first residential for outreach pupils
‘I’ll have a P please Bob.’
‘What P is a large digestive gland opening into the small intestine?’
Buzzers compete and ‘Pancreas!’ is shouted out. It’s not Bob Holness making an ITV comeback, but the first-ever BrightMed participants enjoying a game of Anatomical Blockbusters.
Seven boys and two girls entering their final year of school spent a week at Brighton and Sussex Medical School to round off their year-long introduction to medicine. They have learned about the NHS, visited several hospital departments and questioned a junior doctor about his experiences. Interviewing a breathing, speaking, blinking simulated patient about its chest pains, drinking habits and medication demonstrated to them how much more there is to looking after a patient than simply the physical aspects. They have found themselves wearing gloves, gowns and goggles as they handled human organs in the dissection room. They have spent time developing research skills, learning the use of personal digital assistants and how to write good personal statements for their UCAS forms. They were given mock interviews and a practical clinical skills test and gave a group presentation on a selected disease. In between, they had talks on psychiatry, epidemiology and student life, and kept active in the evenings with films, research homework, a ready steady cook competition and a formal dinner.
While the majority of UK applicants to medicine come from higher socio-economic groups, there is currently a focus on encouraging a broader range of applicants to reflect the wider society. The BrightMed pupils have been identified as having the potential to become doctors, but most lack a family background in higher education and are often from schools linked with AimHigher, the widening participation scheme in Sussex.
The programme works with children from Year 9 onwards to motivate them at an early age. BrightMed gives them the chance to picture themselves as medical students and take part in lectures, seminars and group work to find out what university study is all about. Current students lead many of the activities and act as mentors, while lecturers and professors from across BSMS give sessions exploring their own areas of expertise.
Darren Beaney, who organises BrightMed, says ’The programme is part of Brighton and Sussex Medical School’s commitment to delivering tomorrow’s doctors, and allows local young people to find out what it really takes. Many young people dream of a career in medicine, and by giving them the information and confidence to apply to BrightMed can help make those dreams a reality.’