Closed - Work Experience and Voluntary Work [Part 1 of 2]

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I have an interview for hospital volunteering next week. The interview states that it's for an hour. Does anyone know why it's so long and what sort of things will be happening during this? Thankyou. :smile:

Reply 5841

spoinkytheduck

[QUOTE=:) Lauraaa [excludedFace]smile[/excludedFace];37606641]I have an interview for hospital volunteering next week. The interview states that it's for an hour. Does anyone know why it's so long and what sort of things will be happening during this? Thankyou. :smile:

I had an interview which was supposed to be for an hour but I found that it was actually really short and the majority of the time was form-filling, orientation etc.
It might be the same with you? :smile:

Reply 5842

Meltingice

Hi guys

I got this off from the Work exp wiki- "During your Work Experience; Make the most of your work experience – talk to the doctors, get to see as many things as possible! Get the most out of it as you can – it will give you loads to talk about in your interview."

When shadowing a doctor, say, an orthopedic surgeon.

What kind of information would you want to get from him?
Information about the patient's disease & ways to cure it?
Or more of the ethics side of the medical field?

And when he does tell you some really difficult, unknown medical terms of the particular disease, is it recommended to know & remember it?
Or just a brief knowledge about the whole situation would do?

I really want to make full use of my work experience period since it was REALLY difficult to arrange one, so please help!

Thanks in advance :rolleyes:

Reply 5843

Hippokrates

You're more likely to be sat in the corner of the clinic or stalking them on a ward round than talking to them. Don't get too caught up in the science the most important part is how they act with their patients, what their job entails. You're there to find out the role of a doctor so there's nothing to worry about. :smile:

Reply 5844

Helloworld_95

Might be worth looking at this, seems like it would apply to the UK as well http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/Education/MD-Program/Admissions/Applicants/Pages/Shadow.aspx

Reply 5845

Meltingice

Thank you for your replies! Very much appreciated :smile:

Reply 5846

Helenia

Original post by Meltingice

Hi guys

If I were you, I'd try to find out about life as a doctor, why he enjoys what he does, what he doesn't like etc. Watch how he interacts with patients (though orthopods may not be the best model for this!) and if you can talk to the patients to see how they're feeling.

They may ask you technical questions, as some doctors don't really know/care about the difference between work experience students and junior medical students. If you know, great, and if they teach you stuff, that's great too, but that's not what you're there for, so don't get too bogged down in the nitty-gritty. You've got 5 years of med school to learn medicine; what your work experience is really about is deciding if that's really how you want to spend the next 5 years.

You may find it helpful to talk to juniors on the team, rather than just the consultant - they will have been through medical school more recently and can give you a more accurate picture of life as a junior doctor.

Reply 5847

digitalis

Original post by Helenia

You may find it helpful to talk to juniors on the team, rather than just the consultant - they will have been through medical school more recently and can give you a more accurate picture of life as a junior doctor.

Absolutely this.

Reply 5848

-Simon-

Get a giant list of interview questions and make a mental note of some of them that you are struggling with and ask the consultant, junior doctor etc. about how they would answer it, it can often focus your mind on your own answer.

For example I have known for the past 5/6 years I wanted to study medicine...but I could never answer the question "why do you want to be a doctor?" When, I asked some doctors this I realised exactly why I wanted to and even why I struggled answering the question. It was really useful...asking about medical stuff is not that useful.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5849

digitalis

Original post by -Simon-

I would definitely not do this. I had a school student on work experience shadow me as a finalist and she kept asking me these questions over and over again. I wanted to tell her 'figure it out yourself' and it was just really annoying. She kept asking me these questions as I was trying to write up clerkings, look at films etc.

Reply 5850

Caponester

As long as you're friendly, enthusiastic, dressed in an appropriate manner and able to string a sentence or two together then you'll be fine. By all means ask questions (this shows you're enthusiastic), but don't start firing 101 questions about why medicine on a ward round or during a consultation.

Would definitely agree with seeking advice from juniors or senior med students. I really enjoyed my time with GP's and consultants because it gave me an idea of what the end product of the job would be like but realistically it was my time spent talking to med students or junior medics that was most useful when it came to giving strength and depth to my application.

