Hi everyone! My name is Calum: I’m an Advanced Critical Care Practitioner (ACCP) and a year 2 HCP-Med student.
I have found the HCP Med programme has been ideal for me to study medicine while continuing to work as a healthcare professional. The academic demands of the course can be met while working my current role part-time.
A typical week working online with my peers consists of working through a series of online lectures in my own time, which is incredibly flexible and easy to work around my 13-hour day and night shifts.
In addition to online lectures, we have regular online tutorials which are one of the most enjoyable aspects of the online learning. The platform used for these tutorials is incredibly intuitive and the sessions are interactive and good fun! Our tutorial groups have a mix of students with different professional backgrounds, so the discussions and individual’s previous experiences make these sessions a highlight of the week.
Residential weeks in Edinburgh are something I think myself and the other students look forward to. The weeks are well-organised, and consist of content that cannot be given online: for example, practical sessions such as clinical skills and anatomy labs. Another aspect of the residential weeks that is great is having the social aspect of seeing your classmates and having the peer support for the coursework and studying.
Making time for yourself, of course, is also important. As much of the course is self-directed learning, it’s essential to allow at least two days a week free from study or work. If you take on too much and do not have any down time you could get overwhelmed with the work so my advice would be to be disciplined to take time off to relax.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the course so far and I am looking forward to my secondary care clinical attachments in Year 3 which will start shortly!