Preparing for a career in medicine

A group of Year 10 and 11 students from Pipers Corner made the most of an exciting opportunity to join other like-minded students at a Medical Careers Day on Wednesday, hosted by The Hazeley Academy in Milton Keynes.

The Medical Days, run by MCS Projects Ltd, are designed to provide Year 10 and 11 students, interested in a career in medicine, with the information that they would need to apply for medical school. They participate in activities that are supervised by medical students, and hear from practising medics about what their career is like.

The day began with a presentation outlining the entry requirements for Medical School, including academic expectations, as well as details of the interview processes and admission tests. Following this the groups then took part in a series of medical-related activities including:

The Emergency Medical Assistance Activity
Using professional resuscitation dummies, the young people had the opportunity to practice CPR and putting people into the recovery position. They were also shown how to assist a person who is choking.

The Medical Ethics Activity
The groups were presented with real-life situations in which doctors have had to make ethical decisions. Within their teams, they considered how they would have responded as each situation developed, before being presented with the final outcome.

The Diagnostics activity
Under guidance, the Year 10 and 11 students questioned a medical student playing the part of a patient suffering from a mystery illness, in order to determine their symptoms. The groups had the opportunity to examine x-rays and determine sugar levels in “urine” samples.

The session ended with an opportunity for a question and answer session with some practising medics. The day served as great inspiration to the Pipers students considering medicine as a career, providing them with some really useful advice about how to progress into the profession.