Medical research is a vast field, with endless opportunities for discoveries and insights into the human body. But how exactly can you get involved within the field?
There’s one key way and that is gaining medical research work experience. This guide will help to explain what exactly research work experience is, what you learn through it and opportunities where you can get this first-hand experience of the medical research world.
Written by Ayma Ahmed
What is medical research work experience?
When applying to medical school one key element of your preparation to gain a place should be work experience. For those who have a particular passion for research, undertaking a medical research work experience can be a brilliant way of getting introduced to the field.
Gaining medical research work experience allows you to delve into the scientific processes that underpin medical advancements and see the full process from generating a hypothesis to data analysis and publication. There are a number of benefits to gaining research work experience including:
Benefits of Medical Research Work Experience
Understanding the foundation of medicine
As future doctors, your clinical work will be based upon evidence gained from research. Being exposed to the process will allow you to get a better understanding of why evidence-based practice is key and the rigorous nature of the evidence that you will practice upon.
Problem-solving skills
A key part of being a doctor is being able to solve problems and adapt to any hurdles you may face, and there is no better place to learn this skill than through research. Research work experience will come with many challenges from producing experiments to tricky research papers, so getting used to these can help build those key skills of problem-solving and adaptability that you will need as a doctor.
Building up your medical school application
As I mentioned earlier, gaining medical research work experience can be an incredible way to build up your application, especially when it comes to interviews and Personal Statements. It will show that you are a proactive individual and will build a variety of skills from communication to teamwork, all of which are key in your career as a doctor.
Supportive for medical school
As medical students, many of your peers will be taking part in research projects as well as research often being integrated within your courses (for example at Imperial medical students have a dedicated module towards medical research), so getting a head-start in the medical research world can prove to be beneficial for your time at medical school.
So, as you can see, medical research work experience can be a really beneficial way of gaining insight into medicine. But how can you find these opportunities?
MEDICINE MASTERY BUNDLE
Not sure where to start with your Medical School application?
Get full, comprehensive support for your medical school application with 6med’s Medicine Mastery Bundle. Access everything you need for success as soon as you sign up.
UCAT.Ninja
UCAT.Ninja
Medical Research Work Experience Opportunities
There are a number of ways to find openings in medical research, such as:
Nuffield Research Placements
These are run by Nuffield themselves and are undertaken in your Year 12 summer. These are opportunities to work alongside professional scientists, engineers and researchers and get first-hand experience in the medical research world.
MSC Summer Schools
These are summer schools which are run by the Medical Schools Councils, which can contain elements of research within. You may be able to take part in smaller-scale research projects, as well as being able to shadow people within the field. However, this will vary from summer school to summer school so it is important you check with each establishment.
Research Competitions
Many organisations run programmes where you can enter your own research, no matter how big or small. An example is the Crest Award scheme run by the British Science Association.
Directly Contacting Hospitals
Many hospitals will have research projects running, so emailing consultants or general work experience sectors of hospitals may be of help and may even provide you with opportunities to aid with current research projects.
As you can see there are many opportunities out there available for applying students to get that invaluable direct experience in medical research. While these are some pretty popular options for research opportunities, they can be extremely competitive and difficult to get into. So next, let’s think about how you can actually get into a placement like this.
How To Get Research Medical Work Experience
While there’s no sure-fire way to get a spot on one of these experiences, here are my tips for when you apply to ensure you find the best fit for you and get your place:
What Are Your Interests?
The first port of call for finding the right placement is generally asking “what are my interests in medicine?”. If you can answer this question, your search field narrows greatly. You can have a targeted approach on who to contact.
Where To Look
You are probably asking, I know what I like, but where do I go to get this? Research is generally conducted at large-scale corporations, or rather usefully, at major universities.
Another benefit is that medical research tends to happen where there are medical departments. You may not be applying to your local medical school, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for experience.
Most researchers are more than willing to share their research as it’s their passion, and even better, they always have tasks that require more hands. And if one person doesn’t have it, then you have a faculty list with their research interests listed on university websites.
Investigate
Take the time to investigate before contacting. Much like you will do for your medical school choices, research what the professor you are contacting has done. They will inevitably ask you why you got in contact with them and what your goals are, so be able to answer this question.
Remember, they are going to be doing this to benefit you as much as you may be helping them, and more than likely, they will be donating more time to you to explain the research and tasks before you can get on with it.
Networking
Remember to network. It’s well and good to just focus on the research and do a great job for your research professor. But, especially if they are working at the medical school you hope to be accepted to, your best bet is to form a relationship with them and their team. You don’t know who they know or how far they might sing your (hopefully) praises.
To that, they are in a medical field at a medical school and having someone you can speak to for advice in your applications, or even get a new one-of-a-kind reference from, can be the difference between acceptance and a gap year (assuming you don’t have one planned).
So, that’s all I have to say about research work experience in medicine. I believe they can be some of the most interesting and helpful experiences available for applicants. While it may not be for everyone (many medicine applicants would rather be on the wards or shadowing a GP), the amount you can learn from these experts will put you in a great position for your Personal Statement writing and interviews.
If you’d like to learn more about work experience, or the rest of the medicine application process, be sure to explore our library of free guides. For more comprehensive support, our Tutoring Bundles are available to offer you expert guidance through your UCAT, interviews or the whole process with our Medicine Mastery Bundle. Book a free consultation today to speak with our friendly team about how our support can benefit you!
MEDICINE MASTERY BUNDLE
Not sure where to start with your Medical School application?
Get full, comprehensive support for your medical school application with 6med’s Medicine Mastery Bundle. Access everything you need for success as soon as you sign up.
MMI Crash Course
MMI Crash Course
