Is there a doctor in the house?

i know its a major thread revival, but i was actually curious as to how many medics were on this forum. Seems like there ar a fair few.. First of all congrats boys; hope you enjoyed the last summers of your lives! F1 is scary at first but you will all be settled in and its good fun. Im currently an F2 in general surgery, will be moving on to GP then medicine to complete foundation training (fingers crossed!). Are there any GPs in the making or any medics in here? im torn between the two in what to apply for ST jobs; surgery has been fun but its just not me. Anyway guys welcome to the club...and make sure you sort out your annual leave early! and enjoy yourself! :)
 
Naan_H said:
i know its a major thread revival, but i was actually curious as to how many medics were on this forum. Seems like there ar a fair few.. First of all congrats boys; hope you enjoyed the last summers of your lives! F1 is scary at first but you will all be settled in and its good fun. Im currently an F2 in general surgery, will be moving on to GP then medicine to complete foundation training (fingers crossed!). Are there any GPs in the making or any medics in here? im torn between the two in what to apply for ST jobs; surgery has been fun but its just not me. Anyway guys welcome to the club...and make sure you sort out your annual leave early! and enjoy yourself! :)
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A&E or Paeds for me at the moment, GP is far too boring, and I can't understand why anyone would want to be a surgeon (unless you go private ASAP)?
 
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply to this, but now that I've seen it, it just seems rude not to.

Congratulations everyone. I'm very happy for you. :)
 
Minstadave said:
A&E or Paeds for me at the moment, GP is far too boring, and I can't understand why anyone would want to be a surgeon (unless you go private ASAP)?
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To be honest mate, i had exactly the same attitude about surgery all throughout med school and as F1; i never really found it interesting and never really got into it. However as F2, it has really opened my eyes. Being an F2 on call / on nights has been great (for experience, not for my sleep / health!); lots of theatre time (i hardly went as a student). I have had to assist in lots of emergency operations (many laparotomies) as well as lots of elective stuff, and it has been really good. I would advise you get as much theatre time as you can as you wont have the chance again. Seeing a good surgeon at work and assisting is an invaluable experience.

Anyway, medicine or GP for me as i just find medicine more interesting. Why GP? well tbh, i cant see myself having or leading the type of life i want being a hospital doctor. The hours are crap, stress is too much, even all the way up to consultant level. And having done lots of medical on calls i dont know if i could be a med reg - this is offically the worst/hardest job in the world!
 
Apart from the newly qualified doctors, I know of 3 remaining medical students on here, one fresher, one year 4 and myself a final year, and we're all from Barts :cool: Finals are in March, and I am cacking myself. :)
 
Doohickey said:
Apart from the newly qualified doctors, I know of 3 remaining medical students on here, one fresher, one year 4 and myself a final year, and we're all from Barts :cool: Finals are in March, and I am cacking myself. :)
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Finals are surprisingly easy to be honest, atleast they were in Cambridge.
 
Why GP? well tbh, i cant see myself having or leading the type of life i want being a hospital doctor. The hours are crap, stress is too much, even all the way up to consultant level.
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I think I would be lying if I said this wasn't a major factor when I made my decision. I see contempories at reg level and just never having a life. Ask them to do stuff and they have to say no because of work all the time. GP is also very varied and has a lot of scope these days to do something that interests you and I actually enjoy the job much more than I enjoyed hospital medicine. GP ain't the sexy bleeding edge of medicine, but the chances are you'll be a consultant in a DGH someplace and that aint either.

Don't forget that what you do and see as an ST1 etc is not what you do as a consultant. You'll end up doing mainly clinics as a consultant in anything, so make sure you really will love the area you do clinics in, because life gets much less varied the higher up the food chain you get.

The only negative I can say for GP currently is that the job market is poor, but by the sounds of things it would be a few years for you guys and likely things will have changed by then.

Anyway that's my opinion as a GP 3 years off the VTS and still enjoying it.
 
My partner is also planning to become a GP, its one of the few disciplines that will let you work normal hours and still give you a decent pay.

As you said its not the most exiting or sexy area of medicine however I am really considering going into GP. It also helps that her parents want to hand down the family practice to her.
 
Didn't expect to see this thread again! Thanks to all who replied!

Finals are always a walk in the park once you've sat them. Saying that though, I've never worked more for any other exam in my entire life, so they should have been ok.

Just finishing up my acute medicine job in Nuneaton, and honestly, I've loved it, even with miserable weekend on calls. No one should have to work 0900-2200 ever, especially not covering all the wards on your own. It's seriously swayed my thinking towards medicine again. I thought I was resigned to be a surgeon after thinking medicine was too complex for the likes of me, a great mark in medicine finals and this job has showed me otherwise. I feel really much more confident with managing acutely ill patients having spent half my time in A&E doing medical admissions. Actually making decisions myself is seriously rewarding and unlike in London where I trained, people actually praise you when a good plan is laid out.

Upper GI surgery next, should be back to filling out forms like a proper F1.

GP in the future does sound seriously good. People write it off, but to be a good GP is seriously challenging. Also more and more serivces are being offered through GP surgeries, so a specialist interest could be persued.
 
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