The End?

I received my final rejection today. 

I'm glad it came today, as after yesterday I'm not sure I'd have the optimism to prepare for an interview.

I'm glad it's a wrap for 2014.

I'm glad the application process is finished. 

I'm glad I don't have to wait in some type of limbo anymore. 

I'm glad I can now just focus on getting my grades. 

I'm glad Sussex have offered me an alternative degree.

I'm glad I have an offer from KCL. I'm glad I finally, for the first time in about a year feel free(ish).

Maybe rejection IS good.

I think I need to wait it out to see if medicine is truly for me now, I have mixed feelings. I've enjoyed everything I've seen on this short journey and I'm glad I got to experience how hard the process really is. 

Hats off to anyone who has made it through. 

I'm glad.

Let's play catch up.

So, I haven't posted in a while...a long while - apologies. I'll just play the 'sorry, I was busy with a-levels' card and hope you'll understand. So what's happened during this time? Well...

I've received 3 uni rejections for medicine, I'm still waiting on one. I can't lie, I am crushed. But, I can't say I didn't expect this, infact this is something I was expecting the most, even waiting on - however cynical that sounds. However, I know I gave my application my all and the simple truth is that it wasn't enough (however much that sucks to say).

I'm hoping I'll pull myself together after a couple of days, sometimes a bit of mopping around is all it takes. I've still got my offer from kings and I'm still very thankful for that, however the appeal of a gap year is growing quickly.

I feel like I haven't been able to take advantage of being an a -level student in terms of the whole driving, being 18 experience. I've been so devoted to my application, my subjects, my extra curriculars I think I've missed the point of *having fun*.

Speaking of which, I've started on a 20 week hospital placement. I started of at AAU but decided to switch to the surgical ward, a choice I'm so glad I made. Following these rejections my volunteering here has put things in perspective for me. It's made me think long and hard if medicine is for me. I think it still is. It's also motivated me and kept my passion for the subject up, something I feel has been slipping very quickly due to the rejections.

It's funny, when I started this process I'd always said the rejections wouldn't get to me. I was so overcome with the fascination of being a doctor, almost blinded that I believed nothing would burn my passion out. I fully believed it was my dream. Although, midway through my A2's I've found motivation is hard to find when passion is lacking, which is what's happened.

Until next time,

comment and let me know about how you keep motivated.

Offer!

So it's currently half term, I'm enjoying my well deserved (I think so anyway) break from a-levels and I'm relaxing in the living room with my family. At this point I've just completely forgotten about UCAS and the application process. 'Focus on your a levels, and getting the grades' is my mindset right now. If I'm honest I think the stress that medical/dentistry/vet medicine applicants go through is inhumane. How are we meant to focus on getting top grades, getting a perfect reference, getting a perfect medical personal statement, volunteer constantly, get relevant work experience, get a good score in the UKCAT/BMAT, and finally make sure we're a good rounded applicant? The list is endless. In the end it's just a series of hoops they expect us to jump through with flying colours. I feel like these hoops do build super students, but at some point I did find myself turning into a robot, and I'm sure others did too.

ANYWAY back to the point of this post. So, I'm happily relaxing when I feel my phone vibrate. I see the e-mail notification, and behold there is an offer from Kings College London for Biomedical sciences. Relief, happiness, surprise, all attack me. I know it's not an offer for my dream course - medicine, but what it is, is an offer for my DREAM uni! I'm so thankful for this offer as it's given me belief that I CAN do it and that I have a chance at medicine. After all, one of the top world unis have accepted my offer for a science course right?

I'm so happy I have a back up plan sorted out and there is hope out there for me. It's just reminded me that I NEED to have more self confidence in myself. I need to believe in myself when others may be cynical. After all, I am a dreamer.

Apologies for the cheesiness of this post, but after all the doubts and terrible news I've heard this year I'm so happy that I'm finally getting to reap some of the rewards from all my hard work.

Thanks for reading.

