The importance of Medical Work Experiences: Beginning the morning of my work experience, I’ll admit I was quite excited. Most surgeons and doctors are quite willing to hand over their knowledge to young trainees contrary to what most believe. While doing rounds with two medical students, both were regularly checking in on me and filling me in when I had any questions and I had quite a few.
Shadowing a Medical Consultant, I was able to witness how patients were treated and diagnosed with care and how doctors prescribed medication and antibiotics. Systems have changed from before Covid-19, most results and tests are submitted online, and are available on computers inside the hospital, thus giving doctors fast and easy access to patient’s medical records. While the team was circulating the hospital checking in with their patients, one of the junior doctors mentioned how elderly patients are treated based on their disease rather than their symptoms in this hospital, which made me realise how many elderly patients aren’t given treatment to prolong their life due to the fact that money spent on them could be spent on a younger person with a treatable condition, giving them years of life. However much these two situations are compared though, there is no doubt to their equal significance to the families affected. Many elderly people are placed in nursing or care homes. However, when this decision is made, either to prolong a family member’s life for 2-3 weeks for example or send them to a nursing home most doctors may have to make the hard choice on which way to go in terms of treatment depending of course on the family’s wishes. Since, an elderly patient may enjoy living the rest of their life peacefully with their family in a nursing or care home and others may wish to fight for a longer life in which to be with their family indicating the difficult decisions doctors are faced with everyday.
Afterwards, I attended a Simulation teaching where a doctor did a presentation on Gallstones and different operations that are important to just get in and see such as a Lap Chole. Around 1 in every ten adults of the UK population are walking around with gallstones but very few people will actually get treated based on their symptoms, unless they are experiencing severe pain if the gallstones are located in the CBD or causing jaundice. There are different types of gallstones such as pigmented and cholesterol, both of varying colours from brown to green. I think the experience was significant even though I was unable to understand all of the terminology, it was interesting to witness a more targeted teaching style that required the participation of the Junior Doctors from time to time.
For all the younger students out there aspiring to become doctors, some key advice I received at my time at this hospital was to do volunteering early on, as most medical schools appreciate a candidate willing to give up their own time for the benefit of others and, remember your personal statement should reflect a healthy work-life balance which will definitely be taken into consideration when universities are choosing applicants.
