Growing older and wiser

Welcome back from summer holidays—and for freshers, welcome to medical school.

From your first patient to your first medical society social, this year is going to bring a lot of new experiences. To help you feel ready, Jaime Chan and I explain what to expect, how to prepare, and what to pack in your bag for the different parts of medical school (p 8). Elsewhere in the issue, we prepare you for two situations you might come across in clinical placements: a person vomiting fresh blood (p 34), and an older person who recently fell and seems confused (p 20).

“Some words lose their original meaning or convey unrelated messages; others become derogatory or insulting. In medicine, elderly is one such term: it is outdated, conjures up bias, and does harm.” (p 30) says Javat Hekmat-panah, professor …