Work experience/volunteering for med

9

Helloo! I'm interested in applying for medicine and in desperate need of volunteering/ work experience in edinburgh or near. I looked on the NHS volunteering options but there weren't any available in hospitals and such, as they've all be filled because I was quite late, so I'm thinking of applying to care homes...
But I feel like I need more experience too so if anyone knows any opportunities pls lmk!!

Reply 1

mimi_19

2

Hi! Even if you work in a care home, that counts too! Interviewers already know that volunteering is hard to come by, but doing part times jobs and even being in an environment where you have to care for people is more than enough. The universities aren't looking for how many caring roles you've taken, or how may seminars you've gone to; its about what you gained from doing such work (self - reflection is extremely important). In the meantime, I would just read books that aid your understanding of the profession. Overall don't stress - I know that's easier said than done but I know that you're going in the right direction!

Reply 2

M.A200

OP

9

Original post

by mimi_19

Hi! Even if you work in a care home, that counts too! Interviewers already know that volunteering is hard to come by, but doing part times jobs and even being in an environment where you have to care for people is more than enough. The universities aren't looking for how many caring roles you've taken, or how may seminars you've gone to; its about what you gained from doing such work (self - reflection is extremely important). In the meantime, I would just read books that aid your understanding of the profession. Overall don't stress - I know that's easier said than done but I know that you're going in the right direction!

Ooo tysm!! Do you have books you would recommend??

Reply 3

mimi_19

2

Original post

by M.A200

Ooo tysm!! Do you have books you would recommend??

I would strongly recommend a book called "This is Gonna Hurt" by Adam Kay, because it just shows you that being a doctor isn't all cupcakes and rainbows, and it also highlights the importance of mental health for care providers (it has also been made into a show, and you can watch it on BBC iPlayer for free!).

For medical ethics, I would recommend the book " Medical Ethics: A Short Introduction" which is a really short read that just gives you an idea on some of the ethical discussions that we are having. I hope this will give you a good starting point :smile:

Reply 4

Kiwi176

8

Theres Medic Mentor's 'Virtual Medical Society' which do weekly talks about med which you could also sign up to. I would also suggest asking local primary or special needs schools for a week or 2 of work experience- as long as your working with people or helping provide a service youll be able to link it back to medicine and especially the core principles!

Reply 5

spicy toast.56

8

Original post

by M.A200

Helloo! I'm interested in applying for medicine and in desperate need of volunteering/ work experience in edinburgh or near. I looked on the NHS volunteering options but there weren't any available in hospitals and such, as they've all be filled because I was quite late, so I'm thinking of applying to care homes...
But I feel like I need more experience too so if anyone knows any opportunities pls lmk!!

I had a smiliar issue last year (current Y13 with 2 medicine offers) !! I did medic mentors free virtual work experience which was really helpful in gaining an insight into many different areas of medicine (even got to watch a radical nephrectomy - which is something you wouldn't get at a standard work experience). Also emailed around all local hospitals trying to find work experience - I'd recomend also asking perhaps your head of sixth form / careers advisor / head of year to maybe ask around for you or jut for some help finding work experience as they may have some connection you don't know about (e.g my post-18 advisor knew the head of volunteering and work expereince at my local hospital). I manged to get my work experience at the very end of Y12 summer so in the mean time I: volunteered 2 hours per week at a primary school, worked part-time as a lifeguard, virtual work experience with medic mentor, biology prefect at school, volunteerd at school to help Y11's with biology and chemistry tutoring. All of these activities helped my communication, team-work and empathy skills ! And as everyone says, it's not about how much work experience but its more so about your level of reflection (someone who did a single day at a gp but had lots of reflections could perform better at an MMI station compared to someone who did 2 weeks on a neurosugery ward at st. guys and thomas' in London, whoever had no reflections from it. My best advice for trying to get work experience would be email any and all medical facilities close to you (GP's, hospitals, outpatient clinics) and perhaps even look at doing some shadowing at a dentist ? I know it isnt ideal but it will still apply to medicine in terms of patient confidentiality and profesionalisms. I even did 4 days work experience at a local veterinary practice (as I was debating between vet med and human med) and I actually brought this up at an interview that I got an offer for (comparing my observations at the vets vs hospital, and why this proved to me I really wanted human medicine !) Hope this helps !

