Quick Questions Thread #2: 2018-2019

[pi]

Pharmacists are very peripherally involved in diagnosis, it's not a significant aspect to their job. The most common diagnosis is "hypertension", as many pharmacies take blood pressure readings these days.

If you're looking for non-doctor jobs with a diagnostic challenge, physio, psychology, and being a nurse practitioner in an emergency department would be your best options.

 

[1234med]

Pharmacists would not be diagnosing medical conditions. Providing medications for symptoms are not the same thing as a diagnosis which a medically qualified individual would be performing.

Can you explain your second sentence further?

Pharmacists are very peripherally involved in diagnosis, it's not a significant aspect to their job. The most common diagnosis is "hypertension", as many pharmacies take blood pressure readings these days.

If you're looking for non-doctor jobs with a diagnostic challenge, physio, psychology, and being a nurse practitioner in an emergency department would be your best options.

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive list of diagnostic back up options. I understand there is a burden on GPs, is this the same for pharmacists?

 

[pi]

What type of burden are you referring to?

 

[Perplex]

Can you explain your second sentence further?

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive list of diagnostic back up options. I understand there is a burden on GPs, is this the same for pharmacists?

Identifying symptoms is not the same as diagnosing.
Also what do you mean by burdens? Are you referring to case load?

 

[1234med]

Community pharmacies ready to ease burden on GPs

Perplex, sorry I don't understand.
Diagnosing: the identification of the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms.
Pharmacists do this when recommending appropriate over the counter medications, no? But it's a small part of the job, like pi said.

 

[Ruffle]

Community pharmacies ready to ease burden on GPs

Perplex, sorry I don't understand.
Diagnosing: the identification of the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms.
Pharmacists do this when recommending appropriate over the counter medications, no? But it's a small part of the job, like pi said.

Pharmacists can't diagnose per se, they are not allowed to conclude that you have x illness based on y symptoms. They can however recommend OTC medications to alleviate the symptom y that you described to them.

Sorry, I don't know much about the burden placed on GPs or pharmacists, but seeing as they plan to transfer some of the burden from GPs to pharmacies, the burden for pharmacies would seem to be less than that of GPs.

 

[1234med]

Gotcha! Thanks a lot

 

[year12student]

I have got an offer from UTAS. Is it okay to accept one offer in each state?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

I have got an offer from UTAS. Is it okay to accept one offer in each state?

Yes, it sure is. You then withdraw from the least preferred university prior to census date (or as early as possible so your place can go to the next person in line in a timely manner). Congrats on your offer, did you receive it last month?

 

[year12student]

Yes, it sure is. You then withdraw from the least preferred university prior to census date (or as early as possible so your place can go to the next person in line in a timely manner). Congrats on your offer, did you receive it last month?

Thanks for your reply. I received the offer on 21st of December. I have time till 18th of Jan to accept the offer. I haven't yet got the offers from any other universities. What do you mean by census date? Is there any obligations in withdrawing the offer once it has been accepted?

 

[Perplex]

Thanks for your reply. I received the offer on 21st of December. I have time till 18th of Jan to accept the offer. I haven't yet got the offers from any other universities. What do you mean by census date? Is there any obligations in withdrawing the offer once it has been accepted?

The census date is the last date to withdraw from units or take leave without incurring fees for subjects.

Usually there are no implications for withdrawaing. The only time it may come into play is if you choose to reapply, which won’t happen in your case.
Just make sure you’re polite in your correspondence with the university and it should be fine.

 

[medbp]

hey!! I just got my IB results and they were very disappointing (IB38, ATAR 96.70), my Umat score was 169 (S1: 50, S2:67, S3:57, Overall:169, 79th Percentile) and I am a rural student (RA3). I have an interview at Monash is a couple of days, what are my chances of getting an offer?

 

[geek]

Hi,
I was wondering how does the uTAS med entry works
applying for class of 2020
I am a bit confused about their interstate requirements with no special considerations
Is it a hurdle of a 95 atar and then ranking based on the umat/ucat?
cheers

 

[Crow]

Hi,
I was wondering how does the uTAS med entry works
applying for class of 2020
I am a bit confused about their interstate requirements with no special considerations
Is it a hurdle of a 95 atar and then ranking based on the umat/ucat?
cheers

It appears they changed their entry criteria again for this admissions cycle so we don't know exactly what it is anymore. ATAR definitely appears to be more than just a hurdle for this year, but who knows what they'll do next year? They seem to change their entry criteria quite often.

