80% of diagnoses are made from the history. Every medical student is told this at some point. House mentions it a few times… The history is the mainstay of your diagnostic process. Nobody knows your patient like the patient himself, where it hurst, whether it’s normal for him – ask! By the end ofContinue reading “It’s all in the history”
Category Archives: Advice
You come first
I have received a lot of good advice from a variety of people within the world of medicine, so I thought I’d post it here so it doesn’t get forgotten, and maybe it will help someone else too! 1. Look after yourself, then you can look after others You’re a human, I hate to breakContinue reading “You come first”
Write lists
I’ve always been moderately proficient at managing several concomitant tasks, but when I reached my limit, I would suddenly slam into a wall of stubborn hopelessness, liberally marinaded in doubt and despair. So I started writing things down, on paper, on my phone, anywhere that I could see the thoughts in front of me.Continue reading “Write lists”
Predict your way happy
To be honest I thought I was pretty tragic when I started doing this, but after a while it made complete sense and my only regret is that I didn’t start doing it sooner. It runs in the same vein as the money=success section previously, but is much more versatile and applies to all aspectsContinue reading “Predict your way happy”
Redefine Success
The obvious social markers of ‘success’ are usually money and popularity. A big house in a sought-after neighbourhood and nice clothes that demonstrate your lack of concern for financial minutiae. I tried to stop caring about money. I couldn’t completely not care because sometimes it would be nice not to have to think aboutContinue reading “Redefine Success”
Measure you against you
What makes me happy is progress. I don’t care what that progress is, as long as I am getting better at something, or someone else is getting happier, I’m happy. It says so right there in the big five. So it makes absolutely no sense to use other people as a mark of yourContinue reading “Measure you against you”
Stop trying to achieve
The single most sinister element that’s hampered me all along the way, which I assume runs rife within our westernised population, thriving on an infusion of instant technological and financial gratification, is the fear of failure. The fear of regret, the fear that this project will flop, as will the next one, and theContinue reading “Stop trying to achieve”
Just start writing
Simple but helps me a lot, especially when feeling pressured to add something to this blog. It’s very easy to improve a piece of writing that’s sat in front of you, however it is much harder to concoct something great from scratch, so just start writing! Don’t worry about how to structure your ideas, justContinue reading “Just start writing”
It’s okay to fail
‘If you fail you don’t get what you want’ This simple concept is drilled into every student, for every exam, forever. On the surface it makes sense – if you don’t pass the test, then you don’t get to enjoy the reward of the prize it so ominously guards; that admission to the medical schoolContinue reading “It’s okay to fail”
