Plymouth MedSoc

Freshers Booklet 2016

Meet the Committee

Firstly, huge congratulations on getting your place! You are going to have an

amazing first year here in Plymouth! MedSoc are here to help you make the very

most of your year. We will be your guiding lantern through the academics, the

extra curricular activities and of course… helping you to let your hair down with

the socials!! This booklet is to give you a rough idea of what to expect when you

arrive in September and more about what MedSoc is and can offer you.

We cannot wait to meet you in September… Welcome Freshers of 2016!

Position: President

Where You’re From: Winchester

Age: 19

Favourite Part of Medicine: Talking about feelings in Jigsaw <3

Favourite Place in Plymouth: Royal William Yard

Hobbies: Rugby, running, eating…

Favourite Quote: 'I always do press ups before I go out to make my arms look bigger’

Fun Fact About You: At 19 years and one month old, I have already outlived the oldest guinea pig ever by 4 years and 2 months. I am also taller and heavier.

Position: Vice President

Where You’re From: Fairford, Gloucestershire

Age: 20

Favourite Part of Medicine: Placements

Favourite Place in Plymouth: Saltram Park

Hobbies: Running, Being a student and Watching Made in Chelsea…

Favourite Quote: ‘Roald Dahl didn’t write Winne The Pooh, Darling.’ Ollie Locke, MIC.

Fun Fact About You: My diet the entirety of Freshers was jam sandwiches (raspberry jam only)

Position: Preclinical Academic Sec

Where You’re From: A little village in East Sussex

Age: 19

Favourite Part of Medicine: PBL

Favourite Place in Plymouth: The Lido (when it's open!)

Hobbies: Violin, singing, reading and surfing.

Favourite Quote: "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light" - Albus Dumbledore

Fun Fact About You: I'm so tall, I got mistaken for a guy three times in one week...

Position: Treasurer

Where You’re From: Antrim, Northern Ireland

Age: 21

Favourite Part of Medicine: SSUs

Favourite Place in Plymouth: My Shed

Hobbies: Travelling, Writing, Video games

Favourite Quote: " It's just a little turbulence"

Fun Fact About You: Being a fresher was so fun, I did it twice.

Position: Clinical Academic Secretary

Where You’re From: Wirral (...it's near Liverpool)

Age: 21

Favourite Part of Medicine: Meeting patients from all walks of life and being able to get to know them and their stories - it's cheesy, I know!

Favourite Place in Plymouth: Front row seats in shows at the Theatre Royal

Hobbies: Singing, hiking, playing the violin

Favourite Quote: "You can do anything if you have a positive mentality so make sure you always love what you do, and if not, at least try and convince yourself that you'll like it." - my mum

Fun Fact About You: To some extent or another, I can speak 5 languages - English, Vietnamese, French, Spanish and Russian.

Position: Charity Secretary

Where You’re From: Calne (Small town not far from Bath)

Age: 21

Favourite Part of Medicine: Pretending to be a real doctor

Favourite Place in Plymouth: On the way out to Devils point

along the costal path by the bunkers there are some random

steps that seem to lead to nowhere. If you take these steps and

follow to the left you will come across a lonely little bench which

has a perfect view of the hoe.

Hobbies: Triathlon, trying new sports, guitar and volunteering

(obviously)

Favourite Quote: “Sometimes in life I take off my shoes, crouch

down on the floor, put my hands behind the back of my head,

place my head between my legs, put all of my body weight for-

ward and just let go…because that’s just how I roll” – Goddard et

al 2016

Fun Fact About You: I can fit 25 marshmallows in my mouth and

I’m willing to prove it during freshers!

Position: Sports sec

Where You’re From: Much Hadham in Hertfordshire

Age: 19

Favourite Part of Medicine: pretending to be mature in clinical skills

Favourite Place in Plymouth: Jakes

Hobbies: Rugby, Football, Cricket, Gym, ex Cadet Warrant Officer in Air Cadets

Favourite Quote: 'in the end, it was all banter' - James Haskell

Fun Fact About You: I have flown a Hawk Fighter Jet

Position: Social Sec

Where You’re From: Coventry, West Midlands

Age: 20

Favourite Part of Medicine: Getting to talk to people

Favourite Place in Plymouth: PL4

Hobbies: Drinking

Favourite Quote: You can resit the exam but you can't resit the party

Fun Fact About You: I can down a pint faster than you

Position: Social Sec

Where You’re From: Shoreham-by-sea, but Brighton

Age: 20

Favourite Part of Medicine: CSRC

Favourite Place in Plymouth: The Hoe

Hobbies: Rock climbing, hockey, visiting new places

Favourite Quote: You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.

