NUI Galway Medicine Society Newsletter October 2015

Hi Guys! Welcome to our second newsletter of the year for 2015/16!

In this issue, you’ll find tonnes of information on how to plan for

your summer antics in 2016! It might seem premature; but some of

your options need organising pretty early into the year. As well as

some essential details on summer electives, we’ve gotten some avid

jetsetters to write about their travels too! So no matter what year

you’re in, there will be something to interest you inside! There’ll be

more to come in the next issue about electives too, so you don’t see

it here, guaranteed you’ll see it soon!

Further on, you can read all about the many successful events

MedSoc and VSA have thrown over the last 6 weeks, not to mention

some pretty awesome things to come!

Our cover comes courtesy of our Instagram summer photo

competition winner, Stephany Stroiescu! We had some fantastic

pictures submitted, but Medsoc felt particularly moooo-ved by hers

(sorry). We’ve used some of the other great entries as the

background photos of the newsletter pages too!

Happy reading, and if you’d like to contribute anything to our

Newsletter, simply get in contact with us via our Facebook page or

email, or you can email our editor directly (details at end of issue).

Lots of love,

Conor Murphy

Medsoc Newsletter Editor

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CONTENTS

What’s Been Happening?

MedSoc and VSA Events September-October 2015

Societies Day! 4

MedSoc Welcome Back Night 4

VSA Travellers’ Tales 5

Wine and Cheese Night 5

Med Day! 6

Premed/1st Med Surf Trip 8

VSA Quiz Night 9

VSA Student Race Day 10

Planning Your Summer 2016: Electives, Travelling

and More!

Vancouver Elective 11

This One Time, We Went to Australia…. 13

Central America Travels 15

Ladygirls Abroad! 17

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Societies Day 2015

Societies Day took place this year in the Bailey Allen Theatre on the 9th of

September, and what a turn out there was! Students from all years and all

courses flocked to see the collection of societies for them to join, enticed

by the free pizza, pens and vouchers! Medsoc and VSA kicked some butt

this year, with over 100 new members joining the ranks combined! Special

shoutout to Mr. Waffle and Hillbilly’s for the free food and vouchers,

these and the winning personalities of the volunteers that helped out on

the day brought in the big numbers and made for an extremely successful

day!

Medsoc Welcome Back Night!

This year’s Welcome Back Party was a wildly successful event, taking place

in the Skeff Bar, followed by drinks and dancing in Karma until the wee

hours of the morning. Students from all years were out in force, and lots

of inter-year banter and friend-making took place! Safe to say there were

a few sore heads the next day all round, but what a way to kick off the

year and get to know everyone!

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VSA TRAVELLERS TALES!

VSA held their first event of the year, ‘Travellers’ Tales’, on Thursday, the 17th of

September in the Anderson lecture theatre on concourse. Volunteers from last summer

shared their respective experiences in Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Philippines.

Stories were told, photos were shown and advice was given by each of the groups. Free

pizza, tea and coffee were provided kindly by VSA.

We were entertained with stories of crazy bus journeys, dodgy Chinese restaurants in

Africa, even dodgier nightclub toilets, and educated on some of the Philippines’ deserts.

However, each group also demonstrated the harsh reality of third world health care and

discussed how their experiences showed them the stark differences between hospitals

here in Ireland and hospitals in the places they visited. Potential volunteers gained an

insight into what VSA entails, and how the fundraising money helps to improve facilities

in these hospitals. So when the presentations had finished, those who weren’t quite ready

to go home headed onto The Skeff for some more finger food and a few bevvies to finish

the night off!

WINE AND CHEESE NIGHT!

This semester’s Wine and Cheese was a cracker of a night!! (No please no more cheese

puns…pls) It has set the bar for events of the year and was just Emmental affair altogether

(that was the last one..promise)! We were a little bit apprehensive with the late change of

venue, but Aras Moyola proved to be a perfect substitute, with record numbers in

attendance.

Your appetite for learning study tactics, swapping tips over some nibbles never ceases to

amaze us! We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of the volunteer speakers on the night

too. We’ve had lots of great feedback and really appreciate you guys giving your time to

shed a little light for the years below. As much as we all enjoyed the information talks, I

think we can all agree that the refreshments afterwards were equally well received. So a

big thank you to everyone who helped out with the preparations and serving on the

night!

