DAY 407/408

Oct 12 & 13

1) Today was our first Card Signing of the semester! Quick recap: card signing is like a viva/oral exam, where an examiner asks each student content on anatomy. Bones, prosections, X-rays, CT scans, the cadavers themselves – anything can be tested, depending on which surgeon prosector you get.

2) Anatomy practical classes last 1.5 hours; our time slot for today was 11.30-1.00pm. I remained in the anatomy room after that, right until our card signing at 2.00pm. It may seem a tad extreme, but I was joined by many students who were eager to run through their anatomical knowledge one more time, just before the test.

3) For our card signing, we got a new examiner (someone who hadn’t taught our group before). She reassured us that everything would be fine, and told us not to panic. And so it began! Eight or nine lectures on the anatomy of the head and neck, each lecture densely packed with info – all condensed into a Q and A session lasting less than 3 minutes.

4) And the best part? Card Signing is worth only 1.25% each! The difference between an A and a B is less than half a percent! So why bother so much? It all comes down to two things: a) the herd mentality, and b) preemptive/ prophylactic planning. When everyone is studying so hard (both in the library and in the anatomy room), it is difficult to lax about and as a consequence, our peers constantly keep us on our toes.

5) What do I mean by prophylactic planning? At the end of the semester, there is a full anatomy practical exam, worth around 12.5%. This is the real reason we go through all the lectures so fervently – to prep for this practical, as well as all the MCQs and SNQs which test the limits of our knowledge. It is not an easy task, but thankfully, with a lot of peer collaboration, as well as student assisted learning (by our seniors), things are not as bleak as they seem.

6) In the end, I did reasonably well for my oral. All the hard work had paid off. And what do we have immediately after card signing? You guessed it - more lessons. Until 5.00pm, to be exact. There just isn't a break, is there? XD Jokes aside, I've spent the remainder of the day finishing up various tasks, and didn't touch any of our lectures tomorrow. That has been my day, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Have a good one, and see you next time. Cheers!

With Panchanit "Ice" Horsaengchai - just before anatomy lessons today

Nothing like a full Irish breakfast to get ye olde noggin' runnin' XD

As if one skeleton wasn't enough...

My illegible notes

DAY 168

Feb 16

1) Today has been another long day. While the actual lecture hours weren't too bad (it was from 10-3 only), what made it horrible was the sheer volume of slides per lecture. The last two lectures for example, had 160+ slides between them! Imagine having to go through each and every one of them in order to pass our exams; it is enough to induce stress in anyone haha.

2) In the afternoon, my friends and I went over to the Unitarian Church, where there was a rehearsal for the Interfaith Celebration the following Monday. I will be reading a short, simple thanksgiving note, while most of my friends are either ushers or candle bearers. Practice took us around an hour, at which point we returned to RCSI. I went to the Anatomy Room, where most of my friends were - desperately trying to brush up on anatomy knowledge before their first Card Signing tomorrow (mine is next Friday ^^).

3) Later in the evening, Khee Heng and I went for ICHAMS 2017 (International Conference for Healthcare and Medical Students). It is a three-day event, with guest speakers and presentations of research projects by various students etc. The first event was Keynote Speaker, Mr. Ray Mc Kiernan, who gave an energy packed talk on "The Resilient Cliniciain - Building Resilience for Sustaining Performance in Clinical Practice". Afterwards, there was a smorgasbord of hors d'oeuvre, truly reflecting the wealth of our school to be honest XD. After a while, Khee Heng left to have dinner and study, while the rest of the group went to Harrys on the Green (a cocktail bar) for a pub quiz. I did not follow, but came back to the Coffee Doc to finish some work. That's all for today, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

ICHAMS 2017 @ RCSI

St. Stephen's Green today!

Unitarian Church

Early dinner today

Albert Lecture Theatre

Fine selection of hors d'oeuvre ^^

Day 167

Feb 15

1) Today has been quite a busy day for me. We had but three classes today, namely two REGUB and one HBPS lecture. With that in mind, I was bogged down by my individual project, which requires us to download an app and use it for two weeks, before critically appraising it by writing a report. This has taken up quite a lot of my time, and I'm not entirely sure if I'm doing it correctly, hence the pressure haha. At least the deadline is quite far away, April 4th if I remember correctly...

2) In the afternoon, I went to meet up with my Principal Investigator, Dr Darren Griffith. Earlier on, I had gone for an interview with him, to undertake a research project for the summer. Essentially, RCSI has an awesome Summer School Programme, which allows medical students to carry out research under a Principal Investigator (PI) for around eight weeks. But today, I approached him again for help in completing the application form, which would allow RCSI to provide me with a stipend (essentially a scholarship) to cover living expenses for the two months which I'm staying back.

3) We managed to fill in all the details, and all that's left to do is to scan the signed documents into the Mac, before uploading the completed application online. Hopefully, there will be a positive outcome haha. Anyway, I hopped over to the library after that, had a nice short nap, before waking up to study. I have really been slacking off recently, and I need to catch up before our first Card Signings next week! That's all for my today, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

Not the most welcoming sight I would presume

Fun fact: Only in RCSI will someone approach you nearing closing time to offer free boxes of Domino's pizza leftover from an event (I took a box XD)

That's my homemade fried rice :)