Post by yungci on Sept 17, 2015 21:37:42 GMT
What should I put in my personal statement?
We want to understand:
-what has motivated you to want a career in medicine,
-what you have learnt from any work or voluntary experience you have, or are, undertaking and the length of time you have carried out this work experience
-Non-academic achievements,
-Hobbies
-Activities you are undertaking at school
We want to understand:
-what has motivated you to want a career in medicine,
-what you have learnt from any work or voluntary experience you have, or are, undertaking and the length of time you have carried out this work experience
-Non-academic achievements,
-Hobbies
-Activities you are undertaking at school
What type of work or voluntary experience do you require?
We expect you to have undergone some form of medical work or voluntary experience to enable you to understand the profession you are entering.
Keeping a reflective diary will enable you to write down your experiences and what you have learnt from them. Keeping this up-to-date at the end of each work experience session will help you to remember your experiences and will provide you with preparation material for when you write your personal statement and before you attend an interview.
Work experience should include:
1) Speaking to doctors and, where possible, observing doctors in a medical setting. You may have the opportunity to watch doctors perform operations, however you should focus more on the following:
-Consider the skills doctors need to be able to carry out their duties. Then, observe how they use the skills. The use of these skills could differ depending on their medical specialty, for example a GP or a surgeon.
-Observe their interaction with other healthcare professionals.
2)If you are unable to observe a doctor, then make an appointment with your GP to ask what skills they consider important for their specialty.
3)Ask doctors what they like about their profession and specialty and what they dislike. Try to ask more than one doctor these questions as their likes and dislikes may differ.
Experience in a more caring setting – a hospice, care home, club, society or similar. This will allow you to observe more long-term interactions between people and the skills required in the roles. If you are working in a care home or hospice, consider the patient’s position and their requirements and needs and how these may be met by carers.