The Dean's Update | April 2024
This month we have had the release of the booking information for our final year graduations and this got me thinking about the friends I made when I started medical school over 40 years ago. Since then, my friends and I have been on different career journeys, involving different specialties and different roles, similar to our two alumni podcasters, but none of that has mattered. We have been with each other on the rollercoaster of the years together, helping each other to hold on to the rails when it got bumpy, and that has very much mattered.
Medical school life is very different to the rest of the University and yet, perhaps because of its differences, its intensity, and its responsibility, the bonds we make with those around us are all the more precious and long-lasting. Amidst the prize-earning, competition winning and presentation success, I hope you will be finding those special moments together in our many societies, that bridge the gap between backgrounds and academic interests and deepen the common bond of commitment to care and to each other.
‘Tis also the season for preparing for clinical assessments. It’s natural to feel some anxiety about assessments, and please remember that our wellbeing team is on hand if you feel this. However, it’s worth noting that the degree to which the team here works to ensure your clinical assessments map to your placement learning and that their delivery is standardised, is renowned across the UK, receiving special commendation from the UKMLA team, and repeated interest from other schools. And also that, as they’re essentially a reflection of the patients you encounter every week on placement, the more you see, the easier it feels on the day.