Applying for med with only Virtual Work Experience?

I'm based in South Wales but I've been unable to get any work experience over the past 6 months, I have emailed countless hospitals and local GPs. I have been doing Medic Mentors 6 month WEX in the meantime and was thinking of doing BSMS's Virtual Work experience. Is this sufficient enough for my application? Or is in-person work experience more valued/needed?
Thanks.

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

11

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

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Reply 2

kitty15

Study Forum Helper

14

Original post by Sam1341

I'm based in South Wales but I've been unable to get any work experience over the past 6 months, I have emailed countless hospitals and local GPs. I have been doing Medic Mentors 6 month WEX in the meantime and was thinking of doing BSMS's Virtual Work experience. Is this sufficient enough for my application? Or is in-person work experience more valued/needed?
Thanks.

Hi, while some unis say they recommend in person work-experience, it’s not an absolute must and most unis ackenowledge that due to the current NHS crisis and repercussions from COVID lockdown that it is more difficult to get work experience.

I have only a day’s worth of hospital shadowing in a cardiology clinic, but I complimented it with lots of virtual work experience and also care home volunteering (yes, a care home counts, so see if you can get those). See if you can email any local care homes or NHS trusts if you want to find some in person work experience.

I would highly recommend BSMS virtual work experience, and also observe GP.

Also virtual work experience (or any) will only come in handy if you can reflect on it well. I recommend using a reflective journal, for example there’s one on Medic Mentor under their WEX and one from Observe GP and you can adjust those to match what you are doing for WEX. when I did in person work experience I brought a mini notebook 📒 like one of the tiny ones, and made notes there (certainly makes you feel like a doctor albeit without the clipboard). Make sure once you have returned from work experience to fully type up your notes while the experiences are still in your memory

Reply 3

George&Mary

13

Observe GP is worth doing as is BSMS.

Look up the RCGP reflective diary and look at the skills and qualities needed for doctors. Reflecting on those, how would you evidence the domains.

Keep trying if you can for wex but I know it’s hard. Best advice is to get some people facing role, Macclesfield, restaurants etc where you have to deal with people in a range of scenarios. Use the RCGP reflective diary combo as you go to build your evidence. If you can get it some wex or volunteering in a care home (ideally a nursing home) if you can get it would be ideal. Caring / empathy are two key things to understand and reflect on.

This can take some time as dbs checks may be required.

Reply 4

Ambiguous Super

16

Original post by Sam1341

I'm based in South Wales but I've been unable to get any work experience over the past 6 months, I have emailed countless hospitals and local GPs. I have been doing Medic Mentors 6 month WEX in the meantime and was thinking of doing BSMS's Virtual Work experience. Is this sufficient enough for my application? Or is in-person work experience more valued/needed?
Thanks.

I don't see what is wrong with that. Try getting some in-person volunteering experience too.

Reply 5

cloudyhoba

1

Original post by Sam1341

I'm based in South Wales but I've been unable to get any work experience over the past 6 months, I have emailed countless hospitals and local GPs. I have been doing Medic Mentors 6 month WEX in the meantime and was thinking of doing BSMS's Virtual Work experience. Is this sufficient enough for my application? Or is in-person work experience more valued/needed?
Thanks.

Virtual work experience can be interesting and I also participated in alot of Medic Mentor meetings but someone at my school is a leader of one of their society's and advised me that they don't really help as much as in-life work experience.

If you're only 16 like me then local health services won't really respond back cause they prefer 17-18 year olds as they're typically more 'reliable' and 'serious' about the opportunity.
If you know someone who works in healthcare it doesn't hurt to ask them (if you haven't already asked them). If you have a local GP you could always go in person and ask.
It's always better to go in person than to email !!

ALSO!!
If all else fails, medical work experience isn't 100% necessary. Medical university's just want to know whether you can display the NHS values. So anything like volunteering in charity shops/ old people homes/ after school clubs/ having a variety of extracurriculars unrelated to science are also really good.

Sorry this is super long 😭

Reply 6

Hhhhhh558

10

Original post by Sam1341

I'm based in South Wales but I've been unable to get any work experience over the past 6 months, I have emailed countless hospitals and local GPs. I have been doing Medic Mentors 6 month WEX in the meantime and was thinking of doing BSMS's Virtual Work experience. Is this sufficient enough for my application? Or is in-person work experience more valued/needed?
Thanks.

Hiya. Im from South Wales too and managed to get work experience last year through emailing my health board- check on individual websites as I found some info on wex there. I’d also look into hospital ward volunteering- a lot of hospitals offer this scheme. I did it when I was 16 and it was a big talking point in my interviews. Theres st johns ambulance as well- volunteering with them is also a form of wex. If none of this is possible, online wex is fine as long as you have some sort of in person volunteering, a job or are part of a club or organisation you could discuss.

Reply 7

wilderose

13

don't know if this any help now, but I did both BSMS and Virtual wex and reflected on them and didn't mention they were virtual in my interview or personal statement. I just talked about what I learnt from my wex and it didn't seem to cause a problem. But you might find you don't like medicine after shadowing doctors so for your personal experience and decision making, really try and get some even after you applied.

Applying for med with only Virtual Work Experience?

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