Summary of Course taken.

I have completed a five year veterinary degree and am now nearing the end of a further four years residency (consultancy training). I am specialising in orthopaedics and soft tissue surgery and find the main problem when I am studying is information overload, a general inability to study after a full day of operations and a constant feeling of tiredness.

Description of strategies used.

I find because I am often exhausted I lack concentration and can't take everything on board and spend far too much time buried in books, when I should be seeing family and friends or at least playing some sport.

It is hard to accept that you are never going to learn it all before a major exam - It is the elephant effect - How do you eat an elephant? - one bite at a time - it is the only way to cope. I even make small notes to myself in case I forget things using the task list on my mobile phone.

There is also the problem of not being able to access all the programs you have in your lab when back at home - So I can access EndNote from the university server but not at home, so now I use CiteULike which is available wherever you are.

I think it is important to know your own limitations and that of the programs you use. I find paper based mind maps help me better than the computer based versions, as I like the action of writing the notes down and the ability to go over them again very quickly. I seem to remember it better in this visual way where all the topics link together.

It is important to stay in contact with those working on a similar course if you are a post graduate. In my case this is in order to keep testing my knowledge. I contact a friend in New Zealand on Skype and we test each other each week - it can be a bit depressing realising how little you know but it is good to have someone to chat with when there is so much work.

We also have a Google group where we can post queries and ask for support related to particular operations. These groups are also helpful if you are collaborating on a paper. You can set up your own group on any subject. There is a Veterinary International Network with virtual coffee mornings, continual professional development sessions, e-mail links and constant updates to keep you in touch with everyone.

One final problem that you have to get over is the constant feeling of guilt that you are never going to clear the desk and you are not used to that feeling no matter how good you are!