As part of this year's Welcome Week, we spoke to each of the outgoing year-groups to ask what their advice for the upcoming year would be, starting with Dr Marston and her advice for the new Fifth Years.
Dr Marston is a 2023 graduate of the School of Medicine, and recently started her F1 position at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. Some of her top tips for the upcoming year were:
🏥 Make the most of your clinical placements: Be brave and offer to help where you can whilst you're there. Seek out answers to questions & new opportunities to expand your knowledge & skills at the placement site and on the ward itself. This is your best opportunity to get hands on and practice, but also to get experience of solo working and decision making for when you begin as an F1 after you graduate.
♥ Make time for each other: As hard as you work at placement, remember to spend time with friends when you're not studying. Keeping up hobbies and a good/work life balance is very important during your studies, and will help you balance your workload by giving time to reflect and have perspective. Also this might be the last year you all spend together living together in the same city, so make some memories!
🙋 F1 practise week is a really good preparation so stretch yourself: You might find some of the scenarios daunting but remember it is a learning experience & the feedback you are given is great preparation for after you graduate and become an F1 Doctor. Use the week to stretch yourself and to work on areas you consider difficult, as this will help you correct mistakes. Also, remember to work as a team & try different roles within that team, as this is a key part of working as a doctor. It's much better to get this experience now so you are well prepared for the real thing!
🤔 Follow an F1 on out of hours shifts & learn to think independently: Working independently will be a big part of your next steps in Medicine & it's vital to maximise your learning opportunities to do that this year. If you can get involved with an out-of-hours shift, you are more likely to be placed with an F1 who will be doing exactly this, and shadowing them will give you great experience of best practice for what to do in these scenarios, as well as preparing you for when you are in the same position next year!
Keep an eye out for future tips & thanks again to Dr Marston for her time and advice 🙏
🎵 Jay (Prod. by Lukrembo) Link: here (link)