What a year. 2017 began with the introduction of Progress Tests, Team Based Learning, and all sorts of other little changes. It is fair to say that some aspects have been tough, for both staff and students; but all in all, we have taken the changes in our stride. From an FMSS point of view, we have certainly noticed a culture shift within medicine – which is to be expected when you shift from a cram-style once-a-block-exam assessment to weekly quizzes and progress testing. As we all (including the College) get used to Programmatic Assessment for Learning, we hope that as a cohort we learn how to enjoy the little things along the way, rather than getting swept up in the current of progressive assessment.
It has been through the continued efforts of the exec team and year level reps that FMSS has built on our strong relationship with the college to try and influence decisions where possible. We can all agree that there is a lot of work before all the teething issues are worked out, so thank you all for your ongoing support and willingness to communicate through FMSS.
Taking a moment to reflect on the year, it has been a fantastic year for FMSS and the MD cohort.
Social: We began the year with the largest Med Camp in FMSS history, which combined with the spectacularly organised O-Week made for an excellent introduction to Medicine for 2017’s MD1s. Social also held the first cost neutral Med Ball in decades, meaning a more sustainable social budget without compromising on amazing food, music and vibes!
Engagement: Launched a new merch fashion line, with postage, regular pickup times, and all bought in bulk to save students money. It has been a priority of ours this year to strengthen our relationship with the other Med Socs at Flinders, we believe that working together we can achieve a lot more than if we compete – so far we have only seen good things.
Education: Continuation of MD1 peer teaching in the light of PAL, as well as the introduction of MD2 peer teaching.
Community: New benchmarks set with money raised for the Leukaemia Foundation going just over $9000 and $1800 for Daffodil Day. They built on last year’s amazing work with Teddy Bear Hospital, running a total of three sessions to cater for the demand, as well as introducing new competitions for Vampire Cup to capitalise on that competitive med student nature for a good cause!
Women’s Portfolio: Continued on the epic build-up of the last two years, particularly with the Yarrow Place workshop, and successfully brought Female Genital Mutilation awareness into the MD curriculum.
Wellbeing: As mentioned above, this year and all its changes have been tough on the cohort, so the HW&AD portfolio has been working hard behind the scenes. This is not to mention the massive Mental Health in Medicine night that sparked a lot of interest from the College. We hope that this interest translates into better resources available for Medical Students going through a difficult time.
Additionally, FMSS has reinvented our Grants programme, introducing Financial Hardship Grants and Emergency Vouchers that are available all year long (or at least until we run out of money!)
We would like to say a big thank you to marketing and I.T. as a lot of what they do goes unnoticed, but without them, we wouldn’t have the beautiful posters, a website on which to sell our merch, nor even a design for this magazine.
We are both looking forward to seeing what the clinical years hold and would like to thank the FMSS committee for being such an incredible team with which to work. We also want to say a massive thank you to our phenomenal President, Anna, who has been a part of FMSS for five years now, all while blitzing med and raising two beautiful kids. It is time for her to say goodbye to the FMSS and Flinders Med family now, and we’ll miss her dearly. We hope that all our MD4s have a great life as interns next year and know that the Grad Week team have an excellent send-off planned.
Happy holidays, everybody, and no doubt we’ll see you in 2018!
<3 Julie & Harrison
