Med School: Exams, Stress, Life and Loving it
The demands of medical school can seem like a recipe for stress. And for not having a life. But there are ways to deal with the stress of exams and to have a life. This was the topic of the Student Wellbeing 2009 Seminar on July 15 at Deakin University School of Medicine in Geelong.
Michael Shun, a second year medical student at Deakin, organised the seminar for the first time in 2008. His motivation was simple: "I thought that there's some pretty scary statistics about the wellbeing of junior doctors. It's important to get into good habits right from the start, because many of the issues that junior doctors face apply to us as students as well. It's important to address them early on in our medical careers."
The feedback from last year was that students found the talk encouraging and insightful and that it addressed some of the concerns that had not been discussed prior to that time, Michael said.
We didn't really want to hear from anyone that had cruised through med school and then onwards and upwards to a comfortable position from which they could tell students: "I didn't do much work at medical school at all." We wanted speakers that could remember the exams.
The three speakers for the 2009 seminar - Dr Steven Moylan, Dr Neil Orford and Dr Stephen Parnis - could all point to times when it seemed that what was expected would require a monastic life, or even to be beyond their capabilities. Dr Moylan is a Psychiatry Registrar at the Swanston Centre in Geelong, Dr Orford is the Director of Intensive Care at Geelong Hospital and Dr Parnis is an Emergency Physician and Vice-President of AMA Victoria.
Their advice was not what you hear elsewhere. "Medical school is important", said Dr Moylan "but it's not THAT important". They talked about how they enjoyed, failed and endured medical school and how in their working lives they dealt with a whole new set of potential stresses. Your career does not end with a failed exam. It's OK to change your mind about what you want to do. Medical school is the perfect time to collect photos of yourself leaping for joy in exotic locations. And there's nothing like hearing about life in ICU, dealing with management or medical politics to put your own worries in perspective.
I won't tell their personal stories here, but would recommend you go to (or organise) your own school's equivalent, or come along to Student Wellbeing 2010 at Deakin.
Jonathan Dow
Deakin University
Our Commitment to Medical Student's Wellbeing
Over the past three years, MDA National has been working with students and universities to deliver our 'Live Well Study Well' programme which identifies some of the biggest wellbeing issues faced by medical students and promotes the adoption of a healthy lifestyle and good risk management practices. This year we have teamed with AMSA on their student wellbeing campaign 'Healthy Body Healthy Mind' to raise awareness of these issues and encourage medical groups to run their own wellbeing activities. For more information about the AMSA 'Healthy Body Healthy Mind' campaign please visit
http://www.amsa.org.au/community-hbhm.php.
If you are interested in having a Live Well Study Well event at your university please contact your State Liaison Manager on 1800 011 255.
