After MDCN

Hello.  I'm trying to fulfill a promise to a few young IMGs who have read my blog and wondered why I don't update it anymore.  We just get caught in the every day hustle and bustle of life.

It has been 2, no 3 years.  Time really does fly ooh.  Anyway I lost enthusiasm for the series but ill try to relay my experience over the past years since the MDCN parol. It's the Diary of an IMG afterall.  Lol.

After MDCN it was to your tent ooh. I honestly don't know if the process of finding house jobs has gotten easier.  I had to wait almost a year. Wrote interviews in many hospitals around Lagos to Ibadan, Ogun state. Even Enugu, Abuja, Owerri, Asaba and Osun state. Till it dawned on me that the best chance for a house job placement lies in your own state. 

Anyway ill just say my folks did not have leg.  Its very sad that our country cannot make use of the intellect available to it simply because we cannot look past tribal and state of origin issues. Anyway I finally got a place to do my house job in my state teaching hospital. Anambra state. Now Chukwuemka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital.

I started my house job in October of 2014. Induction was November of 2013. My mistake is that I did not really start anything or learn anything new because I kept expecting house job to turn up.  I would like to ask you not to repeat my mistake.  In my opinion,  there are plenty skills you can learn.  From computer to medical to even marketable skills. My bet is that It would come in handy.

If you find yourself in the same boat as I did, if you come from family where leg 'no too dey' then just start something while you wait for your house job. If you are planning to leave Nigeria to further your medical career and you are looking at UK or US, then it would be wise to get on the process. For UK, you can start planning and write your IELTS. The problem is that IELTS expires after two years, so be ready to use it within a year.  Even if you finally get a place to do your house job.

House job is important because when you pass MDCN, you get a provisional lisence.  That license expires after a year or two. It is after your house job that you can apply for a full license. I will talk about the possible career plans for returning IMGs in the next two blog posts.

Next post will cover my house job experience.

The ABUJA THING (in Pictures)

Been a while on ma blogging....honestly its been a slow 3 months of search and i'm still fighting to keep my faith and hope up (tell you about it in the next post)

I promised to post pictures of what abuja was like for us, so here's media for your visual appreciation....

See anyone you recognize??)) 

there was a lot of boring talk going on...there was even a lecture (can't remember what it was about)

thats my 'this all still feels like a dream' face...

then we took the oath...i won't call it bunch of crap...cuz we swore it....

 ...then you had to place your hand and 'solemnly swear' into the mic....guess we are bound by the OATH as long as we practice

                                         ......thats my 'shit! this is real' face.....

Here come the documents...two papers and two books (which i dumped on a shelf somewhere)

hope that was insightful.....well the painful part comes in the next blogg....stay tuned:-)

PS hit the share button if you think pple gotta know...

THE EXAMS

This post will cover the layout of the exams from my perspective...

Bear in mind that i sat for the MDCN exam in LUTH in October 2013... so that is where my perspective is coming from...

After the lectures have run for almost three months you get about a week free of lectures to get finally set for the (2 DAY) exams.

We in LUTH numbered about 600 (or more) students from different and also from IUO. 

The exams usually run a course of two days in this format:

A multiple Choice Question (MCQ) paper covering all aspects of Basic and Clinical Sciences in 

Medicine and Dentistry.

A short Answer Question Paper (for medical candidates only).

A long Essay Question Paper (for medical candidates only).

Clinical Examination comprising Long and Short Cases or Objectives Structured Clinical 

Examination (OSCE).

Practical Examination which may include such items as identification of: instruments, 

specimens, interpretation of slides, radiographs and laboratory investigations.

Oral Examination (Viva voice)

                                                                                                      (copied from MDCN website)

For LUTH October 2013, ours was:

2 mcq papers on the first day.....first paper was 300 multiple choice (single best answer) questions in 2 Hours (if i remember correctly) and a second paper; 100 multiple choice questions in 45 minutes (again if i remember correctly) but ya....something like that.

Second day was slides....i think 20 slides projected and for each slide a couple of True or False questions (each slide was programmed for 2 or 3 minutes) exam was over at the end of the last slide.