Reply 6

jasmineva3128

17

Original post

by M.A200

Helloo! I'm interested in applying for medicine and in desperate need of volunteering/ work experience in edinburgh or near. I looked on the NHS volunteering options but there weren't any available in hospitals and such, as they've all be filled because I was quite late, so I'm thinking of applying to care homes...
But I feel like I need more experience too so if anyone knows any opportunities pls lmk!!

I've come up with a list of things you could do as science/medicine-related work experience, volunteering, and extracurriculars. I'd try and do two to four of these things very well, rather than rush to get lots of them done.

● Shadow/get work experience with a dentist, an orthodontist, a GP surgery, or pharmacy. Regardless of what field of medicine you want to go into, getting experience in our sort of practice will be super beneficial, both for your uni application and in the future as it will teach you valuable skills. I'd email/phone local practices and ask if this would be possible. I had a friend who had her work experience at a GP surgery in East Lothian (Prestonpans), so it is possible to do -> although I can't remember if she worked with the clinicians or the admin team, as both were discussed. Regardless, it would be an amazing opportunity for you too.

● Volunteer for a charity that works to improve medical care and treatment, e.g, the British Heart Foundation. What you do in this role isn't as important as why you did it - because you care about patients, and this way, you can help them. There's lots of these shops all around Edinburgh and the surrounding areas, so I'd email or just walk inside and ask if you could volunteer for them.

● Volunteer for a charity, hospital, or care home that provides care to patients. What you could volunteer as could be many things. For example, I know that at Sick Kids in Edinburgh, people can (or at least used to be able to) volunteer to give directions to those visiting. Again, it's not so much what you do but why you do it.

● Raise money for a medical charity and promote healthy living whilst doing so. For example, you could walk/run/swim/cycle a certain amount of miles to raise money for a charity that supports people with a certain illness, or you could run a marathon for them. You would not only be doing this admirable fundraising, but you could encourage others to get involved to benefit their health.

● Write for your school newspaper. If your school has a newspaper, you could join and write lifestyle pieces for it. These lifestyle pieces could largely centre around how to live healthily as a busy student, from what we eat, how much we sleep, and the exercise we do. This is a more out of the box extracurricular for medicine, but if you explain it, it could make you stand out. If you enjoy this, you could always pitch lifestyle articles to local or online newspapers, or become a lifestyle contributer in an online newspaper (e.g, The Indiependent, an online magazine, has a lifestyle section that anyone could apply to write for).

● Enter writing competitions to do with STEM. There's many STEM writing competitions out there, including the Young Science Writer of the Year Award, the Humanimal Trust Creative Awards, and the Oxford Scientist Schools' Writing Competition.

● Enter any other STEM related competitions and awards. Here ( https://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/festivals-competitions-and-awards#collapse4663881 ) Oxford shares some amazing STEM competitions and awards for different age categories. Some of these would be amazing to take part in.

● Read books about medicine and science. This is a simple way to learn more about the subject beforehand, and shows that you are already invested in learning it.

● Do moocs. These are free (or at least some of them are free) online courses, typically provided by unis, that you can take to learn about a subject. There are many medicine/science moocs out there. A couple years ago, someone on The Student Room made a list of moocs for each degree/interest, as found here ( https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6531484 ). You may find this useful as a starting off point.

● Volunteer as a lifeguard/get a first aid qualification. This shows you care about the wellbeing of others and have taken time to ensure you can do so.

● Join your schools Pupil Voice. Some Pupil Voices, such as my school's, have different sub-groups. At my school we have an Equality group, and one of the issues we've looked at is wellbeing. We've written guides for students on how to cope with exam stress, which have been shared around the whole school. This is again about the why, and would show that you care about others and want to help them. You could get involved and do something similar.

I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions feel free to ask me. 😊

(edited 1 year ago)

Work experience/volunteering for med

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated