurses to a community of about 60 indigenous folk. This particular place was 2.5 hours each way, half on bitumen and half on some reasonably solid four wheel driving (I soon worked out why all the clinic vehicles are Landcruisers).

On arrival, the community was actually in good nick compared to a few I've seen ... something like ten houses though you typically have up to ten living in each house. Grass, weeds etc pretty well maintained through the community work programs (where they get money on top of the dole to do a few hours work/day usually on tasks maintaining the community). The couple of things most striking when coming into a place like this are:

• The general, though not absolute, state of disrepair of the local facilities;
• The large groups gathered sitting under trees etc yarning with each other (this place is dry so no drinking), but basically no one seems to be working;
• Kids running around the place having fun (ie not in school or locked up at home); and
• Stacks of "camp dogs" - community pets that no one in particular seems to own or maintain. Mostly friendly but they are seriously mangy dogs (some have growths looking like barnacles on them), and they are literally everywhere. I am also warned about the "cheeky dogs". Cheeky to me means cute. Cheeky dog however means "dog that will bite your arms off if you don't have a stick to fend it off"!!!

As far as what goes on - we rock up, open the clinic (it isn't staffed unless the team goes out there), then people start turning up. There is no order like your urban GP surgery ... people turn up in groups of three to eight, composed mostly of little kids running around screaming and having fun (who wouldn't be stoked at that age about not having to go to school!!). Then see them in some rough order and deal with problems as best we can. You see them, do a quick assessment (there is no real chance to rely on tests etc as the results take too long to get back, and the computer systems crash more often than not), work out what you think is probably wrong, and then treat this and kinda hope you are right and not missing anything important. In many ways very basic, fundamental medicine.

The big differences from urban medical practice are that you have to treat as best as you can, with what happens to be available in the clinic (which often is not very much at all), and in most cases where you would normally refer you can't out here (specialist access is minimal to non-existent). In fact, as with this visit, access to any doctor at all is often rare. Having said that, the senior nurses out here operate almost to the level of a doctor in terms of the common presentations, and they are simply amazing in the work they do.

As for moi, I spent the day assessing and treating patients, and running what I've done briefly by the nurse (who seemed happy to have someone helping out). Most of it was either scabies (thus penicillin jabs), musculoskeletal pains, or giving vaccinations (lots of Gardasil for the ladies, all the routine jabs for the kiddies), treating failure to thrive and worm infestations. A wonderful thing as a student out here is the medical experience you get - you operate as a clinician. Although under supervision, it is extremely hands-on and thus rewarding, something which you generally miss out on in the big hospitals where your education is more academic than practical. It is also good in that out here you must rely very strongly on clinical skills and judgement, as access to investigations is often nil - you really become "Johnny on the spot" and at times are put way beyond your comfort zone (the best way to learn).

But yeah, I guess the biggest overall difference is the lack of structure and order to how the communities run here. There's no appointments, no real schedules, people wander in and out as they please. There's also a lot of outreach type work - we basically go out driving looking for particular patients in the troop carrier then bring them in to clinic. This often means driving to particular gathering areas, which on payday, is inevitably the pub.

Payday

On the first (Centrelink) payday, our clinic was DEAD. As in I saw three patients all day. We drove around looking for people to bring them in for follow up and stacks of them were at the shops or the pub. So, I've learnt, next payday I will use as a study day!!!

The flow-on effects of the payday binge are very unfortunate however. There is the money wasted which therefore is not spent on the welfare of children. There is the violence and injuries which, very often are not presented to the clinic until many days later, including cases of open and suppurating head wounds (NOT recommended!!).

I am also starting to note a lot of the attitudes amongst both the locals and health workers towards indigenous health and people in general, and am finding it strikingly similar to what I encountered in my time at other remote settlements. People have the best of intentions, but the frustrations of working within indigenous culture, and the 'fair-weather' political approaches to it, are ultimately very frustrating for staff (and understandably so). I must say that a lot of my own confusions and frustrations remain. I now feel further away from the answers to these problems than when I came here, and reminds me not only of my own inherent naievity, but also the applicability here of the old saying "a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing."

Positive change is occurring, but it is a slow process which will ultimately be measured in generations rather than years.

What do I think of all this?

Doing a remote rural rotation in the NT is a unique and amazing experience. Reading and debating indigenous health issues in school is one thing, being immersed in it is another thing completely. What it highlights is the complexities which exist. Yes there are deeply troubling issues out there, but there is also much that is positive. Most of all, it helps you put in perspective the simplistic assumptions and solutions we so often see bandied around by peers and politicians. I had an amazing experience in my six weeks out there, and strongly encourage everyone who has the chance to consider doing this for their rural rotation also.

September 2007

• Forum Help Desk
  
  
• UBBC Coding
  
  
• Modify Your Profile
  
  
• For questions which are not covered in the above pages, post a question in Questions to Forum Staff. There is a member of the staff monitoring Paging Dr every day. We respond to all queries, unless a non-staff member has been able to help you sooner.
  

• Click on the person's name in the profile area next to their post.
  
  
• Adjust the View most recent posts figure to a number bigger than 10.
  
  
• Press SUBMIT

• Smileys
• Paging Dr Museum

October 2007

• Go to your mailbox
  
  
  
• Click new message
  
  
• Enter the name of the person you want to send a PM to (remember that some people have changed their screen names, you need their original account name)
  
  
• Type your message and click Send

• Find a post by the person you want to send the PM to, or click on their name.
  
  
• Click the little icon circled here:
  
  
  
• It will take you to a new message page with the name of the person already inserted!
  
  
• Type message and click send.

November 2007

• Listen through the steth before you buy it.
  
• In general you can't go wrong with a Littmann Classic SEII or Littmann Cardiology III. It comes down to personal preference, what you feel comfortable with and bank balance. Both steths are more than adequate for med school and beyond!
  
• Get it engraved in case you lose it. (Laser engraving- you don't want to damage it!!!)

• Physiology
  
  • Lauralee Sherwood, Human Physiology With Infotrac: From Cells to Systems
  • Arthur C. Guyton and John E. Hall, Textbook of Medical Physiology 11th Rev. Edition
    
  • William F Ganong Review of Medical Physiology
  
  
• Anatomy - Keith L. Moore and Arthur F. Dalley, Clinically Oriented Anatomy 5th edition , plus any anatomy atlas.
  
  
• Pharmacology - Rang and Dale's Pharmacology 6th Rev. Edition.
  
  
• Pathology - Kumar and Clark, Clinical Medicine 6th Rev. Edition.
  
  
• Clinical Skills - Nicholas J. Talley and Simon O'Connor, Clinical Examination: A Systematic Guide to Physical Diagnosis 5th Edition
  

December 2007

• Section 1: Reasoning in the Humanities and Social Sciences: hints and materials for reading practice.
  
  
• Section 2: Essay Writing: essay writing techniques and submit your own essays for peer review.
  
  
• Section 3: Reasoning in the Physical and Biological Sciences: learn what topics to cover and request support for particular questions.

• Preparation Courses, where Kimmy compiled responses to a consumer survey. Before choosing a course, read what other members have said.
  
  
• Study Groups - to find suitable study buddies near where you live.

• Click on your name.
  
• Select Modify Profile.
  
• Scroll down until you see the following options under account preferences.
  
  
  
  
• Choose whatever skin and banner takes your fancy.
  
• Click modify profile at the bottom of the page and voila! A new forum look awaits you! (You may have to click refresh/F5, if your computer is feeling uncooperative).

To view an index of our past newsletters, click on the NEWSLETTERS button beneath the banner.