'Dramatic Drop In global HIV infections'

Awesome news. I've chosen to post about HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) in this post particularly because it's a topic that's quite personal to me. I grew up in Kenya during the 1990's during which the AIDS/HIV epidemics was very serious and to hear that there's been a dramatic drop globally in HIV/AIDS statistics is great news. 


HIV/AIDS attacks the immune system and is carried by bodily fluids and is transmitted by sexual contact or blood contact. Where HIV is the virus, AIDS is the condition and appears during the late stages of HIV. As a child I knew someone who had HIV. The disease acted aggressively towards this person and left them weak and vulnerable to infection. 

What I want to investigate further is why did this epidemic occur? How could Kenya have avoided it? Why wasn't there enough recognition of the disease at the time? I've always believed that prevention is more effective than treatment, so if we can find the source and cater to it then there will be no need to go any further. 

“It all started as a rumour… Then we found we were dealing with a disease. Then 
we realised that it was an epidemic. And, now we have accepted it as a tragedy.” - Chief epidemiologist in Kampala, Uganda.1 


Putting this into context, over the epidemic it is estimated that 1 million Kenyans have been victimised by this disease and have lost their lives, Kenya's HIV prevalence had peaked during the late 1990's. Although the evidence was clear cut, sadly the Kenyan leaders refused to believe it was a problem that they needed to address. The Kenyan President 1978-2002 had said: ''The threat of AIDS has reached alarming proportions and must not be treated casually; in today’s world, condoms are a must'' however many believed that the government simply did not do enough to educate the Kenyan's on the topic. 


Prevention from accessing condoms aswell as the lack of knowledge and the social stigma that surrounded HIV did not help the case at all. Many simply did not know what to do or where to look for in terms of going for testing. Many were simply embarrassed to do so in fears of what their family members or friends would say. Because of this many just suffered in silence. 


Thankfully, the numbers of people suffering from HIV as decreased radically and sensitive issues are being addressed. Education and awareness really is the key to eradicating HIV/AIDS and preventing its contraction. We also need to be more sensitive to individuals and their circumstances and make treatments more accessible to the public. 

I have merely just touched on the topic in this post and I'd love to discuss it with anyone who's interested.

Comment/message - you know what to do - and as always thanks for reading!

Extra reading:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24208972#?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.avert.org/history-hiv-aids-africa.htm
http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-kenya.htm
http://giswin.geo.tsukuba.ac.jp/sis/thesis/PhD_Ngigi.pdf

NURSES.

The quality of care offered by the NHS has been placed under a magnifying glass over the past few months. Constantly being in the news it led me to question, why? One of the most let's say 'obvious' answers is of course under staffing. This was most definitely found to be the case with the Mid-staff's scandal where the Francis report had stated that "A chronic shortage of staff, particularly nursing staff, was largely responsible for the substandard care,". A lack of nursing staff = more demands on existing nurses = more stress and pressure = more adverse affects on individual attitudes = bad quality of care. This is what was found from the stories stemming from the Liverpool Care Pathway - where patients were often denied food and water due to a number of staff not being correctly educated on the LCP.

It has been predicted that there will be a serious shortage of nurses and midwives by 2016 and this will lead to obvious problems with care offered by the NHS, something the NHS will undoubtedly have to face. One of the biggest reasons for the shortage is thought to be the loss of our UK nurses to other countries. For instance, the US offers a starting salary of around £40,000 compared to the (around) £21,000 offered by the UK, not forgetting the year of experience they are required to also have. This has led the NHS to bring nurses and midwives from abroad, leaving them with almost the same problem.

For me, I have seen first hand the role of a nurse from my voluntary work and my view has developed as I've learned more about their duties. The role of a nurse is so broad and diverse as they need to be able to administer medication, offer emotional support and guidance, educate the family and the patient on the illness as well as making sure all the needs of the patient are met. Nurses truly are the definition of 'front line staff'. Where doctors have the responsibility of seeing through the patient from the diagnosis to the treatment and making decisions on the treatment provided it is the nurses that gets to care for the patients on a more individual level.