Fun Fact About You: Winner of Best Rack 2k16

Position: Ball Sec

Where You’re From: Reading, Berkshire

Age: 20

Favourite Part of Medicine: CSRC

Favourite Place in Plymouth: On the beach next to the lighthouse

Hobbies: Video Games/Badminton/LaCrosse/Basketball/TV

Favourite Quote: " I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick. Im so mean I make medicine sick"

Fun Fact About You: I did gymnastics competitively until the age of 17

Position: Publicity Sec

Where You’re From: South West London

Age: 20

Favourite Part of Medicine: Communication skills in CSRC

Favourite Place in Plymouth: Royal Williams Yard

Hobbies: memes

Favourite Quote: "A day without laughter is a day wasted" - Charlie Chaplin

Fun Fact About You: I was the only person to run for this position

MedSoc Top Tips

1. Don’t Buy Textbooks (you can decide which ones work for you when you arrive)

2. Give Yourself Time Off

3. Join Societies

4. Go ON Surf Trip

5. Ask Second Years, Staff any Questions!

6. Go ON Ski Trip

7. Get your Fancy Dress from Primark

8. Go ON Surf Trip

9. Eat Before Going Out

10.Taxi Number: 666222

11.Go ON Surf Trip

12.Did we mention? Go ON Surf Trip!!

MedSoc Academics

With MedSoc, we aim to give you all the extra support you may need on your journey through medical school.

Medics may know how to party, but our academic role provides loads of extra opportunities to aid your

learning!

With a MedSoc membership, you’re entitled to free access to all the lectures (known as ‘teaches’) MedSoc

hold throughout the year.

The general structure of each MedSoc lecture is as follows:

Two main lectures per each two week case unit:

An introduction to the case unit in week one.

A consolidation teach in week two.

In addition to this, we also hold extra teaches from outside providers. These are mainly held a few days be-

fore exams to help you fit in those last-minute cramming sessions!!

Trying to get your head around the structure of the course can be really confusing at first, so this a rough

overview of the whole course and a crash course to what everything means!!

A few commonly used acronyms and phrases: CSRC – Clinical Skills Resource Centre (sessions are at Derriford Hospital, but the rest of our teaching is on campus, in

PSQ).

PSQ – Portland Square (the building in which we have most of our plenaries, PBL, Jigsaw and LSRC sessions).

PBL – Problem-Based Learning (this has probably been drilled into you at every interview, open day or applicant day

you've attended!!).

LSRC – Life Sciences Resource Centre (in PSQ).

SSU – Special Study Units.

CDM – Clinical Decision Making (these sessions run during your SSU period).

PJ – Professionalism Judgements.

AMK – Applied Medical Knowledge Test (don't worry about these; more will be explained when you arrive!).

EOY1 – End Of Year One (the exam all first years sit at the end of first year).

PBL -Small groups of around eight students plus one facilitator (one of our lecturers).

Three PBL sessions for each case unit.

PBL involves lots of discussion and a focus on student-led teaching.

Plenaries- Our name for lectures.

Generally take an hour - not too long to lose concentration and fall asleep in!!

Most are recorded and the presentations are put online, for when you want to revisit anything you

didn't understand.

LSRC- Smaller groups than lectures, bigger than PBL.

Most sessions require some preparation – but don't worry about this – everything will be explained

when you get here!

CSRC- Clinical skills teaching.

CSRC require you to look professional for each of their sessions – so pack something smart!

CSRC sessions run from the John Bull Building by Derriford Hospital – you will need a bus to get to

CSRC.

Community placements- Once a fortnight.

Attended with another first year – your placement partner.

A different place each week. Could be anything from observing a GP to visiting an acupuncturist or a

funeral director!

