Applying to medicine: work experience?

[crackonson]

Hi. My DD wants to apply to medicine next year. This is not something out family have experience of and I'm not sure her school has any track record of advising medical applicants. I'm interested in whether applicants are managing to get work experience in these Covid times. Someone we know who is applying this year has struggled to get any. We've seen a part-time administrative hospital job that my DD could apply for, and a hospital receptionist job, and we're wondering if this sort of experience might help her application if she doesn't manage to get anything clinical.

I should add that she's summer born, so has only been 16 for a few weeks and won't turn 18 until the end of y13. I mention this because we've seen some more clinical part time roles advertised (e.g. pharmacy assistant) but she would need to be 18 to apply for them.

She does sound young for those roles and might take up too much time? Care homes might like a weekend assistant? Babysitting is better than nothing?

DD in the same situation at the moment and I run our medics group at school so spend time working through the advice on this stuff. I was chatting to a friend who runs a paediatric nursing course and the current situation in our hospital means she is struggling to get the usual placements for students on the course , so I think in person work experience for potential medics might be a way off yet. There are lots of online opportunities that sprang up over lockdown and are stil going. Try medic mentors , DD has done several of theirs and a few from other providers . I hunt about for ones that are reasonably priced or free. If she qualifies for widening access programmes there are some great programmes. DD did a 5 day work experience last summer online because we live in an area that is under represented in medical school. Whatever your DD does the key thing is that she reflects on these experiences and keeps a note as that’s what they are interested in rather than the activity itself. In terms of wider volunteering etc again the usual working in a care home is out at the moment but any experience with caring situations seems to be helpful. DD at the moment is looking at volunteering with a group that runs dementia walks .
The jobs you suggest I think would be helpful as they are in a clinical setting and one of the things that they seem to be looking for is that you have had ( and reflected on) lots of conversations with various medical personnel. I am not an expert on all this as I’ve only been doing it a few years and it’s been a steep learning curve but there is help out there now that was harder to find when I started. There is lots of advice too on which schools to apply for based on UCAT scores/ gcse results and style of teaching which is probably worth thinking about early.

DS applied for medicine last year. He hadn’t got any experience, as he’d applied for economics, then changed his mind at the start of the first lockdown. This meant he had nothing at all on his UCAS form, but he still got a place.

In fairness to him, he then went and did voluntary help with Age Concern for most of last year. But the universities weren’t aware of it.

Actually, I’d forgotten. DS did do a couple of on-line work experience courses. These are a great start.

I think those roles will be for over 18s. My son has just applied for 2022. He did vaccine centre volunteering, some online work experience, had his 2 week work experience at hospital but in facilities. He has finally been accepted on the hospital's volunteer list but they say there's no space to start yet. He is also applying to care homes but only a couple accept under 18s.

Thanks. The admin job I mentioned was 16+. I think the other one that was 16+ was a telephone receptionist in a hospital call centre rather than face to face receptionist. That one was a casual job, so zero hours contract, which might have been good to fit around school etc.

I think she is old enough to apply for some local after-school and holiday childcare roles. Leading activities etc. Would they help?

Try your closest Uni with a medical school - many of them do summer courses etc to get insight into Medicine. For example www.hyms.ac.uk/about/information-for-schools

I think those jobs would help, but also consider any volunteering and jobs such as waitressing or retail.

If care homes are allowing volunteers back in then that’s a good place to start. My DD did this and went every Saturday afternoon and really enjoyed it. She contacted the activities coordinator and then became one of her volunteers. But maybe this isn’t allowed yet.

Helping at Brownies or Cubs could be good?

DD also waitressed - so not medical related but lots of dealing with the public which is also well received.

The on line work experience is a must and then if you can get anything in hospitals then great but don’t worry too much. Just maybe steer clear of the couple of Medical Schools (Keele and Sunderland) that use work experience as a criteria for interview.

I would also say reading books that show an understanding of the profession is helpful too. So things like Do No Harm, Being Mortal and similar.

