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i need work experience in a medical setting asap!

hi, i was wondering if any 1 can help. my future career ambtion is to be a doctor and therefore actually gaining some work experience i.e. shadowing a doctor is definitely essentail (apart from the grades of course) in proving to yourself that you would like to do what you actually see whilst on the placement.And it also proves to the uni admission people that u really have a genuine interest.

Now, my problem is that i have had very little success in finding a doctor i.e. medical practices, health centres, medical clinincs etc who are willing to take me on even if it be for a day. I have tried my local NHS hospital which said call in september/october time and we'll see. However i desperately need one as soon as possible for two reasons. Firstly to see if i like what a doctor does and if i would like to do it for the rest of my career. And to put on my personal statement. because i think ucas medical applications have to be in before 15 october.

I ask, can anyone suggest anything else, apart from what has been mentioned or any other piece of good advice.

Thanks, matrix

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Reply 1

stratomaster

Try contacting a smaller hospital department like radiography or something or a lab? in the hospital, then if you get some experience there you can ask the people if they can try and get you with a doctor following them around or something? Do you have any family who work in health care?

If you can't do that then try and organise some voluntary work.

The final deadline for applications is 15 october which is plenty of time for you to have written your PS by.

Reply 2

ExitMusic

Folks in the medical forum might be able to help

Reply 3

nikk

The trick is to write to EVERY GP surgery in your area. I sent letters to ~50surgeries, and got two offers of a placement. So if you have just written letters to a couple of GP surgeries, I am not surprised you haven't any offers.

The same is the case with hospitals. For example, I spoke to the people at my hospital that organises work experience placements. I was told there were no spaces left, so I decided to write to the head of every department in the hospital individually. I got quite a few offers from that (not that I took them up in the end because I have enough lined up as it is).

The moral of the story is to write LOTS of letters, and chase them all up until you get some results. In my experience, you have to work very hard and accept a lot of rejections to get appropriate work experience (especially when you leave it late and many placements have been taken).

Reply 4

ExitMusic

You sure are leaving it late and you need to work quickly to find some. Letters might not work at short notice, so try going to hospitals and speaking to consultants to see if they might let you work with them (GPs are often nicer.)

Reply 5

Matrix

Thanks guys, for your help. But i havent finished there. I gather from some of your comments and another thread that i should call and write to doctors.
Initially i did phone them however i just kept getting rejected, then i thought writing to them might seem like a good idea. However like one of u guys said calling ALL doctors is the trick. when i did call in some of the surgeries they said that i wouldnt be allowed because of patient confidentiality, infact one women told me that i wouldnt be allowed to do it anywhere!

would you say writing or phoning is better? and how did you manage to get work experiene i.e. what did you write or say over the phone?

could i also mention at this point that i have just completed a two week work experience. one week in a community dentist, where i saw majority of routine and complex dentistry. And one week in an orthodontics dept in a hospital, where i worked with one of the top orthodontic consultants in the country also observed maxillofacial surgery. how will this help?

Reply 6

Schmeevey

ok, a quick way of getting w/e is to search for doctors names online (from ur local hospital) and ask for their secretary no. when u call up the hospital. ask to speak to the doctor, or leave a message, or email, asking 4 w/e.

the trick is to contact the doctor directly. thats what i did. also u cud try volunteering at ur local hospics/day care centre or something.

from what u hv sed, it looks like uv done plenty of w/e anyway. and besides, u dont have that much space on ur ucas form to write a list. i suggest u just write about what u have learnt from ur experiences

Reply 7

Fluffy

Half of the time, the trick is to befriend the consultants secretary/PA, not the doctor themselves. It is the PA that holds all the cards :wink:

You can sound them out ans schmoze them, find out when a consultant might have a 'window' and work from their. With their PA on side it is usually a piece of piss to organise...

Reply 8

nikk

Matrix

Initially i did phone them however i just kept getting rejected, then i thought writing to them might seem like a good idea. However like one of u guys said calling ALL doctors is the trick. when i did call in some of the surgeries they said that i wouldnt be allowed because of patient confidentiality, infact one women told me that i wouldnt be allowed to do it anywhere!

Well she is obviously wrong, otherwise how would she explain all the students that get offered this kind of work experience? Having said that, the majority will turn you down, hence my recommendation to write to all the doctors in your area. If you send off 40-50 letters then the chances are you will get one or two responses that are receptive to this kind of thing. As for the patient confidentiality thing...I included this in my letters (and it did the trick):

"I realise that with such requests, the issue of confidentiality is of utmost importance. I have therefore included my CV to demonstrate my credentials, and would be willing to sign an agreement of confidentiality. In addition, I am more than happy to supply you with academic and character references from the relevant staff at the University of ***and from ***, for whom I was employed by for 3 years. I would also be willing to attend any interviews that may be required."

