JCU JCU Medicine: The Unofficial JCU Med Bible (Vol. 2)

[Stapedius]

Hi, I wasn’t sure where to post this question so I’ll be posting it here. I will be a first year student at JCU next year (2022) and I was planning to stay on campus as I’m an international student. I was wondering if there were enough places to eat on campus if I choose to live with the non-catered option and perhaps not go shopping out a lot to cook for myself as I’m not sure how close the nearby shopping area is, plus I won’t be having a car myself so I’m not sure about the transportation availabilities from and to our campus. Are there enough places to eat on campus if I decide to just live off buying food everyday? How were your experiences like? Any recommendations to solve this non-catered option troubles? Thanks in advance!!!!!!!! )

Hey there! I will have to say that there are simply not enough places to eat on campus should you decide to go with a non-catered college option. You will have to make the trip either to Stockland Aitkenvale (which is a pretty quick ~10/15 bus trip from the uni bus stop running every 15 mins) or to Willows Thuringowa (which is a bit of a longer bus trip ~25/30mins) every week or so. Bus is basically the only option you have if you don't have a car, but there are usually a number of students living on non-catered accommodation with cars that often carpool with a number of their non-car college friends to shops together, so maybe that's another option if you don't own a car. Most people get their week's groceries and other food from Woolworths or Coles, and if you're like me you'll alternate between making a big beef stir fry, pasta bolognaise or chicken curry, and freeze the leftovers for the rest of the week in small plastic take-away containers. Then maybe grab some bread and meat/cheese to put on sandwiches for lunches. Depends on how much you enjoy cooking and your food budget I guess! I managed to get by comfortably with a budget of $100/wk. There are also many other eating out places at both Willows and Stockland if you wanted.

As mentioned above, there's a Juliette's, Ottos and then some Japanese food in the science building and Education Central at uni, but they're only open iirc from 9-4 on the weekdays, so unless you want to starve yourself over the weekend you really can't rely on it as an option to seriously live off, and it is quite expensive. I still lament about the days of the IGA on campus in my first year that sadly went into liquidation - that would have been ideal for you.

Hope this helps somewhat, and I wish you well for the New Year!

 

[mira2015]

thanks for your replies! hopefully I can solve the issue somehow

I have a question regarding attires for clinical rotations. How many days of clinical rotations are there for first years? Also what kind of shoes do people where to the hospitals? Must the be black? Should they be dress shoes or can they be black sneakers? Thanks again!!! )

 

[Dark Horse]

I have a question regarding attires for clinical rotations. How many days of clinical rotations are there for first years? Also what kind of shoes do people where to the hospitals? Must the be black? Should they be dress shoes or can they be black sneakers? Thanks again!!! )

Hey! JCU first years don't have a substantial amount of clinical placement (although it is more than most other undergrad uni's in first year). In semester 1 you do 9-12 hours of shadowing a GP across 3 days. Then in semester 2 you get to do a 'Health Elective Placement' which you have to arrange. This does however allow you to be involved with almost anything in the health care setting from physio to radiology to orthopedic surgery (you just have to find a doctor/ health professional who will let you tale them for 5 days). This means that you won't necessarily be in the hospital at all in your first year or two.

I did end up doing my health elective placement with an independent anaesthetist, which meant that I was across several hospitals in my week of elective placement. The shoes you need in the hospital appeared to vary quite significantly depending on which area of the hospital you were in. E.g. when I was doing rounds with the anaesthetist to check on patients' pain levels we were both in typical clinical dress (both of us had black leather boots on here). Whereas when we were in the operating theatres you could wear whatever style and colour of shoes pleased you - I saw gum boots, runners, crocs and normal boots. However, when you are in the OR everything needs to be sterile, so if you've opened your shoes and worn them outside of the hospital, you'll need to wear the sterile shoe covers anyways. I think the most important thing was having a comfortable set of shoes that you could be standing in for 12 hours straight, for me this was a pair of runners.

Hope this helps a bit, and happy new year!

 

[mira2015]

Hey! JCU first years don't have a substantial amount of clinical placement (although it is more than most other undergrad uni's in first year). In semester 1 you do 9-12 hours of shadowing a GP across 3 days. Then in semester 2 you get to do a 'Health Elective Placement' which you have to arrange. This does however allow you to be involved with almost anything in the health care setting from physio to radiology to orthopedic surgery (you just have to find a doctor/ health professional who will let you tale them for 5 days). This means that you won't necessarily be in the hospital at all in your first year or two.

