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Wondering about those with medic children from past threads

56 replies

alreadytaken · 15/04/2020 10:03

Just that really. Mine has not yet gone down with the virus, although colleagues have and one friend is currently self-isolating as a flatmate has it.

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goodbyestranger · 15/04/2020 10:32

I have two DC in busy London hospitals and neither can understand why they don't yet have the virus since they're dealing with coronavirus patients and haven't had adequate PPE.

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goodbyestranger · 15/04/2020 11:06

That said, both seem perfectly cheery.

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alreadytaken · 15/04/2020 14:40

@decorhate @lessstressy @mumsneedwine @iabvvu @nexttime4 @needmoresleep @duchesse @wehaveonlyjustbegun

interested in how it's affecting those who are still students too

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mumsneedwine · 15/04/2020 15:18

@alreadytaken Hi. My DD has been home for 4 weeks now as all Uni teaching went on line. She's studying hard for a massive exam in June (she thinks) covering all this years work, rather than 6 smaller exams. OSCEs postponed until autumn, as is the dreaded anatomy spotter. Will be open book but timed. Know some Unis not bothering with 2nd year exams and just passed everyone but this year forms part of her integrated degree so suppose they have to do something. She will then go back to care home to work, but has to tell Uni so they can risk assess - they are really looking out for them. I am happy to admit I cried when I watched the Notts medics graduate on the One show last week. My DD knows some of them and my thoughts were that's my baby in 3 years. Hope everyone is safe and well.

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iabvvu · 15/04/2020 16:05

@alreadytaken thanks for checking in! I was in final year so have been fast tracked and graduated a few months early, probably will be starting in my local hospital within the next couple of weeks. All very scary but quite exciting too and much better than sitting around waiting until August. Hoping to get accommodation so I can isolate from my family, I'd hate to bring anything home and make them ill.

Hope everyone else is ok

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Rosieposy4 · 15/04/2020 16:08

Mine’s just about to start work as a doctor, 3 1/2 months before normal starting time.

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nexttime4 · 15/04/2020 18:14

@goodbyestranger - given that many who get it have few or no symptoms, maybe they have!

I think I've had it - i never gets fevers but had some really prolonged ones, as did my wife and baby. Five of my colleagues who i regularly work with have also had positive tests, and some others have been ill. Fortunately, none seriously so far.

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goodbyestranger · 15/04/2020 19:09

I'm hoping so nexttime4!

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alreadytaken · 15/04/2020 23:13

I'm sure I missed lots of people, my memory is going. Feel sorry for those who have missed out on graduation and possibly on electives. This could be a real baptism by fire. Nexttime I hope if you've had it you also developed some immunity.

goodbye I seem to have missed your second one did they graduate this year and early or are they still a student?

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goodbyestranger · 15/04/2020 23:15

The second DC is one who changed direction alreadytaken - you're absolutely correct about a baptism of fire.

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goodbyestranger · 15/04/2020 23:16

Also feel for those missing electives.

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Decorhate · 16/04/2020 07:58

Dd did an intercalation year so has another year to go. But lots of her friends are now finished & will be in hospitals shortly.

Her year are still not certain about what is happening. Latest is that they will go back mid July to do the placements that should be starting next week. But they were due to do electives over the summer & uni are also indicating they must still do these but before the July placements. This seems unreasonable to Dd - the electives are arranged months in advance & hers has said they can’t give her an earlier slot. Most clinical settings won’t want unnecessary people getting in the way & using PPE when no doubt they will still be very busy with Covid cases.

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alreadytaken · 16/04/2020 10:13

most people doing electives go abroad and I cant see how they could do that or why the NHS would allow it at the moment. Perhaps they are all meant to do their electives in the Nightingales!

So goodbye does this mean one did graduate medicine? It's an area I know little about. You have reminded me to check on one person I know who did go down that route and is now probably in a hotspot.

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Decorhate · 16/04/2020 11:36

@alreadytaken Yes any electives abroad were cancelled a long time ago. Dd was doing hers in the UK. But either way, it will be very difficult to arrange alternatives. They may have to do some sort of research project instead.

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alreadytaken · 16/04/2020 17:26

the idea of electives is to experience a different health care system. Our current health care system looks very different to normal anyway.

Personally I'd like to see students either in the Nightingales or involved in the task of assessing things like whether vitamin D status is correlated with outcome.

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Decorhate · 16/04/2020 19:22

As long as they can provide PPE. I wouldn’t count on that right now. I don’t think it can be obligatory to go abroad for an elective. Otherwise it would discriminate against less well off students. Dd was going to do one here but in a setting she would not experience in a placement. She was against going abroad as she felt that many of those experiences were of limited value in terms of learning & more of a jolly.

