Study advice
- Keep it simple
- Keep it real
- Build knowledge in meaningful increments (not meaningless leaps).
Read-apply. Apply-Read.
- Build breadth before depth
- Observe your colleagues and doctors-in-practise and emulate their good
qualities
- Keep the study constant but manageable. Don’t burn out, fatigue or
stall. It’s a long journey that doesn’t stop after 3rd year!
COMMON ISSUES WITH STUDENTS
- Getting overwhelmed by the curriculum. Trying to achieve specialist
level knowledge. Bogged down in detail. Reading a textbook bigger than your
head (literally and figuratively). Accumulating trivia rather than practical
knowledge.
- Being a passive learner. ‘Hanging’ on the ward aimlessly. Reluctant to
ask questions from clinicians. Waiting for others to ‘take notice’.
- Theory-Practical disconnect. Not relating bookwork to clinical work.
Not practising learned knowledge and skills. Thinking that clinical
experience osmosis alone will give you a strong knowledge base.
- Lack of insight. ‘Near enough is good enough’. Not capable of reflecting
on personal performance and improving the next occasion.