Hi, thanks for your reply!!
When you say that I have to arrange the placements, are they mandatory? As I am an international student, I'm not sure how I would be able to find a doctor who would allow me to shadow them. Do you have any tips?

I did end up doing my health elective placement with an independent anaesthetist, which meant that I was across several hospitals in my week of elective placement. The shoes you need in the hospital appeared to vary quite significantly depending on which area of the hospital you were in. E.g. when I was doing rounds with the anaesthetist to check on patients' pain levels we were both in typical clinical dress (both of us had black leather boots on here). Whereas when we were in the operating theatres you could wear whatever style and colour of shoes pleased you - I saw gum boots, runners, crocs and normal boots. However, when you are in the OR everything needs to be sterile, so if you've opened your shoes and worn them outside of the hospital, you'll need to wear the sterile shoe covers anyways. I think the most important thing was having a comfortable set of shoes that you could be standing in for 12 hours straight, for me this was a pair of runners.

Hope this helps a bit, and happy new year!

Thanks so much it really helped me a lot!! Happy new year

 

[Dark Horse]

Hi, thanks for your reply!!
When you say that I have to arrange the placements, are they mandatory? As I am an international student, I'm not sure how I would be able to find a doctor who would allow me to shadow them. Do you have any tips?

In first year you have 2 mandatory placements, 9-12 hours of a GP one and the 1 week (36 hours minimum) health elective - although this might revert back to 2 weeks soon. I understand how the name of the 'health elective' may be a bit misleading, but the 'elective' component is referring to the fact that we as individuals get to 'elect' what field of health we want to do the placement in, but it is a mandatory placement which has to be completed to finish first year.

Generally, most students end up arranging their own placements in first year. However, the college of Medicine and Dentistry does arrange a few placements which are available on a first in first-served basis. For the GP placements, there were about 100 college arranged places available (for a cohort of 220), and for the health elective there were about 20 college arranged places in Townsville and I believe there were a similar number in Cairns.

I don't foresee being an international student as posing any issues in finding placements, as I find that it is best to avoid asking your treating doctor to also supervise you for a health elective placement (best to keep those relationships separate). Most places are pretty good about having medical students as they understand that we have to learn somehow, but I guess my main piece of advice would be to contact several places and expect to be rejected by most, but keep trying you only need 1 to accept you. Overall, don't stress about this stuff now, the college of medicine and dentistry will talk you through it closer to the time of placements, and with ample time so that you can organise your own.

 

[mira2015]

In first year you have 2 mandatory placements, 9-12 hours of a GP one and the 1 week (36 hours minimum) health elective - although this might revert back to 2 weeks soon. I understand how the name of the 'health elective' may be a bit misleading, but the 'elective' component is referring to the fact that we as individuals get to 'elect' what field of health we want to do the placement in, but it is a mandatory placement which has to be completed to finish first year.

Generally, most students end up arranging their own placements in first year. However, the college of Medicine and Dentistry does arrange a few placements which are available on a first in first-served basis. For the GP placements, there were about 100 college arranged places available (for a cohort of 220), and for the health elective there were about 20 college arranged places in Townsville and I believe there were a similar number in Cairns.

I don't foresee being an international student as posing any issues in finding placements, as I find that it is best to avoid asking your treating doctor to also supervise you for a health elective placement (best to keep those relationships separate). Most places are pretty good about having medical students as they understand that we have to learn somehow, but I guess my main piece of advice would be to contact several places and expect to be rejected by most, but keep trying you only need 1 to accept you. Overall, don't stress about this stuff now, the college of medicine and dentistry will talk you through it closer to the time of placements, and with ample time so that you can organise your own.

Thanks so much for the reply!! Happy new year

 

[ZooCheese]

I'm currently enrolling in my subjects (1st year). Am I supposed to enrol in all 6 of the available components? It seems to me like MD2011, 2012, etc. are completed in year 2.

Thanks

 

[toulouse]

I'm currently enrolling in my subjects (1st year). Am I supposed to enrol in all 6 of the available components? It seems to me like MD2011, 2012, etc. are completed in year 2.

Thanks

Just enrol in MD1010 and MD1020. You can alternatively choose to enrol in MD1020 in the mid year holidays however I personally like to enrol both first sem and second sem modules together just in case I forget to enrol (and to have that lil bit of optimism going that I’ve made it to 2nd sem). Only enrol for your current year modules. Welcome to JCU!