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Decorhate · 16/04/2020 19:25

Dd’s uni says about the electives: This elective is about gaining wider clinical experience or carrying out a specific project.

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Carriemac · 17/04/2020 09:30

DS intercalated too, and is supposed to arrange his own elective now before going back in July to start 5th year
Struggling to find an elective locally, the NHS is understandably not prioritising this. He's sad about missing out on his elective abroad , South American rural outreach and they had fundraiserd for equipment do being

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alreadytaken · 17/04/2020 10:01

Of course it cant be compulsory to go abroad but most do and if they dont stay on for a holiday I'm not convinced it is always a lot more expensive. Some students get grants and if you are in an indian village and washing out of a bucket accommodation and food are pretty cheap. Some get clinical experience they would not get here, some sun themselves in the Caribbean.

Probably more PPE in the nightingales then anywhere else right now as they dont have many patients.

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Decorhate · 17/04/2020 13:34

Hi @Carriemac Good to “see” you again (ours are in the same place). Dd did not come home at the start of the lockdown so is now staying put for the foreseeable. She is not impressed about having to do an elective right now - if they are not able to accommodate placements why would they think clinical electives are feasible? She is thinking of doing a research project instead but is also on a waiting list for an earlier slot for the elective she was due to do in August.

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Carriemac · 17/04/2020 14:54

hi @decorhate hope your DD is ok, I bet they know each other in RL? DS is getting a call this afternoon re a potential placement, but it will be an audit done from home for the moment if it works out. I have not been impressed by the medical school, its been a bit of a shambles and they are all a little fed up I think, although selfishly I'm glad DS is not on the wards he has an auto immune disorder which I think may make him more cover susceptible.

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Decorhate · 17/04/2020 16:54

Hi @Carriemac Yes I am in no rush for Dd to go on the wards, at least until the PPE situation improves. She has got a job in an NHS call centre at the moment so is not at too much risk.

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Mindgone · 25/04/2020 22:13

Hello all 👋🏼
Great to hear how everyone’s DC is doing. Have missed this! Where do we congregate after their graduations, and into jobs? Serious question, is there a place for kids’ jobs threads?!
DS did his finals this last week online, at home. Feels they went fine, TG. At least he has a chance to chill for now. Expecting results early May, and an online graduation soon after. He should have been on his elective, followed by a two week family holiday, then a chill period, and first job in August. As it is, they’ve asked them to start work early, but not told them exactly what or where, which we feel is worrying. He’s very keen to start work and help out, but not so keen on going straight into Coronaville!
On a lighter note, we have two adult kids home, and had forgotten how much they eat!

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sluj · 25/04/2020 22:40

My DS is in year 4 and is on a huge list of students waiting to be called up. He is keen to help wherever he can. In the meantime I am enjoying this unexpected time with him till he goes back. Unfortunately the elective in Colombia is cancelled but PBL and tutoring continues over Zoom.

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Needmoresleep · 26/04/2020 09:20

DD is third year. The decision to send them all home came as a bit of a surprise to them, and to CTFs. However the hospitals had already started emptying of non Covid patients, so DD had one clinic where there were no patients, with her receiving an examination instead. My understanding is that most hospitals in her area are still relatively empty so not much, even for those who are trying to volunteer.

It took four weeks for things to restart online, not helped by patchy internet services in the South West, the price some staff pay for living in lovely rural places. Its not ideal, but the structure suits her, and Bristol seem to have got it about right, with enough work and with exams which will check progress but which wont count. Her group did a quick comparison of what other medical schools are doing. A couple seem to have given up until September giving students five months off, whilst her friend at Imperial was sent home with lots to be getting on with, and the work has continued piling in, with serious exams this summer. This presumably be will problematic for some. One of DDs friend is unable to go home so is spending lockdown with the kind family of a fellow student. Its working out well, if a little crowded, but it wont for all.

DD is really hoping things will be near-normal in September. She will be intercalating in London, as one of relatively few external students, and wants the chance to meet her fellow course-mates. Its quite an academic course, and apparently quite competitive for internal students to get onto, so she is worried about the shift in learning style. On line, on her own will, could be difficult. She is also, like everyone else, worried about how she will make up the placements she is missing this term.

The first thing though is to rescue her belongings from both her placement hospital and her flat, and her car from a borrowed parking space outside London before we knew they would cancel congestion charge and parking.

But she is safe and it is nice to have her home.

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