Planning and bullet journaling

If you want to multi-task, maximise efficiency, and generally succeed in life: I reckon it is a lot easier if you're good at managing your time, and managing time is easier if you plan ahead. I like to use my planner (I've been using the ManifestationPlanner.com this year) for planning.

I have recently discovered a system of planning called Bullet Journalling. This morning I spend a few hours planning out the coming weeks and months to juggle placements and work (and running a household, paying tuition fees, and looking after a toddler, etc).

This morning, I also listened to the first half of the Audible book "The Miracle Morning". I have actually already read it before but it was so good that I have decided to listen to it again. 

Not much to add

I don't really have much to add at this time to the blog but I thought I would post seeing as Bubby is napping and I have the laptop open.

I downloaded the Grammarly app, which I can thoroughly recommend. The free version is good.

I have been nominated for the OUM Students Association. I'll update how it goes over the next week or so. I don't really have the time to do it but there is a group of Australian students that are very driven to improve the course and circumstances for students. That requires people to put their hand up for nomination and to represent the other students There was a hole -> I stood in it.

I'm HATING having Bubby in full-time care atm, but what can I do? It's only for another 6 months this year so really I need to keep a good perspective and devote myself to making the most of the time I do have at home and to make sure this investment in my education pays off long-term.

I'm still using my Law of Attraction planner and can thoroughly recommend it, or at least, the Bullet Journal method (please Google). Maximum time efficiency is what is required in med school, especially if still working and/or raising children.

IM placement

I'm in week 2 of my IM placement and it's going really good.

The others (students, interns, registrars, consultants) have been very friendly and accepting of me as an "outsider", or "elective" med student, especially seeing as they rarely get international electives at the particular hospital where I am training.

My knowledge: there are gaps, but they're not HUUUGGE huge. Just bigger than I'd like. Not so embarrassing that my position as a final year medical student is questioned. Not at all. Well, not to my face.

Some things I have been doing have been seen as more advanced than expected for an average medical student and that has made me feel a lot better about myself. Those things include: writing the progress notes during ward rounds, reading the obs/drugs charts, placing IVs, and being eager to learn more than the bare essentials. Some med students do that, but it's not expected until intern year.

Some things that make me look a bit behind include my lack of in-depth knowledge on certain pathophysiology and pharmacology questions. Some of the rarer diseases, I also don't know as well as the local medical students. When it comes to the more common stuff, I think I have a really good grasp on the basics, thanks mostly to my paramedic background. For example, the Intern asked the Consultant why she didn't start her Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus patient on metformin (a Type 2 DM drug).

I am learning a lot about how ward rounds work, I went to an M+M session (morbidity and mortality), am generally keeping up with the discussion about patients and their management, and generally not looking TOO stupid. Whew.

Apart from the hands-on and clinical observing experience, this rotation has (so far) given me the boost in motivation that I really needed to get me back into the books and focused on up-skilling myself in the areas I need to improve. The first half of med school is all about keeping up with the pace of the course; been told what to study and when. The second half is all about (finding and) attending placements, consolidating knowledge, and filling in the gaps as you go along.

So, today is exactly six years since my first day of medical school! Wow! So I always knew it would take me five-and-a-half to six years to do a four year course. The reason being: the first two years I did part-time. This was always my strategy from the beginning (financial, mostly). It turns out that it is probably going to take me seven to seven-and-a-half years! GASP!

**Goes into cardiac arrest

Killing 17 birds with one stone - my current study plan

Here's my current plan of attack:

• study all day at work. Also, catch up on rest, sleep, meal prepping, and laundry and work. Also, clean car at work. Also clean boyfriend's car at work. 
• do placements when not at work. Try not to look like you've had no days off. 
• tell placements that placement is your priority. Tell work that work is your priority. Family is actually your priority.
• make sure to go through all the points you jot down in your mini-notebook while on placement in case you get asked the same question again. Looking dumb once is forgivable; looking dumb twice for the same topic is embarrassing.
• cross-reference the topics you need to study for IM exam with AMC MCQ prep material, Tally and O'Connor, and OUM set readings. 
• try not to cry.

I'm making my own hand-written notes and if I'm successful, I'll upload them somewhere.

OUM student conference Melbourne 2016

The conference was amazing. I really enjoyed meeting my fellow students. I am so proud to be a part of this group of extraordinary people. Now when I say I am n OUM student, I hold my head up high with pride.

The keynote speaker was Dr Johannes Wenzle and he is an expert in the Australian Medical Council exam that IMGs need to take to practice in Australia. I learned so much from just one weekend.

I took my daughter along for the Sunday session, which was a significant distraction, however, I still go a lot out of it.

That's all I really have to comment right now. Maybe I'll post about it later.

OUM Students Conference 2016 - pre-reading

Just some pre-conference pre-reading.... About 50 pages.

The students conference is on this weekend in Melbourne. 

Finance secured

Woohoo.

I've just received a phone call from the bank notifying me that I have been approved the money I need to pay for the remaining fees for the course!

Yay!

The financial stress of medical school has, overall, been more intense than the study load, job uncertainty, and placement-finding combined.

This is great news.

The repayments are completely affordable (spread over five years but I hope to have it all paid off within two years) and is a major milestone for me.

Australians are not entitled to any sort of student loans for overseas courses. Australian-based courses, such as medical degrees, are supported with either Commonwealth Supported Places, FEE-HELP loans, or a number of other government-supported schemes.

Studying medicine at OUM, for Australian students, is a huge financial commitment. Students cannot continue with their study unless they are up-to-date with their dues, paid module-by-module. I'm not sure how much I have paid in total (the fees changed - decreased, in fact - half-way through), but I think I have just bought myself a $136,000 degree over the past six years. Very competitive in the realm of medical degrees, but scary when I think of what else I might've done with that sort of cold hard cash.

I am very proud of myself for earning, and borrowing, that money over the past six years. Who knew I had that sort of economic potential.

Anyway, I have said before and still firmly believe that education is the best form of investment one can make. It's an even better investment if the odds are that that education can increase your earning potential enough to recoup the financial investment and even have greater returns.

So, I'm going to divulge some slightly personal information to you to show you how I did in the hope of assisting others:

• Completed the first two years of tuition over 4 years. Paid a monthly payment plan of about $1800 for 4 years (about $86,000)
• Refinanced my house for the first half of the clinical placements (about $25,000)
• Loan for final clinical fees ($25,000)

So, you need to bear in mind that I have continued to work full-time for the majority of my degree. The first four years we tough but I managed. I was also paying a brand-new mortgage off at the same time. Also about $1800 per month. I earn about $4000 per month, so simple maths shows I was pretty short on cash. I worked overtime whenever I could and got pretty burnt-out in the process. I also travelled and managed to make a bit of extra cash here and there to maintain a lifestyle I liked. 

I actually took a personal loan out at one point to help as I got behind. I paid that off about two years ago. When I took maternity leave, that is when things got really financially tough. I was able to refinance my home which increased my mortgage repayments which I am still, literally, paying for now. The best thing about this FINAL loan is that this is it. No more tuition fees coming next year to compound on the top of the financial pressure. I can take the full five years to repay it if I want. 

Ok, I hope me telling you all my personal financial business helps someone. I remember when I started I thought to myself that I had NO IDEA how I would afford everything but I just took a leap of faith, and worked really hard, got a little creative, begged, borrowed, and...refinanced. Somehow, it happened.

(I never did win the lottery, though...)