How to Become a Surgeon: Your Questions Answered
Recently, MedicGuild wanted to hear your questions for our surgical registrar about surgical training pathways. And here, with the new medical year upon us, a time when doctors often set goals for the year ahead, she answers those questions.Previous articles on...
5 Life Lessons from the Labour Ward for Surviving Medical School
Call me crazy, but, as a third year medical student on my O&G rotation, I’ve come to believe that there are quite a few similarities between medical school and the labour experience. It sounds far-fetched but upon reflection I’ve been able to draw parallels...
How Autistic doctors can thrive: a medical student’s journey of discovering their self and embracing their difference
Neurodivergent doctors are an asset to medicine, but, as a final year medical student, recently diagnosed with Autistism, explains, more understanding and awareness is needed to help others embrace this nuerodiversity. I’m not spending 2022 exactly how I pictured....
Know Thyself: The Role of Palliative Care
Palliative care is an underrated specialty, probably because it’s not as ‘sexy’ as cardiology or neurosurgery. Still, it can profoundly change the lives of patients and their families. Founded as a speciality in the 1960s by Cicely Saunders, the word ‘palliative’...
How to Prepare for the Worst Case Scenario: A Guide to Advanced Care Planning
Advanced Care Planning, establishing what a person’s wishes are should they become so ill or incapacitated that they cannot make those decisions themselves is an important part of modern medicine. Autonomy is a key tenet of medical ethics, and communicating one’s...
Is There a Doctor in the House? What The Rise in Doctors Running for Election Tells Us About Our Health Crises
The pandemic has revealed the cracks in our public health system are gaping holes, with many health workers saying it has reached crisis point. From primary care, to emergency departments, mental health and climate change, our guest, GP and writer Dr Melanie Cheng...
Sex (ed), Drag and Rooibos
TeaBrief Podcast Season 2 Episode 3. To never miss an episode - Subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts. Dating is a minefield, let alone dating in med. Today's guest, a med student, drag queen and aspiring GP, with a passion for sexual health offers some...
How to Take Care of Yourself During Preclinical Years
We don’t pay lip service to self care. Here’s a comprehensive guide to get on a good footing as you begin your medical journey.
How Do You Mourn When Your Grief is Unacknowledged? A Medical Student Learns the Importance of Empathy
A medical student acknowledges that empathetic communication is not always intuitive, but through her experience of miscarriage, shows how empathy is critical for patient care.
What Makes a Good Intern
On their penultimate day of internship, a doctor reflects on what makes a good intern and what makes for a good intern year.
I Failed Med School —My World Didn’t End, It Opened Up
“All I could think of was how, almost at the end of the race, I had just lost it all.” Read how this med student turned her crisis into an opportunity to come back stronger.
Dear Rachel – What I Will Miss From Medical School
Bells and Rachel have been through two degrees together and as they stand on the precipice of graduation, Bells reflects on what makes medical school bearable and lovable.
Webinar: It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint: Surviving The First Year Of Medical School
A free webinar with current medical students who are going to share all their secrets to help you ace your first-year of med school without breaking a sweat. VIDEO IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING VIA MEDICGUILD'S ATLAS Calling all incoming medical students!...
Surviving My First Year of Medical School – What I Wish I Knew
We all know how the exhilaration of a med school offer can dramatically fall to panic when the harsh reality of your first lecture hits. Two med students just about to complete their first year, give you gems of advice so you can not just survive, but some days...
Med School Exam Survival Kit
A third year med student with many an exam season under their belt, has come up with the best tips to survive and thrive through your exam period! Special thanks to Noa Kolkovski and Dr Olivia Baenziger for the illustrations.Medicine has an overwhelming amount of...
How To Study From Practice and Past Exams in Med School
When we study, we do so with the hope that what we are doing will aid us during exam season. While all methods of learning are appropriate to a varying degree, using past assessments will ensure you are making the most measurable and applicable improvements in your...
We Need to Teabrief – A Comedic and Cathartic Med Podcast
Say hello to Bells, Nikki and Noa; three medical students who come together to drink tea and debrief over the week that was - or, TeaBrief. Join them every Monday fortnight as they vent, laugh and cry over all things life and med school. Subscribe and follow wherever...
Webinar- Beyond The Tick Box: A Practical Guide to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
We’ll be covering practical tips on how to care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients from the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors and Aborginal Health Liasion Officers.Are you confident in providing care for First Nations...
The Politics of Pregnancy and How My Medical Education Failed Me
When Dr Shona Kambarami was in her final year of medical school in Australia, she did an OBGYN rotation in a New Orleans hospital. It was there where she saw first hand the health disparities for Black patients and how a predominantly white medical staff and a...
You Got Your Med Offer, Now How Will You Pay for It? – A National Scholarship Guide
So you’ve traversed the gauntlet of the UCAT or GAMSAT, bitten your nails down to the quick through the interview process and finally received the coveted spot into a medical program. Once the adrenaline settles you may find yourself wondering just how big a...
What Makes A Good Medical Student?
Dr Maithri Goonetilleke is an Australian medical doctor and associate professor in global health, with extensive teaching experience in public health across undergraduate and postgraduate medical programs. Dr Goonetilleke shares his advice for aspiring medical...
