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Feelings about work experience

Before anyone tells me "there's another thread about work experience", I want to state that this isn't a thread about the amount of work experience I've done, but about my thoughts on Medicine after having done a week of work experience in a Radiology department in a hospital.

I've wanted to do Medicine at university since the start of Year 11 and I was really looking forward to doing work experience as I hoped that it would only reconfirm my decision to apply for Medicine for 2010 entry. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. I'm not too sure what I envisaged my work experience to be like, but I didn't particularly like the whole environment of the hospital. However, I don't know if my feelings stem from the fact that my work experience was in Radiology and not another branch of Medicine. I've been immensely put off Medicine now. I really can't pin point why I feel like this, and it's really getting to me. I saw Barium Enemas which were not the most pleasant things in the world and I spent a lot of time with consultants and SPRs watching them reporting on X-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans and so forth. I also spent an afternoon watching a consultant doing ultrasounds and nothing about it appealed to me. I also noticed that the doctors didn't have as much patient contact as I thought they would have, and most of the dealing with patients was down to the radiographers.

I've done a bit of voluntary work and I spent a week at a GPs last year which I didn't enjoy either. I found the whole experience there rather boring and monotonous. So my question is should I now begin to look for something else to do at university or should I try and get work experience in another branch of Medicine before writing off Medicine altogether?

Thank you for any replies and thank you for reading.

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Reply 1

belis

I wouldn't form an opinion about medicine based on week long experience in one speciality. Every branch of medicine is different and it offten appeals to certain types of people. You don't fancy radiography but it is not to say that you are not going to enjoy general medicine, peads, surgery etc etc If I were you I would try different areas before you write medicine off all together. Out of curiosity what is it that you would expect from your future job that you thought medicine will have?

Reply 2

aMasterPieceOfDNA

I know nothing about Radiology so can't really comment but I wouldn't write medicine off altogether. Don't forget you were only observing, surely it would be different if you were actively involved?

Plus you're only just starting your ASs right? I probably sound patronising but you still are very young, maybe if you tried again this time next year you'd enjoy it more?

Spend the next year really focusing on your AS levels and try and organise some work experience in another department. You've got a long time to decide if medicine is right for you or not :smile:

Reply 3

crazyhelicopter

Why do you want to do medicine? (not an arsey question, just if you answer this it will be easier to advise you)

Reply 4

billet-doux

crazyhelicopter

Why do you want to do medicine? (not an arsey question, just if you answer this it will be easier to advise you)

This sounds like a crap answer but I really can't see myself doing anything else. I've explored other careers but I keep coming back to Medicine for some reason. I don't particularly love science, and I'm not the world's most caring person either, but I just want a career which will leave me satisfied and I thought Medicine would be the best route to go down.

Reply 5

belis

I see you as an orthopeadic surgeon. Not much sciance, not much caring and yet very satisfying to put people back together. :wink:

Reply 6

Hygeia

piece_by_piece

The thing with medicine is that it isn't just one career, it's a huge group of careers and where one (radiology) may not suit you, there may be others that do.

Personally i don't enjoy the hospital environment very much, particularly wards so will probably go for a non-ward based specialty/general practice once qualified.

Radiology is one of the specialties with a lot less patient contact (my dad is a radiologist and complains about how little contact he gets now he's a consultant). I would recommend trying to find a work experience where you spend a day in each of several different specialties.

Your reason for medicine: exactly the same as mine - i always found it very difficult to explain this reason in interviews though!

Reply 7

billet-doux

kate0904

Yeah that's true. I'll try to get some work experience in another branch of Medicine then. It's nice to know that there are other people out there who don't have the "I love science and want to apply it by practising Medicine" reason :p:

Reply 8

x.beth.x

I just think you are thinking about it too much and too early. I didn't love science really until I started doing more in depth stuff at AS level. You may find that at the moment you just find it a little boring because science is just memorising facts like what the symptoms of cystic fibrosis are without understaning what causes them. Whereas subjects like English seem a lot more exciting at the moment because you can be a lot more creative and it requires a lot more thought.

Also as other people have said there are so many specialities within medicine and there are quite big differences in terms of patient contact between them. So although you may not have liked radiology you may find another speciality much more interesting. Also, what specifically did you not enjoy about your GP work experience?

Reply 9

crazyhelicopter

piece_by_piece

I'd say try to get work experience in other specialities and see how you feel.

