Medical Student Review

I was assigned a different doctor to shadow everyday whilst I was having work experience at the hospital. This would mainly involve me shadowing on the wards or watching surgery in the morning and then sitting in clinic in the afternoons. The doctor gave me opportunities to speak to the patient and ask them questions relating to why they were in hospital and practice taking histories.

I felt much more at ease speaking to strangers after this and by the end of the work experience, I felt fairly comfortable going up to people in the wards and asking to have a chat. This experience also helped me with my medical school application and was very useful to reflect on and discuss.

I very much enjoyed it. At times I did feel a little bit in the way of the doctors as they obviously had their own work to do. I understood however that they couldn't commit all their time to teaching me as the needs of the patient are first and foremost.

It depended on which doctor I was shadowing. Some of them went out of their way to include me and make me feel part of the time, others didn't do as much as that though. Overall I would say I was made to feel valued but at the end of the day, there was only so much I could actually do in a clinical situation.

Very organised, I had a timetable for the entire time I was there and if I had any questions or wasn't sure what I would be doing, the doctors would be more than willing to help.

Plenty of support, if I had any questions about what was going on, they would always be more than willing to go into detail to explain it to me. I could always turn to nurses on the ward also if I had any issues.

Everything was organised by them well. At no point did I not know what I would be doing that day and they were very helpful. I would have preferred to have had a bit more variation on which wards I would be going on as I wasn't there for very long and would have liked a bit more diversity.

There was no financial support for this work experience. The hospital wasn't far from where I lived so there were no problems getting to and from there everyday.

After I finished, they explained to me that I could volunteer at the hospital also, mainly serving tea and coffee to the patients etc. I was told this is another thing that would be useful for my medical school application.

Yes

Really fun experience and felt that I learnt a lot. It was very useful and there was a lot to reflect on from the experience. It certainly helped me get into medical school.

Apply early as there is a long waiting list and many other young people apply. I had to wait several months before the work experience was organised for me.