Welcome to this article on how to make the most of your work experience at your medical school interview.

Firstly, if you have secured or already done some work experience, well done! This can be a difficult battle to overcome in your application journey. If you are struggling to gaurantee work experience, don't panic, your 1-ON-1 FutureDoc tutor can guide you to the best ways to optimize your chances of securing a valuable experience.

This blog will outline how to prepare for work experience, how to log your observations and how to reflect on these ready for your interview.

Before

What can be useful before you have your work experience, whether that be hospital shadowing, in a GP practice or volunteering, is to think about your aims.

What do you want to get out of this experience? Have you had community experience in GP and now you would like to see how a Multidisciplinary team (MDT) in hospital works? Do you want to learn more about the qualities needed to become a doctor? Or do you want to see if you can handle the gore of a surgical theatre?

Taking the time to reflect on your previous experience can allow you to be more of an active observer in the next one.

During

While you are on work experience, it is important to get a balance of logging what you see while also being present to observe and learn. It can be difficult to rely on your memory to write down details in hindsight, so a diary is worth keeping. However, spending the day scribbling away isn’t necessarily needed. So how do you get this balance right?

Firstly, a physical notebook is generally better than using your phone to keep notes, to maintain professionalism and not be misconstrued as using your phone for other purposes! However, if you prefer to use an electronic log, this will be more in tune what how portfolios are maintained at most medical schools.

Make a log of the different areas you experience. For example,

9:00-12:30 Medical ward round with Respiratory consultant

12:30-13:30 Lunchtime teaching on Pulmonary embolism

13:30-14:00 Shadowing with Respiratory physiotherapist

14:00-17:00 Outpatient lung cancer clinic

This is mainly as a reminder for yourself when looking back to reflect on what you saw.

Next, jot down any interesting diseases/pathologies you hear of that you might want to learn about. Pay attention to the communication skills, ethical principles, professionalism and MDT, as this is what the interviewer will want to hear about, rather than the medical details themselves.  Make sure to keep this information confidential. For example,

Ward round

• Notes: Consultant led, one junior doctor, senior nurse. Computer on wheels to access blood results and scans, written medical notes. Notes prepared by junior doctor. Looked at nursing chart of observations, food chart, bowel chart.
• Learning points: Qualities of a doctor such as organization, time management, presenting a patient, team work, holistic care.

67 Male new diagnosis of lung cancer

• Notes: breaking bad news involving patient’s wife, cancer nurse specialist present, went through investigations so far and what these mean, used layman and medical terminology time for questions, smoking cessation team.
• Learning points: empathy, communication skills, use of non-medical language, benefits of MDT, involving patient in decisions

85 Female with unsuccessful chemotherapy

• Notes: 4x failed rounds of chemo, decision for palliative care, discussion of symptom management, DNACPR discussion
• Learning points: patient autonomy in treatment planning, escalation planning, language used palliative care

This is a general guide of how I might write down details of cases witnessed in clinic. This provides enough of a memory trigger for later reflection on the deeper understanding of the patient-doctor interaction, communication and the MDT.

After

When you have collated a log of your experiences, it is time to do some reflecting! You will be so grateful for your diary at this point so that you aren’t trying to sift through your memory of something that might have happened a year ago.

As a medical student and for the entirety of medical training, you will be required to reflect. It can feel tiresome at times, especially when you are not used to the process. However, it is an important part of professional and personal development. The more you engage with the reflective process, the more you will learn from your experience on a deeper level and improve your future practice.

A useful and simple tool to guide reflection is What? So What? Now What?

What? (Description)

• What happened?
• What went well?
• What didn’t go so well?

So What? (Interpretation)

• What did you learn?
• How is this different to what you expected?
• How did this make you feel?

Now What? (Action)

• How will you apply this learning?
• What would you have done differently?
• How will this affect your future practice?

This method can be particularly useful when writing your personal statement. For more guidance on this part of the application cycle, have a look at are article on tips for writing about your work experience.

During your interview, you will likely get asked to ‘tell (me) about a time when...’ where they want you to be able to apply your experience to why you want or are suited to become a doctor.

For example, “In your work experience, talk to me about when you had to deal with a patient who was struggling with their health conditions, be it a life changing surgery, walking impairment etc, and how it must have felt to be them” If you were to apply the reflection model to the log above it could sound something like this.

• What: While shadowing a respiratory consultant, I met a patient on the ward with life-limiting chronic lung disease. He had multiple admissions a year and could no longer leave the house due to needing long term oxygen.
• So What: During our conversation, I felt honored that this patient shared his experiences and difficulties with me. Although it was upsetting to see the effect his disease had on his life, it was an opportunity to reflect holistically about medicine not just as a list of diseases but the social, emotional and psychological impact on the patient.
• Now what: Going forward, I would like to be an open and empathetic doctor, able to be an active listener with patients while also maintaining professional boundaries. I endeavor to continue recognize the privilege that comes with being a doctor and patient’s trust in the confidentially and compassion that is so crucial in the role.

Another useful and more detailed method often used in medical school is Gibb’s reflective cycle, seen below.

Some key areas to think reflectively about your work experience are:

• Time management
• Mistakes and duty of Candour
• Teamwork
• Life as a junior doctor
• NHS in the current climate: resources, wait times, pressures on the system
• Ethical principles

I hope this article has given you some motivation to get the most out of your work experience and really use it to your advantage in your interview.

Written by Molly Cupper