WHAT’S IT LIKE TO STUDY MEDICINE?

Read the article below and choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (1-6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

Medicine isn’t quite like other degrees. I spent the first three years studying and attending lectures on anatomy, cell biology and pathology (what happens when the body goes wrong). I found when I got to medical school that I was required to memorise far more than I had had to at secondary school and put in far longer hours, especially around exam time.

As well as the lessons and lectures, I had individual weekly classes with my tutor, who also gave me work to do. [ 1 ] These classes soon became a high point in my week. We used to spend the hour discussing such things as the properties of different medicines or the topic of an essay whose title was Doctors can learn more medicine from treating patients than from studying textbooks. Do you agree? [ 2 ]

In my final year, I studied for an extra degree in Physiological Sciences. I was also able to pursue areas of interest, which in my case included neuroscience, and take supplementary modules in the history of medicine and pharmacology. Most universities now expect you to do some academic research as well. However, I felt incredibly lucky that I had the opportunity to work in laboratories where I rubbed shoulders with Nobel Prize winners. [ 3 ]

As a clinical student, in other words as a student in a hospital, my timetable changed dramatically. I was expected to dress smartly, as I spent every day with patients as a functioning part of a medical team. [ 4 ] These included surgery, medicine, dermatology, neurology and many more.

I moved to a London hospital for my clinical training, and had some very memorable experiences, such as delivering my first baby and visiting a prison psychiatric ward. [ 5 ] I was permitted to walk into any ward or any operating theatre and observe, learn, ask questions and speak to patients, whereas practising doctors are all rushed off their feet. Students can often take time to really investigate a patient's condition more deeply, and may even be able to inform the doctors and nurses of some very important detail that has been overlooked and which might lead to the patient being misdiagnosed. [ 6 ] Everyone teaches each other at whatever level, and now I also help secondary-school students who are preparing entrance exams for the top medical schools.

Medicine is a very time-intensive degree. However, being thrown in at the deep end of some of the most challenging situations I have ever been in, and having to deal with patients from all areas of life, continues to inspire me and satisfy me on a daily basis.

A  And on other occasions we used to just play chess.

B  Now, as a working doctor, who is experienced to do certain jobs by certain times, I appreciate that while I

     while I was studying medicine, I had the opportunity to do many things I would not have time for now.

C  On average, four weeks was spent rotating around each of different specialties across the three weeks.

D  The culture within medicine is that each team member’s input is respected, and the team itself is hugely

     valued.

E  And although I was expected to work extremely hard, most of the work was enjoyable.

F  These well-known people would always be more than happy to answer questions in the corridor, or reply

     to an email that requested more information about their subject.

G  This usually consisted of writing an essay on a topic related to my studies.

Cambridge University Press, 2015