Hull York Medical School Podcast
Hull York Medical School Podcast
Ep 4: Medicine with a Gateway Year
What is it like to be a Medicine with a Gateway Year student and how does it prepare you for studying Medicine?
Find out in our latest podcast episode!
Students Ellis, Isabelle and Mohammad, as well as Deputy Director of the Medicine programme Dr Anna Hammond, give their insight, including:
- What is the Medicine with a Gateway Year programme
- How the Gateway Year prepare students for the rigours of studying Medicine and clinical practice
- The transition from the Gateway Year to Medicine
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You can also find out more about our Medicine degrees on the Hull York Medical School website.
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Welcome to the Hull York Medical School podcast today we'll be talking about the Medicine with a Gateway Year program. My name is Ellis and I'm a third year medical student and I was part of the first cohort of the Gateway Year. We're joined by some other students who have been part of the Gateway program. If you'd like to introduce yourself. Yeah hi my name is Isabelle Marshall and I'm a second year medical student and I was on the second cohort of Medicine with a Gateway Year. Hi my name is Mohammad and I'm currently doing Gateway. And we're also joined by Dr Anna Hammond if you'd like to introduce yourself Anna. Hello I'm Dr Anna Hammond I'm the Deputy Director of the MB BS program. I'm involved with communication skills teaching and also I have students with me because I work as a GP for part of the week. Fantastic so starting off briefly how would you describe the Gateway what is it Isabel? If you'd like to. I would describe the Gateway year as in simple terms a trial run of year one. I think that's a really good way to describe it; it gives you it's a foundation year it gives you an extra year to prepare ready for the medicine program. And everything that we covered over the Gateway year I felt like going into year one it made me much more prepared because we'd already had a go at it we'd already had kind of one attempt at trying to get it right so that when we went into year one we were more prepared, we knew how the the medical school ran, we knew how the course ran so we were prepared for the year one to begin so yeah that's how I would describe it. Similar to Isabel like it's like a stepping stone between A Levels and med school. Like there's so many differences in learning and like having a specification you know you need to learn this this and that. In med school the subjects you learn are different and the way of learning is different so like having this will transition the move from A Levels to first year. I obviously haven't done first year yet but I feel like this is going to be the case. Yeah and I would say from my perspective that's the joy is seeing students then start year one with confidence and saying that actually they find it so much easier to work in groups and interview patients from the experience than if they'd come straight from A Levels. It is it's a head start that's that's what it feels like it feels like you've got a head start on year one so when you come in and you do meet everyone else who's joining as a first year you've already got that year behind you of practicing everything that you're going to kind of learn again and so yeah it is a really good head start and it made year one much easier I would say as well. Yeah I think it definitely reduces some of the burden especially around things like clinical skills covering things like clinical skills in the Gateway year can often reduce a bit of the burden in first year when you're trying to prepare for exams and sort of things, because you've already covered that in the past. Yeah so when you look back with your perspective now as the third year and look back on the Gateway, what do you reflect back now? I think sort of it makes you a lot more confident in talking to patients because I've had sort of that extra year of speaking with patients um and in terms of the examination skills and examination findings as you know sort of Phase III, year three onwards is about putting those findings the sort of diagnoses and figuring out what's wrong with people. So I think being able to have experience of mastering the skills of finding out how to do that really helps as you sort of progress along the course in sort of Phase II and Phase III. And I think any experience as well of being able to speak to students as you get further through the course you realize how valuable it is, being on placement and speaking to patients in the GP and in the hospital setting and the Gateway year gives you an extra year of doing that so when you are coming to speak to patients in the hospital or in the GP setting you've got so much extra practice behind you that it does you tend to not worry about what you're saying or what questions you should be asking and you're listening more to what the patient's saying because you can relax a bit more because you know that you do have a good idea of what you're doing you do know what you're doing and you can then start to focus on the findings which then helps you with kind of working out what's going on. Even with the biology side like thinking back this side of the year the amount of knowledge I have learned in Gateway is very very large. Like imagining myself going straight from A Level into first year and from Gateway to first year with all that extra knowledge like Embryology Radiology, Pharmacology subjects you do not cover at school like I have that academic content head start as well. So with the clinical and the lecture wise content as well it really helps. It does. So speaking about sort of bridging between school and sort of medical school University type education what's your guys background sort of why did you apply for the Gateway program why did you come to medical school? So I actually applied to Medicine the first year as I was coming out of sixth form and I missed my grades in Chemistry and then when I reapplied I could only reapply for the Gateway year and and it didn't bother me at all I was so happy to be coming when I got the on the results day when it said yeah you're going to Medicine with a Gateway Year. I was thrilled. Just getting into medicine is a massive thing and the Gateway year coming out of school I knew I was ready to go to university and study Medicine but I was worried about the leap like you've mentioned the leap from sixth form and college to University. It's a big jump especially in medicine there's so much that you're learning that you've never covered before. So yeah coming out I was glad that I got onto the Gateway year