As information is yet to be released on exactly how UCAT is scored, as well as that most medical schools are yet to share their new place offer weightings for 2020 entry and beyond, it will be pure speculation for a while. All we currently know is that if you want to study at UTas, you will need to sit UCAT.

 

[James Thompson]

Hey guys, I recently found out that my ATAR can be combined with my GPA/WAM in order to increase my competitiveness when trying to apply for medicine at UNSW. If i say got an atar of 96 and a WAM of say 86, would my ATAR and thus my competitveness increase or decrease? and by how much? Would it be a slight change by say one ATAR point (i.e, the ATAR will move to a 95 or 97) or will it be a large change?

 

[Crow]

Hey guys, I recently found out that my ATAR can be combined with my GPA/WAM in order to increase my competitiveness when trying to apply for medicine at UNSW. If i say got an atar of 96 and a WAM of say 86, would my ATAR and thus my competitveness increase or decrease? and by how much? Would it be a slight change by say one ATAR point (i.e, the ATAR will move to a 95 or 97) or will it be a large change?

I believe (unfortunately) that UNSW have stated outright that if your ATAR was 96 or lower, even a GPA of 7 and a 100%ile UMAT would not be enough to make you competitive. A1 can confirm.

ETA: Quoted from the UNSW site:

As a guide, if a local applicant has an ATAR of less than 93.00, their tertiary results can never be sufficient to raise their academic results to the equivalent of the minimum ATAR of 96.00 required for consideration for entry. An applicant who scores a ATAR of around 98 would need to achieve results of high distinctions in some courses and distinctions in the rest in order to maintain the equivalent ATAR.

This suggests you would need an ATAR equivalent of your GPA above 96 to make you competitive for entry.

Whether your GPA improves or worsens your chances depends on this conversion table:

We believe UNSW finds the average of your ATAR and whatever the ATAR equivalent of your GPA is to rank non-standard applicants for selection.

It's important to point out that wherever you apply for medicine as a non-standard or graduate entry applicant, the medical school (including UNSW) will most likely look at your GPA when assessing your application, not WAM. You need to figure out what your GPA is by finding the average of the grades you received for each individual unit.

I believe the only time an Australian medical school would look at WAM over GPA would be when Monash assesses their own undergraduate students for their graduate entry program, when Melbourne is checking that a Chancellor's scholar or FFP guarantee student has met the 75 WAM requirement in their undergraduate degree, and potentially when UNSW compares the lateral transfer applicants amongst themselves.

 

[A1]

If i say got an atar of 96 and a WAM of say 86, would my ATAR and thus my competitveness increase or decrease? and by how much? Would it be a slight change by say one ATAR point (i.e, the ATAR will move to a 95 or 97) or will it be a large change?

Unfortunately 96 ATAR will practically rule you out of UNSW. Even with GPA 6.5+ for 99.5 conversion max your equiv Rank is around (96+99.5)/2 = 97.8.

Last year UNSW did invite a number of sub-98s to interview but after compiling 1st-round interview results (with their Atar & Umat) for 1st-round offers they found no-one below 98.2 was successful. Thereby they applied this cutoff and withdrew all interstate invites below 98.2. This year it looks like they already applied this cutoff even to 1st-round interviews.

 

[James Thompson]

Unfortunately 96 ATAR will practically rule you out of UNSW. Even with GPA 6.5+ for 99.5 conversion max your equiv Rank is around (96+99.5)/2 = 97.8.

Last year UNSW did invite a number of sub-98s to interview but after compiling 1st-round interview results (with their Atar & Umat) for 1st-round offers they found no-one below 98.2 was successful. Thereby they applied this cutoff and withdrew all interstate invites below 98.2. This year it looks like they already applied this cutoff even to 1st-round interviews.

Even an ATAR of 96.5? Does that make a difference?

 

[A1]

Even an ATAR of 96.5? Does that make a difference?

With 96.5 the equiv Rank is around (96.5+99.5)/2= 98, close to last year's cutoff. If the cutoff happens to drop the year you apply you can make it. Cutoffs are known to fluctuate year by year for example UMAT S1 for JMP dropped from 60 to 58.

(Note the Equiv rank formula is an educated guess only based on a couple of anecdotes, we can't vouch for its accuracy).

 

[Lame]

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone can help me confirm just how the BMP offer system works for UoN/UNE
I know that for WSU, non bonded offers are given down the list until only bonded places remain. For the JMP, does adding an expression of interest mean any offer you get will definitely be bonded - or does it work like WSU where non bonded offers are given out to higher scoring applicants?

Just wondering whether I should be expecting any JMP offer I might (hopefully) get to be bonded, or whether there's a chance I will just get a regular CSP?
thanks heaps )