UKFPO have released the data detailing the first-choice applications to each foundation school . I have posted these here.  The figures for 2009 are for the vacancies advertised during the application period, not the final number of jobs available after many posts were removed from several foundation schools. The question for many final-year students around the country wondering which foundation school to apply to in the Autumn is, how much do past competition ratios predict future competition ratios? Competition varies depending on which schools other applicants list as their first choice, but as any psychiatrist will tell you, past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour.

It’s safe to say that South Thames will continue to be oversubscribed, especially with the changes in allocations this year. Applicants accepted to the Foundation School will no longer have to rank 808 jobs in order of preference. Instead they will go through a two-stage process where they will first rank  three groups within the Foundation School and be allocated to one of these groups based on score, then rank around 270 jobs within the region. This seems like a step forward as long as the programmes are split fairly between the three areas. The groups will be divided partially on the basis on geography, and partially on the basis of administering similar programmes. Specifically, each programme group will contain similar numbers of teaching hospital programmes and specialty programmes. This is similar to Birmingham Medical School’s plan for its future clinical undergraduate course when the 2014 Review comes in, splitting each year of medicine into three geographical areas.

It is difficult to extrapolate to next year from three year’s worth of figures, especially with changes being made to the boundaries of foundation schools. Birmingham, Staffordshire and Shropshire is amicably splitting into Birmingham Foundation School and Keele (Staffordshire and Shropshire) Foundation School. This is likely to increase applications to Birmingham as students wanting to stay within or near to West Midlands county were more likely to apply to Black Country so that they would definitely be working in Wolverhampton, Sandwell or Dudley. In previous years, several applicants from BIrmingham Medical School planning to work within Birmingham have ended up in the infamous Mid Staffordshire General Hospital in Stafford or University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke-on-Trent, which is Keele Medical School’s main teaching hospital. I only know one person who is planning to commute from near the student area of South Birmingham to Stafford every day to work, and his life is not going to be as easy as it could be. Pre-UKFPO, Staffordshire & Shropshire was one foundation school, but was merged with Birmingham due to under-filling, so it will be interesting to see if this the case once more. Perhaps with Keele having now produced graduates for several years they will be more fond of the area.

Due to the chronic underfilling of North Yorkshire and East Coast, from 2010 it will be merging with West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire to form Yorkshire and the Humber. This could potentially have a negative effect on recruitment if applicants are more hesitant to apply as they are less sure of the geographical area in which they will be working.  Students at Sheffield Medical School are especially unhappy about this as they are no longer sure of a job in South Yorkshire. The main carrot for applying to North Yorkshire is that every single job is band 1B. Many Hull York Medical School students do apply to their home Foundation School of North Yorkshire and East Coast.

A medical student’s been published writing about Twitter. Should have been in 140 characters or less, really.

Announcing the winners so far!

From the top the winners are

Well done to:

•  Lucas Kalinke from Southampton for his picture of Lone fisherman in madagascar. Lucas wins a £100 prize
•  Douglas Stewart from Glasgow Medical School our June winner of a book of choice from The Naked Truth
•  Helen Taylor from Manchester our second winner of the June book prize

Check out all of the fantastic elective pictures at The Electives Network. Also get information on everything you ever needed to know about electives!

Take a look at these loevely pictures of Parveen Kumar meeting with students at BMA event in Liverpool just recently. Look at the lovely cover on the new Kumar & Clark 7/e

St. George’s, University of London is considering launching an intercalation in Disaster Medicine. Disaster Medicine is an emerging specialty that was introduced to many in an article in The Lancet Student last year. The chairman-founder of the American Board of Physician Specialties Dr Maurice A. Ramirez had a few words to contribute. One of the horrifying possibilities that would significantly impact healthcare provision he envisioned was an unwitting anticipation of the plot of The Dark Knight in the form of the deliberate destruction of a hospital. The textbook Disaster Medicine has had its first edition published in 2006, the same year the American Board announced board certification in the speciality.

