Local school pupils benefit from day of interactive medical activities - <em>News</em>

Thursday 18 September 2008
By Naomi Weston

Over 270 school pupils attended a one day conference on Friday 12 September, giving them an insight into the diverse medical profession and helping prospective students with the application process.

The Vision 2008 conference, now in its second year, is organised entirely by Imperial College medical students and is aimed at 15 and 16 year olds from less privileged backgrounds and from local schools.

 

The interactive programme involved lectures, demonstrations, exhibition stands and mock interviews for all pupils to help them prepare for applying to medical school.

The school pupils benefitted from meeting over 90 current Imperial medics. They were running stands which offered the opportunity to practice common medical procedures, including taking a patients blood pressure and passing a nasogastric tube through the nose to the stomach.

In addition, a lapmentor simulator from the Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology enabled the school pupils to have a go at key hole surgery.

Student volunteer Nalinie Joharatnam, a fourth year medic, was on hand to show pupils how to take blood using a plastic arm. “The students have been really keen to have a go and try it out,” she said.

Students had the opportunity to practice common medical procedures

“This sort of event exposes students to the medical field and opens up their eyes to the different areas they could go into.”

Sukhpreet Singh Dubb, Vision Outreach Founding President, who organised the conference said: “It is wonderful to see so many students wanting to learn more about what a career in Medicine would involve and I think that all students should have the opportunity to come to events like Vision.”

He added: “One of the most important messages I hope we have given to delegates is that regardless of their background, all students have an equal opportunity in their pursuit of their passion for Medicine.”

The keynote speaker was Lord Robert Winston, who gave a talk entitled 'Why I Became a Doctor'. Other lectures included a talk by Barry Paraskeva, a consultant surgeon at St Mary’s Hopsital and a GP, Dr Mistry, who both gave students an insight into theirs jobs.