Jigsaw- For discussing placements and for exploring the less scientific side of medicine.

Really helpful for learning about doctor-patient relationships, the emotional and psychological ef-

fects of healthcare, as well as wider issues such as the future of the NHS, ethics and politics.

Workshops- 1 or 2 hour sessions at the end of a case unit.

More interactive than plenaries.

Give you more of an insight into the role of doctors today.

Things we wish we'd known:

Bring smart clothes for CSRC and place-

ments!

Your MedSoc membership gives you

special discount of some book titles –

so don't buy everything on the booklist

before you get here!

You can absolutely go on the surf trip

and keep up with your workload!

Assessments We are assessed throughout the year in a variety of ways. These include:

4 progress tests (known as AMKs).

An End of Year Exam.

Professionalism judgements (PJs).

Clinical competencies.

SSUs (Special Study Units, essentially three weeks to write about a variety of subjects – there are three in first

year, one of which is formative).

Reading Lists! You'll be receiving a recommended book list from PUPSMD before you arrive. If it's anything like the one we got as fresh-

ers, you DO NOT want to get everything on that list...you'll have access to many titles on the list in the library and in the

LSRC book store.

Our main piece of advice is to try a few titles out when you get here. Then you can put your MedSoc membership to good

use and use our special discount codes for certain textbooks!

We think having a few books to refer to when studying at home is useful, so here are a few of our special rec-

ommendations!

Medical Sciences – J. Naish et al.

This book is basically Linh’s (Clinical Academic Sec’s) baby. She swears by it! A go-to book for pretty much anything –

gross anatomy, histology, physiology, biochemistry and little tidbits of clinical importance too – and a really stu-

dent-friendly layout!

Principles of Anatomy and Physiology by G. Tortora & B. Derrickson

Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems by L. Sherwood

These two are fantastic for first year…Good descriptions and helpful diagrams to really help you get your head

round all those different systems.

Gray’s Anatomy for Students by R. Drake et al.

The best place to start with your anatomy before you get bogged down by collateral arteries and the nth branch of

whatever nerve...

Simple diagrams, easy to follow descriptions.

Helps you grasp the important stuff before you put the whole human body together!

MedSoc Charity

The votes of the members have been counted and for the coming

academic year our society will be supporting the Shekinah Mission and

Devon Air Ambulance charities in addition to our long standing support

of Shelo Orphanage and our partnerships with Marrow and MedSin!!

Shekinah Mission will provide regular volunteering opportunities for our members to be-

come involved in providing hands on help to tackle the complex issues of homelessness,

substance misuse and social exclusion in the Plymouth area.

Devon Air Ambulance will provide fundraising opportunities through various different

events scheduled throughout the year as we aim to help towards the grand total of £4.5

million required to keep two operating helicopters airborne.

Shelo Orphanage will remain our traditional fundraising charity to continue to provide shel-

ter, education, nutrition, medical treatment and most importantly care to support extremely

vulnerable children in the Budada District of Easter Uganda.

Marrow will remain one of our much loved partnerships with more events set in

the calendar to raise money, awareness and donors for patients with blood

cancer.

MedSin will strengthen its connection with Peninsula Medical Society as we

work towards tackling global and local health inequalities through education,

advocacy and community action.

Keep your eyes peeled for fundraising events and please sign up to

the volunteering register during Freshers if you would to get

involved.

MedSoc Sports

At Medical school, it can be quite easy to get bogged down in academic work

and the stresses of living by yourself. One great way to deal with this is MedSoc

sport!!! It can help you stay healthy and can help you to relax and take your

mind off of what is an intense course.

Sport is also a great way of making friends and the special thing about MedSoc sport is that you get the opportunity to make friends with people in all 5 years, not just your own. No matter whether you have played for years or if you are just looking at starting a new hobby, there are many sporting opportunities available. If you have any questions about MedSoc sports, don’t hesitate to

contact our Sports Sec Owen at owen.mitchell@students.plymouth.ac.uk

Plymouth and Exeter Medics RFC

The Mighty Squirrels are a MedSoc institution. The elite from

Exeter, Plymouth and Truro come together every week to

form two teams and become rabid. Every year, we play in a

charity match against the Royal Marines at a Championship

rugby ground in front of 2500 people which some say is the

highlight of the season. Last year for only the second time,

the Squirrels beat the Marines in a spicy 20-7 victory and we

are looking at carrying on this good form into next season.