course and had that extra year of preparation. So for me I was, I was meant to be doing my GCSEs when the pandemic hit so I never had the exam practice and then going into AS and A Level I had some doubts that I wouldn't get the grade. And then after I really really thoroughly researched medicine and Hull York especially because it's quite local to where I'm from. So like I found out about Gateway it's, it has lower grade requirements and like seeing the benefits it has in the in the gap, I thought it'd be safer to apply to Gateway so I can secure a place. Yeah I think I was quite similar to you in my Chemistry A Level I wasn't probably excelling as much as I sort of the typical requirements to get into medicine. I was also sort of a first generation University student, grew up locally not many people from my school were sort of applying to medicine and I was quite fortunate in that when I was applying to Medicine the Gateway Year was just being introduced so it was sort of, I felt quite lucky that something was being introduced in my area where I lived and gave me the ability to go on and study medicine with maybe not having got the grades I maybe needed to do the five-year program. But yeah as as you guys mentioned you know getting into medicine it's a big achievement and you know I think it does sometimes seem a bit unfair if you drop one grade that that necessarily doesn't mean you're going to be sort of a bad medical student or a poor doctor. I think it's sort of a fantastic opportunity that the medical school has introduced and especially to you know as you guys know we've probably got a shortage of doctors in the UK and the area so I think that is part of why the school introduced the program and that moves on to the next question which is probably aimed at you Anna so why do we offer it as a school and why do we value it? Well I think as a GP my goodness we absolutely need more doctors don't we? Definitely. The Hull York Medical School course has been here for a long time and we know that we train exceptional doctors who are really good communicators, good thinkers in PBL but you're exactly right that there are some students who miss a grade or go to a school where they don't have as much support and don't achieve the grades but that doesn't mean that they've got the skills, that they haven't got the skills to come and be a fantastic doctor. And I've had students with me in practice and their thinking is just excellent um so you know it's not a predictor and we're delighted absolutely delighted to have Gateway students like you benefiting from the Gateway program and then coming into medicine. Because it's a big transition for anybody isn't it? From A Level to medical school it is a really big transition. I think what's mentioned that we've all mentioned there is that we're all local students yeah we are all local to the area. Yeah. And and as we know so I'm guessing we're all local to Hull it's it does have a really high level of deprivation around here but I think with local students especially we come we've chosen to train here and we want to work here after we want because this is where we're from and things like that so I think the Gateway is nice that it brings in those local students who have knowledge of the area and want to train here and want to improve the area here. Which I know Hull York Medical School is very, all the pathways programs that the medical school offers and everything preparing for medicine is about getting students from this area into medicine and studying medicine and it works clearly because we're all local students and we're all here studying medicine. And we hope you're going to stay in this area and be doctors so definitely. So we've already spoke about how Gateway prepares you for the five-year program and in terms of some of the specifics do we do sort of clinical and communication skills and why do you guys think this is important to do? So I'm currently in Gateway and yes every week we do, we have clinical skills sessions uh so we learn an add-on to one of the most important skills you're going to need as a doctor which is history taking. We do that a lot like each time I've done more to it and practice it. We have simulated patients come in who are actors that the Hull York Medical School brings so we practice taking a history from them and then once we go on hospital placement we actually take a history from a real patient. And it's not just the history taking we also learn how to perform physical examinations last week I had my mock OSCE and that had physical examinations as well. It went well. Good. So yeah. So by the time you come to the OSCEs in year one and year two you'll be a pro won't you? Hopefully yeah yeah. And I think what you said about the simulated patients is really interesting because they are trained to come and then they can simulate a scenario but they're also really highly trying to give you feedback on your skills and you learn to reflect on your skills so by the time you arrive at the beginning of year one you've had all that experience ahead of the other students so that then you can fly as you go through years one and two. And I don't think it was until I joined first year with everyone else I still remember in the first week of clinical skills and we would
to take a history from an SP:a simulated patient, and within my group obviously no one had ever done that before and I sat down and I took a full history from a patient and I was like I cannot believe how much we've learned and how much we actually know when it was strange I just remember thinking this is strange that I've learned all this and you don't think about it too much you kind of yet this is a simulated patient or yep this is a patient in a hospital I'm going to ask you some questions, but you do learn like as you mentioned you add things on you you learn the full structure and then throughout year one and year two you then just kind of make it better make sure that you're asking the appropriate questions to get all the information then year two you're getting a bit more into the specifics. But I just remember that first week of being in first year thinking it's crazy how much I've learned and how much I know coming into this with everyone else kind of at the beginning of their Journey. Which will be you in September October. Yes hopefully. There is a common saying isn't there? That the patient is your best teacher you know you can read so many books go to so many lectures but I think sort of from a year three perspective being on full-time clinical placement that you do learn the most from your patients whether that be something that they've told you or you you found on an examination or you've seen in theater