Man it’s been a long time since I posted anything interesting here on The Rejected.  It’s probably because my life is not that interesting at the moment.  From waking up early every morning, going to school, hanging out at the hospital, going to the gym, studying, and listening to other people’s drama, there’s not much going on.

I managed to pass all my OSCE’s from my last clinical rotation block so I was really excited about that.  The rotation that I was on was boring as hell and I’m pretty sure I will not be pursuing a career in that particular field of medicine.  I’m hoping general surgery will be better.

My first day on general surgery was pretty uneventful.  I got to go into theatre to see a laparoscopic cholesystectomy.  That was pretty cool.  Surgery does bring the anatomy to life.  Note to self: review anatomy.  However, the highlight of my night was being bitched at by an angry 60 year old nurse who clearly was annoyed that there were students invading her nurse’s station.  If I wasn’t such a nice guy, oh who am I kidding, I gave her a dirty look while talking about her to a colleage as we walked away.  There is no need to be a bitch at work.  I realise that your job is shitty, but being angry all the time is certainly not good for your health.  I don’t know maybe it’s just me, but I find that the younger nurses are much more helpful and inviting.  It was interesting to see that when the doctor came around the 60 year old nurse changed into a completely different person… needless to say all her sphincters clenched up nice and tight.

I think I’m going to enjoy general surgery.  It will give me a chance to practice my cannulation technique - which is pretty shotty at the moment.  The patients themselves are pretty nice even when you miss the vein or go in too far.  Note to self: review anatomy.  The only time when they’re reluctant to talk to you is when they’re in a lot of pain or feeling noxious.  When a patient says, “Get the F*** out of here!” or project their vomit at you, it’s a pretty good indication for you to be running in the opposite direction.

Medical School Gossip Update

The ugly people in my class are either married or engaged.  How the hell did this happen?  I come back from the summer and people are hooking up and getting married.  I can’t even think about marriage at the point.  I think my first wife will come at 35 and then probably a divorce shortly after that? I don’t know.  It’s something to aim for I guess.  Although seeing these people get married gives me hope that there is somebody out there for everybody.

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Well that was the shortest summer vacation I have ever had… yes it’s still summer in Australia and I’ve already been in school for a couple of weeks.  Welcome to my hell… errr Third Year Medicine.  To kick things off we had a party at our place.  Surprisingly I was not drunk at all.  I think I’ve gotten to the point where drinking excessively and then making a fool of myself and having my pictures being plastered all over Facebook is all but a distant memory… plus I can be an ass without alcohol.  Here is a picture of the cooler we used for the party… well in Australia we call it an Esky… Because of the confidentiality clause placed on this blog, I’m not obligated to post pictures with my ugly face in it.  Sorry. … or maybe that’s a good thing.  We turned our bathtub into a cooler…

Third Year is going to be awesome…

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I’m sure most of you who are on student loans in Canada have figured out by now that the current bank lending rate on professional lines of credit is now at a low 3.0% which is the current Canadian prime rate.  This is great if you have to borrow a lot of money to finance your education.  Every little bit helps.  Not everybody is lucky enough to have mommy or daddy come to the rescue.  Even though we’re paying a lot of money to study medicine I think it will be worth every penny… well it better be or I’m going to have to ask for my money back.

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How to contact the Royal Brisbane Hospital to set up your medical electives:

Royal Brisbane Hospital

Herston Road, Herston, Brisbane, Queensland 4006

Telephone Number: +61 7 3253 8111

Fax Number: +61 7 3857 4462

The Royal Brisbane hospital is a large 800-bed, 500,000 admissions a year hospital. It is a 15 minute bus ride from teh city centre. It is right next to the Queensland Medical School on the northern side of Brisbane and shares its campus with the Royal Chidren’s Hospital, Royal Women’s Hospital and Queensland Institute of Medical Research. All specialities are covered bar cardioloy and transplant surgery which are catered for at the Prince Charles hospital.

