Author: Sebastian Owczarek

The Home Straight

/ Sebastian Owczarek

So, here we go. I only have four and half weeks left of medical school. In some ways it feels like it has been a long time coming, but in other ways, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was in first year going to watch Contagion in the cinema with a large group of fellow medics and the then lecturer in Public Health, Dr Rachel Isba. How times change, she has now only recently just become the Head of the Medical School and I’m a few months away from working on the wards of Dewsbury and District General Hospital.

I count myself pretty lucky to have got the jobs I wanted in a place I wanted to be. I spend my first (FY1) year in Dewsbury and my second (FY2) in the heart of Leeds, placed mainly at the Leeds General Infirmary. There I’ll be the house officer in Emergency Medicine, Cardiology and Neurosurgery. It feels unreal, but after 6 years, my time as a student is drawing to a close.

On Monday this week, the staff at the medical school put on a light afternoon tea as celebration for being given approval by the General Medical Council to award Lancaster degrees (as opposed to Liverpool whose programme we had been following and degree we had been awarded thus far). It was a joyous occasion for all and not least for us fifth years who will now officially become and graduate as Lancaster’s first cohort with a medical degree of its very own.

The only thing stopping me from graduating now is completion of my portfolio, and that just requires time to invest!

Passing the last exam.

/ Sebastian Owczarek

I’ve done it. Today I found out I passed the last exam of medical school and I’m happy. Sure, it doesn’t compare to sitting medical finals at the end of 4th year but, still, it was a national exam that fifth years across the country were required to sit and pass. With this good result it means, once I qualify in July and start my job in August, I can officially prescribe drugs and treatments. I can be useful on the wards and a real asset to my team.

These past few weeks since the start of 2017 have been fairly busy for a 5th year. Not only did we have the Prescribing Safety Assessment exam to prepare for, we also had our mid-term portfolio review. Just because we have no exams to sit this year it doesn’t mean we’re free from formal assessment! In many ways, we’re assessed more and across a range of different domains.

We were asked to choose 3 cases and 2 clinical incidents that we were most proud of in our portfolio. In a 30-minute interview our assessors would choose one of each for us to present. It gave us an opportunity to showcase our work and talk through the processes we thought of when completing the case/incident report. It was a nerve-wracking time.

And in between all of this, we had our third of 5 clinical placements to attend and this brought with it a new set of portfolio documents to complete. On Friday I finished my 7-week attachment on the Acute Medical Unit at Furness General Hospital. It was the last time I’ll be placed in Barrow-in-Furness. Saying goodbye to the sight of the hospital as I drove away would be another memorable moment for me as I transition from a 5th year medical student to a Foundation Year 1 doctor.

As a year group, we have only a few weeks to wait until we find out which region of the country we’ll be working in come August. Hopefully it’ll be good news for all. In the meantime though, I’ll be counting down the days and waiting in anticipation for an update on what my future holds.

Two down, three to go

/ Sebastian Owczarek

Hello to you! At the time of writing I have just started back on placement after a lovely Christmas period off. It has been my last ever one as a student. This time next year my time-off might not be as generous. Before I broke up, I had just finished my second really great rotation at the Royal Blackburn Hospital in East Lancashire. I was part of the first cohort of Lancaster medical students who undertook placements here, and I can really recommend it! The hospital itself is bigger than the hospitals I’ve been attached to in previous years. I’ve really benefited from seeing how another hospital trust works and also being exposed to a wider number of clinical conditions. I spent the first placement based within the Emergency department which, can be, one of the busiest in the entire country. I had the choice of the whole department to get involved in. It was difficult to balance my time between the Urgent Care Centre (minors), Majors (Emergency) and the resuscitation bay (severely unwell). I learnt a lot from this attachment and I got to experience the stress and pressure of the Emergency department first hand.

For my second placement I was attached to a colorectal surgical team. This was my first of two student-selected (SAMP) rotations. I chose this one because I wanted more experience in General and Colorectal surgery. I had a really enthusiastic supervisor who allowed me to scrub up in theatre, assess patients in clinics and involve me in ward rounds. I was treated with a lot of respect and was made to feel like a valid member of the team. I will miss the place.

As I start 2017, and the 2nd term of my final year, I’m excited to find out what the next few months have in store for me. There are 3 months to wait until I find out which part of the country I’ve been allocated to as part of the FPAS application process, and 7 months until I graduate. It’s scary not knowing where I’ll be as a Foundation Year 1 doctor come August. But, at least I don’t have to worry about passing my final exams!