[llessur123]

(Original post by Miryo)
Do you know of any way I can get work experience with a Psychiatrist? It's one of the fields Im interested in but can't seem to find any work experience.

Near impossible with the confidentiality thing. Unless you like emptying bins and filling up paper towel dispensers.

[Miryo]

(Original post by llessur123)
Near impossible with the confidentiality thing. Unless you like emptying bins and filling up paper towel dispensers.

So students can get no insight into what its like?

[lsaul95]

(Original post by Miryo)
Do you know of any way I can get work experience with a Psychiatrist? It's one of the fields Im interested in but can't seem to find any work experience.

I got mine through a program on their NHS hospital website. If you lived in Newcastle I would show you where to get it haha.

[lsaul95]

(Original post by llessur123)
Near impossible with the confidentiality thing. Unless you like emptying bins and filling up paper towel dispensers.

I must be a one of a kind then! You are incorrect. It's not near impossible, you just have to find a psychiatrist that's willing to let you shadow them. The confidentiality is the same as any other work experience placement. As long as it's adult psychiatry you can easily get a placement if they're willing to let you shadow them. Are you trying to imply that psychiatric patients are out of bounds compared to other patients?

[llessur123]

(Original post by Miryo)
So students can get no insight into what its like?

I can't say for sure but when I rang up a few of the consultant psychiatrists where I live they said there was basically no chance unless I was a medical student.

I can understand it though, its an extremely private issue for most people. I doubt you'll be getting experience in a GUM clinic or anything either for the same reasons. I'm interested in it too, but I guess we will just have to wait.

EDIT: Ok just read the other reply to me. Apparently it is possible, give it a go! I'm just unlucky or something haha.

[llessur123]

(Original post by lsaul95)
I must be a one of a kind then! You are incorrect. It's not near impossible, you just have to find a psychiatrist that's willing to let you shadow them. The confidentiality is the same as any other work experience placement. As long as it's adult psychiatry you can easily get a placement if they're willing to let you shadow them. Are you trying to imply that psychiatric patients are out of bounds compared to other patients?

How did you get it? I'm really amazed, the ones I talked to(about 12 of them) basically laughed at me when I asked. Yes I am, it's not the same as other areas, people are less likely to open up with a strange 17 year old in the room.

Did you sit in on sessions? Visit patients? I might try again actually, but I really didn't think it was possible.

[lsaul95]

(Original post by llessur123)
-

Of course they can get an insight as to what it's like. I have shadowed 2 consultant psychiatrists and neither of them had a problem with letting a 17 year old shadow them. They asked the patients before each consultation if they ever had a problem with me sitting and and none of them did.
Just because psychiatrists in your area are not willing to let you shadow them does not mean every other psychiatrist will say there is no chance, stop giving out false information.
It's no different to any other specialization, in fact, it was easier for me to get a shadowing position with a psychiatrist than anywhere else because of the lack of interest in psychiatry among hopeful medical students these days.
It all just depends on your area and if the psychiatrist is willing to let you shadow them.

[tiajacob]

I'd wanted to become a doctor for a while, until I realized that the work i'd have to put in was not worth the reasons for doing it. Also, the idea that my life would forever be that much more stressful and difficult for something that i didn't actually love was a real damper

Although my initial incentives weren't that unusual; wanting to help; prestige; love for science; money and respect; i found that the most profound reason I had for wanting to do medicine-as ridiculous as it sounds- was just the number of options I would have. You might have guessed that i'm quite an indecisive person and that changing my mind and so choosing the wrong career was a big fear of mine. I guess i just didn't want to feel chagrin and so the main allure for me was that when i graduate, i could become anything... a psychiatrist, a pediatrician, an ophthalmologist or even a GP if i decided.

To sum up, the reason i wanted to be a doctor was because of the idea that i could work in any specialty and wouldn't have to decide for the next few years :-)

[llessur123]

(Original post by lsaul95)
Of course they can get an insight as to what it's like. I have shadowed 2 consultant psychiatrists and neither of them had a problem with letting a 17 year old shadow them. They asked the patients before each consultation if they ever had a problem with me sitting and and none of them did.
Just because psychiatrists in your area are not willing to let you shadow them does not mean every other psychiatrist will say there is no chance, stop giving out false information.
It's no different to any other specialization, in fact, it was easier for me to get a shadowing position with a psychiatrist than anywhere else because of the lack of interest in psychiatry among hopeful medical students these days.
It all just depends on your area and if the psychiatrist is willing to let you shadow them.

I got the information from a consultant psychiatrist, and after another 11 saying basically the same thing then I assumed that was the case. I'm from Northern Ireland though so it could be different. My mother works with them and even then it was completely no go. This was in 3 different hospitals, so in my case, it was near impossible.

[lsaul95]

(Original post by llessur123)
How did you get it? I'm really amazed, the ones I talked to(about 12 of them) basically laughed at me when I asked. Yes I am, it's not the same as other areas, people are less likely to open up with a strange 17 year old in the room.

Did you sit in on sessions? Visit patients? I might try again actually, but I really didn't think it was possible.

I emailed my local hospitals about possible psychiatric shadowing positions, got a reply the next day saying they can sort me out with one.
They emailed about 20 psychiatrists and out of those, 15 were willing to let me shadow. The other 5 were either busy during the holidays or too far out of my area.

