MD Please share your thoughts (very bitter international MD student)

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mroudnes

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Hi fellow students! As title suggests I am actually not US based as I am a MD student at the International Medical School in Italy. I don't want to talk about studying abroad (which is why I didn't post in the forum dedicated to international students...), but rather I want to ask for your advice.

From the beginning - I always wanted the best possible education, which is a reason why after my high school in Poland I left for the UK where I completed my BSc in Medical & Biological Sciences. I was planning on applying for Graduate Medicine programme (which is 4 years so similar to the US system), however Brexit forced me to change my plans as tuition fee loan would be no longer available to me. Considering my financial situation, I could either go back to Poland and study medicine in Polish (which I didn't want to do), or move to Italy and enter newly opened English programme in Medicine&Surgery. It was recommended to me by a number of people (so it wasn't a random decision), I actually attended the lecture before even applying to see the level of education by myself. Everything seemed pretty good. I applied, I sat the entrance exam and currently I am a first year MD student.

Past 7 months have been nothing but a continuous disappointment. Some lecturers speak very poor English, some don't seem to be prepared to teach the module, some are simply rude and unhelpful. The programme doesn't seem to be very demanding (or rather demanding in a way which only requires remembering without understanding the subject), everything is purely theoretical and book-based. On the other hand, there are students who don't seem to care about the low quality of teaching. Out of a 100 people I am one making official complaints to the lecturers (for instance for showing us youtube kenhub videos on anatomy as an "anatomy lecture" and many, many others). I have been constantly depressed because of the environment. I feel like I am stuck and if I simply follow the medical curriculum here, there is no way on Earth I will make a good doctor... which obviously limits my chances to apply for residency programmes (in Europe).

I know the US has good medical education (you're lucky guys!) and hence I think you will be able to give me some advice. I was wondering whether you could recommend any materials which could help me to fill in the gaps. How can I assess myself? Do you think USMLE would be a good idea? Are there any other studying resources (ideally for free...) you could recommend? Or are there any open lectures that are worth listening to? What resources would you recommend to improve the clinical skills (I know I need to be in clinic to learn.....but I wouldn't count on quality teaching during rotations).

I'm aware that there are all sorts of materials on the internet but its easy when you know what you want to know. It's very difficult to search for quality resources without any "structured programme" (I hope you can understand my point). I know this is not ideal, I know it will be hard to catch up by myself but I think the least I can do is try.

I would be more than grateful for any advices.
Cheers xx

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I think you're extremely unlikely to match into a US residency in your situation, no matter how you do on STEP exams. Is your school even eligible for sitting STEP 1?
 
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I never said I wanted a US residency, I actually plan on applying to Switzerland/Belgium/the UK (but I have plenty of time to decide).
 
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I say this all the time, medical school is where you buy expensive PowerPoint slides and an outline to guide your independent study program. You teach yourself medicine essentially and I imagine that's no different there. Supplement those materials with Kahn Academy Medicine, OnlineMedEd, UWORLD, Sketchy maybe (drugs may be different), Pathoma, etc. No reason you can't make lemonade there using the web and the library.

As for getting to practice medicine here, while I'm not even an amateur in the international licensing nightmare you'll likely face, I'd imagine the best path is getting your license there first. Practice a few years, try to immigrate, and I think the US will force you to match a residency program here. Worst case scenario you practice there, it's probably pretty safe to say, there are a lot worse places to be than medical school regardless of where you are. Good luck.
 
I never said I wanted a US residency, I actually plan on applying to Switzerland/Belgium/the UK (but I have plenty of time to decide).

Oh you were talking about taking USMLE, so I figured that was the goal.

I think you should take a look at OnlineMedEd for videos and a review book like Step 1 Secrets for basic info.

Don't discount reading a textbook like Robbins either.
 
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I say this all the time, medical school is where you buy expensive PowerPoint slides and an outline to guide your independent study program. You teach yourself medicine essentially and I imagine that's no different there. Supplement those materials with Kahn Academy Medicine, OnlineMedEd, UWORLD, Sketchy maybe (drugs may be different), Pathoma, etc. No reason you can't make lemonade there using the web and the library.

As for getting to practice medicine here, while I'm not even an amateur in the international licensing nightmare you'll likely face, I'd imagine the best path is getting your license there first. Practice a few years, try to immigrate, and I think the US will force you to match a residency program here. Worst case scenario you practice there, it's probably pretty safe to say, there are a lot worse places to be than medical school regardless of where you are. Good luck.

I think you made a very valid point with the expensive powerpoint slides because this is exactly how I felt in the UK. Although I have no plans for applying to residency in the US (for number of reasons) I mentioned USMLE because it would be easier to have a reference point, and the exam seems to be well structured (requiring thinking, solving problems, applying knowledge).
 
Oh you were talking about taking USMLE, so I figured that was the goal.

I think you should take a look at OnlineMedEd for videos and a review book like Step 1 Secrets for basic info.