The Skeff and Karma, as ever, didn’t disappoint and a great night was had by all. The

proof was in the sore heads and the roaring business Boojum did the next day curing the

Blues (Eh eh??)! In any case we’re already looking forward to next semester’s Wine and

Cheese night. Start preparing those palates…

It’s going to be……Grape!

(drops mic)

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This year Medsoc held its inaugural ‘NUIG Medical Charities Day’, or

better known as simply MedDay on the 23rd September 2015! The aim of

the day was to raise funds through different events throughout the city

for charities that the medical students of the college are associated with

during their course and once they graduate.

Being our inaugural year, we wanted to support both a local charity and a

nationwide charity, and so we decided to raise funds for Croí and the Irish

Hospice Foundation. Our hope was to raise a significant amount of

money with the aim of making a serious difference to the lives of those

who avail of their services.

Preparations for this event began as soon as the new MedSoc committee

was elected, and meetings were also held with the UCD and Trinity College

committees. They advised us on the ‘do’s and don’ts’ in organizing such

an event.

A ‘MedDay sub-committee’ was formed. We wanted to hear the general

thoughts and ideas of the different years and so having representatives

from all the different pre-clinical years was vital in ensuring the success of

the day. When planning we expected a maximum of 100 participants, but

within 3 days of announcing the event we had 200 participants. We were

overwhelmed by the response and enthusiasm that we received and by

our sign-up deadline, we had 350 students signed up!

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The Bucket Collecting started at 10am with teams dotted around

Galway City and Salthill, taking 2-hour shifts. Throughout the day

there were at least 100 people bucket collecting at any one time. We

had blood pressure clinics set up in Eyre Square and Galway Shopping

Centre, 8 teams of buskers took to the streets as well as Irish dancers.

Mr. Waffle supplied food for the collectors throughout the day too!

At 6pm the last of the collectors returned to the check-in stand. With

the aim of collecting €4,000 we had already seen a significant amount

of money collected, and had high hopes of surpassing our target. By

the end of the week we had a final tally of €10,330! We are

absolutely delighted with the success of our first ‘Medical Charities

Day’ and the €5,165 for each of the charities will make a real and

significant change to the lives of those who avail of the charities

services.

Lastly, A HUGE THANK YOU has to be said to everyone who

participated. The success of the day is really and truly down to your

participation and enthusiasm and we really can’t thank you all

enough!

Until next year!

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QUIZ 2015!

Pre-Med/1st Med Surf Trip!

The New and Improved Annual Pre-med/1st Med Surf trip took place last

weekend. 1st Years and their (super-responsible) 4th year mentors set sail from

Galway Friday evening for Lahinch, where they weren’t long checking into their

hostels and then checking out the local off-licence, which interestingly reported

record sales over the weekend. Students then stopped into a local pub where

they got to know some of their fellow classmates over a quiet pint or three!

A few brave souls were up early(ish) the next morning for a swim in the icy

Atlantic, and returned to the hostel blue in the lips and shivering. However this

didn’t put any off from making the short walk down to the beach for surfing

lessons in the middle of the day, when over 50 students took to the sea for

lessons with Lahinch Surf Experience.

Even though the waves may not have been particularly high..or in large numbers,

a great time was had by all, and some very impressive surfing skills were on

show. Spirits were high after watching Australia knock England out of the world

cup, and a night of mischief and fun was had in the Claremont nightclub. The

next morning was a bit of a struggle, but all in all a great weekend was had.

Everyone arrived back in Galway having made a few new friends and having got

to know their classmates a little better, which is exactly what the trip is for!

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Galway's most popular student event of the year is back and bigger than ever! It's

time to break out the bowties and high heels, as students from all around the

country flock to Ballybrit racecourse for what is guaranteed to be a fantastic day!

With a full day of racing, music, fashion and an atmosphere that can't be beat,

Galway Student Race day 2015 is gearing up to be the most unmissable event of the

year!

Ladies, it's time to dress to impress as our panel of expert judges will be on the

lookout for Kilkenny store's Best Dressed Lady! Our panel, which includes Shona

Lenehan of ShoStyle and local fashion experts, will determine which lucky lady will

receive this prestigious title as well as prizes valued at €500, and the VIP treatment at

the official race day afterparty!

