Work Experience

To be able to choose a career it is essential that you complete work experience to gain a realistic understanding of what you would actually do, not the glamorised and romanticised versions of the job that you see on the TV or hear about. This is extremely important in medicine because being a doctor is often made out to be far easier and glamorous than it is in reality.

The past 3 days have been my 3rd amount of work experience (if you ignore voluntary work), and I have been fortunate enough to be able to complete all of my work experience in different hospitals, this time at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, Birmingham. Previously I have spent my work experience shadowing different consultants and even one medical student, and whilst in there own right this was extremely useful I wanted to be able to shadow some Junior doctors and doctors in their foundation years to be able to understand what I would be doing immediately after leaving medical school, and after 3 days I can confirm that the work experience has only solidified my desire to study medicine.
Throughout my time at the hospital I attended many different ward rounds, I saw a lumber puncture, several blood tests, a cannula being put in to a patient and also attended a radiology meeting, which particularly fascinated me as I was able to see many different MRI scans and CT scans.

Whilst I won't go into detail of the patients I saw, as I feel that is not appropriate due to patient confidentiality, I will say that I was amazed by the range of people I saw. I saw all ages from a 19 year old boy to a late 60 year old women, all with different neurological disorders. I was particularly fascinated by the disorders that were verging on to psychological disorders not something like a inflamed spine (although that was interesting too).  I suppose the diversity of each day is what intrigues me and is one reason why I want to become a doctor as each day of my work experience was completely different.
I recorded all of the diseases that each patient had in a book so that I can further research them during the summer holiday, so I will include fact files on some of them throughout the next few weeks.

Meningitis B vaccine

Everyday I visit the BBC news website, focusing particularly on the health section in an attempt to keep myself informed of the medical advancements that are occurring in the world at present, since obviously medicine and disease are constantly evolving. Today I read an article that particularly captured my attention, it was about the a disagreement on the pricing of a vaccination against meningitis B - Bexsero. After reading this article I can't help but feel two things, one slightly concerned at how little I knew of meningitis despite being such a prominent issue, with approximately 1870 new cases each year in the UK alone, but also quite annoyed and angry that something as life changing as a vaccination for meningitis B, the most common cause of bacterial meningitis, is not being admitted to babies due to something, in my opinion, as silly as a price.

Addressing my feelings on the second issue first, as I would imagine this would be the most controversial and possibly ignorant comment on my behalf. Bexsero the vaccination developed is a vaccine that consists of an inactivated strain of meningitis B combined with proteins found on the surface of meningococcal bacteria, the new vaccine is said to protect against 88% of the strains circulating the UK at present. Bexsero is owned by GSK, which recently acquired it from Novartis due to a recent transaction, and they are currently offering the vaccination at £75 privately.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

I am constantly told at school that wider research is vital for success at A levels and for success in gaining a place at university, so whenever I can I like to read about medicine, be that through a blog update, BBC news, or in this case through a book.
From reading around medicine and no doubt from my work experience, I have learnt that I have a particular interest in neurology and the brain. I think I am attracted by the complexity of the brain and the strange and almost supernatural illnesses that are associated with neurology, so upon the recommendation of a professor whom I spent time with during my work experience, I read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks, published in 1985 .

The book documents the stories of Dr Sacks' patients that all have differing neurological disorders, ranging from loss of memories or inability to recognise people or objects to phantom limbs or those who are afflicted but are gifted artists or mathematicians.



With 24 different chapters all describing a different case, I was drawn in and fascinated by the sheer diversity and complexity of neurology and the brain, as the book introduced me to neurological disorders that I had not heard of before, such as polyneuritis or visual agnosia. The book itself is split into four sections, losses, excesses, transports and the world of the simple.
Losses is about people who have a loss or lack of a certain function of their brain.
Excesses 'an unusual disorder in neurology' is about patients with an excess function in the brain.
Transports, the part I personally found the most interesting and reminded me of fictional supernatural powers, contains stories of patients who have imaginations, dreams, spiritualities, feelings or other dreamy states or reminiscence.
The world of the simple, contains accounts of patients who many are autistic and as Sacks says have 'different forms of the mind which are very innocent, simple and transparent'.

My Favourite Chapters