Yes I mentioned USMLE because I think it would be a good way to assess my level (after the next two years) and compare it to the US level - which I think is pretty good. Also from other english speaking countries, the US is the only one having this sort of examination. I thought that working towards good step 1 score would be a good reference point to fill in the education gaps. Think about it this way - I am merely a first year student, there are 5 years ahead of me. It may be a case that the level will improve in the clinical years (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th), maybe we will have to catch up anyway. The examination system to enter the residency programmes is different in every country in Europe so there is no way to compare my knowledge to other MD students before the application (every programme MD curriculum is slightly different and the only official examination (like USLME) is after you complete your medical degree). Clearly, I don't want to wake up in the 5th year and realise I how little I know. Thus, I thought preparing "as if I was taking USLME step 1" would be a good reference of what I should know by, let's say, a 3rd year.
 
Yes I mentioned USMLE because I think it would be a good way to assess my level (after the next two years) and compare it to the US level - which I think is pretty good. Also from other english speaking countries, the US is the only one having this sort of examination. I thought that working towards good step 1 score would be a good reference point to fill in the education gaps. Think about it this way - I am merely a first year student, there are 5 years ahead of me. It may be a case that the level will improve in the clinical years (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th), maybe we will have to catch up anyway. The examination system to enter the residency programmes is different in every country in Europe so there is no way to compare my knowledge to other MD students before the application (every programme MD curriculum is slightly different and the only official examination (like USLME) is after you complete your medical degree). Clearly, I don't want to wake up in the 5th year and realise I how little I know. Thus, I thought preparing "as if I was taking USLME step 1" would be a good reference of what I should know by, let's say, a 3rd year.

UWORLD and a couple diagnostic exams at the end of your didactic period will accomplish your objective. No need to sit for the USMLE if you just want to find gaps and see where you stand.
 
UWORLD and a couple diagnostic exams at the end of your didactic period will accomplish your objective. No need to sit for the USMLE if you just want to find gaps and see where you stand.

Could you name the diagnostic exams? I'm not that familiar with all the exams abbreviations American students use, so it will make my life a lot easier.
 
UWorld (the best question bank out there)
Pathoma (gold standard high yield lectures)
NBMEs (exams)
Bates videos for physical exam stuff
OnlineMedEd (lectures)

The textbook “First Aid for the USMLE” is the standard book that is expected to be close to completely understood and memorized before USMLE step 1 (taken after 2 years of med school).
 
Could you name the diagnostic exams? I'm not that familiar with all the exams abbreviations American students use, so it will make my life a lot easier.

I cannot remember the exact name of the assessments in UWORLD, but if you Google their site and look at their offers you'll see something qbank + exams, buy that.
 
UWSA. UWorld Self Assessment.

You can also purchase full-length practice tests from NBME for reasonable prices.
 
So if you’re looking for an in depth resource, Dr. Najeeb basically teaches all of the first 2 years of medical school online. He’s wonderful and goes into a lot of detail on every topic, but his lectures can be very long-which is less helpful to students in a solid curriculum, but may be exactly what you’re looking for. It’s not free but not that expensive at all and you get a lifetime subscription.

If you’re looking for something to just supplement rather than replace, then I’d go with Boards and Beyond. It’s an amazing resource that hits on all the main topics, they’re shorter videos yet still pretty compressive, and is also ideal for Step 1 studying. Again, not free but definitely not super expensive for the high quality.


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I am essentially in the exact same position as you, I currently study in China and it's a complete joke, I had a 30% biochemistry exam all the questions were repeated homework questions they gave us, I finished in 10 minutes, we have laboratories and for example our histology homework is to draw a lymph node.... I have thought long and hard about what I can actually do to become a reasonable doctor one day and I realized that I have to change schools, I don't know what your timetable is like but I have 8 hours of class everyday and i'm forced to attend every class; like you I believed I could study USMLE along side my actual uni work but it's just not possible, I tried this but as I flipped through First aid I realize I knew nothing and that none of the topics I'd learnt were even close to FA level and getting back from class at 5pm everyday doesn't give me any time to even work on the USMLE because there's always upcoming tests or homework.

As a first year your still very passionate about medicine, myself after being in China for a year and a half have lost that passion, I highly recommend doing whatever you can to get in elsewhere because it gets worse not better, talk to some final years at your university; that's the best thing you could do right now, I did it and they all admit they know nothing.

I've just interviewed for another program in the UK and I urge you to keep looking for a medical school you deem suitable, if I can make an analogy, you're essentially going to be studying for two degrees at the same time, your italian med degree and your USMLE knowledge and based on my experience there is minimal overlap.
 
Yes I mentioned USMLE because I think it would be a good way to assess my level (after the next two years) and compare it to the US level - which I think is pretty good. Also from other english speaking countries, the US is the only one having this sort of examination. I thought that working towards good step 1 score would be a good reference point to fill in the education gaps. Think about it this way - I am merely a first year student, there are 5 years ahead of me. It may be a case that the level will improve in the clinical years (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th), maybe we will have to catch up anyway. The examination system to enter the residency programmes is different in every country in Europe so there is no way to compare my knowledge to other MD students before the application (every programme MD curriculum is slightly different and the only official examination (like USLME) is after you complete your medical degree). Clearly, I don't want to wake up in the 5th year and realise I how little I know. Thus, I thought preparing "as if I was taking USLME step 1" would be a good reference of what I should know by, let's say, a 3rd year.

I am flabbergasted to say the least that you thought the Medicine in English in Italy is sub-par. Are you in SUN, Naples? I have heard a lot of good things about Milan, Pavia, and La-Sapienza. I am sure things would definitely improve as you progress in the program. Be positive and good luck!
 
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