perhaps you know the the best way to learn is to speak to patients, and I think that's how you definitely maximize your learning and going back to as you mentioned the simulated patients they are fantastic in terms of setting you up for clinical placement. You know, sometimes you think they are real patients given so how good they are. But I think the concept of OSCEs and clinical skills when you first come to medical school can be quite daunting because as we mentioned it's a new concept um but I think having that early exposure along the line sort of year two year three and so on I think you become a lot more confident I think if you ask the majority of people in my year group which exam they're least worried about it's probably the OSCE um because we've had so much exposure to it and you can sort of predict or have an idea of what you're expected to do, but yeah I think that early exposure really really, what's the word provides you with, a background of knowledge I'd say to to sort of what you need to do in those clinical environments. I think it is what we signed up to medicine to do the clinical side of things you know people don't sign up to medicine to obviously reading books and going to lectures part of it, but the main reason you want to do medicine is to to do clinical skills to do hands-on stuff to speak to patients so doing all that stuff early on is quite exciting I think. And there are still those students who do go and just hide in the library and who don't realize what you've just articulated which is that you've got to clerk and take histories from lots and lots and lots and lots of patients and that's how you develop your skills that's how you hear how patients present with heart attacks or strokes or appendicitis so yeah the Gateway obviously makes you realize that early on which then impacts how you learn as you go forward through those five years. And I think as well you mentioned you learn from like hearing what the patient says for me as well prior to coming to medical school doing A Level examinations, I did find them more, yeah your exams, I did find them more challenging because that's not my preferred style of learning, my preferred style of learning is practical so coming to medical school yes I still have to do that academic learning but having that practical side helps me apply it and understand it and without seeing it I struggle to understand it so having that earlier and more practice of that, it it's really helped me learn kind of the things I need to that I wouldn't have been able to if it was just lectures and seminars things like that. And I think also PBL and the clinical skills helps you learn and then I think it also helps you remember later on which is really helpful you then remember that information. So I know we've touched on sort of the the clinical skills side but do you guys do clinical placement in the Gateway year? Yes so for this year it has been once every other week we go to Hull Royal and once we've been to Castle Hill Hospital yeah so the the first half of the year I'd say it was mostly taken histories because that was the only skill we were working on and then as we started to learn how to perform physical examinations so we would go with a clinical teaching fellow who's a doctor like training and helping medical students with their history and then perform physical examination on real patients. Yeah like you're wearing scrubs you've got a stethoscope around your neck it is a great feeling and you really you really learn a lot because that's how in real life conditions are presented. Yes and I think you're describing there it's to do with developing your professional identity isn't it because it's quite a big step when you first wear your scrubs and you have your stethoscope and you have to introduce yourself to a patient and examining them and it sounds like you're developing your professional identity through the Gateway as you then come into year one. And I think the placement's no different in Gateway year two is saying year one I can hands down say after I've been at medical school for the last four years that my GP placement in Gateway year was the best placement I've had and I learned the most on. So for anyone who thinks that maybe placement's not as hands-on or interactive as on the five year program I think that's definitely a misconception. Yeah because I was at a GP in Barton and it was a fantastic place to learn. Me too. Yeah. It was a good GP and you know what with the GP as well in the Gateway year we because there's less of you, there was only 30 in our cohort so it's a really small number so we were in really small groups which actually, I felt like we got so much teaching because there were less of us and the tutors really got to know us as well because there was less students so that you they could get to know you better. So on our placements I do feel like we were so hands-on and we learned so much because there was fewer of you and you're in smaller groups and yeah it was really enjoyable. I really liked it. And Anna from a sort of teaching point of view what would you say the benefits of small group teaching are as opposed to as Isabelle's mentioned? Yeah and I think there's something isn't there about students when they've come out of A Levels and it's that nurturing them through over a year that you get to know them and you see them develop so it's hugely rewarding and I think it's a bit like um the analogy of a chick in a nest isn't it? You want them ready to fly into the program and that's really enjoyable for tutors and getting to know them in small groups seeing people through the year is really helpful and I'm sure you've got to know the teaching fellows that you've then seen in a hospital setting as well. Yes yeah like you have more time to speak to them one of the clinical teaching fellows has taken a few a year or two out of her cardiothoracic surgery training. Like if you have high aspirations and even if you're just a curious person like myself you get to get to know them as a person and you get to know like medicine down the line what it's like training and specializing as well so there's that benefit to add on. Yeah so there's something isn't there about being a role model that actually you've got you've then got role models who are clinicians who you've come across on placement in the Gateway which that's inspiring isn't it we all like role models as we go through. I was just thinking how amazing that in a few years time you might be the role models for students who are just coming in on the Gateway year. I was just thinking about a clinical teacher fellow this year is an ex-HYMS student and it is so nice because she's like right what's coming up what