We also play in the National Association of Medical Schools

league (NAMS) as well as numerous cup competitions around

Plymouth. Training is every Wednesday and Saturday and

games are mostly on a Wednesday night or a Saturday after-

noon. Socials happen very regularly and are always really

good fun, and unlike other sports, you get to socialise with

people from all 5 years and from both Plymouth and Exeter

medical schools.

Please contact Owen Mitchell at

owen.mitchell@students.plymouth.ac.uk

or Felix Flechtner at felix.flechtner@students.plymouth.ac.uk

Medic Netball

Come along every Wednesday from 6-7 to play some net-

ball with medics from all 5 years. The sessions are fun and

relaxed with no previous experience needed. We play in

the intramural league as well as NAMS so there are regular

games if you are looking for a bit of competition. Hope to

see lots of you there!

Please contact Izzi Parkes at

isabella.parkes@students.plymouth.ac.uk

MedSoc Football

If you are looking to play some football while

at uni then Medic football are always wel-

come to new players. We play in a weekly

intramural league between other university

teams as well as the NAMS league and many 5

-a-side tournaments. Training is on Wednes-

day afternoons. No matter what skill level you

play, come along and have a kick around.

Please contact Liam McGillian at liam.mcgillian@students.plymouth.ac.uk

MedSoc Hockey

New from last year, MedSoc hockey has

been a huge hit, attracting guys and girls

from across the years. There is weekly

training on Friday nights as well as regu-

lar matches and 2 tournaments, TITS

which is a tournament between teams

from across the South and also involves a

fair amount of drinking, and a NAMS

tournament. MedSoc Hockey also has

lots of socials so you can have some fun

and make friends with people from all 5

years. No previous experience is neces-

sary and it is a very relaxed atmosphere.

Please contact Sam Richards at

samuel.richards-

1@students.plymouth.ac.uk

NEW FOR 2016/17!!!!!

MedSoc Fitness Club

This club is new for this year and will be lots of fun for everyone involved as well as

helping you to keep fit. This will involve a different event happening almost every

night of the week including short distance running, long distance running, circuit

training, swimming, cycling and even yoga and Pilates classes taken by a qualified

instructor for a tiny, affordable cost. Classes will be split into groups based on how

seriously you take it, so whether you want to just go for a sociable run around the

park or start training for events such as the Plymouth half marathon, then this will

be ideal for you. Open to both boys and girls from all 5 years, this will be a good way

to make lots of friends, get fit and most importantly have fun.

Please contact Anna Wilkins at anna.wilkins@students.plymouth.ac.uk

or Owen Mitchell at owen.mitchell@students.plymouth.ac.uk

MedSoc Families

When you join MedSoc you join a family! From your first

day you will have parents from the year above forming

your own little Medsoc family.

Your parents will be awesome! They will help you especial-

ly in the first couple of weeks of freshers where things are

generally a bit crazy!

They will give you focused teaches on bits of the course

you are finding tough, brilliant wisdom they have learnt

from their first year and host some family meals!!

Freshers Timetable!

Monday 12th

Fresh Out of School

Tuesday 13th

Marrow Social

Wednesday 14th

Know Your Year

Graffiti Bar Crawl

Saturday 17th

BBQ at The Hoe

MedSin-ema

Sunday 18th

Dartmoor Walk

Monday 19th

First night of Uni Freshers

(No MedSoc event)

Tuesday 20th

University Challenged Quiz

Friday 16th

Men with Dollar and Respectable

Young Ladies

Thursday 15th

House Party!

Friday 23rd

Marrow Hunt with Fish

and Chips

Tight and Bright Night

Thursday 22nd

Welcome Party

The Movement

Saturday 24th

Doctors and Nurses

Wednesday 21st

Charity PBL Dodgeball

Heroes at Heroes

Get Your Fancy

Dress

Ready !!!!!!!

Surf Trip

Summer Ball 2017