Graduation! It’s hard to believe that it has been and gone. It feels like it was just the other day when fifty-five eager new ScotGEMs took a seat in one of the seminar rooms at the School of Medicine in St Andrews for our first induction session, getting over a different dose of disbelief that we’d been given a place in the inaugural cohort of the first ever graduate-entry, accelerated medical degree programme in Scotland.
Now here we are, four years later, and the ‘guinea pigs’ for this new course are ready and equally eager to begin work as Foundation Year 1 junior doctors across the UK in August, with the vast majority based in hospitals across Scotland.
It has been a rollercoaster, to say the least. An undergraduate education in medicine is a challenging enough prospect when it is spread over five or six years of study… but for it to be condensed into four intensive years, and then for the latter two-and-a-half of those years to have taken place in the midst of a global pandemic, the worst in living memory? A big ask for anyone.
It has been tough, no question. I’m sure there have been times for us all over these past four years where we’ve felt the pressure, and we’ve had to dig deep to find the strength and desire to continue. However, we’ve all stuck with it, we’ve met every challenge head-on, and overcome them to reach the end. We’ve persevered and not only survived but thrived in the unique environment that ScotGEM has been for us.
Many of the first cohort of ScotGEM were new to Scotland and spent their first year finding their feet in a new part of the world which has since become their adopted home. Others started out unsure about the rural aspect of the course, and a bit daunted by the prospect of potentially spending a year in a very remote part of the country. Those same people are now leaving medical school behind with a wealth of memories, of adventures in the wild places of Scotland that they’d never imagined they’d have when they started out.
Now, a new adventure begins. They say you don’t truly start to learn how to drive until after you’ve passed your test, and the same is absolutely true of medical practice. Over these four years each one of us has proved ourselves as more than worthy to be granted the academic qualification that entitles us to enter this unique profession. Now is the time for us to start the somewhat epic journey from new, green doctor to whatever kind of medical professional each of us chooses to be: surgeon or medic, generalist or specialist, rural or urban; but no doubt including a good few remote & rural GPs!
While we are leaving the student life behind for good, our ties to our successors coming through ScotGEM will be maintained through our plans to establish an alumni association and student organisation for the programme, linking up current students with each other and with alumni, and keeping those of us who have graduated from the course in touch with one another. Some of us are even looking forward to seeing things come full circle as we get involved in the teaching and assessment of ScotGEM students in our places of work in the coming months and years.
Perhaps this is one of the best things that our time on ScotGEM has given us: colleagues who will remain friends for the rest of our lives, after this shared experience like no other.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our stories over the past few years, and we’re looking forward to seeing what the next generation of ScotGEM students share with you too, and, of course, to coming back to write the odd guest piece! All the best to you all.
With this post, Callum George and Joseph Garnett of the graduating Class of 2022 are handing the reins of ScotGEM Stories over to a new team. Lydia Arthur and Amber Grunenberg (Class of 2024) and Olivia Watt (Class of 2025) will now be running things. A new era for ScotGEM Stories!