‘You might need the larger cuff’ – Ending Weight Stigma in Healthcare
For decades weight loss and dieting has been the mainstay of lifestyle intervention. Now clinicians are calling for a healthier approach. Content Warning: this article discusses weight loss, eating, exercise and ‘obesity.’ I sat there in the room, gulping as a clearly...
‘They’re Doctors, They’ll Understand’: My Struggle Through Med School with a Chronic Illness
A medical student argues how medical school falls short in supporting students with a chronic illness or disability and what can be done differently. "They are doctors, of course, they will understand!" I was trying to explain to my disability advisor how logistically...
5 Tips to My Future Doctor Self, From My Former Nurse Self
My past life as a nurse has taught me many things about what kind of doctor I want to be. And most importantly, what kind of relationship I want to build with my nursing colleagues. Nurses are undoubtedly the backbone of our healthcare system, and the people who you...
Toughen Up – Tough Love or Bullying in Medicine?
A senior medical student ponders when does tough love blur into bullying territory? Is it used to excuse bad behaviour or can it push us to be more resilient? The registrar was getting ready to close the patient on the operating table and asked if I wanted to scrub in...
From First Year to Final Year: What I Learnt With Hindsight
At the end of their medical degree, a medical student looks back on the vital lessons one can only see with hindsight.It was 7:50am, I was packing my belongings into my locker in the common room before the 8:00am ward round, when I noticed two women off to my right...
Please Don’t Complain to Me About the Eating Disorder Patient. I Was One
A medical student reflects on their own experience of an eating disorder and mental illness to help medical professionals better understand how to treat their illness, as well as offer support for fellow medical students and doctors who also experience these...
Work Like a Greyhound, Not an Elephant: How to optimise your study
A typical greyhound spends between 16 and 22 hours sleeping. But when they come off the leash, they can hit speeds of 70 kilometres per hour. Elephants in the wild sleep only two to four hours per night. When awake, they don’t move nearly so fast as their lazy...
Doctors Who Code: How Embracing Healthtech Enhanced My Career
A growing number of doctors and medical students are melding IT and medicine to create healthtech solutions that understand both worlds to create more efficient, effective and accessible healthcare.Ever since Dr Josh Case was child he has been enamoured with the world...
Becoming a Doctor at a Time of Reckoning with Gender Inequality and Safety
In the wake of the recent Women’s March 4 Justice and ongoing Reclaim the Streets protests calling for women’s basic human rights to safety, non-discrimination, and an end to gender-based violence, it is time to revisit our own backyard. The recent revelations that...
Is There a Doctor in the House? How to Navigate Family and Friends Asking for Medical Advice
Some doctors come from grand medical dynasties. Most of us do not. Many of us were the first people in our family or social circle to embark on this journey. Whether you consider being a junior doctor to be some higher calling, a reputable vocation or just a job like...
How to Whistleblow and Keep your Sanity, Friends and Career
As a doctor who spoke out against deliberate medical neglect of asylum seekers and refugees, Dr Nick Martin shares his experiences on whistleblowing unethical systemic issues. I’m a GP working in NSW. I worked in Nauru from November 2016-July 2017 as the Senior...
Diaper Doctor: A Guide to Surviving Parenthood During Medical School
Juggling Anki cards and nappies can be tough, but it's not impossible. A final year med student offers the ultimate med school parent survival guide.Cramming for final exams with a newborn It was around 3 am when our light dozing was interrupted by yet another loud...
Tired, Stressed, Forgetful? Your Sleeping Habits Might Be Doing More Harm Than You Think
A junior doctor swerves into oncoming traffic. Declining cognitive function forces a consultant into retirement. A medical student’s anxiety becomes incapacitating. A registrar leaves their training program citing burnout. And the common theme? Sleep deprivation....
‘Fear and anxiety became my normal’ – Addressing mental health in med school
Medical school and medical practice challenges our mental health at the best of times, let alone when we’re still processing past trauma. An Australian medical student explains how they worked to address their mental health early on to be better equipped for their...
12 Websites All Medical Students Should Know About
When it comes to learning Medicine, there are a handful of ‘must-have’ and a million more little extra websites to guide your learning. But when you're a new medical student, or just starting your clinical years, it’s hard to know what resources are out there, and...
You Have A Choice: Why taking a year off can benefit your career
A PGY6 doctor explains why temporarily hoping off the medical training conveyor belt helped them become a better doctor.I spent the second half of 2019 agonizing over whether or not I should take a year away from clinical medicine. I did all the normal things to help...
Dating as a Medical Student – Confessions of lessons learnt
A final year medical student weighs up the pros and cons of dating within and outside of medicine. For better or for worse, over the last few years I have been (mostly) single and have spent a considerable amount of time, effort, and dedication dating, when I could...
How to Survive Being an Interstate Medical Student
Starting med school is a big jump, but when you add moving hundreds of kilometres interstate it gets a little more complicated. Leaving family and friends behind, surviving financially, deciphering Centrelink instructions and creating your own support networks while...
A Small Fish in A Big Pond: Navigating Med School as a Rural Student
Dear 1st year me, Congrats! You’ve just turned 17 and about to embark on your dream of studying medicine. Despite the predictions, despite your self-doubt and the obstacles that stood in your way, you’re here! It seemed like only yesterday when you sat, impatiently,...