We will have live music from Crossfire from 1pm to get us all in that bank holiday

mood, followed by a live performance from Oddity who will keep you dancing well

into the evening!

The craic doesn't stop there, with free entry into Electric Garden and Theatre and

FourFour nightclubs, so we can party into the early hours of the morning!

Proceeds from ticket sales are donated to VSA society, whose aim is to raise money

in order to purchase essential equipment and medicine for hospitals in the

developing world. With almost 3,500 tickets sold last year, we raised thousands of

euro to donate to help some of the world's poorest people receive healthcare.

So this is your chance to get suited and booted and experience one of the greatest

student days out in the west, all while helping people in need. What's not to love?

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased from the Socs Box for €15. Ticket

includes entry into the racecourse and the official afterparty in Electric/Fourfour.

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VANCOUVER ELECTIVE 2015

I was one of four of what are now somehow known as final meds, who did an

elective in Vancouver this June. First of all, the application set up is pretty

uncomplicated. You set up an online account and select what rotations you’ve

done; this takes about two seconds. We did this around Christmas/January.

You’ll have to get a form stamped from the college to confirm you’re in final

med, then you can put in what electives you’d like to do. This part is a bit like

a CAO selection. My advice is to put a bit of thought into this, because

Canadian students get first preference, so getting medicine electives with nice

hours can be tough enough! Then it’s just a case of waiting and seeing what

you get offered and accepting/refusing that.

You’ve to pay an insurance fee, and go to Dublin to do a medical, which costs

about €300 for a physical exam, chest x-ray and blood test. You send away a

few forms and you’re all set to go, once you pay for flights and get

accommodation! We got ours through AirBnB, and there are plenty of good

places there if you look early enough!

Then comes the elective itself. I’ll start by saying that it’s definitely a lot

different to being a medical student in Ireland; more like being an intern! Your

schedule depends on whether you do medicine or surgery, but all in all, it’s a

lot more full-on than home. Two of our group did surgery; this meant 6am

ward rounds and a lot of on-call, including days over the weekend, but being

more hands-on with having your own room in clinics and getting to scrub in

and stitch, etc. in theatre.

Those of us on medical electives weren’t in until 8am or so, and finished a bit

later than the others, at around half four or five. Again, we were more hands-

on, doing our own consults, seeing patients by ourselves in clinics and

generally being more part of the team. I found that this helped to prepare you

for final med in general, where they expect you to be a bit more independent

and part of the team!

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No doubt all of this throws you into the deep end, but after all the chart

notes and dictations we did, I think we’re a little less frightened by the idea

of intern year!

Now for the fun bit, Vancouver itself! We mostly had our weekends free,

although the people on surgery had to work one or two. This is your time to

explore the gorgeous, green city of Vancouver though, and no better place!

It’s very outdoorsy and we got fabulous weather while we were there,

perfect for enjoying Stanley Park, the harbour, and see wall, as well as the

many beaches around the city. There was so much good food to enjoy, and

the nightlife wasn’t bad either!

Overall, we had a fantastic time, the hospitals and healthcare system over

there are ridiculously nice, new and organised, which is a lovely change. You

really get to be part of the team and get hands on practical experience as

well as one on one teaching, all in beautiful BC!

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This One Time, We Went to Australia….

When I started to look into organising an elective for the summer after fourth

med, I had only a very vague idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to

take the opportunity to travel – and that any time I spent learning about “final

med things” was going to be useful (I had managed to forget everything about

medicine that didn’t involve pregnant ladies and children since 4.1). When the

opportunity to participate in an exchange programme with two hospitals in

Western Australia came up, I had to say yes!

Organising the trip was relatively straight forward. We were lucky in that once

we had been selected to go on the exchange, the college we were paired with in

Australia organised a lot of the programme – we didn’t need to organise a team

to be with or anything. We knew we would have a set three week elective with

the emergency department in a big hospital in Perth (Fiona Stanley Hospital) for

three weeks, before spending three weeks in the smaller Narrogin Regional

Hospital (in the middle of nowhere).