 

[ZooCheese]

Just enrol in MD1010 and MD1020. You can alternatively choose to enrol in MD1020 in the mid year holidays however I personally like to enrol both first sem and second sem modules together just in case I forget to enrol (and to have that lil bit of optimism going that I’ve made it to 2nd sem). Only enrol for your current year modules. Welcome to JCU!

Thank you! Is that all I have to do now? Website says medicine students do not need to enrol in classes.

 

[mira2015]

Thank you! Is that all I have to do now? Website says medicine students do not need to enrol in classes.

I have the same question as well! I think I enrolled into the subjects but I can't see my schedule... is that normal?

 

[Stapedius]

Thank you! Is that all I have to do now? Website says medicine students do not need to enrol in classes.

I have the same question as well! I think I enrolled into the subjects but I can't see my schedule... is that normal?

Congratulations on your offers - with respect to your question, as listed above you just need to enroll in MD1010 and MD1020. Once that's completed, you will not be given a uni schedule on JCU eStudent; instead you can have a look at your timetable via this link here. Click on "Student" timetable > Subjects > Sort by "College of Medicine and Dentistry", "MD1010", the week you're interested in, "All weekdays", "Day " > View timetable. It will likely change closer to the date as lecturers confirm times etc. but as you're still a month out from uni starting don't stress too much about all this - you'll be given a lot more instructions from the uni very soon once final student numbers are confirmed. But that timetable will give you a guide for your class schedules if that is what you wanted to see. All the best!

 

[mira2015]

Congratulations on your offers - with respect to your question, as listed above you just need to enroll in MD1010 and MD1020. Once that's completed, you will not be given a uni schedule on JCU eStudent; instead you can have a look at your timetable via this link here. Click on "Student" timetable > Subjects > Sort by "College of Medicine and Dentistry", "MD1010", the week you're interested in, "All weekdays", "Day " > View timetable. It will likely change closer to the date as lecturers confirm times etc. but as you're still a month out from uni starting don't stress too much about all this - you'll be given a lot more instructions from the uni very soon once final student numbers are confirmed. But that timetable will give you a guide for your class schedules if that is what you wanted to see. All the best!

Thanks for the information!!

I have a question in regards to orientation week. Does orientation last the entire week? How does it work? Is everyday mandatory?

 

[toulouse]

Thanks for the information!!

I have a question in regards to orientation week. Does orientation last the entire week? How does it work? Is everyday mandatory?

Theres a university orientation week with daily activities these are optional and just for all JCU students, they include things like market day (lots of freebies and opportunities to join various student clubs). There is also a compulsory Medicine specific orientation in this week and you can look at that schedule using the same instructions above (as Stapedius said) to view your timetable, from my memory I think I had 2 days of that. An email should be sent out to everyone regarding orientation closer to the dates.

 

[ZooCheese]

Question for current students - how much do the upfront costs for first year (textbooks, equipment) usually amount to? Thanks

 

[Stapedius]

Question for current students - how much do the upfront costs for first year (textbooks, equipment) usually amount to? Thanks

You'll hear a lot of opinions on this but I thought I'd add my 2c. I bought one textbook at a textbook sale run by JCUMSA early in the year; Kerr's histology for $20. I think I opened the book once in 2nd year. That being said, I recently bought Talley and O'Conner's Clinical Examination 9E textbooks at the start of 4th year, which I will admit has been quite helpful and I'd go as far as saying almost essential for clinical year med students. I would argue you can definitely get by with lecturer notes, online PDFs and USB textbook collections, especially for the pre-clinical years. I think unless money is no object to you - it would be worth waiting a little before splurging $1000s on textbooks which most students will realistically never even open, and I think even for subjects like anatomy where most people will almost immediately think Gray's anatomy etc. there are a number of other great visual programs out there like 'Essential Anatomy' which imo teach anatomy much better (and cheaper) than a textbook does.

Everyone learns differently though, and especially if you have a particular interest in going into the nitty gritty on some subjects (like Pathology if you're one of those guys), buying a textbook (ie. Robbins Basic Pathology) isn't a bad idea. But you will find lecturer's also recommend a huge list of textbooks and in all honesty (and from my own personal experience) you can do well, in fact - exceedingly well, without relying too much on them outside of using them as a reference for complex concepts that aren't taught well by particular lecturers. But with the advent of YouTube and Khan academy, even this has been mitigated in recent years.

