So, you may have just applied for medicine and are now sitting with your fingers crossed hoping to hear from someone soon! Well, today I want to help you get started on medical wider reading, knowing the best things to read about, where to find it and how to use it! I promise, being clued up on medical wider reading will set you apart in your interviews!
Grab a pen and get ready, this is going to be a good one.
Before we start!
I just released a new blog post on ” black history month- Black medics who changed the world and what we learn from them.”
This is excellent wider reading and you should definitely check it out!
READ THE BLOG POST! ” BLACK HISTORY MONTH – BLACK MEDICS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD.
We will be covering:
- Why you should do medical wider reading
- Where to find the right wider reading
- What topics you could do medical wider reading on
- How to use your wider reading.
Why should you do wider reading?
Your patients:
Jump 20 years in the future, you are a Doctor and you have a patient with a very rare condition. You are not sure about the best treatment for them and you are trying your best to help them.
Wider reading is essential for Doctors, it keeps them in the know about what is happening in the medical sphere in terms of groundbreaking research, governmental health policies, and general advances. Medicine doesn’t sit still, neither can you.
Building a good habit now of actively seeking medical wider reading regularly will set you up for the future as a good doctor and medical student.
What’s more, med schools love to see it! They will love that you are trying to be a better Doctor before you even have your degree by being so proactive.
Your application:
Lastly, but not least, is interviews. At the interview, you are more than likely to face a question or a few based on things that are going on in the world right now.
Equally, the might ask about medical politics or the structure and function of the NHS
To really smash the interview, you need to be better at talking about these things than the other candidates. The only way you can do this is by putting the work in and actually reading about it.
So I think it’s clear that we should ALL be doing medical wider reading regardless of what stage you are at.
BUT
How do you get your hands on the right info?
Where can I find medical wider reading?
It is very important to make sure you access the right sources. Medical misinformation is a huge deal in the UK and across the world.
The public is often easily fooled by false information about medicine ad what is or isn’t good for them. This has huge consequences.
As a future doctor you need to rise above this noise and cut right to the source.
It’s tricky though, right?
Not to worry, I am here to help you find the best places to look and how to find the articles you need.
Breaking this down into sections…
For books:
Most medical books can be found in your ordinary book shops or on amazon. It can be hard to find books that aren’t just “ this is going to hurt” ( although it is a fabulous book, and you should read it!)
Here are a few books to get you started:
- When breath becomes air- Atul Gawande.
- The man who mistook his wife for a hat – Oliver Sacks ( This has some very technical language but is great for budding neuro’s)
- The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
- Being mortal- Atul Gawande.
- Bad Pharma- Ben Goldacre ( possibly a very topical book to read right now!)
- Admissions- a life in brain surgery- Henry Marsh.
There are thousands and thousands of books out there for you to read, these are just a few but it only takes a google search to find many more!
I would also recommend reading some less medically related but relevant books such as:
- Emotional intelligence 2.0 – Jean greaves and Travis Bradberry ( a HUGELY important skill for doctors)
- Eat that frog – Brian Tracy ( A book all about spending your time effectively and efficiently.)
- The 7 habits of highly effective teenagers- Sean Covey( Another book that will help you build the right skills and habits for life as an effective medical student and A-level student)
So as you can see, wider reading doesn’t just have to be strictly medicine. You can also learn valuable transferable skills that apply to life as a Doctor, and that’s something that not many people do these days.
For magazines:
There are only a couple here that I know and will personally recommend. These are great and are written by people who are experts and are educated in the field of medicine.
- The new scientist ( A great magazine with tons of current information and medical topics)
- Medic mentor- Mentor magazine – (covering opinion pieces news and current affairs, medic mentor are a great source for wider reading
For journals:
Journals are peer-reviewed and very reliable medical articles written by scientists and doctors, for scientists and Doctors. The best thing though is that you can read some of them for free!
The British Medical Journal ( BMJ) is the main journal for medicine in the UK and is an excellent place to find wider reading articles. They have a website where you can search for some keywords. ( I will cover this later on), and find the article you are looking for.
Whilst we are on the topic of online resources…
The amazing ” life of a Medic produced an entire “debates series of blog posts a few years back. Reading these is an amazing way to get inside the head of a current medical student! understanding how to reason arguments relating to wider reading is so important and this could give you some much needed support.
I highly reccomend reading these!
I have linked her ” debates” page below for you to check out!
For news:
One of my biggest tips for starting wider reading is to download the BBC News app, root through and switch on notifications for sections such as “ cancer”, “ science”, “health”, “ healthcare”, “NHS”, “Mental health”, “ women’s health”, “ Dementia”, “ diet and nutrition”, “ obesity”, “ fitness”, “ disability”, “ coronavirus”.
These are a few of the news sectors that will keep you going. This way when you are travelling or at school, you can get instant updates on current health affairs.
This is possibly the easiest and most low maintenance ways of getting in your wider reading.
Finally,
For Courses:
When speaking to other applying medics, dentists and vets one of the most talked-about wider reding sources is Courses.
MOOCS are massive online open courses.
There are loads of places that you can access these for free.
They are really really good for getting accurate information and helping you to actually retain it.
A few places to look:
- Future learn
- edX
- The open university
These are the big ones, but there are plenty more too!
What topics could you do wider reading on?
In addition to all the BBC news sectors that I listed above there are many topics that you should be keeping up to date on that are crucial to the NHS.
These include:
- NHS structure
- Ethics
- Law
- Government health
- Global health
- Research
- Doctors and medical students rights etc
There are so many more, but if you can get a bit of reading into each of these huge areas, you will be flying!
How to use your medical wider reading?
It is very important that your reading is not just scanning a page and forgetting it.
For some topics, it is good to just scan briefly, but for others such as NHS structure and ethics and law, you must know them inside out.
Treat it like any other thing you would learn at school, revise it.
My favourite way to retain wider reading is to create a PowerPoint slide and pitch a presentation to my family or friends on the topic.
This simulates how you will talk about these topics at interview and is great practice!
Find another student who is applying to med, dentistry or vet and work together! Both decide on a different topic each to read on and share and discuss what you learnt.
Working with others and having discussions is the best way to make the most of wider reading.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and that it has equipped you to get started on wider reading!
Wrapping it up:
Please do share this around to people who would also love it, it means a lot to me!
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What is the best wider reading resource you have used? Leave a comment!
Have a fab week,
Zoe xx