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The medical student syndrome

It is often said that “a little learning is a dangerous thing,” but being super savvy can’t put us at the brink of harm, can it? Each year as thousands of students commence their medical degrees, they begin a journey...

Lines, dots, spots and rings in ophthalmology: understanding eponyms

Eponymous names are familiar to all who have undergone undergraduate and postgraduate training in medicine. The ability to name a few allows one to stand out among your peers and rare, or not so rare, eponymous syndromes are a favourite...

The writer: publishing my first book as a trainee

Medicine is very hierarchical. Indeed, Hippocrates himself laid the foundation of the apprenticeship that is medical training and while it is the noble duty of the boss to pass on information and ask for tasks to be undertaken as a...

COMMENT ON: Watch your back: Ergonomics and Ophthalmology

Jim Innes. Dear Editors, I write to congratulate Aadil Hussain on his excellent Trainees article “Watch your back: Ergonomics and Ophthalmology”. Please can I reassure him that, at least in the Yorkshire School of Ophthalmology, the importance of good posture...

The Duke-Elder exam: A medical student’s head start into ophthalmology

The Duke-Elder exam is a specialist ophthalmology exam intended for medical students to sit during medical school. It is named after Sir Stewart Duke-Elder, a pioneering Scottish ophthalmologist who was active in the first half of the 20th Century by...

Should it be a mandatory requirement for medical students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to attend clinical attachments?

The vast majority of medical students have positive attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine for themselves and patients, however, what about the small inevitable minority who resist it? Should they be prevented from attending clinical attachments in the NHS? It is...

Will COVID-19 impact the selection of ophthalmology as a career choice by medical students?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on medical education and has called for large shifts in the medical curriculum. Clinical attachments were suspended at the height of the pandemic and examinations were cancelled or were moved to an online...

‘Getting a head start’: ways medical students can boost their chances of entering ophthalmology training

Ophthalmology is one of the most competitive medical specialities in the UK, with 3.74 applicants per place in 2018 [1]. Given the competitive nature of this highly specialised field, medical students who are interested in pursuing a career in ophthalmology...

Ophthalmology Specialty Training 2024: What's different?

The 2024 intake for ophthalmology specialty training (OST) has undergone several significant changes in its approach towards candidate selection and assessment. This article provides a comparative analysis, detailing these new measures and comparing them against the previous year's standards. Our...

Demystifying external trainee selected components and out of programme experiences

If you don’t know your external TSCs from your OOPC/OOPT/OOPE/OOPR, then this article is for you. Trainee selected components (TSC) are College-approved periods of training, usually ranging from six months to a year (formally ASTO) of intensive subspecialty training in...

The first on-call

You’ve made into ophthalmic specialist training and before you know it, it’s your first on-call shift. You are expected to provide the specialist on-call service out of hours and there is a new wave of responsibility, with, let’s be honest,...

How to pass the FRCOphth part 2 oral exam

If you have got this far in terms of your exams, relax. In terms of pass rate, the hardest FRCOphth membership exams are already behind you. The pass mark for the part 2 oral exam is around 75%, and about...