It's disheartening to see what has happened to the profession over the years and the issue is of high importance to be addressed. Hopefully, when this happens we'll start to see an improvement on the quality of care offered. :)

READ this if you'd like to know more. Let me know what you think.
http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2013/aug/20/need-graduate-nurses-nhs

How real is real?

24 hours in A&E, ER, One born every minute, Keeping Britain Alive, House MD, Greys Anatomy, Junior Doctors and the list goes ON.

Reality TV or drama, are they altering our view on the healthcare system (in the UK and/or America).

I was asked my view by a family friend on the lifestyles of doctors the other day. I replied by explaining the pros (rewarding, mentally stimulating, FUN) and cons (stressful, LONG hours) and how I thought that it was mainly a give and take relationship. The more you put in, the more you get out.

They replied by asking me: 'Did you watch Junior Doctors?'
Ahh the beauty of reality TV. I had watched the show and did enjoy it. It showed lives of junior doctors and all the ups and downs they had encountered during their placements. We both discussed the show in terms of how real it was and how much of it was just used for entertainment and spoke about how sometimes we'd almost have to remind ourselves to separate the 'real' from the real life. From this conversation it really became plain to both of us how much these type of shows could influence people's perceptions of the NHS.

We then moved on to the topic of shows such as Grey's Anatomy and House (my personal favourites). The medicine is a lot more realistic than shows such as Holby city, however the diagnostic procedures we come across in House, and the constant attraction Seattle grace hospital has to crazy catastrophes was definitely not so realistic.

The glamorous portrayals of their lifestyles definitely seems attractive however unlike the 'reality TV shows' we most definitely didn't feel the need to remind ourselves that this was just entertainment. 

So, what do you think?
How real is real?

A&E Bailout?

A&E. The headline for the majority of the health news that has been circulating the BBC for quite some time now. Accident and Emergency departments are open 24/7, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and specialise in just that - accidents and emergencies. However, as we've all been hearing for months now, this is simply just not the case and this is leading to A&E departments being almost on the bring of collapse.

Why are they struggling so much you ask? Well it all comes down to three main reasons:

1: Lack of out of hours services 
Back in 2004, Tony Blair's Government made a deal with GPs to reduce their working hours and allow them to no longer be on call for weekends and evenings all in exchange for £6000 of their salary. This has been described as the root to the cause of A&E disintegrating by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. He believes that the current GP contract is 'fundamentally flawed' as responsibility of out of hours services has been removed from the hands of GPs. Many GPs are outraged and annoyed at the constant blame they receive as many of them currently feel 'overworked' and feel that a lot of unnecessary pressure is being placed on them. They also agree that their is a flaw in NHS 111. This is a helpline you can call when your family doctor is not available and so advice is given to you on what you should do next. GPs believe that the system is flawed, as the resulting next step is often advice to visit A&E.

2: The Ageing population
People are living longer. A great statement yes? Well, it does come with its own problems. People are living longer but they as they grow older they are more vulnerable to disease, and more severe diseases at that. It is presently thought the the elderly with complex conditions are now the greatest challenge. Many of them are said to arrive by ambulance and often have to have an extended stay. Which poses another problem - space and beds. David Cameron is proposing that what we should do is concentrate on building the relationship between A&E departments, GP practices and social care departments so that the elderly may receive more help from their local communities.

3. Staff Shortages
With the increase in demands by patients it is clear that staff shortages are a definite problem in need of desperate attention. This is all results in critical cases being handed over to junior doctors who may not be competent enough to deal with the patients thus endangering their safety. This battle between increase in demand, and decrease in supply seems as a fundamental issue at the root of the cause.

The solution to fixing the problem that is A&E waiting services is proving hard to find. However, a 'bailout' as been announced for specific struggling A&E units. This is just a short term solution to a long time problem of course, and many are aware of this.

What are your views on this? Comment/e-mail me, I'd love to know.

Food for thought:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23612539#?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10192661/Crisis-in-AandE-as-hospitals-grapple-with-staff-shortages.html
http://fullfact.org/articles/factsheet_crisis_accident_emergency_care-29078