A day in the life of a Foundation Year 1 Doctor
April 2022: A day in the life of Oluwatobi, a Foundation Year 1 Doctor currently working in Psychiatry
Hello, my name is Oluwatobi and I currently work as a foundation year one doctor. My journey into medicine began at King’s College London University. At King’s, I did the Extended Medical Degree Programme at King’s College London which is a six-year programme for students from widening participation backgrounds. During my medical degree, I also took a year out to do an intercalated degree in Sports & Exercise medicine at Barts. In general, once you qualify from medical school, you must do a two-year training programme known as foundation training, you are a qualified doctor during this period of time, it is split into foundation year one and foundation year two.
As a foundation year 1 doctor in psychiatry on an older age adults ward, I generally look after the patient’s physical health needs and their mental health needs. My mornings often begin with checking in with the nurses about any acute issues with patients on the wards and any immediate tasks that they need to be done.
Once I’ve finished my checking in with the nurses in the mornings, I then go and see the patients with any concerns that they have. A major part of the role is listening to the patients concerns and issues and seeing if I can find any solutions to help them manage this.
Psychiatry ward reviews are run slightly differently to ward rounds in a general hospital. Each patient is seen once a week and we have ward reviews twice a week to ensure we can see all of the patients. In psychiatry, the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) will always discuss the patient before seeing and then we will bring the patient into the ward review room. It is important we review the patient from a holistic point to make sure we look after their physical health needs and mental health needs as well. Physical health needs tend to be a larger component of the job in older age psychiatry. We also have an MDT meeting once a week with input from all members of the team about the patients.
My working hours in psychiatry as a foundation doctor are 9am to 5pm with very few weekend shifts! (Definitely one of the perks of the rotation). For new patients that are admitted to the ward, I do also take a full psychiatric history, this tends to be more detailed than history taking in general medicine with more emphasis on premorbid personality, previous psychiatry history, forensic history and personal history such as childhood development.
After a hard day at work, I like to go the gym or go for a run, I find it’s really good for stress relief and clearing your mind. You can also never go wrong with a good film/TV series on Netflix after work to unwind. Finally, most hospitals have a good network of social activities to do amongst the junior doctors.
As a doctor you have various options regarding your choice of career and the path you take to get there. A career in medicine can be very varied depending on what speciality you chose to go into and there is generally a speciality that suits everyone. For people who prefer acute medicine that is fast paced Accident & Emergency tends to be a speciality that they lean towards, in contrast to this becoming a GP is a slightly slower paced speciality although contrary to popular belief it is not any less stressful!
I would encourage all of you to have a look at how long it takes to become a specialist doctor in different specialities, the BMA (British Medical Association) website is a great start.
Being a doctor is a very rewarding job and it is great to see the journey of patients presenting acute unwell and by the time of their discharge how much they have improved and how ready they are to going back to their normal lives. It is a privilege for people to place such trust in you when they are in their greatest need.
In my brief time working as a junior doctor, some of the major challenges I would say are the working hours, at times the on-call shifts can be quite long.
I hope an insight into a typical day for me has been useful.
Your questions answered!
Question 1 – Hi Oluwatobi,
I really want to become a psychiatrist. This idea came about when my mother, a sufferer of arthritis became really affected by her own mental health. You spoke about physical health being tied into the mental aspect of health, I was hoping to hear more about your thoughts on this and what, as a psychiatrist, you do to help combat this. I also hope you can give me more of an insight into your pathway of becoming a doctor. I have applied to uni, but yet to get any offers. Please can you give me tips/ advice and how you went about the whole application/interview process
In my psychiatry rotation at times, you did see if a patient had a physical health problem this could negatively affect their mental health, for example if they were experiencing pain due to a health problem this could consequently affect their sleep and mood. Managing patients’ physical health problems can have a positive impact on their mental health so going back to the pain example ensuring their pain is adequately managed and controlled can have a major impact on their physical health and vice versa. For the second part of your question see the answer to question 5.
Question 2 – Hi! I was wondering if you can do intercalated degrees into any section of medicine that interests you or if there’s only a few courses like anatomy etc. ?
Intercalations
In terms of doing an intercalated degree, you are able to do this in a variety of different fields, for example there are intercalated degrees in business management. Each university has a different policy on intercalating with regards to leaving your current university for one year to intercalate at another if your course is not offered by your current university, other university’s will only let you intercalate in courses available at that university. To summarise it’s important to check the university’s policy on intercalation and which degrees are available to intercalate in.
Question 3 – What are the differences between a therapist, psychologist, and a psychiatrist?
The main differences between therapists, psychologists and psychiatrist mainly relates to the work they do with the patient. A therapist is generally an umbrella term that may encompass psychiatrist and psychologist. Psychiatrists will be more focused on medications, reviewing the patient on a weekly basis with regards to their mental health and also looking after their physical health if they are an inpatient. Psychologist will work specifically with the patient through cognitive behavioural therapies, talking therapies and developing coping strategies etc. There is some overlap between the work psychologist and psychiatrist.
Question 4 – Medicine is a long and challenging path to go on. Are there any regrets/life lessons you have that you think would be useful for someone younger like me to know?
The biggest life lesson I have learnt so far on my path to a career to medicine is making sure you take time out to enjoy yourself and spending time with family and friends, it can be easy to get caught up in work but taking planned time out is beneficial for your mental and physical health. In some of my earlier years in sixth form/medical school I regret not being more proactive and seeking out opportunities that would have made my journey slightly easier.
Question 5 – Hi, Oluwatobi!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article. It provided a great insight into the day in the life of a doctor. I wanted to ask how did you choose which university to apply to? What factors did you take into account? Thanks!
I chose my university options for medicine by researching the style of teaching throughout medical school with some medical schools having a preference for problem-based learning over more traditional lecture-based teaching. I also looked at which years clinical placements would start and what other opportunities there were for me outside of my curriculum for example being involved in research and audits. Overall, I chose King’s because of the style teaching, the hospitals that I would be placed in for clinical years and after visiting the university I really liked it and believed I would settle well there. The medical school you go to does not have an impact on your career as a doctor. Although it may sound cliché, I chose to do medicine because I wanted to have the opportunity to help people but also combine that with my interest in science which I thoroughly enjoy. It’s quite a privilege to be part of patient’s healthcare journey’s and knowing the level of trust they put in you.
Interview Tips
It is important to do research about the university you are applying to, prior to an interview offer as it will give you a good understanding of the university. Additionally, knowing your personal statement in depth and being comfortable discussing different aspects of your personal statement is vital. Another key tip is knowing the format of the interview, most medical schools will interview using a multiple mini-interview format or panel interview, being familiar with both set ups will make the interview process easier for you. Finally practice common questions that you can in interviews with teachers, family members and friends, to make the interview process less daunting.
Question 6 – Hello, thank you for your very interesting blog. I want to become a doctor and I am interested in King’s but I am not sure about living in London. How important would you say the medical school is that you went to for life after medical school and what would you say is the most important factor about choosing a medical school? Why did you decide you wanted to be a doctor and what made you choose King’s?
See question 5 above for a detail answer on your question.