Work experience for Medicine

[DC17C]

Just wondering if anyone had any ideas on this.

My son was told by the careers advisor that a solid amount of work experience was essential for entry to Medicine, and this had to show regular time in a caring role.

As the eldest of 5, my son does do pretty regular time in a caring role - and is brilliant with the younger ones including my autistic son - but as this is unlikely to 'count' he has been searching for work experience that's regular.
He's managed to secure a week with a doctor at a hospital, but so far has not had a single reply to any other letters written to hospitals nearby.
We have also tried repeatedly to get him a place with St John's Ambulance - I must have made at least 8 calls now - and all they ever say is that they will pass on our number and someone will ring us back.

He's particularly interested in genetics and genetic diseases and would love a chance to get some experience in this field too.

If anyone has further suggestions/courses/places to apply to, I'd appreciate it.

I don't think the things your ds does at home should not be discounted- especially if you have a child with special needs- in that if home life is busy and complicated then it does leave less time for other things. I remember a conversation with a cousin whose son did go off to do medicine and was asked why he didn't have much extra curricular stuff going on. He explained that his parents worked very long hours running a small business and he did a lot of caring for his 2 younger brothers and there was little time for a lot of running around doing clubs and things. I am however sure he must have been able to get some sort of work experience as his uncle was a GP but now retired and there are other medics in the family. A niece in my OH's family is in 2nd year medicine at Cardiff and as a sixth former she managed to get a life guarding job at a local swimming pool - that is another good way to get CPR training.

[Yamin151]

Lots of schools can do CPR training now - my dh has done it for both my boys schools and the BHF is very keen to train youngsters as well as adults.

[um]

Thank you - some great ideas and thoughts.

Those links are very helpful, KenR. I've emailed them straight to ds1 to try tomorrow when I am working.
I hope NCS will count for something as it certainly involves a lot of time - this is his third week with them although he has tomorrow 'off' and he has to work every Saturday in September too. He has been doing work at St Mary's Hospice through NCS and asked them again if he could get a voluntary role there but I am afraid it is only for age 18 years+.

Ds1 has wanted to be a doctor since he was tiny. I don't know why (we are mainly a family of engineers!) but even when he was 3 years old he had a hospital made out of his collection of baby dolls and large quantities of bandages. I remember the funny looks I used to get when we went out with his doll and pushchair and people asking me if he was a girl Bit sad really...hopefully the world has moved on a bit in the last 15 years.

I have seen a number of organisations offering voluntary medical placements overseas but the cost is unbelievable
Ds2 is keen to go into engineering and has attended quite a few affordable courses with the Smallpeice Trust. He's really benefited from them, but there doesn't seem to be any equivalent for Medicine.

[DC17C]

Thank you for the tip about the Smallpeice Trust..... DD is now busy applying for the Girls STEM course at RAF Canwell

[um]

[RedVelvet]

Thank you for the tip about the Smallpeice Trust..... DD is now busy applying for the Girls STEM course at RAF Canwell

Just had a quick look' it looks great.

[DIY Mum]

Don't worry, um if your ds has hit a brick wall. The 6th form careers dept at kechb is very good at helping students find work experience in care homes etc.

[um]

Really? Might follow that up then!

Ds1 has said he has to find something himself. He's applied for 4 care homes so far and they all said he had to be 18yrs+

The good news is he has an interview at Solo in Solihull next week. It's not that local but sounds very good - working with children and young adults who have disabilities.

[Tree]

Hi
i see this post is thread is quite old but one approach that I know works well is that most GP practices have patient groups who are usually made up of older folk with chronic long term conditions (not unreasonably) and practices are generally keen to get more young people and in particular teenagers into these groups and if applicants joined these groups this would be a great way to get some experience of the current issues involving general practice you could canvas your school mates on access and facilities and this would probably look great on your UCAS and give you something solid to talk about in your interview.

[hermanmunster]

Hi
i see this post is thread is quite old but one approach that I know works well is that most GP practices have patient groups who are usually made up of older folk with chronic long term conditions (not unreasonably) and practices are generally keen to get more young people and in particular teenagers into these groups and if applicants joined these groups this would be a great way to get some experience of the current issues involving general practice you could canvas your school mates on access and facilities and this would probably look great on your UCAS and give you something solid to talk about in your interview.

It is a good idea they are now referred to as "patient participation groups" or the PPG. They are encouraged to be involved in patient surveys etc and it may be that the younger people would be the best ones to help with the survey and analyse the data ?