Work experience for graduate medicine

[fatcat]

I cannot agree its of no use, how can actually experiencing the job first hand be useless?

I agree, you have to know what you're letting yourself in for, so you have to experience what it's actually like in a hospital and the sorts of jobs that health care staff actually do.

However i appreciate that volunteering your time in some form of social work is also very useful and quite emotionally demanding, which i feel will stand you in good stead for a future medical career.

I too think that voluntary/caring work is also very important, and this should be done in addition to shadowing - surely both are essential components of work experience, with neither on its own being really adequate, from the perspective of the applicant in deciding whether a medical/caring profession is for them and for the admissions tutors to assess whether the applicant has suitable motivation/insight.

[showb1zk1tten]

In reply to the original post, perhaps try and do a wide variety of things? What you are doing right now yorkiee sounds good but I really do think volunteering would be a good idea. I volunteered for 'save the children' over the weekends and worked in a nursing home too. I also joined an NHS scheme which allows you to temp in different parts of your local hospital. Maybe contact your local hosipital and see if they have a scheme running? You can do a wide varietry of things and you will be working closely with doctors and patients so it looks impressive on PS/interview plus you really will learn a lot from it.

[Malgosia]

Just do some mindless arse wiping (e.g. HCA work), that's what they're looking for.

I have been working as HCA for the past three years and I feel angry about your message. Obviously you have never done it yourself. This job is not just about it - there is more to it - being with people when they need it most because of their poor health. And wiping arses for people who cannot do it themselves can be quite a sacred task as well - especially when you know that the next day they may not be alive anymore and you did for them something so simple and important and much needed.

[spk76]

I have been working as HCA for the past three years and I feel angry about your message. Obviously you have never done it yourself. This job is not just about it - there is more to it - being with people when they need it most because of their poor health. And wiping arses for people who cannot do it themselves can be quite a sacred task as well - especially when you know that the next day they may not be alive anymore and you did for them something so simple and important and much needed.

Get off your high horse and drink some milk.

[yazoo]

HCA-type work v. useful. You will get experience of communicating with people who may be quite sick, you'll have some idea how to move sick patients with least distress, you'll know to remember to put the breaks on the wheel chair when needed etc etc. Also very useful to have first hand experience of bodily fluids (that are NOT yours, your partners or your childrens!). Gives you insight into the glamorous aspect of the job

I was working full-time prior to my application and def. didn't fancy HCA commitment on top of busy job. I did vol work at local hosp once a week - fun and useful. Also provided opportunity to talk to Drs etc.

Personal opinions now...

I think vol work looks good and helps demonstrate caring attitude no matter what field it is in.

I don't think shadowing is much use beyond the opportunity to talk to Drs. Without some medical training it's impossible to understand much of what is going on. MORE IMPORTANTLY, I don't think it's particularly ethical (how many times have people who are shadowing been introduced as who they really are and not misleadingly as "one of our students"). I think confidentiality is a real issue as there are no controls over who shadows unlike CRB etc for med students.

[Sipadan]

I have been working as HCA for the past three yea rs and I feel angry about your message. Obviously you have never done it yourself. This job is not just about it - there is more to it - being with people when they need it most because of their poor health. And wiping arses for people who cannot do it themselves can be quite a sacred task as well - especially when you know that the next day they may not be alive anymore and you did for them something so simple and important and much needed.

Yes, it's one of the most important jobs in the NHS. HCAs seem to be the only staff who actually care for patients, you hardly ever see doctors on the ward and what is it that nurses actually do these days? (I await an angry private message from a nurse )

However, having done some HCA work, I wouldn't regard it as the most intellectually challenging job that I've undertaken, again that doesn't detract from its importance.

[rachelm]

I don't think shadowing is much use beyond the opportunity to talk to Drs. Without some medical training it's impossible to understand much of what is going on. MORE IMPORTANTLY, I don't think it's particularly ethical (how many times have people who are shadowing been introduced as who they really are and not misleadingly as "one of our students"). I think confidentiality is a real issue as there are no controls over who shadows unlike CRB etc for med students.

I'd say firstly that the opportunity to talk to Doctors sounds to me to be extremely useful in itself, and would be a very good reason to shadow. It sounds like others have got an awful lot out of shadowing, how would you explain that? I don't need medical training to understand how to observe how the doctors relate to patients or answer difficult questions, for example.

With regards to the brakes on wheelchairs, I learned at the hospice that it's bloody hard to move old people with the brakes still on... I was thinking "christ, but this old guy is HEAVY!"

[yazoo]

I think I might have been misunderstood. I think shadowing is useful for the opportunity it allows people to talk to doctors. However, I do not personally approve of shadowing. I've seen too many situations where patients have no idea that someone who isn't a medical student is sitting in, watching surgery etc.

Let me make myself blatently (?sp) clear. If the patient has given informed consent, then it's ok, but only just ok, as even if the patient is expressly asked, they often just say yes just to please the Dr.

"I don't need medical training to understand how to observe how the doctors relate to patients or answer difficult questions, for example."

There is no real educational benefit from seeing consultations with no medical training at all - you really don't need to see Drs interacting with patients to decide whether or not you want to be a Dr. Much better to go and interact with patients yourself as a volunteer etc. And even if there was some kind of educational benefit, perhaps the type of Dr who lets random members of the public in to watch consultations is not the type of person you should be learning from. Also, patients should also be asked if they mind having medical students sitting in - it's not just non-medics. No consent = unethical. It doesn't matter whether or not the consultant says it's ok, it's not!

The patient comes first, not an insight into a career that may or may not be right for you. There are lots of other ways to get an opportunity to talk to doctors.

Also, I'm not criticising those of you who have done shadowing. You were not the one charged with protecting the best interest of the patient, and most people won't think too much about the ethics of Dr-patient interections until they start med school.