Biomedical Science

I'm not familiar with biomed but when I took metabolic pathways, bio molecules etc.. I didn't even bother with lehninger.
Lecture notes and Lippincott were enough.

However I took it for a clinical course. Lehninger might be better for research/lab based careers. It definitely has more detail that's for sure!

xLisaBx wrote: »

Sorry to bring up an old thread! Hope everyone is happy with the results

Going into 3rd year this year, whats the pharmacology project like? Anything I can be looking up over the summer as I'm bored mindless?

Hi xLisaBx,
There's nothing really you can prepare for it to be honest as he gives you the titles in class. Its just a long 10A4 essay about a drug really, nothing too complicated. Best to take the summer off and enjoy the rest, you'll need the energy for the first semester of Third Year!

This is an ageing thread but in case people are currently thinking of doing this course, and questioning their CAO choices, I said I would post an update on here. I finished this course a few years ago and then went and did the years internship.

The Course
Few points regarding the course. Its a very very tough course with a heavy work load. Because its a very open course, you don't get to drop subjects you dislike or don't do well in. There was a lot of overlap of material from year to year so good notes are essential. Some of the UCC modules were very difficult and not taught very well. This is because for those modules, you are in with other groups from other UCC courses, who might not have as heavy a module load as the biomeds do. In UCC, you are expected and encouraged to do a lot of private research on your own in your own time. In CIT, the notes are given to you and you just have to tie up the dots and relate the material from other modules to prove you understand and can relate topics.

The MCQ element of some modules was very annoying, especially when there was negative marking.
Year 1 - was lovely
Year 2 - a bit more difficult but still fine
Year 3 - massive jump in UCC expectations
Year 4 - was just crazy.

In year 4, you must do an 8 week lab project that's weighted three modules. So you have to put in a lot of effort. The way it was, you got 2 weeks to write up the report at the end, which was insane. I found myself working almost 8am to 8pm in the lab... and you still have midterms to consider. and then your straight into the last semester of classes. So expect to have very little time in year 4. Since I did the course, they did bring in continuous assessment for both UCC and CIT so that might ease the pressure a little... but some modules, particularly UCC must be very difficult to cover in a single a term.

Whatever about the course workload, I found the class to be very competitive. People will say they are not studying, but trust me they are! Lots get grinds and pool their efforts to get the material covered. (eg: 5 students get together, and decide to focus on a particular subset of topics each.. write essays to cover all possible past paper questions and then pool them). Some people even had sample MCQ papers they got from either grinds or other courses. That's the only way to get through the last 2 years of this course from what I can tell. I was stubborn and tried to do it all myself - resulting me almost collapsing at the end from exhaustion and mental distress. I failed an exam in both 3rd and 4th year because of that. Ended up with a 2:1 and was delighted with that, even though I felt the amount of work I put in, I deserved a lot more. Tip: reference what you put on the exam script - even the name of a text book.


The Intern Year
Everyone was placed in hospitals around the region... so mainly, CUH, the Bons, the Mercy, Bantry, Waterford, Limerick... from what I can remember. You do get to witness a lot of what goes on in the lab as you do a rotation in each lab, completing assignments and so on as you go. You also have to complete a library dissertation project of your choice and a practical project like your final year project which was given to us. Rotations were for 6 weeks.. in Haematology, Transfusion (including a week in the Irish Transfusion Service), Microbiology, Histopathology, and Biochemistry.

Heamatology: not very interesting. you do a lot of SOP reading and looking at machines doing the jobs. There isn't very much to learn. Everything you did in college was far far more advanced than what you need to know here. The microscope work was interesting to confirm what you did in college.

Transfusion: not very interesting. Very routine group and cross match. IT is interesting to witness the process and what goes on. But that's about it.

Microbiology: there was a lot going on here... a few different benches, but again, very routine. Identifying the species was mainly it.. which can be done by machines.

Histopathology: again interesting to see what goes on but you soon see how routine and mind numbing it can be. You don't need to understand anything.

Biochem: sit back and watch the machines.

At the end of your time, you will be kept on, but its mainly to do the donkey work.. labelling tubes and gp forms (if you are lucky), changing reagents, the skivvies... and that trend continues if they offer you a job to stay. Progression is very slow and you wont get anywhere unless you have a Masters, a 1H in ur degree helps, and you have to have 2-3 years experience. So you feel very trapped when you find yourself at that stage of the process. And what I noted too was that you get assigned to one aspect of biomed and you stay there... you don't get to switch between the sectors.. In small hospitals this may be possible but it would be very general basic analysis... nothing specific.

Robotics and advances in Biomedical Engineering are fast coming onboard.. due to their reliability and accuracy and the biomedical scientist is fast being replaced and removed from necessity. So after spending 5 years almost killing yourself to study a subject that is really on par with what Medical students study, you find yourself far too over qualified, and almost like a spare wheel at the side that no one cares about and a throng of people ahead of you willing to cut throat to snap up whatever positions come available.

Many of my class went on to study Masters or PhD's. Some went back to try Graduate Medicine (which is very tough and competitive to get into). I myself, could not bare the thought of working in a lab so I went on to do a Masters in a different sector and now Im happy with what Im doing... but looking back, Biomedical Science, was not needed to do this job, but it did help me stand out from the other applicants.

I know I must be sounding very critical and negative, but with the points for this course not far behind Medicine... I would really caution students taking this course on. If its Medicine you wanted, Id advise repeat the LC. If lab work is for you, this is the course to take but keep in mind, it will only be a hospital lab you can work in, and as mentioned.. will take years to get anywhere and basically, all you will really be doing is putting tubes on machines, and validating results on the system. I applied for some pharmaceutical labs and was shot down for every single one. Getting into a vet lab might be an option but only if you are willing to do a masters in veterinary studies which is more expense and time. Research would be a possibility, but unless you have a great concept, funding is hard to get and competition out there is incredible.

So while the course is a challenge, very interesting, tough... and you will gain a wealth of knowledge of the human body systems and laboratory techniques... (molecular biology is not even done in Ireland.. ).. a lot of what you will do in college is completely irrelevant to what you will end up doing.

I do feel at some point, especially with the trending points for entry to the course, that this course will be merged with Medicine in some way. The lab work is fine and all, but was more suited to the Medlab course that Biomedical Science replaced (no offense to anyone who did MedLab). Given the crisis the Healthcare sector is in worldwide, and the talented calibre of student currently in Biomed, some sort of merge with Medicine is the only direction that makes sense, especially with the automation of the science fast becoming reality.
It would mean redesigning both courses, increasing places, making more specialities and options for Medical students and retuning certain modules... and this would take a long time to put into practice.