Guide to Clinical Year

The key to surviving clinical year lies in mastering the art of loitering.

Yes, loitering.

More specifically, loitering with intent.

A lot of time is spent hanging around in ward corridors, in front of the nurses station, outside procedure rooms, in the hallways of clinics, waiting for things to happen.

We're always waiting for something.

The general idea is to loiter around with the purpose of gaining learning opportunities. Most of the time a nice kind soul will see you standing there and take you under their wing.

Hang around the nurses station and ask if there are any jobs to be done, any patients to clerk or anyone with interesting clinical signs and symptoms.

Seek and you shall find, but don't seek too hard, you might end up observing a complicated five hour neobladder construction surgery on a Friday afternoon.

Loitering is all well and good, but sometimes it might take hours before anything exciting happens, as such no loitering medical student is complete without the companionship of the trusty Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine.

Why not spend your time learning something new while waiting for the consultant to turn up for teaching?

I'd suggest eponymous syndromes. They are good for impressing people with your extensive knowledge of weird and wonderful diseases. They are fun, random, and more often than not completely useless.

You are now ready to take on clinical year, armed with your Oxford Handbook and newfound skill of loitering.