have you got like what exams are coming up and she can relate and talk about yeah I remember that when I was in second year and it's it's nice to have someone who's been to the Hull York Medical School then teaching you and knowing kind of where you're at what you're going through what you learn about it was really nice to have someone that was from here as my tutor this year I've absolutely loved it. Yeah I think the delivery of medical education is sort of shifting now from the traditional model of, a good example sort of being in surgery and getting grilled by a surgeon on a certain piece of anatomy to whereas now it's a much more holistic approach and you know people understand sort of what what it is you're learning and are more than happy to tailor their teaching to your needs which I think is really good. So how did you guys find the transition from Gateway into into year one? So nice. I thought year one was so much less stressful than I expected it to be because we'd already had a year of practicing things. As I said before I feel like the Gateway year is a head start for year one so it takes a lot of that pressure away because you know how exams are run you know how your skills is run you know how they organise placements you've had that experience of everything so going into year one felt so seamless and smooth and I didn't have to worry I wasn't panicking about anything. Starting University is scary but you don't have that because you're here you know the building you know the staff, so definitely felt really kind of smooth going from Gateway into year one for me. And how do you feel about to finish Gateway and then going to year one? So we mentioned it is what Gateway is a head start and it is like for example with Anatomy being exposed to a cadaver for the first time, for a lot of people it's a shock, like but now if when I walk into the anatomy lab next year like this is fine I've had the experience like and the exposure and I'm confident in, I should be confident with Anatomy I am now so I should be confident next year. But also with the biology with the clinical skills having that year of confidence like I feel easy about going into next year. I think it's even the small things like you've already got your your friendship groups formed you know that's sort of a I won't say a burden and but it's one less thing you've got to worry about when you when you do hit the ground in year one, you've already made friendships with people over the Gateway year. I know when I started there was only 22 of us so we were a really close-knit group and some of us still live together. I was going to ask you that were you still in touch? Yeah yeah definitely yeah, a lot of us have paired together on placement and hope to be sort of in the coming years. So yeah it is nice and it's it's something that follows through through the years. Just touching back to the content of the Gateway year speaking about medical scholarship can you guys tell me a bit about that because it wasn't called medical scholarship when I was part of the Gateway I think it was study skills. So you do cover a lot of like a wide range of topics in medical scholarship ranging from study skills, academic writing, looking after yourself mental health, because medicine is tough, arguably the toughest course, so you really need to be actively taking care of yourself and for a lot and in Gateway we have a few essays academic essays. If you've if you've not done an EPQ in A Level like none of us had had academic writing experience before so it it teaches you the skills that you need to you know do well on assignments in medical school and how to go successfully throughout the Gateway and the five years as well. Yeah and like you said there with the you learn how the study skills prior to coming to medical school you don't know how to write an academic essay properly you don't know how to reference properly and so they take the time to teach you those things and you do have quite a few essays in the Gateway year so they're like your practice runs at getting those skills right which then when you come into kind of your first year onwards we have SSIP the scholarship and special interest program where you have to write a long essay for it and again it takes some of that pressure off because you've had that practice and that feedback on how you've written an academic essay if you've structured it well if you're referencing's correct. And I remember when I was writing my first year essay I went back to some of the lecture slides that I had in the Gateway folders and went through them because they give you those tools there that can then help you in future so I remember. So I remember writing that essay and even again this year it's it takes some of the pressure off because you know that you are on the right track and you've got the right skills. I mean you are still taught them in year one but it was nice to, the year one was just like a refresher whereas in the Gateway year they really took time to teach you how to do those skills. Yeah and it's I think it's less daunting isn't it? When I see students who are struggling it's often because they're struggling to get their head in the first two years into how to learn and you've got the advantage from the Gateway in that you've already prepared that ahead of the then learning how to learn in year one. Yes. I think even just the small skills like referencing an essay I think going back to as you mentioned at A Level you know if you do exam based subjects you're never really going to have to have to cover things like referencing so it is a new concept which can be quite daunting I think it is still quite daunting for a few of us, but it is something that sticks with you not just in medical school but throughout your career things like critical appraisal which you you do in year two as you mentioned SSIP and so going onwards research and and publications and things like that, you know, things like referencing and certain study skills like time management are really important. And I think that you know medicine is hard isn't it? And you're talking about how in the Gateway there's quite a bit of focus about resilience and about mental health and study skills and how you're organising yourself those skills stay with you for life through medicine that's powerful definitely. That's all the questions guys thank you for your time and talking about your experiences. I think sort of your input has been really crucial to potential applicants in the future and so thank you for listening to this podcast on Medicine with a Gateway Year we hope you found it useful to hear more episodes please visit the Hull York Medical School website thanks again for listening.