Reply 9

Matrix

thanks nick, very useful tips there, i will sure make good use of that. In total i have applied to 25/26 sugeries and medical practices(inc hospitals) etc. I have talked to my career advisor about gaining work exp and she says (inc me) that hospitals are the better places to get work exp. and so far that has been the case. However the disadvantage like always, is that it takes ages processing the application in this case 6 or more weeks, and even then there is a possibilty i may not get a place.

However the furthest i have reached so far on my quest is getting application forms from atleast 2 hospitals.

Oh yeh, can i ask because i want to observe a doctor, what do i put down on the application i.e. which department etc? can anyone suggest a few because i have to give quite a few in case they cant match my first choice. so which dept for observing a doctor would you guys say is best?

thanks, once again. i woudl be grateful if you can be asap coz i need to giv it in asap :tongue:

Reply 10

Helenia

Matrix

One which you're interested in and where the doctors are willing to help you. No good if you've got an arrogant arsehole to tail. Just give some general areas of interest but say you'll take anything that's possible. Bear in mind a lot of hospitals will not let you watch surgery so don't pin all your hopes on that field.

It does take a long time to get work experience sorted out, but you have left it rather late, hence why it's all the more stressful for you. Don't worry too much though - I had one of my work experience placements in the October half term of U6th and they were fine with that (wrote I was going to do it on my PS, talked about what I actually did at interview).

Reply 11

Matrix

yeh i know i left it rather late but, nothing i can do about it. if i knew it was this bad getting w/e iwould have got it sorted last year.never mind. However i was thinking if you guys might giv some areas which doctors work in an 'allround' environment i.e deal with alot of things. except for A and E which is not possible for obvious reasons. but would you say somat like ENT outpatients, Orthopeadics, peadiatrics, cancer dept etc is ok.

Its just that i want a broad view of what doctors do. i have 3 spaces to list which areas i want to do w/e (in order of preference. can u suggest some good ones which might be of use. having read what iv sed.

thanks

Reply 12

Helenia

Matrix

Have you been told that A&E is not an option? I did mine in an ED no problem.

Paeds would be interesting but you'd have to deal with parents as well as kids, not sure how well you'd get along. Personally orthopaedics doesn't do it for me (especially if you wouldn't be allowed to watch surgery) but whatever floats your boat. Cancer services would be good for seeing a wide range of services working together and for experience of palliative care.

I have no idea what you're interested in, so I can't possibly say. Personally, the three I'm looking forward to most at clinical school are obs & gynae, paeds and Emergency Dept, but if you don't think they're interesting, don't do them (I would imagine obs and gynae may well be out anyway).

Reply 13

The Guvnor

When you say you called the hospitals did you call the 'Work experience volunteer co-ordinator'? (The title is something like that, it might be just 'Volunteer co-ordinator')

Reply 14

Daveo

would anyone like to put together a breif list of tips on obtaining WE which can be added to the TSR Wiki? http://thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medicine

Reply 15

Matrix

i phoned around 20 or more Gp practices and medical centres today and i just got 1 positive reply, which was to write to them and then theyd see. other than that the rest were just too over protective of their so precious patients i.e. confidentiality. however im not giving in though just yet.

keep your suggetions etc pouring in, thanks guys.

i honestly do appreciate ur help.

Reply 16

randdom

have you tried contacting specific hospital doctors find a name and write to them to ask if they could let you come in for a week or if they know anyone who can. It is much more likely to get a reply than send it to a nonspecific person.

Reply 17

jonnycherry

Have a look at http://www.bigwee.com.

You might find some medical placements there.

Best of luck!

Reply 18

mk118

I got into surgery ok. I have no contacts in the hospital either. You just gotta have a way with words i guess.

Its meant i get to watch plastic surgeons at work as they explain what they're doing, and i get to point at stuff and ask 'what's that brown stuff?' or the like.

Or watch a small tumour being zapped off someone's vocal cords with a laser.

Mostly it's down to luck mate. But once i got into the surgery dept. i basically had free run of the operations i could watch. The surgeons and anaesthetists seem to love explaining what they're doing to a young naive student.

mk

Reply 19

Helenia

mk118

I got into surgery ok. I have no contacts in the hospital either. You just gotta have a way with words i guess.

Or a hospital which has a policy working in your favour. Different hospitals have different rules - lots of them won't let under 18s in theatre, regardless of contacts or ways with words.