Good luck - there are lots of medicine threads on here that are well worth going through

I don’t think she can expect a paid position for her work experience. She could do a receptionist type role in addition if she likes but she needs something a bit more clinical. Hospitals usually organise non paid work experience if that’s not happening I’d try pharmacies/ private healthcare/ community nursing, gp practices etc. Also care homes and similar

Hospital work experience is very difficult at the moment. They just don't want "extra" people in hospitals in covid times.

What about volunteering at a club for adults or children with physical or learning disabilities? What about Riding for The Disabled? Is there a Brownie or Guide/Scout unit near you that has children attending with additional needs she could support to participate?

Any part time job in a customer facing role is good. Working in a shop or restaurant shows time management, resilience, patience and the ability to talk to strangers.

My DD volunteered teaching kids to ride - wasn't what she did but the commitment of doing it over several years.
In the lovely open days we went to all admissions tutors said understanding a doctors role and how the NHS works (or doesn't) was important but they understood not everyone could get hospital placements.

I’m a nurse but I think a lot still applies…
For paid work, I’d say it’s best to find something where she’s forced to use her people skills - waitressing, childcare, things like that. She should also look at volunteering for clubs, her experience doesn’t have to be purely acute problems, it’s helpful for her to help with people with long term conditions - I did volunteer work with a stroke club and a club for teenagers with severe learning disabilities. Both gave me insight and were very rewarding. In terms of practical “work experience”, I work in Endoscopy and we get a lot of potential medical students coming to us for work experience, there’s a lot they can observe and learn. They usually come for 1-2 weeks. Might be worth asking her local hospital if there’s anything similar she could do there.

Get him to join your local St Johns Ambulance as a cadet. He'll get trained in first aid and lots more including leadership roles . Also, he'll get to volunteer at various events ( marathons / football matches etc) .

Have you looked at St John ambulance first responders coarse - evenings there are similar ones depends where you are

Medical schools are realistic that opportunities for young people to do health care related work experience have reduced due to Covid and need for DBS.

A lot of opportunities also relied on 'who you know' so excluded disadvantaged students who are exactly the sort of people they are trying to attract.

They are likely to be more impressed by someone who has had a job at McDonalds- hard working, facing the public - than someone whose dad got them a bit of work experience shadowing someone at his hospital.

At that age I had a job as a cleaner in a care home, what I saw there is still useful to me today.

@AnnaMagnani those were almost the exact words of the Liverpool admissions staff a few years ago 😂.

My ds has been volunteering on hospital wards since the summer but he needed to be 17 to do this. Volunteering in the Guides or Scouts would be a more accessible opportunity for a younger person.

@notnowbernadette wow, are you in England ? Amazing the he's allowed in when only one relative per person. He's v lucky.

DD has been volunteering at Brownies and as a ''Meeter Greeter' at the Royal Marsden. She's also helped with food bank collections and did an online work experience (Brighton and Sussex).

@mumsneedwine yes this is in England and covid rates aren't low here

My daughter contacted a swimming for the disabled group who ran a weekly session at our local leisure centre. They needed one to one volunteers so were keen to have her. It was good experience: some needed hoists, some were very anxious etc. The session was the highlight of many people’s week, and DD enjoyed making a difference. Indeed she carried on through Yr 13 and into her gap year, and got the group adopted by her school as one of their charities. Several of the other volunteers worked for the NHS.

She also spent the summer at the end of Yr 11 working in the very sheltered housing where her Grandmother lived. Things like cleaning - handrails needed to be done several times a day, kitchen porter, and ‘waitressing’ which involved helping cut up food etc. As she was only 16 they started by saying that she had to volunteer and could not be paid, but they were short staffed so kept on asking her to come in for additional shifts, and so started paying her. She found she enjoyed working with the elderly, which was useful.

This is a great charity that runs local groups and residential and is often on the look out for volunteers

www.phab.org.uk/

Most of my local vaccine centres are looking for volunteers to help with marshalling and patient support. The vaccinators are usually happy to let them watch them at work for a bit and explain how to draw vaccines etc. It is a good way to demonstrate people skills.

My DD(17) did it over the summer just so she can say she has marshalling experience if she wants to apply for events work next summer. There were quite a few teens volunteering for a med school application as it was fairly easy to get.