There is a laid-back, welcoming attitude but also excellent teaching, with a library and computer lab on site that are free to use. Units such as gastroenterology may be a bit too specialized, and you learn nothing. It’s a 25 minute walk to the city centre and 20 minute bus ride to the airport. If you want to travel Australia, this is a good place to start as the Greyhound bus stops at the front gates and the staff are keen that you explore. This is a popular place to do your medical electives so planning well in advanced is highly recommended.

The Lady Lamington Homes Nurses’ Quarter is quaint and cheap. There is a swimming poopl and gym for residents. The canteen’s not great, but it’s only five minutes walk to the food store in Fortitude Valley.

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Athought considered by many to be more of a country town than a city, Adelaide has wonderful beaches, wines and a good music scene.  It’s not usually on the tourist route and hence is not so often visited on electives.  This is a good place to go, however, if you’ve done Australia before and want to work in a very friendly major teaching hhospital.

There are two universities in South Australia, both are in Adelaide.

How to contact the University of Adelaide to set up your medical electives:

University of Adelaide

Medical School, Frome Road, Adelaide, SA 5000

Telephone Number: +61 8 8303 5193

Fax Number: +61 8 8303 3788

How to contact Flinders University to set up your medical electives:

Flinders University

School of Medicine, Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park SA, 5042

or GPO 2100, SA 5001

Telephone Number: +61 8 8204 4160

Fax Number: +61 8 8204 5845

Information about the Royal Adelaide Hospital:

Royal Adelaide Hospital

North Terrace, Adelaide, SA5000

Telephone Number: +61 8 8222 4000

Fax Number: +61 8 8223 4761

The hospital is a very friendly major hospital.  You can walk to the city centre in two minutes and it’s surrounded by botanical gardens and parks.  It is a centre for diving medicine and world centre for training in baromedicine.  The hospital itself came from a humbe background, starting as the Colonial Infirmary in 1837.  Three of its four patiends died, but it is now one of Australia’s largest teaching hospitals.

There is high-quality teaching in both medicine and surgery.  It’s great if you are a bit of a diver.  As an elective student you are givein a great deal of responsibility.

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One of the first things that I did before leaving for Australia to study medicine was to open up a checking account with Scotiabank here in Canada.  Scotiabank is a part of the Global ATM Alliance along with Westpac Bank in Australia, Bank of America, Barclays Woolwich in the UK, and Deutsche Bank.  As an overseas medical student I’ve been saving so much money on ATM fees.  I can basically use my Scotiabank debit card at any Westpac bank without paying any fees.  My Canadian money is converted automatically to Australian dollar. It’s fast, easy, and convenient.

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I am writing this post with a massive hangover.  Needless to say, the weekend that just past was indeed awesome.  Intermittent sleep totalling one hour is never good, but it’s a small price to pay.  Let’s start from the beginning…

I decided to go visit some of my old university friends here in Canada over the weekend and true to form they never seem to disappoint.  There were some who I haven’t seen in 2 years and there were those I saw when I came back to Canada last year.  “So much has happened, yet nothing has changed.”  The only thing that’s changed is that we’re all a little older.  Most of my friends from back home are out of school now and some even bought their first homes.  A lot of them have jobs and living by themselves or with significant others.  It just seem like it was yesterday when we were all sitting in a cramped dorm room playing naked drinking games and pulling the fire alarm at 5am.

Over the course of 24 hours we had drinks at a restaurant, went to a keg party, stumbled in a bar, played rockband in an apartment located on the penthouse floor, popped champagne at 5am and went to a buffet.  I think that was the order of events that night.  It was just really nice hanging out with people who aren’t in medicine or people who put you down or give you backhanded comments to make themselves feel better.  I’ve learned to ignore the latter.

Over the past 12 months I realised that I have lost that drive that got me into medicine in the first place.  However, being home allowed me to rediscover that drive.  I don’t want to sit here and pump out a bunch of resolutions that I know I’ll break as soon as this article is published.  I just want to be healthy, surround myself with people who bring out the best in me, and do everything I can to get me into a medical specialty of my choice down the road.  3 things I know I’ll stop doing are talk about my business ventures and medical goals with certain types of people and stop giving advice to people who don’t listen in the first place.  I’ve always been a competitive person, I was just focussing on the wrong things last year and I won’t let that happen again.

