Requirements for medicine work experience
Medical school vary in their requirements for work experience for prospective medical students.
You need to check very carefully for each medical school what their specific requirements for work experience are.
Some will even request you itemise the exact dates and location that you undertook your work experience.
Some request more detailed information than this and require you to have certificates confirming you did actually undertake this placement. This might need to be completed after you have submitted your UCAS application form.
Some medical schools do not expect you to have any particular type of work experience.
However, some medical schools may insist on clinical work experience. Others may permit voluntary work or non-clinical work experience and some may even require a combination of clinical work experience and voluntary work.
Remember the focus of work experience is to help you gain an insight into what it is like working as a doctor and to determine whether this is the correct career for you.
Remember some of the qualities of a doctor, for example team working and leadership can be observed and experienced in a non-medical environment.
It is recommended that you obtain work experience in which you are working with other people in the caring or service role, and in particular with patients who are ill, disabled or disadvantaged.
You also need to be in a placement where you have direct observation of healthcare being provided.
This means you do not necessarily need to be doing any procedures yourself but are observing them and reflecting on your findings.
Please note that the healthcare provider in which you undertake your work experience may insist that you have completed vaccination against COVID-19 or at least have evidence of immunity.
The medical school may stipulate a minimum amount of work experience. They may stipulate this in terms of days or hours and even in more than one location.
They may ask for more work experience if you are a graduate entry student coming from a non-medical undergraduate background.
It is vitally important to you check the medical school website for the specific work experience requirements as you only have four UCAS choices and you do not wish to waste a choice due to not meeting the entry requirements in terms of minimum work experience.
Medicine Work Experience
We offer work experience placements in our own NHS GP surgery at the weekends. Learn in small groups with other students, see real NHS patients, arrange investigations and diagnosis and then come to a diagnosis. You also gain practical skills such as basic life support and surgical skills. All our placements are supervised by fully qualified doctors and undergraduate medical school tutors. Click the link below to learn more and book your place.
