Virtual medical school life in 2025: A student's diary

British Medical Journal, Nov 13, 1999

Carol Maxwell, aged 29, funds her medical studies as a part time operator at a call centre in Cockerthwaite, Cumbria. She also has a loan from her father, a retired general practitioner

DIARY ENTRY: 2/5 - 2/10. 2025

MONDAY: On coffee break, I navigated a coeliac artery on the CD I borrowed from the medical resources centre. Brilliant. You really feel you're in there. "Do you ever get to see any real ones?" my supervisor asked. "Eventually. but it won't be as useful as this." I said. Over supper, Dad went into great long reminiscence about arteries he had known in the dissecting room at Bart's, lamenting the alleged tack of verisimilitude implicit in distance learning in general, and use of CD Roms in particular. "But. Dad, how useful was it dissecting cadavers' arteries if you want to be a GP or an A&E consultant, as opposed, say, to a Home Office pathologist?" Dad said he would quite like to have been a Home Office pathologist, since I asked, because at least the patients would never answer back or sue.

TUESDAY: Literary morning with Tom. writer in residence at the Cockerthwaite healthy living centre, and his regulars, some with chronic conditions, for my "humanities in medicine" learning module. Discussion of L'Etranger by Albert Camus and the nature of anomie and alienation in modern society provoked quite paradoxical feelings of bondedness and community spirit all round. On arrival home, caught Dad at the computer poring over my coeliac artery CD, and offering completely unconvincing explanation that he was actually trying to access England cricket score in Lahore test match.

WEDNESDAY: Completely jetlagged after extended early morning virtual tutorial on nephrotic syndrome via webphone with fellow students in London. Oregon, Moscow. Rome, and Devizes. Sore throat, pasty skin, and peculiar aches in joints. Just glad there was no simultaneous videoconferencing arrangement, given late night at the Lamb and Flag with Tom and some of his arty friends.

THURSDAY: Oncology expert in Ohio helpfully answers my email following group brainstorming, problem solving, symptoms session at University of Lakeland. Good to go into medical school now and again, though there weren't many people around. Everyone seems to be on primary care and community placements or just struggling to combine study and work from home like me. Redundancies continue apace among medical teaching staff. Promised dear old Doctor B I would see if there were any vacancies at the call centre for him following nasty business with GMC disciplinary investigation and the fraudulent drug trials.

FRIDAY: 7 am-1 pm: shift at call centre. 2-6 pm: rote playing, patient-doctor interactions with members of the Cockerthwaite Repertory Company and some of the more active members of the local osteoarthritis support group. Exhausting. The idea of using drama is that it helps you to develop empathy, social and communication skills, and to see life from another's point of view, and become more compassionate and humane in the way you deal with people. "First, cause no harm," as Dr B always tow us. Do wish he had taken his own advice. Evening: to Mum's grave with Dad with trowels and plants. Told Dad re sore throat and aching limbs. "There's a tot of it about," he said absently. Updated personal learning tog and found some really good websites on deep vein thrombosis for my extended essay. Watched cricket on Sky Sport channel with Dad till we both felt into deep slumber.

Judy Jones CONSIDERS THE FUTURE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION AS ENVISAGED BY HEALTH INFORMATION SCIENTIST RODERICK NEAME AND HIS COLLEAGUES BROOKE MURPHY, FRANK STITT, AND MARK RAKE