Shadowing Experience

A common question we get asked is how many experiences should I mention? We recommend you reference at least 2 experiences out of your hospital, GP and volunteering placements. On top of this, try to focus on the interesting aspects too, for example if you spent 5 days at a GP surgery with 1 day being full of interesting patients you saw with the GP, focus on this instead of the other 4 days where you were doing menial tasks.

How to structure the work experience component of my personal statement?

1. Firstly, what did you do? Was it shadowing, working as a porter in a hospital perhaps, or volunteering.
2. Next, where you did this? If it was in hospital, which ward? It could be in a hospice or care home.
3. Then you need to be specific in what the particular interaction or experience was. Who did you do this with, what stood out for you?

The most important part is reflection. What did you learn from this? What was challenging? What did this experience tell you about medicine? Did it help you decide that medicine was the right career for you? This should make up the bulk of your experience section.

Important tips for work experience

1. Try to focus on what skills the doctors demonstrated, and perhaps how this makes them a good doctor, show insight and maturity, this is what administration staff are looking for.
2. Link this to your own skills that you have developed, such as communication, resilience, teamwork, confidence etc.
3. Make sure you focus on the realistic aspects of medicine. Show that you understand it isn’t the glamorous lifestyle portrayed on TV. Explain what you found challenging, this shows that you’ve seen all sides of medicine, but always demonstrate that you have the skills to deal with these negative aspects.

Moving onto some examples!

“I saw how the GP was always rushed due to the number of patients he had to see, and how stressful and challenging a job medicine is”

Although this shows your insight into the realities of medicine, it is written in a rather negative tone. This makes the reader feel like this is a job no one would want to do, especially not someone who has seen this and identified this as a problem. Furthermore, the writer does not indicate how he would resolve this issue. Instead why no try:

“I appreciate the GPs skills in time efficiency and management, which enabled him to see so many patients in the day”

This instead focuses on the positive attributes of the doctor that enables him to function with more ease in a challenging role. This positive spin is still acknowledging the large number of patients that the GP has to see, however, comes across to the reader in a much more positive way. Try to replicate a similar thing with your own examples.

If you’d like more examples, do get in contact with the Medic Mind team, they are always on hand to help you!