As for other equipment costs, you'll probably need to buy a labcoat (~$30), a stethoscope if you really want but you can probably get away without having one until 2nd year (~$130), a computer (~$1000 depending on your budget) and the obvious stationary essentials (ie. paper, pens, calculator). Not sure on a total figure in terms of costing, but I don't imagine it'd be that different from other students. Hope that helps.

 

[Jivsta]

Hi!
I have been accepted into MBBS for 2023 at JCU Townsville... and was wondering if someone might have some insight on different residential halls? or if there are any forums or blogs I could read?
Ideally, I would want to go to a hall with not too much party culture and not too much of an academic incline.
Any info will be super helpful
Cheers!

 

[Stapedius]

2022 Update - JCU looks to Expand to Mackay and Cairns with ~80 Additional Medical Student Places

Some interesting news for you all! I was chatting to a trusted senior academic as part of the CMD recently and they disclosed to a few of us students in an informal meeting that JCU has been given another ~80-100 total medical places funded by the federal government, with around half of those new places being linked to a new Mackay clinical school from years 1-6 and the other half to start in Cairns from years 1-3. I asked if this was "approved" or simply "planned" and they said the federal government had signed off on the "preliminary funding" a few months ago following JCU’s successful re-accreditation with the AMC last year, and that JCU was now in the process of getting building permit approval to build the new clinical skill in Mackay (Cairns already has a medical school). My source said that this new increase in student intake was planned for 2023, but due to COVID-19 I suspect it might be pushed back slightly. I expect we'll receive more news about this directly from JCU soon, but thought I'd give you all a heads up directly from the source! I wouldn’t be posting this if I was under any NDA, nor did the academic say this was said in confidence (in fact they said it had already been circulated within JCU and I was free to tell anyone), but as I don’t have anything tangible to back this up other than their word (I can't see any mention of this being actually approved online), I will say this is still “speculative” if anyone asks. I did a bit of digging online here and here and it looks like JCU has been lobbying the federal government for this for the past year with a few submissions to Senate Committee Inquiries surrounding rural/remote GP supply issues, so it's not a complete surprise if it is indeed true.

If and when this goes through, JCU will become one of the biggest medical schools in Queensland in terms of total students (although still comfortably behind UQ).

 

[mc*]

2022 Update - JCU looks to Expand to Mackay and Cairns with ~80 Additional Medical Student Places

Some interesting news for you all! I was chatting to a trusted senior academic as part of the CMD recently and they disclosed to a few of us students in an informal meeting that JCU has been given another ~80-100 total medical places funded by the federal government, with around half of those new places being linked to a new Mackay clinical school from years 1-6 and the other half to start in Cairns from years 1-3. I asked if this was "approved" or simply "planned" and they said the federal government had signed off on the "preliminary funding" a few months ago following JCU’s successful re-accreditation with the AMC last year, and that JCU was now in the process of getting building permit approval to build the new clinical skill in Mackay (Cairns already has a medical school). My source said that this new increase in student intake was planned for 2023, but due to COVID-19 I suspect it might be pushed back slightly. I expect we'll receive more news about this directly from JCU soon, but thought I'd give you all a heads up directly from the source! I wouldn’t be posting this if I was under any NDA, nor did the academic say this was said in confidence (in fact they said it had already been circulated within JCU and I was free to tell anyone), but as I don’t have anything tangible to back this up other than their word (I can't see any mention of this being actually approved online), I will say this is still “speculative” if anyone asks. I did a bit of digging online here and here and it looks like JCU has been lobbying the federal government for this for the past year with a few submissions to Senate Committee Inquiries surrounding rural/remote GP supply issues, so it's not a complete surprise if it is indeed true.

If and when this goes through, JCU will become one of the biggest medical schools in Queensland in terms of total students (although still comfortably behind UQ).

I believe in the recent budget it included a proposal for 80 CSP but it may only go through is the current government is re-elected? Has anyone else seen this. I’ll try have another look for it.

 

[akshitasharma18]

Hi! This is a bit off topic, but I was thinking what was the cut-off for very rural interstate individuals on their predicted ATAR for early interviews at JCU? Is their certain cut-off that they have to consider applicants based on their predicted ATAR, especially for individuals that come from a RMM5 or the max rurality but interstate? Thanks!

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hi! This is a bit off topic, but I was thinking what was the cut-off for very rural interstate individuals on their predicted ATAR for early interviews at JCU? Is their certain cut-off that they have to consider applicants based on their predicted ATAR, especially for individuals that come from a RMM5 or the max rurality but interstate? Thanks!

JCU don’t publish this data so we have no idea.