The view from here
Medical students: opening doors and bridging gaps Lopa Patel, Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK Mohamed Mohamed, Department of General Surgery, Whiston Hospital, Liverpool, UK Dhawal Patel, School of Medicine, University of Leicester, UK
A
s final-year medical students, we had the privilege of sitting on the interview panel for our medical school: a humbling opportunity. However, it rekindled long-dormant memories of the difficulties of gaining a place to read medicine at university. Although A–level (school leaving) exams, the grades of which are pivotal in obtaining a place at university, were demanding, the real difficulty proved to be gaining work experience. Sitting on the panel we heard countless students tell us that they had volunteered abroad, scrubbed in for major surgery and followed the chief executive of a hospital for a day. Our experience amounted to days in a nursing home: a
great learning experience, but not wholly relevant. Despite effort from universities and the government, the vast majority of students who gain a place at medical school are middle or upper class, meaning that they come from backgrounds in which one or both parents are high-earning professionals. Although the application process is much more transparent, students who have family/friends from medical and professional fields are able to obtain experience that allows them to shine at the interview. A recent study in the British Medical Journal shows that only 7 per cent of students gaining a place at medical school are from the lower social classes,
meaning that they come from families with parents with lower earning jobs.1 As a result, we created ‘SAMPLE Medicine’: Student Access into Medicine via Peer-Led Education. The event is for sixth-form students, i.e. students in their final 2 years of high school before entering higher education. We invite such students from across Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of the UK, who come from a non-professional, comprehensive (non-private) schooling background. The aim is to enable them to make an informed choice about studying medicine, as well as providing a rich experience to discuss in applications. The day
Only 7 per cent of students gaining a place at medical school are from the lower social classes
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2014; 11: 557–558 557
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SAMPLE Medicine gave me a chance to gain relevant medical experience
gives them a range of experiences, including lectures, practicals, simulations, group work and learning effective communication skills. In addition, volunteer mentors were given the opportunity to boost their CVs through teaching. Needless to say, the initiative was popular. Over the past 4 years we have had students who attended SAMPLE Medicine and subsequently gained a place at medical school. One of them reflected that: ‘SAMPLE Medicine gave me
a chance to gain relevant medical experience, which would have been unavailable to me without paying for a course. I was able to make an educated decision about whether medicine was for me after hearing what the course entails and the pros and cons of the career. Taking part in practicals helped me realise what the job might entail, which I had not considered previously. But above all else the day showed me how to reflect upon the experiences I had, and how they were relevant in health care, even if they weren’t hospital based.’ We
are proud of the event and proud of the University of Leicester for allowing us to pioneer this project. The scope of this initiative is large and we would encourage other medical schools to adopt a similar programme in order to bridge gaps for prospective students. REFERENCE 1.
Jaques H. Medicine must be more accessible to people from all backgrounds, says social mobility tsar. Available at: http://careers.bmj. com/careers/advice/view-article. html?id=20007463. Accessed on 20 August 2013.
Corresponding author’s contact details: Dr Lopa Patel, Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns, Wythenshawe Hospital, Southmoor Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M23 9LT, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Funding: None. Conflict of interest: None. Ethical approval: Ethical approval was not required. doi: 10.1111/tct.12184
558 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2014; 11: 557–558
tct_12184.indd 558
11/11/2014 4:17:13 PM
Copyright of Clinical Teacher is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Medical students: opening doors and bridging gaps Lopa Patel, Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK Mohamed Mohamed, Department of General Surgery, Whiston Hospital, Liverpool, UK Dhawal Patel, School of Medicine, University of Leicester, UK
A
s final-year medical students, we had the privilege of sitting on the interview panel for our medical school: a humbling opportunity. However, it rekindled long-dormant memories of the difficulties of gaining a place to read medicine at university. Although A–level (school leaving) exams, the grades of which are pivotal in obtaining a place at university, were demanding, the real difficulty proved to be gaining work experience. Sitting on the panel we heard countless students tell us that they had volunteered abroad, scrubbed in for major surgery and followed the chief executive of a hospital for a day. Our experience amounted to days in a nursing home: a
great learning experience, but not wholly relevant. Despite effort from universities and the government, the vast majority of students who gain a place at medical school are middle or upper class, meaning that they come from backgrounds in which one or both parents are high-earning professionals. Although the application process is much more transparent, students who have family/friends from medical and professional fields are able to obtain experience that allows them to shine at the interview. A recent study in the British Medical Journal shows that only 7 per cent of students gaining a place at medical school are from the lower social classes,
meaning that they come from families with parents with lower earning jobs.1 As a result, we created ‘SAMPLE Medicine’: Student Access into Medicine via Peer-Led Education. The event is for sixth-form students, i.e. students in their final 2 years of high school before entering higher education. We invite such students from across Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of the UK, who come from a non-professional, comprehensive (non-private) schooling background. The aim is to enable them to make an informed choice about studying medicine, as well as providing a rich experience to discuss in applications. The day
Only 7 per cent of students gaining a place at medical school are from the lower social classes
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2014; 11: 557–558 557
tct_12184.indd 557
11/11/2014 4:17:11 PM
SAMPLE Medicine gave me a chance to gain relevant medical experience
gives them a range of experiences, including lectures, practicals, simulations, group work and learning effective communication skills. In addition, volunteer mentors were given the opportunity to boost their CVs through teaching. Needless to say, the initiative was popular. Over the past 4 years we have had students who attended SAMPLE Medicine and subsequently gained a place at medical school. One of them reflected that: ‘SAMPLE Medicine gave me
a chance to gain relevant medical experience, which would have been unavailable to me without paying for a course. I was able to make an educated decision about whether medicine was for me after hearing what the course entails and the pros and cons of the career. Taking part in practicals helped me realise what the job might entail, which I had not considered previously. But above all else the day showed me how to reflect upon the experiences I had, and how they were relevant in health care, even if they weren’t hospital based.’ We
are proud of the event and proud of the University of Leicester for allowing us to pioneer this project. The scope of this initiative is large and we would encourage other medical schools to adopt a similar programme in order to bridge gaps for prospective students. REFERENCE 1.
Jaques H. Medicine must be more accessible to people from all backgrounds, says social mobility tsar. Available at: http://careers.bmj. com/careers/advice/view-article. html?id=20007463. Accessed on 20 August 2013.
Corresponding author’s contact details: Dr Lopa Patel, Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns, Wythenshawe Hospital, Southmoor Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M23 9LT, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Funding: None. Conflict of interest: None. Ethical approval: Ethical approval was not required. doi: 10.1111/tct.12184
558 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2014; 11: 557–558
tct_12184.indd 558
11/11/2014 4:17:13 PM
Copyright of Clinical Teacher is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
