Medical work experience during covid19?

[Truist]

My ds is thinking of applying to do medicine in 2021 (currently y12). He's had all his inductions /DBs checks to start some clinical volunteering with old people at our local hospital since Easter - but DH is having to shield and thinks having ds potentially in a highly infectious role may not be great. However we don't want Ds to be prejudiced applying for med this year as he would I understand still need clinical experience. All the taster days and Sutton trust stuff he's applied for has also been cancelled so he's feeling quite uncertain (as I'm sure everyone is!) Is anyone in a similar situation or has any advice? I said he could delay a year, do Crest award etc, or apply anyway explaining family health issues but I don't know how well that would be received..

All our stuff was cancelled too. It's all a bit rubbish but at least it will be the same for everyone. How about a different type of volunteering eg phone support to the elderly? My son's hospital volunteering was cancelled so I would think a lot of others will be. You know they say that customer service etc skills are more important than clinical work experience? I am hoping that's true!!! Also a good time to do futurelearn courses about nhs etc, maybe swot up for ucat, then do any work experience later on in the summer?

If his dad is having to shield then he should not volunteer in a hospital. But volunteering for the general effort (e.g. through NHS volunteers, and through any local systems e.g. delivering food/medicines) will be really helpful. He needs the ability to talk about the patient experience and the role of a doctor in an interview and his personal statement - he will also get quite a bit of that from delivering medication to the elderly. Nobody will penalise him at interview for not going into a hospital while his dad is shielded, that's just sensible (am a doctor and have shortlisted medical school applications). This is actually a really good time to get all sorts of experience in assisting the health and care system, but you may need to think a bit laterally about how to do this. I would imagine that a teenager helping out the volunteer network in their local area (there's one on my street for instance) would have a lot of impressive stuff to say in an interview.

Thanks both! I'll get him to have a look at futurelearn (just looked myself and there are some good courses on there!) . He's already emailed the hospital volunteering person saying he'd still be keen to get involved in some way once the shielding period is over to keep his options open. I'll suggest him to look at more general NHS volunteers too. Unfortunately our local community group only takes over 18s and he's still only 16!

I feel sorry for the 2021cohort too (although I appreciate the 2020 intake is rightly the priority just now) as everything seems to be completely up in the air for them, who even knows what the 2021 intake is going to look like in terms of exams/grades/ numbers of students! I don't want to stress him any more than already but hope I can give him a nudge in the right direction...

@Truist my DD intends on applying to do Medicine in 2021 and we've had many conversations about what she should be doing during this time. All formal volunteering roles required her to be 18+. She was adamant that she wanted to work at our local hospital as a catering assistant or cleaner so that she would be doing something useful but DH and I persuaded her not to as DH has had the shielding letter.

Instead she has donated blood for the first time (needs to be 17), posted notes offering help and support through the doors of 40 houses allocated to us to cover in our street. She is also baking sweet treats two or three times a week to go into the ITU department of the hospital where she did her work experience last summer.

Re universities, many have already updated their requirements for 2021 entry saying that they understand that the situation is different this year re work experience, it will be the same for everyone. My biggest concern is that too many students expected to start in 2020 will defer their place to 2021 and there won't be as many spaces available for our DC.

Thanks @Card1gan - and good point about the potential numbers of 2020 students who may defer a year; I can completely understand why they would, given uncertainty about whether face to face teaching will be up and running by the autumn. We also had a look at the UCAT website and those test dates seem up in the air at the moment too understandably which adds to the uncertainty...

PMd you

Tell him to look out on your local Facebook groups for “Unofficial” opportunities to volunteer, even if putting together packages or something - maybe he could also ask at one of your local pharmacies if they want a volunteer for local prescription deliveries?

Agree with what others are saying about everyone being in the same boat but it can’t hurt to be able to say all the avenues he tried to volunteer with, even if not successful!

It's tough. DD is in an odd position of being lucky enough to get a job in a pharmacy attached to a doctor's surgery last year. So she is getting surgery and pharmacy experience (and a shit load of abuse right now, thanks public). But, I say "odd" because at this horrible time I really really really want her at home and I'm constantly arguing with my conscience that no university place is worth risking her health. She is adamant she wants to go to work though, not because it will benefit her uni application (she hasn't said anything of the sort, but I think the experience she is currently getting with the pandemic and general public is useful for interview), but because she genuinely wants to help her colleagues who are all incredibly stressed right now, most of them have been in tears at some point. If it was me, I would resign. But that's why she'd make a good doctor and I would not.

Most people are in the same boat though and Universities will know this come application time. I do worry that the problems with this year's cohort will mean it will be even more competitive for the 2021 application, without the added problem of no experience.

It’s very hard - I think the 2020 cohort have a lot of uncertainty as they know they have been offered places on courses that are (a) over subscribed and (b) may not even start in September.
Some may defer but apparently some universities are saying no to deferred entry so they would have to re apply.

For 2021 entry, there will be flexibility around work experience I am sure. DD intends to apply for 2021 and has done some volunteering and work experience already but had more lined up and she’s been told they will try and reschedule. There should still be more time to fit some in before any interviews, if not before UCAS deadline.

I wonder how it will work with UCAT and BMAT dates? Has anyone heard anything about this?

DD is keen to sit UCAT reasonably early so she knows if she needs to do BMAT or not!

Cambridge Assessment is saying it plans to hold BMAT on the published dates, although obviously they can't guarantee this at present. Note that the content of section 1 is changing this year: the clearest explanation is on TheMedicPortal's web site.

UCAT isn't publishing dates for 2020 until there is more certainty. There's a chance the testing period will start late. When it finishes will depend on when the UCAS deadline ends up being. www.ucat.ac.uk/ucat/registration-booking/covid-19/

Regarding work experience, most medical schools' requirements for this always have been flexible. Applicants need to think about what they've done (pretty much anything that involves meaningful engagement with people), what they've learned from it and what personal characteristics they've demonstrated through it. Given that few medical schools read UCAS personal statements or other accounts of prior experience before interview, most applicants need to be thinking about when & how they've demonstrated commitment to supporting others and/or making things work effectively, so they can talk about these in an interview. Even those that do read statements will be expecting applicants to write about different experiences this year. There are plenty of things people can do online or in their neighbourhoods in support of elderly/vulnerable people during the pandemic crisis. The convenience store round the corner from me is advertising for volunteers to deliver groceries to local people who are shielding/self-isolating, for example.

Thank you @sirtobybelch - hopefully UCAT will be able to say more soon, as things become clearer.

Another thing DD is using this time for us further reading - so books that are medically related and also she’s listening to podcasts around medical ethics. She’s finding this really useful I think and is keeping a diary of reflections around this.

We will all just have to muddle through and hope for the best!

Depending on your daughter's tastes, it's not essential to stick to dry non-fiction reading. Something like Albert Camus's The Plague is just as valuable for gaining insight to how people respond to situations like the current one (if you forget about the allegory of German occupation). It's odd, actually, that a fair proportion of medical students are interested in music, quite a lot in art, but very few in literature. I've no idea why that is.