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The current Canada Bank Interest Rate for a medical student line of credit is at a low 3.5% which is also the current Canadian prime rate.  However, obtaining a medical student line of credit from any bank in Canada is quite difficult if you intend on studying abroad.  In the current economic crisis the banks are trying to protect themselves by tightening credit making it harder for students who are studying overseas to get the necessary funding.  It is very risky to lend to students who aren’t staying in the country to study even though the students themselves will be studying medicine.

Now more than ever students intending to study in the Caribbean, Australia, Europe, etc. will require a very strong co-signer.  The co-signer needs to be in the country, have very little debt, and a reasonable amount of income.  However, even then there is no guarantee that you will get the loan.

Awhile back I remember that RBC was giving out their $150,000 medical student line of credit to almost everybody even those studying outside of Canada without requiring a co-signer.  Now in some extreme cases you might require to have two co-signers if your initial co-signer isn’t strong enough.  These are tough times.  Once you get that coveted acceptance letter to medical school start planning how you’re going to pay for it immediately.

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I’m officially a third year medical student. Man it seems like I woke up one day and here I am. Honestly the last couple of years have gone by incredibly fast. Oh I’m still as incompetent as before, but the difference now is that I’m able to hide it in front of patients a little bit better. When you don’t know what the eff is going on all you have to do is nod, smile, and wink.. you know.. Sarah Palin style. If you don’t know how to wink then may I suggest turning your head slightly carefully showing only one eye to the target and then blink forcefully. It gives the illusion that you’re winking at the other person.

Second year medicine was OK. I still managed to get through it without missing an episode of my favourite shows, i.e. America’s Next Top Model, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Top Chef, and then a slew of medically related shows - the list goes on and on and on. I find that watching tv while studying helps. It allows me to multi-task, which is a pretty important skill to have when you become a doctor. It allows me to time manage - keeping all the shows in order is a huge task and quite time consuming if not done correctly. And most importantly watching tv while studying keeps me occupied enough so that I don’t rub sea salt in my eyes while learning useless histology.

Now that I’m hitting middle age - well you know, mid 20s - I’m starting to worry that I’m never going to find anybody that would put up with my crap long enough to produce me a little mini-me. You would think that being a medical student will get you a lot of, let’s be frank.. sex, but that’s not the case. I think the main reason is that we don’t have a lot of time to spare and sometimes a hand does the trickjust nicely. It could also be my pungent body odour - the economy is forcing me to save as much money as possible and deodorant was near the top of the list of things to get rid of - so back off!

Like most medical students, I spend a hell of a lot of time on YouTube. Thank god I don’t have Facebook because I would surely flunk out of med school if I did. Anyway, I love amazingly talented people along with pop. So why not combine the two in a Pop Medley? Enjoy. Oh and if you don’t know any of these songs then you’re way old. Sorry there’s no nice way of saying it.

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New Zealand is over-supplied with foreign doctors.  Roughly 4,000 have entered since 1992, and the country as a whole requires only 6,000 doctors to meet its demand.  These foreign doctors got in because a loose immigration policy did not check whether a person’s overseas qualification was recognised locally.  Many of these doctors are now sitting exams to register or are unemployed.  Legislation is tightening quickly.  You should therefore have a job offer before leaving for New Zealand and should have your contract checked by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (P.O. Box 5251, Wellington - Telephone Number: +64 4 499 1271 and Fax Number: +64 4 499 4500).

You will need to register (or gain temporary registration) with the Medical Council of New Zealand.  Visiting doctors can stay for up the 3 years for educational reasons or to supply an area of need.  However, it is only on the understanding that they will return home.  If attempting to gain full registration, you may well need to sit the New Zealand Registration Exams (NZREX) or enter vocational training.  The NZREX exam consists of Steps I and II of the USMLE exams, an English language test and clinical examination.  This provides provisional registration which leads to a 12 month probationary period.

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