Immigration was slightly more complicated – many, many, many forms

explaining that you have never been involved in terrorism – and a medical that

could only happen in Dublin were slightly annoying but they didn’t take too

long. Our accommodation was arranged for us in Narrogin but we organised

our own for our time in Perth (AirBnB was a life saver!)

In Fiona Stanley Eilis, Carl, Ciara (the other students participating in the elective)

and I rotated through four subdivisions in their ED – an 18 bed resus

department, Paediatrics, Short Stay Unit and Green stream (for fractures and

minor injuries). It gave us a good variety and we were always kept busy – with so

many patients and doctors there was always something to do! Pretty much

everyone was very relaxed and we spent a lot of time shadowing doctors, taking

our own patients and doing bloods. Perth itself was gorgeous definitely a very

manageable city – we made the most of it!

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Narrogin was very different – it was a very small town, where everything

closed at 5pm. We basically became local celebrities – we made the front

page of the local paper twice in the three weeks we were there and did

occasionally get stopped in the local supermarket! We stayed in staff

accommodation with some lovely nurses/OTs and SLTs who definitely kept

us entertained and (tried) to teach us how to be proper Australians. The

doctors were fantastic – definitely multi-talented as the local GPs also

worked in the hospital, with some of them being anaesthetists and others

being obstetricians (AT THE SAME TIME). They were also really

accommodating about letting us join in surgeries or with the visiting

specialities while we were there. We mainly spent our time in their ED, with

their GPs or with their aboriginal health teams.

Being so far from home, we wanted to do a bit of travelling before we left –

half the group headed to Sydney and the other half to Bali. I can definitely

recommend Sydney as one of my favourite places ever, and I’ve heard Bali

was pretty fantastic too! Overall I couldn’t recommend doing an elective

(and especially an elective in Australia) any more!

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TRAVELS THROUGH CENTRAL AMERICA

If you’re looking for something to do for your summer that is worthwhile and

on the big side, I would highly recommend travelling Central America!

Although it sounds mad, and not a place you’d usually think of, it is such a

cool place to go. We travelled to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala and the trip

was about 4 weeks in total. If I had more time and money, I would have

continued on and visited Nicaragua and Costa Rica, we heard so many good

things about them from other travellers.

To begin; Mexico. We started in Cancun, which was nice and the beaches are

beauuuutiful, but you’d be better off going for a sun holiday and staying in

one of those big resorts; beaching, partying and general living it up. Not ideal

for a backpackers holiday, but great none the less. Playa del Carmen was

next; we loved it! We did our Scuba diving Padi course which was

unbelievable! You can also take day trips to Cenotes, which are these

underwater sinkhole/cave type structures, that the Mayan people used to

think were homes of the Gods (Google it!). It was a great place to go out too

and The Yak hostel was my favourite hostel of all time!!

Tulum is this spectacular beach with Mayan ruins on cliffs overlooking it.

There is also loads more to do in Mexico on the way down if you’ve time;

Chichen Itza Mayan Ruins, Cozumel (an island well known for scuba diving and

whale shark trips), Akumal beach (a beach filled with turtles!!).

Belize: Go straight to Caye Caulker! The moto of the island is “Go Slow” and

it’s exactly that; it is such an amazing easy going island, with a really nice

Caribbean feel! You’ll find lots of water activities to do, and Belize is home to

the world’s second largest coral reef, so make sure you do a boat day trip and

go snorkelling in the reef, Hol Chan and Shark, Ray Alley. If you can, go during

Lobster Festival, which marks the start of lobster season, where there is lots of

street music, street food, lobster, parties and a great atmosphere all round!

However, be sure to stay a day or two after to get a good experience of the

chill side of the island too.

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Guatemala: One of the most spectacular countries I’ve ever been to. Its natural

beauty is honestly something to behold! Flores (a beautiful lake town); my

advice is to go to Tikal National Park from there, home to unbelievable Mayan

ruins (DO the sunrise tour). Semuc Champey has to be one of the most

amazing places in the world! It’s a river filled with these small little waterfalls

and turquoise pools; in the middle of this amazing valley of forests! You

basically stay in the jungle and live in a secluded paradise, I could not

recommend it any higher!

Antigua then, is a beautiful colonial town; I wish I had more time to stay there.