The proposed Intercalated BSc in Leadership in Disaster Medicine aims to give students a solid grounding in the basics of safe and effective practice in humanitarian medicine in conflict and disaster scenarios at home and abroad. As well as being taught the fundamentals, students will be introduced to the agencies and organisations with major roles in the field and encouraged to address the key issues in order to develop potential leaders in Disaster Medicine for the future.

To anticipate potential demand for the course, UK medical students were invited to complete an online survey. The results of this study have are not yet released. If so this will be the first intercalation in Disaster Medicine,  which will help raise its profile in medical schools. Disaster Medicine may provide a useful set of skills, but I can’t help hoping these won’t be used very much in the future.

In 2004 the International Centre for Drug Policy was launched as an independent, non-for-profit centre at St. George’s, University of London. The Centre is involved in formulating policy in fields including research and education. They produced the document Substance Misuse in the Undergraduate Curriculum back in 2007.  A steering group is working towards introducing elements of this report into UK medical schools’ undergraduate curricula.

The harm caused by tobacco and the misuse of alcohol and drugs presents one of our country’s biggest health challenges. Future doctors  have an important role in shaping and delivering the advice and treatment that can be offered to people with substance misuse problems. A core aim of the medical curriculum is to enable doctors to assist in prevention of substance misuse, and management of those dependent upon substances. The second core aim is to enable schools to help future and trainee doctors to be aware of the risk of substance misuse to their own health and to their professional practice and conduct. This is important not only for supporting doctors themselves and promoting their own good health, but also for promoting the proper care and protection of the public. The third aim focuses on stigma and discrimination. This is important in promoting fair and equitable access to advice and care for those with substance-related health problems.

These toolkits may be found here:

Here at Naked Towers we get lots of feedback on our books which we LOVE. The feedback that we  have got from many readers of Kumar and Clark’s Clinical Medicine is that Kumar & Clark really understand the learning needs of medical students – delivering the information they need in a way they need it.  And as you know, The Naked Truth  is all about providing an open and honest forum for students to share their views directly with their peers. So we want to hear from you! 

For this reason and to mark the launch of K&C’s Clinical Medicine 7/e, we have set aside this special area of the NT site. So the question is Do they understand you? if so, why? and also if not why? Your feedback really does help us to make sure that we are providing you with the content you need! CLICK HERE to read more and add your comments.

Oh yes and I forgot to mention that as a thank you we would like to give you exclusive access to a learning webinar hosted by Kumar and Clark… more on that to come.  Not only that, but there will also be a draw of 10 copies of Kumar & Clark’s Clinical Medicine 7/e. So please feel free to add your comments and pictures now!

http://www.medicaltextbooksrevealed.com/kumarclark

We are very excited at Naked Towers that the 7th edition of Kumar & Clark’s Clinical Medicine hit the shops this week! To celebrate we not only had a book launch at Foyles bookshop Charring Cross Road but we also got a couple of Medical students that we know: David & Lucy to come and interview the renowned K & C. The interview was filmed, so watch this space for clips very soon as they talk about why they decided to write the book initially and all manner of subjects ranging from women in medicine to what would be their preference over House, ER and casualty. Anyway I thought that I would wet your appetite with a couple of pictures of both events.

PS: Keep your eyes peeled for a new page on the site devoted to what you think of K&C… coming very soon

Hopefully allaying the panic somewhat, the Wellcome Trust in association with Channel 4 have commissioned a game regarding influenza. With medical schools sending a link to all medical students about to go on clinical placements telling them not to panic, this couldn’t really come at a better time. Instead of playing healthcare professionals or epidemiologists combatting the spread of the virus, you play as the virus itself. I suppose the aim is to point out how easily transmission can occur, and encourage members of the public to modify their behaviour in order to reduce the prevalence of the disease.

Link