Hi, I’m Liepa and I am only an honorary member of ScotGEM. As I am the only Dundee undergrad doing the longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) programme in Scotland this year, I have been unofficially initiated into the ScotGEM tribe.
Week 1 of ScotGEM was a blur, meeting all those new and fabulous people… but one thing I do remember clearly is someone official saying: “You are not allowed to ride in emergency or medical helicopters.”
This is the verbal picture of my living in rural Aberfeldy for the past four months. Before we delve in, if you prefer just looking at pretty pictures please go and view my friend Alistair McDonald’s previous Tiree post. If ScotGEM Stories were a book (million pound idea!) his would be on the front cover.
Last week, the students of ScotGEM’s Year 3 currently based within NHS Highland got together (in an orderly, socially-distanced manner) for some in-person tutorials and clinical simulations at the Centre for Health Science in Inverness.
Hi, my name is Joe. I’m one of those pesky third year ScotGEM students currently out on placement in a remote corner of Scotland. It is a place that is teeming with fabulous wildlife – I have made many a friend among the local seals during my wild swims along the coast. They clearly thought I was one of them. The place I’m in is Wick. I thought it would be nice to pen a ScotGEM story about a day in Caithness General Hospital, which is to be found bang in the centre of the town. It’s a real do-it-all hospital—from managing the most acute cases, to dealing with a cataclysmic road traffic accident, to helping a frail and elderly patient back into their home in the community, it does it all.
When the consultant in charge of a hospital’s Emergency Department puts out a trauma call, quite a few things happen almost immediately.
I was never fond of the sea. As a young girl, I learnt to accept it as a place of peril and sorrow. Who would have thought that it would become a defining part of my life, bringing me joy and happiness?
Hello everyone! A quick introduction: my name is Ash and I am a third-year ScotGEM student. Like most of you, I decided to use the lockdown as an opportunity to wholeheartedly dedicate myself to exams and studies. My disposition involved my array of notes sprawled across my bed, my phone hosting multiple social media apps, music playing from a tab somewhere on the internet, Netflix in the background, Cheetos on my left hand and lastly writing this blog with my right hand.
The labour ward is the only place in the hospital where, if all goes to plan, one patient walks in and two walk out (although one carries the other). It was here I was to spend a sunny August morning, watching an elective C-section on my second day of Year 2.
A few weeks after returning from the Christmas and New Year break in 1st year, it came time to mix up the Generalist Clinical Mentor (GCM) groups that I have written about previously here. We all said goodbye to our maiden GCM families and began an 18-week voyage with a new group that would take us to our final destination – the main 1st year exams in June.
The roar of a thousand musicians making their final instrumental adjustments drifts by with the summer breeze. The air is thick, loaded with the tensions of the day. As we march in unison to the arena, not just a band of strangers tied by one common goal, but a harmonious family, we feel the heat of hundreds of spectators’ eyes on us.
I always tell people that I hate running. It’s not my sport, I’ve always been a swimmer, but I’m determined to be a better runner. Coincidentally, I’m not a big fan of lockdown either. It’s not easy, like most I’ve always loved (and taken for granted) the freedom to travel and visit family or friends, but when lockdown began, I decided I would strive to find a silver lining in it… somewhere.
From Rudyard Kipling’s poem If, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…” This is a mindset I was raised with, and a global pandemic was about to test it.
Two months after the UK finally began to lock down, Year 2 ScotGEM students like myself have come to the end of our abridged teaching for the academic year. For second years, the final six weeks of the session were originally planned to be a smorgasbord of exciting teaching and hands-on clinical experiences in emergency and pre-hospital medicine in our chosen health boards.
As a ScotGEM student, I knew a relationship wasn’t going to be easy. Not because I’m working all the time – don’t worry I’m definitely not(!) – but because we move around. I’m in my second year and I’ve travelled from as far flung places as Dumfries near the border to Inverness in the Highlands.
One of the best things about moving to the Highlands is being able to explore some of the most beautiful and most remote parts of Scotland. For many, the way of life up here is centred around outdoor activities. It’s a source of regional pride, and given the range of places to explore within just an hour or two of Inverness it’s hardly surprising. During my time in Inverness I was lucky enough to meet a fantastic community of people who shared this sense of adventure and were able to teach me more about how to safely enjoy and explore our beautiful country.
Last Sunday evening’s emails came as a shock to many of us. Although aware of the seriousness of COVID-19, the clarification that face-to-face university classes were cancelled for the rest of the academic year was hard-hitting.
One of the innovative aspects of ScotGEM – and I think many of the cohort would argue, the best – is the creation of the ‘Generalist Clinical Mentor’ or ‘GCM’ as it is often referred to. The GCM is an experienced GP who works part-time local to the university when they are not working with ScotGEM.
Smoking was once a very large part of my life. It was there when I wanted a break, which was as often as humanly possible. My relationship with smoking was a strange one – I knew that it was bad for me in every way possible, but I was always able to put a time limit on it which somehow made it okay to keep going.
One quarter of the way to becoming a doctor, and 6 weeks into the 2nd year of ScotGEM (Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine), I have finished up in Dumfries & Galloway (D&G) and started in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. As with 1st year, I have been based in a local GP practice each week but with the added experience of hospital exposure with a variety of different placements.
Hello, my name is Jessica – I am one of the 2nd year ScotGEM students who has recently been on rotation away up in Inverness.
