Stress management

There are so many things that can cause us to feel overwhelmed and stressed within any aspect of health care or medicine, whether you are a first year student, newly qualified or you have 10 years experience. You face an immense amount of pressure and are faced with numerous challenges each day, so any thing that can help with the management of your own stress seems pretty useful, right? 

Considering i've completed my undergraduate degree (if you've not caught up you can read that post here) and I've worked 6 months post qualification, I'd like to think that I've come up with a few good stress management techniques, so I thought it would make perfect sense to share those with you! 

Time management - 

Now I'm sure you're telling yourself, 'of course you were going to say that, that's not exactly a revolutionary technique' but what I mean by this is, be efficient with your time, but to also be realistic! Let's face it you're not going to learn 20 conditions from the matrix in one night, but you could do 2, so a little bit of revision and often will allow you to have a lot more free time that you can properly enjoy, without the dreaded over hang of a mass amount of revision to get through. Scheduling a plan of what to revise and when will also allow you to stay on track and assess the efficiency of the revision that you are doing. 

Take a break- 

No, not a 5 minute study break, a proper break where you pack your bags, grab a bottle of your favourite wine, or soft drink, whatever takes your fancy really, and just get away from your work and study environment for a day or two! Having a clear break from a stressor has always helped me to unwind and get a littler perspective, which means the next day when I go to revise or complete an assignment I feel much more motivated and can focus a whole lot more.

Read something other than a medical book- 

Most stress will undoubtedly come from revision and assignments that are due in, so reading something other than a medical book has always been a welcomed change for me, that being said if reading isn't your thing try something else like listening to a podcast, watching a youtube video, anything that will act as a complete separation from what you are currently focussing on for a prolonged time. 

Go for a run- 

I don't run, I should run, but a walk to the shop for revision snacks has always been a something I made sure I did during exam season. A bit of fresh air to stop a mini meltdown during pathophysiology revision is always better than tears at the desk. 

Focus on you- 

Now this is where you get to realise that i'm an avid brunch and beauty lover, I'll AWLAYS make sure that I squeeze an evening in to focus on me. Fake tanning, skincare routines and a bubble bath may not be on your agenda, but they are certainly on mine and anything that will help you feel like the best version of yourself is worth doing. 

I'd love to know your favourite ways to manage your stress, do we do any of the same techniques, or do you have your own little routine for those hectic days where you just want to throw everything out of the window? 

Until next time, 

Shan 

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My Undergraduate Degree | What I Did

Unlike most people who are on the PA course, I've not done a biomedical degree, nor a nursing degree. Instead I spent three years as an undergraduate studying to become an operating department practitioner, an ODP for short. So to catch you up a little, an ODP is quite possibly the hidden practitioner that you've never met, unless you've visited theatre before, then you'll know just how essential the role is. There are 3 areas that you can predominately specialise in, and our degree enabled us to develop the skills required to be competent in those areas. They are anaesthetics, surgery and PACU (post anaesthetic care unit), you are required to spend 40% of your time at university undertaking lectures and clinical scenarios, and the other 60% you are completing clinical competences whilst on placement.

I studied at Cardiff University and as the Welsh government funded our tuition fees we were expected to accept placements across the whole of Wales, unless you had a pretty damn good reason to argue against it! So me being me, and luck was certainly not on my side, I ended up being allocated the furthest one away, which was 4 hours away, in North Wales, for my first year! The second and third years were much easier as I was then moved to the South Wales region, and had placements much closer to home! One thing you should know about me is that I am such a home girl, I adore my home comforts, I can deal with being pushed to my limits and working outside of my comfort zone, as long as at the end of the day I get to go home to all of my most loved things!

The course was unlike anything I had previously experienced, I came straight from college and had no experience in theatres before that, other than the odd day of work experience here and there! I failed a lot of modules in my first year, but quickly turned it around and bagged myself a First Class honours degree in the summer of 2018, which allowed me to accept a job at the trust where I completed my final anaesthetic placement. Currently I work as an anaesthetic practitioner where I work side by side with an anaesthetist to provide safe and effective care throughout a patients perioperative journey, deliver analgesia and manage airways. I not only work across main theatre, but maternity and A&E too so there's a pretty wide scope of practice in my role!

What my 3 years looked like

 Year 1 -

  Year 2 -


 Year 3 -

I hope this has given you a little insight into my background, if you have any questions about my previous degree then please do let me know! Similarly, I would love to know what you did before if you're a PA student yourself!

Until next time,

Shan

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Post interview doubts

So first things first, you should just acknowledge just how well you've done to get this far; you've done your research, nailed that personal statement and bagged yourself an interview for PA school. Now that's an achievement in itself if you ask me! But after all that preparation, nerves and a bit of adrenaline mixed in with it, you're kind of left in limbo. From my own experience at undergrad and more recently at my job interviews, I knew how I would feel post PA interview; which is why I made sure I obtained all the information that I wanted from the admissions tutor before I left my interview day. So if you're anything like me, and are your own worst enemy for being overly critical, I thought I would put this post together to offer a little advise and reassurance that you're not the only one doubting your own performance, but if nothing else, a little distraction until you get a response! So here are a few things that you can do to ease the post interview doubts...

1. Before you even leave, ask the admissions tutor about when you are likely to hear a response from them. Not only does it give you a chance to break the ice and instigate a conversation with them, you have a realistic time frame of when you will hear back, rather than winding yourself up everyday that you don't get that email from the admissions department.

2. Following on from that, find out how you will receive the response. Are they going to call you, if so make sure you can get to your phone at all times, or let the admissions team know before hand that you may not answer initially due to work/other commitments. Similarly if it's by post or email, check them regularly!!

3. Give yourself the credit you deserve! Like I said at the start of the post, you've done so well to get to this point, don't start doubting yourself now! Positive thinking and a bit of resilience is needed to get you through the whole process!

4. Make friends on with the other candidates on the day, they are the only ones who are in the same position as you and will be able to offer you a different perspective and hopefully a little more reassurance.

5.  Don't be overly critical of your performance during the interview process. Instead of focusing on the things you didn't do so well in, reflect on all of the positive things that you did. Ask yourself the questions, did you perform well in your MMI, did you present yourself professionally whilst still being true to your own personality, did you do your best? Focusing your energy on all of the positive things that will help you perform better during any additional interviews you may have; similarly there's no point dwelling on minor things, as you certainly cannot change them now.

I hope this helped in some way, even if it has just reassured you that you aren't the only one who's doubted themselves post interview, it's perfectly normal to think that way but the negative thoughts wont change the outcome, so think positively, distract yourself and hold tight with some crossed fingers until you get a response! 

Let me know how you coped with your post interview doubts. 

Until next time,

S

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