Volcano trips are a must from there and roast some marshmallows in the rock

on top! There is loads more to do, but so little space left to tell you! The cost of

living is very low, but obviously your costs add up, with flights, vaccinations,

accommodation, travel within the countries and 4 weeks of food and activities!

Safety: You need to be smart and careful, because you are in developing

countries! Look out for each other, we kept our wits about us and never once

felt unsafe our whole trip! Basically, if you’re looking for the holiday of a

lifetime, somewhere slightly different, with water, activities, beautiful sights, hot

weather and meeting great young travellers like yourselves, then Central

America is the place to go!

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LADYGIRLS ABROAD!

4 weeks, 12 flights, endless bargaining and copious amounts of Pad Thai later, 6

girls returned home. Slightly broken, skin a bit more freckled, longing to be back

on the beaches of Koh Phi Phi and Halong bay. Our month of mischief in

Thailand and Vietnam had sadly come to an end.

We left at the start of August, sights set for Bangkok, frankly having no idea what

to expect when we got there. We spent one night there, and headed up north to

Chang Mai. We spent two days trekking (some of us tumbling) through the

jungle. Our shower was literally a waterfall in the middle of nowhere, and lunch

was rice wrapped in a banana leaf. It was an incredible experience, like nothing

any of us had ever done before.

On we struggled to Vietnam, and we even got a bit of medicine in as well: how

to cure travel sickness in time to get on a 14-hour train to Hue! Vietnam was

beautiful. We travelled down the Hai Van Pass with our trusty tour guides, seeing

breathtaking view after view. We ate like queens for next to nothing and the

people there were some of the nicest you will ever come across. All in all, we all

loved it. Although some of us left, slightly more fragile, and fearful for what the

islands would bring, it gave us some amazing memories, and hilarious

anecdotes, that will keep us going for the foreseeable future.

Our final stop on our escapade, was to the islands in Southern Thailand, namely

Koh Phi Phi, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao and Samui. The hard work had been done.

We had accumulated a nice collection of bruises from our treks, a nice reddish

glow from our boat trip through Halong Bay, and a dreaded fear that a gecko

may have stowed away in one of our rucksacks.

We started off on Phi Phi, and worked our way from there. As touristy as it is, its

nightlife is like none other. Imagine beautiful sunsets from a white sand beach,

and you’ll start to appreciate why we were so in awe of this gorgeous place.

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From there we headed to Koh Tao, where some of the girls did a scuba course.

For them, it was one of the highlights of the trip. The less brave of the bunch

opted for cards against humanity and more Pad Thai (for those of you who

aren’t familiar with the game, it is basically a way for your friends to tell you that

they don’t think you’re funny, but in a more indirect way. Thanks again guys!).

The islands were an experience in their own right. From the full moon party, to

one fateful night in Koh Tao, where we managed to get a full behind the scenes

glimpse of the makings of a cabaret show, we never stopped laughing.

We could go on and on about the experiences that we had. Namely, trying to

pull one poor girl out of the murky river after she had fallen off her bamboo

raft, or even our first time in a tuc tuc, driving through the streets of Bangkok.

Our cooking courses, where we were taught the secrets to much loved recipes,

or our quest to find the waterfall at a so-called ‘waterfall party’.

We may not have come home with tattoos written in Sanskrit, or a new found

meaning of life, but we did come back with the same love for South East Asia,

that is inevitable.

Thailand and Vietnam gave us some of the best laughs and memories we’ve

ever had, and we’ll probably still be talking about them in years to come. When

our tans have faded, and only a scar from that night in Koh Tao remains, we’ll

only wish we had stayed a bit longer.

WANT TO GET INVOLVED?

LET US KNOW!

If you’re interested in contributing to our newsletter, we’d love to see what you’ve

got to offer! Simply email us at medsoc@socs.nuigalway.ie, or get us on

Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram! You can also email our editor

directly at c.murphy41@nuigalway.ie with any ideas you have!

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS!

We couldn’t end this issue without giving a huge thanks to everyone that

contributed to this newsletter; without your articles and help we’d be lost! Here’s to

you, budding writers!

Contributing Writers: Amy Rolston, Christine Condon, Lorcán Ó Maoileannaigh,

Dara Jones, Gavin Hennelly, Marie Talty, Meave Higgins, Sarah Gaffney

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