I did everything the psychiatrist done apart from comment on treatment or talk to the patient about diagnosis, etc.
I sat in on over 20 patients (all about half an hour to an hour each), I went on a few home visits, when patients didn't feel like they could leave their house, I sat in on 2 autism assessment clinics (both 2 hours long each), I went to a lecture for medical professionals about autism and anxiety and I spent a day with the crisis team, doing home visits with another consultant psychiatrist who looked at crisis cases, for example people self harming, etc.

You are very much mistaken. Out of the patients that came into the clinic/hospital, I had to sit out of one consultation because he was dangerous to others around him, no-one else had a problem with me sitting in.

As long as you are professional and put yourself across as confident and mature, people will let you shadow them. Maybe you didn't do that as effectively as you could have?

[llessur123]

(Original post by lsaul95)
I emailed my local hospitals about possible psychiatric shadowing positions, got a reply the next day saying they can sort me out with one.
They emailed about 20 psychiatrists and out of those, 15 were willing to let me shadow. The other 5 were either busy during the holidays or too far out of my area.

I did everything the psychiatrist done apart from comment on treatment or talk to the patient about diagnosis, etc.
I sat in on over 20 patients (all about half an hour to an hour each), I went on a few home visits, when patients didn't feel like they could leave their house, I sat in on 2 autism assessment clinics (both 2 hours long each), I went to a lecture for medical professionals about autism and anxiety and I spent a day with the crisis team, doing home visits with another consultant psychiatrist who looked at crisis cases, for example people self harming, etc.

You are very much mistaken. Out of the patients that came into the clinic/hospital, I had to sit out of one consultation because he was dangerous to others around him, no-one else had a problem with me sitting in.

As long as you are professional and put yourself across as confident and mature, people will let you shadow them. Maybe you didn't do that as effectively as you could have?

It had nothing to do with my manner, my friends who tried had similar experiences. I got experience with every other place I asked.

I've never known anyone to get psychiatric experience, any consultant I talked to told me it would never happen. Obviously this wasn't the case for you, calm down now.

[JamalAhmed]

(Original post by lsaul95)
I actually like the idea of working in hospitals for long hours. I've always liked hospitals, probably because of the way I've been treated when I was in them. If you want to do physics why don't you just do physics?

Because my parents and brothers urge me to do this.... : (

[DrumChops]

Aspiring to become a Doctor is basically a challenge/mission I've set out for myself for the next 7/8 years. Kind of exciting, the whole process.

[lsaul95]

(Original post by JamalAhmed)
Because my parents and brothers urge me to do this.... : (

Can you not just take a stand and tell them you don't want to do it?

[JamalAhmed]

(Original post by lsaul95)
Can you not just take a stand and tell them you don't want to do it?

Yeah but, that would disappoint them and they'll think I wont be much. You don't know how Asian parents are LOL

[Mushi_master]

Ask me at any other point in the year and I'd find plenty to rave about. Right now, its exam time so I'm full of hate.

[Hippysnake]

Because I've always been curious as to how things work, why they go wrong, and how to fix them.

I started off by taking apart my PlayStation. Then my PS2 broke, so I cracked it open, did some fiddling, and it sprang back to life. I built my own PC, and of course there were numerous issues to be dealt with at the beginning, so I had to initiate my own process of diagnostics.

I suppose I wanted to do this on a grander scale. Of all the disciplines in medicine, I love physiology. I like being able to make connections between the systems of the body, and then seeing how other systems would be effected if one begins to fail and so on.

tl;dr I like to crack stuff open and see how it works.

[Lil08]

I love challenges.

[PrismaticCore]

All Interview and Personal Statement bullcrap put to the side:

-It's a course which opens me up to a lot of career opportunities and so will allow me to get a job which I can tolerate.

-The only sciences I was most comfortable with doing for A Level were Chemistry and Biology.

-I wouldn't mind a people-oriented job which didn't necessarily mean dealing with people all the time (could be working in a specialty where there is very little patient contact).

-Being the hypochondriac that I am, I wouldn't mind spending a few years learning about the fact that no, I won't develop a tumour overnight and no, unlike what House teaches me, people don't suddenly become critically ill overnight due to a small detail which has been constant throughout their lives.

-I guess it sounds smug and 'prestigious'.

-The pay is good. (regarding this one and the previous one, I challenge anyone on this forum to say that they are not reasons for why they particularly want to become doctors)

-Parent/Family pressure encouraged me to look into it (it was pretty much the only profession I actually looked into). I decided that I didn't mind what I saw, therefore I stuck with it.

-I like the thought of being in an environment where all members of staff around me are required to maintain a relatively high level of hygiene (I.E. People wash their hands all the time). That and the fact that in some specialties I can get away with wearing scrubs all day and not bothering with how I look.

So yeah. Sure it's not what I'm supposed to say, and I'll probably read a ton of comments saying something along the lines of 'I luuuurve science and helping people and stuff'. But meh, I'm being honest here.

[Hippokrates]

(Original post by llessur123)
Diagnostics doesn't actually exist, unless I'm mistaken.

That's what I was thinking. Anyone that aspires to be like house probably should not go into a career that involves other people. :P But seriously though the OP needs to do their research if you said you wanted to do diagnostics at an interview they'd probably reject you for lack of knowledge.