{"id":11396,"date":"2021-08-31T16:05:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T15:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/?p=11396"},"modified":"2021-08-31T16:10:44","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T15:10:44","slug":"life-of-a-medical-student-during-a-pandemic-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/life-of-a-medical-student-during-a-pandemic-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Life of a Medical Student During a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a brief summer break, continuing the series is Georgia Savvides giving her view of being a third year medical student. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I rushed onto the last flight to my home in Cyprus. My flight arrived at 4:36pm and the border closed at 5pm. I\u2019ll never forget the faces of the students that arrived on the 5:05 flight and were denied entry. It could\u2019ve easily been me.<\/p>By Georgia Savvides, 3rd Year Medical Student<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I was in my second year of medical school when COVID-19 became a household name. I was rushed onto the last flight to my home in Cyprus. My flight arrived at 4:36pm and the border closed at 5pm. I\u2019ll never forget the faces of the students that arrived on the 5:05 flight and were denied entry. It could\u2019ve easily been me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic created abrupt social isolation for everyone around the world. When I started 3rd year I was relieved that I could have social interactions with my clinical group. My typical week consisted of one day on the ward, 2 consultant led bedside teaching sessions and online zoom sessions. Eventually we were permitted on the ward everyday and I felt like a part of the team. Like I could help the healthcare professionals on the front line and make a difference in patients lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with any difficult situation, each person relies on different coping mechanisms. My coping mechanism going into hospital and focusing on how I could help and what I could learn. Others picked up new hobbies or reignited old ones. Some started businesses or focused on self-care. I\u2019m grateful that I could throw myself into learning, still be excited to learn more and be able to socialise. The loss of in-person experiences for students this year has created a new pandemic of loneliness and has made it harder for new students to solidify friendships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Placement was a way for me to make new friends and make the most of the pandemic way of life. I honestly have had a great year and I owe this to being careful with my mental health, speaking to my friends and having a positive outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find your coping mechanism and you\u2019ll be alright. At the end of the day, social isolation is horrible but you can make it better by being kind to yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here are some things I found helpful during med school in the pandemic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Try to make the most of your days on placement or in person. If you live alone like me, it may be the only socialising you do all week!<\/li>
  2. Focus on self care, a relaxing bath or a Netflix movie night can make all the difference<\/li>
  3. Keep up with your tasks. To do lists and making sure you don\u2019t fall behind, can prevent future stress.<\/li>
  4. FaceTime FaceTime FaceTime! Video calling my family and friends was a nice way to catch up and something to look forward to.<\/li>
  5. Make an effort with your placement buddies. They can make your year a whole lot better. My clinical partners got me through this year in hospital, especially when we were on the COVID ward.<\/li>
  6. Get out of the house. Going to the library, going for a walk or even to the supermarket can clear your mind and help with cabin fever.<\/li>
  7. Find something you love about each placement and focus on it. You\u2019re not going to like every specialty but finding the positive side can change your day to day life.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    After a brief summer break, continuing the series is Georgia Savvides giving her view of being a third year medical student. I rushed onto the last flight to my home in Cyprus. My flight arrived at 4:36pm and the border closed at 5pm. I\u2019ll never forget the faces of the students that arrived on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[21,18,19,20],"class_list":["post-11396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-surgicaltalk","tag-life-as-a-medical-student","tag-medic-blog","tag-medical-school-during-a-pandemic","tag-medical-student-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11397,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11396\/revisions\/11397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalpelmanchester.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}