What i learnt from my exams:

Manage your time during exams (extremely important)
The lectures are IMPORTANT....attending them may not be your own way of doing things but make sure you go through all of the lectures....every single one of them (attendance was not made compulsory for us but could be for you)
Questions can come from anywhere in the lectures, handouts or even past questions....pay attention to details (no matter how little)
Make sure you go into the exam full of confidence....this will be especially important if you are going for OSCE
There might be significant mark deducted for wrong answers...have that in mind while guessing

The exam is not particularly difficult....and you just want to turn a deaf ear to rumors that some people are favored or some are meant to pass....maybe so....but you will also if you decide that you must.

                ANYBODY CAN PASS THE MCDN EXAM.....I AM LIVING PROOF.

The few days after exam waiting for results could be very very long and nights could be sleepless....except you decide to take your mind away from the results.....i kept busy....i've got family members with high bp all around (may be easier said than done)

Personally, i can't really give you an exact method or formula of passing the exam.....it is going to be three months of pause in your life.....i studied as hard as i could, but i found time to hang out, watch football and even went to the cinema once. But that's me....i'm just trying to let you know that the exam is not impossible...not even close...you just need to dwell on relevant materials and positive thoughts.

I lost a great part of my lectures on PowerPoint due to a virus....but by next October i should be able to get them back and try to make them available for anybody who is interested.

Next post will concern you if you are going for the Abuja ceremony...

Best of LUCK!!

feedback? anyone?

THE ABUJA THING

The ceremony in Abuja will be something you have to prepare for after you see your name and number on the website, that you have passed. Instructions will follow on how to submit documents and then pay for the ceremony.

We payed by bank deposit, had to post copies via email and also send hard copies to the office in Abuja. Make sure you keep the tellers or any evidence of payment you will make because that is 10x more important than anything you are submitting. The best method of dropping your documents at Abuja is in person....take the original tellers along.

The ceremony is some kind of a formality but that is where you will get your temporary licence so you have to attend. At the venue you will be seated according to numbers....of course guys have to be in a suit and ladies 'respectably' dressed...in ours they didn't keep us unnecessarily (guess the dignitaries in attendance really had limited time) so you can plan an evening outing afterwards. Part of the induction will be to swear your oath and then re-affirm later by placing your hand on a Bible or Quran (whichever applies) one by one in front of the dignitaries (which includes the Minister of Health/Representative) before you collect your package (i'll post pics)

If you (like me) don't have a place to stay in Abuja there are options of hotels that you can book upfront as early as possible so you can get a nice place....

here are two i know...for about 5-8k and above per night:

Brickland Residence
Plot 32 Kinshasha Street in Wuse Zone 6
0805-2329250, 0806-9116930

Pope John Paul Catholic guest house
27, Bangui Street, Off Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse II
08057641895

there are more....search online or ask someone who knows abuja well.....or do it the street way:-D get to Abj, get a cab and tell the guy to take you around to budget hotels...lol that would be fun...and a payday for the cab guy.

The MDCN parol II

The MDCN parol II

So i'm back on blogging about the MDCN exams...

Was busy with exams so everytime i opened a blank page to post something, the page would stay blank after an hr...anyways we done now...wrote the exams on the 2nd and 3rd. (#sigh of relief...)

Where did i stop from the first post?

Accommodation in LUTH was first come first serve and most people had to cater for themselves concerning accommodation. So depending on where you are, get ready to spend a chunk on accommodation...unless you have a place to stay.

Like i was saying in the last post, you go for lectures and hospital rounds for Gynecology, Pediatrics, Medicine and Surgery and then lectures only for the rest. The extent of work and hospital rounds depends on where you are and the Doctors in the hospital, if they really want to help you guys.
From the experience of our exams, i would advice you take your lectures seriously. I didn't go for all of my lectures but i made a habit of collecting them to revise on my own. You could have all the lectures at the start of your program (mingle....ask questions) and then its not really important to go for all the lectures except they take attendance or you need the explanation.