Not liking radiology isn't the end of the world, nor is not liking GP. However if you do a hospital medical speciality and a surgery speciality and still don't find anything you like then I'd suggest finding something else.

What didn't you like about GP?

Reply 10

Malsy

Your're right beita.. the whole GP section of Medicine doesn't really have much direct patient contact as much so as what a for example Dentist might. Maybe you should consider Dentistry due to this? as dentists do obv have a lot more patient contact.

I wouldn't draw the line just yet...i'd give it one more shot then make a finalised decision.

Even if you make a decision to do Medicine in 2010 then at least you can as youll have the work exp behind you..however try and get the next work exp as then you can make that decision and concentrate on getting other work exp for some over career path you want to go down.

I hope that helps a little..

:hugs:

Reply 11

Fabregas1989

belis

I wouldn't form an opinion about medicine based on week long experience in one speciality.

True dat!

I didn't like my first work experience; old people, catheters, I fainted. It was boring, I couldn't wait to get out each day.

Do some more, watch some surgery, it's fun. If you're still unsure about things then consider something else, but certainly don't write it off because you watch radiologists and GPs. Nothing against them at all, but it's boring to watch both.

Reply 12

crazyhelicopter

Malsi101

Your're right beita.. the whole GP section of Medicine doesn't really have much direct patient contact as much so as what a for example Dentist might.

GP medicine is only patient contact (and paperwork)

Reply 13

billet-doux

x.beth.x

Yeah, maybe I should wait until I start ASs this week. I'm hoping that I enjoy Biology and Chemistry a lot more than I did at GCSE level. I didn't enjoy my GP work experience because I found it very repetitive. Again, as with my Radiology work experience I can't pin point exact things, it was just the whole atmosphere. I managed to sit in on a few appointments and I couldn't imagine myself sitting there and listening to patients' problems. It sounds stupid but that's how I felt.

Reply 14

billet-doux

Fabregas1989

I forgot to mention that I had a panic attack on two occassions during my work experience. Once when I was in casualty watching radiographers do x-rays and another time when I was observing barium enemas. I'm guessing this is normal though? :s-smilie:

Reply 15

crackerbox

About the whole science side, I hated science at GCSE, only took Biology because it fit in with my timetable and towards the end of the AS year I absolutely LOVED it. So THEN, I started considering Medicine and took up Chemistry AS while I was doing A2s and found out I really liked that too. A levels are soooo different to GCSE. Also I think it can depend who you're doing your WE with, sometimes things can seem boring but then the consultant explains whats actually going on inside them, thats then impressive part to me. So if you don't have particularly engaging people to shadow it might not be as good.

Reply 16

belis

Depends what you mean by panick attack. It is not uncommon to feel anxious and uneasy when you see patients undergoing uncomfortable procedures, particulary if you are not sure as to what is going on. You may at time feel faint or have to leave the room. To have a full blown panick attack is a rather unusual reaction though. Some people are predisposed to reacting in that way and if you are one of them it is up to you to decide if that may have any implications on your career choice and how you are going to address this issue.

Reply 17

x.beth.x

piece_by_piece

Hmmm I can't say I've ever been like that while on work experience and I saw some fairly traumatic stuff. Feeling a bit upset or nervous because you aren't used to it maybe but having a panic attack isn't exactly normal.

Reply 18

Helenia

What is it exactly about your idea of Medicine that attracts you to it? What do you perceive being a doctor to be? Is it just that experience so far has clashed with those expectations, or is it that you're doing this because you feel you have no other choice but don't actually enjoy the practicalities?

Lots of medicine can be dull and repetitive - yes, there's more variety than a lot of jobs but for every exciting case there's probably a handful of fairly mundane ones. Not liking Radiology is probably fair enough - if you don't know any anatomy or anything and wanted to see patients, I can imagine it not being much fun. Not liking GP on the other hand...yes, it gets repetitive but you said you don't like to listen to people talking about their problems? That happens in almost any specialty!

Reply 19

Juncture

Fabregas1989

True dat!

I didn't like my first work experience; old people, catheters, I fainted. It was boring, I couldn't wait to get out each day.

Was this by any chance the work experience school made us arrange in year 10 (i think it was year 10), yours at least sounds slightly better than mine where I saw nothing medical at all during the week and just made beds and cups of tea and coffee