YOUR DEGREE, INTERNSHIP, CAREER, JOURNEY

The pre-clinical stage is where it all begins.
Let's take a look at the journey ahead of you.

📍 Current location

Your uni days are busy attending lectures, tutes and labs with some minor hospital exposure. Your focus is learning the science behind it all and gaining the foundational knowledge you'll need for your future medical career.

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👌 Embrace campus life

Whilst you’ll need to spend plenty of time hitting the books and studying for exams, be sure to take some time out to enjoy all that campus life has to offer because once you start your clinical rotations, you’ll be spending the majority of your time at tertiary hospitals.

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Push yourself to meet new people

👥

Join uni societies

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Spend time getting to know your study group members

👏 Nailing pre-clinical exams

Unfortunately, there's no magic remedy. Medical school exams are intense and can be cause for high levels of stress and anxiety.

There are techniques however, you can put in place to alleviate some of this stress and put yourself in the best position to nail your exams. Check out some tips in the articles below.

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Study tips to get you through exams

8 min read

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Benefits of exercise

5 min read

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Brain food to eat

8 min read

Looking for something specific? Jump ahead using the links below

Elective rotations

What to expect in your final year

Internship applications

Life after medical school

Your clinical years

Time to put the theory into practice

🎬 Get ready - it's show time!

Once you complete your pre-clinical studies, you’ll be allocated to a clinical school in a tertiary hospital. This is an exciting time when you will start putting everything your learned into practice.

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You'll rotate through different specialties and gain a broad spectrum of experience through observation and training. Ensure you:

Be proactive

Ask as many questions as you can

Build relationships

You'll need at least two references for intern applications

Be a sponge

Observe how doctors conduct themselves and what skills you want to develop

Personalise the cases

Get to know patients and learn from them

✈️ It's going to get very real with elective rotations

At some point within your clinical years, you’ll participate in an elective rotation outside your base hospital. This can either be local or overseas and provides an opportunity to see an aspect of medicine that you're interested in or haven’t had exposure to at your tertiary hospital. The rotation can range anywhere between 2–12 weeks depending on the hospital’s availability.

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Deciding where to go and starting the application process can be quite daunting. Afterall, when you have the whole world to choose from, the options seem endless!

If you are feeling overwhelmed and need some inspiration, have a look at where some previous DPM student members jetted off to and what their experience was like. Inspire me!

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Here are a few factors to consider which may help narrow down your choices:

What is your main goal?

Will a local, rural or overseas elective give you the best opportunity to achieve this.

How much money do you have at your disposal?

If you choose to go overseas, you will need to cover flights, accommodation and living costs which can get VERY expensive!

Do you have any contacts or family that could host you during your elective stay

This could save you a lot of money as well as provide you with a support network for what can be a pretty full-on experience.

😧 Oh and here comes tax time!

Depending on your financial circumstances and whether you’re working part-time or receiving government benefits, you’ll be required to submit an annual tax return come July. As a busy medical student, it’s understandable if this is not top of your priority list.

Here are some resources to help you:

Tax return checklist

10 min read

Save time and avoid errors on your student tax return

8 min read

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Benefits of creating a budget

5 min read

💸 B.U.D.G.E.T.I.N.G.

Not the most exciting chapter of your journey and it can be tempting to think that it’s something that can wait until you’re working full time as an intern - and earning an actual income!

But, dedicating even a small amount of time to this now will help you make good money decisions. This will assist you with achieving some of your short-term goals (e.g. that post-graduation Euro trip you’ve been dreaming about 🌴) as well as those longer-term ones for the expensive doctor in training years to come.

Budgeting sounds like a drag but embracing a budget early on, makes for good financial habits further down the track.

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Looking for something specific? Jump ahead using the links below

Internship applications

Life after medical school

Let’s fast forward ➡️to your final year of medicine

✊ You've made it to final year

Rotations, intern applications, receiving a letter of offer and graduation – your final year of medicine is BUSY. You’re getting a clearer understanding on what to expect from your internship year so you can really start putting plans into place.

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🔬 First semester

Depending on the university you attend, you'll either spend the first semester completing research or continuing your hospital rotations through different specialties.

You’ll also need to submit your internship applications which can be an intense process so make sure you get onto this early. Applications usually open mid-April and close at the start of June.

The process can be different in each state but generally you'll need to submit:

Submit preferences

You'll need to select you preferences list for the hospital networks you'd like to work at

Arrange references

You'll need to get at least two references to complete an online referee form (although this may differ depending on the hospital network you are applying for)

👀 Keep your eyes on the prize

During your second semester, you'll complete select rotations in areas of interest as well as a pre-internship rotation where you will shadow a current intern.

This will give you a good understanding of what to expect the following year so use this time wisely.

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Tips for getting the most out of your pre-internship rotation:

Take plenty of notes

These will be good to refer back to throughout your intern year as situations come upThis is your opporutnity to

Ask lots of questions

This is your opportunity to ask any questions about your role or what will be expected of you as an internPay attention to the details

Pay attention to the details

Notice how they respond to pages and who they approach for help

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What to expect from your internship year?

8 min read

How to maximise your year as an intern

8 min read

Tips to survive and thrive during your internship year

8 min read

📍 You have arrived! Finally...

🔭 Life beyond medical school

Whilst starting your career in medicine may seem like a while away, the reality is in just a few short years, you’ll be working as a doctor in training in the hospital system with the added pressures that can come with working full time.

Taking some time now to set personal and career goals allows you to make little steps along the way. This will help make them more achievable and ensure you stay on track to reach them.

YOUR DEGREE, INTERNSHIP, CAREER, JOURNEY

The pre-clinical stage is where it all begins. Let's take a look at the journey ahead of you.

📍 Current location

👌 Embrace campus life

👏

Push yourself to meet new people

👥

Join uni societies

📚

Spend time getting to know your study group members

👏 Nailing pre-clinical exams

Study tips to get you through exams

8 min read

Benefits of exercise

5 min read

Brain food to eat

8 min read

Looking for something specific? Jump ahead using the links below

Your clinical years

Time to put the theory into practice

🎬 Get ready - it's show time!

Be proactive

Build relationships

Be a sponge

Personalise the cases

✈️ It's going to get very real with elective rotations

What is your main goal?

How much money do you have at your disposal?

Do you have any contacts or family that could host you during your elective stay

😧 Oh and here comes tax time!

Tax return checklist

10 min read

Save time and avoid errors on your student tax return

8 min read

Benefits of creating a budget

5 min read

💸 B.U.D.G.E.T.I.N.G.

Looking for something specific? Jump ahead using the links below

Let’s fast forward ➡️to your final year of medicine

✊ You've made it to final year

🔬 First semester

Submit preferences

Arrange references

👀 Keep your eyes on the prize

Take plenty of notes

Ask lots of questions

Pay attention to the details

What to expect from your internship year?

8 min read

How to maximise your year as an intern

8 min read

Tips to survive and thrive during your internship year

8 min read

📍 You have arrived! Finally...

🔭 Life beyond medical school

Start your journey with DPM today.

The pre-clinical stage is where it all begins.
Let's take a look at the journey ahead of you.