Another ADVICE is to form a discussion group, you guys could study together as well as practice physical examinations and history taking. The pacticals and history taking part didn't come out in our exams but that was LUTH Oct 2013...might just come out in yours so you have to have them covered. You wanna limit the size of the group so it doesn't become too rowdy and you wanna include good 'home based' doctors (people who graduated from IUO or other Nigerian Universities) in your discussion group or join theirs. Just don't join a large group cuz its mostly a waste of time. Try also to find out if smaller lectures are held by Registrars and Consultants who care, could be invaluable. Your experience is going to be totally different from my own, so don't fret and don't get scared. Just form a habit of asking questions. 

There are materials and handouts available that could help you in your preparation....most were for sale...i made photocopies.
A skill you will have to develop is adequate time management. Knowing where you have problems and finding a way to solve them. Anything you don't know or feel you don't understand.....ask. 

Having a house officer friend working in the hospital there will be a great advantage... even more so if the person is in a higher position.

Something to keep in mind is that you left EUROPE behind and this... is... AFRICA!!!  Things here are ironic and mostly you will be amazed at the way things 'work'...i'm just trying to save you some heart ache. Understand that this is Nigeria and we like things done the hard way (afterall these old Doctors here...in their coats... did it the hard way)...so dressing is important (Corporate), lectures might include attendance check and NIGERIAN TIME and Exams have negative marking.

Next post will be about Exams...
You have questions?.....ask...opinions?...let em be known.

INTRODUCTION:

IMG stands for International Medical Graduate. This blog is targeted at Students (mostly Nigerian) who are currently studying or hope to study Medicine abroad.

Hello, Theodore (call me Tio in your head) here. I studied in Ukraine, so my experiences are going to be based on those gotten from Ukraine. Yes i speak Russian well enough and i graduated June 20, 2013 (to answer some 'obvious' questions)

I guess i can go on introducing myself....

Well the idea behind this is to relate my experiences to you as a student aspiring for a career in medicine. I have passed through the six years and i'm currently in the MDCN training thing (which you will do if you plan to be registered in Nigeria after you graduate).

The idea is...i flew blind, i could be referred to as the test subject and i've decided to write this blog hoping somebody somewhere who has no 'connections' (like me) will find it useful in the years to come.

I call it diary because i hope to relate my experiences to you (both past and present) as time goes by.

Welcome to my blog....

The MDCN Parol...

YES i was saying that if you plan to be registered in Nigeria as a Medical Doctor, you have to face the exam of the MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL OF NIGERIA. Sounds big huh? well reserve your opinion till you get to their office in Lagos (maybe their office in Abuja is tush ooh).

The website is www.mdcnigeria.org ...there you will find most of the information although the person that designed the website did not have you the confused IMG in mind (#just saying).

The MDCN program usually should start in July (or ending June) and last till November. Exams are on the 2nd and 3rd of October. So the earlier your University releases you, the better. Lectures and Tutorials kick off - two weeks each for Pediatrics, Surgery, Obs&Gyn and Medicine (one week lectures, one week hospital stuff). Other minor courses like Community Health, Anesthesiology, Clinical Pathology, Psychiatry, Microbiology, Hematology, Pharmacology, Morbid Anatomy and Radiology should be like 3 days each.

All this greatly depends on which Teaching hospital in Nigeria you end up in. We are currently in LUTH  and this is the format we are facing. It might be slightly different for you. You might wanna be looking up on the website for which center you are going to write in once your time reaches.

Here's some advice: After Krok and GOSD (for Ukraine Students) Party wellaz like a boss for like 2-3 days then get back on your jacking grind. Why? because if you think Krok and Gosd were tension then you ain't seen nothing (#just saying)

In Nigeria they will attempt to orientate you about issues pertinent to Nigerian medicine, and since Obs&Gyn is really huge in Nigeria, you will get a whooper of it. 

SECRET: I avoided Obs&Gyn throughout my Med skl days...i didn't know anything in it till i came back here...no joke. So you don't wanna go down that road, trust me. I still won't do Obs&Gyn specialty but at least i appreciate it much more.

Here's another advice: Make sure you get adequate exposure to your major courses because if you don't, you might find it hard to keep up over here, because Nigerian method is based on lectures but in Ukraine we had the Class system and less lectures (except the model has changed)

to be continued in........The MDCN parol II.