Good luck.

Reply 5851

Anhedonia

Hi, would just like to ask whether universities require proof/evidence of the work experience you've done to be submitted to them, e.g. evidence letters/certificates. Or do they just take you at your word? :smile:

Reply 5852

spoinkytheduck

Original post by Anhedonia

Most universities will just take you at your word (although I wouldnt recommend lying - do go and do the work experience!!) but a few such as Kings ask for contact details, although whether they actually contact them I dont know. I'd make sure you have contact details for each of your placements just incase :smile:

Reply 5853

Ketchup'n'Mustard

Original post by spoinkytheduck

What do you mean contact details? Of the specific doctor you shadowed?

Reply 5854

AtomicMan

the junior doctors will in general acknowledge you more and try to engage you into what they are doing, whenever ive been with consultants they sometimes assume im a medical student, and ask me hard anatomy questions, then when I try to defend myself by saying im only in y12, they say "oh right yes" then an hour later they ask you about the different nerves in the forearm and their function and to point them out in a patient during surgery, or where cancers would form on the pancreas and to explain why :s-smilie:

Reply 5855

Meltingice

Original post by Helenia

So I should ask them about their daily routine (what kind of situations do they encounter everyday.. feelings, opinions..)?

& what do they like/dislike about their job? :smile:

So I don't really have to know any medical terms right :s-smilie:

Oh! By the way, I am volunteering at a local hospital. But I find it difficult to create a conversation.. Is it okay for me to ask what they were diagnosed with? Or does that count as going beyond the "patient confidentiality" rule?

Thank you again for your replies! Really appreciate it :redface:

Reply 5856

-Simon-

Original post by digitalis

Sounds like your problem with the student was when she was asking you the questions, rather than the actual questions. I wasn't suggesting anyone just asked a series of questions and copy them...I was saying that asking someone who had also thought about the questions would be useful.

Also, why did you allow a school student to shadow you if you didn't want to be asked questions about the most immediate concern of a student? (getting in) It would seem obvious that they would ask about interview questions.

Reply 5857

digitalis

Original post by -Simon-

Lol @ 'allowing' a student to shadow me...she was palmed off onto me by the consultant via the staff grade via the SHO. Not exactly a situation where I could say no. In fact, I did try and find her someone qualified to follow but she bounced back to me.

It was both. Asking sets of questions that basically was every permutation of an interview gets very old, very quickly.

Also, it may seem 'obvious' to you that she would ask me stock interview questions, but the whole point of shadowing someone is to get an idea of what the person they are shadowings job entails, ideally so they don't apply thinking that life is like Grey's Anatomy. It isn't to provide a free interview prep course whilst someone is trying to get on with their day.

Reply 5858

anoldbaby

Original post by Meltingice

So I should ask them about their daily routine (what kind of situations do they encounter everyday.. feelings, opinions..)?

& what do they like/dislike about their job? :smile:

So I don't really have to know any medical terms right :s-smilie:

I didn't asking medical related stuff to patients / relatives during volunteering... is not what I am there for... I am suppose to be there to help ...
I used open questions like how are you doing and let them lead the convo... similar to work experience, it provides insight into patient... if they want to share their diagnosed then so be it but personally I wont start this subject

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5859

Pandabär

Erm...(just my two cents) Don't stand in the way (almost impossible), and don't bombard them with questions when they're clearly thinking something through. Introduce yourself to patients then just stand there without interrupting anything the doctor says. Say thank you at the end of consultations with patients. Look interested when the doctors explain stuff to you.

It's not hard. I just did everything above and the F2, registrars and consultants I shadowed seemed happy enough. If you don't annoy them they're more likely to spend time explaining things, like mri scans and ecg results to you, and take you to see their most interesting cases. I didn't ask anything like 'why medicine?' because they are already qualified so it seems almost irrelevant. Also, it's the kind of thing you need to figure out for yourself, and a busy A&E department isn't exactly the time or place for such convos. :tongue: