Work experience

If you're applying to study Medicine with us, you may be wondering what kind of work experience we are looking for – so we have prepared this guide to help.

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Introduction

Work experience for medical school

Before applying to medical school it's important to have a good understanding of what a career in Medicine involves.

We require applicants to demonstrate experience of providing people-focused care, through relevant work experience.

In this video, find out about:

The types of work experience you could do
Why work experience is useful
How to make the most of your experiences
How to reflect on your experiences

Requirements

What experience we require

We advise applicants to have a range of relevant work experiences in health or social care settings or in areas that provide person facing interactions.

Clinical work experience is not an essential criteria for applying to our Medicine programmes. However, gaining work experience of caring or service provision or observing or working alongside healthcare or social care staff can be beneficial to a Medicine application and interview process. These work experiences can be paid or voluntary and occur across settings including hospitality, general practices, hospitals, hospices, pharmacies, community voluntary organizations and care homes.

Work experience will allow you to demonstrate that you have a realistic understanding of Medicine, including the demands of a medical career, the importance of teamwork and will help you to better understand some of the values, attitudes and behaviours essential to becoming a doctor.

Your work experience will also help you to demonstrate in your application and interview that you understand, and are committed to, teamwork and the social context of healthcare.

You should also explore both the positive and negative aspects of a medical career through talking to doctors and other healthcare professionals in different settings.

Work experience: A student's perspective

By Sarah Mahmood, Year 1 Medicine student

"My main priority whilst doing work experience was to think about whether I would be able to do this in the future and whether this is definitely the career path I want to take.

"It's vital to understand the realities of medicine, including the working hours, short-staffing problems and difficult scenarios. Personally, I only came to realise this during my work experience.

"Also, think about the qualities the doctor possesses and whether you have any of these qualities and how you have demonstrated them in the past. I learnt about the realities of medicine and the qualities the doctor possessed, for example: empathy, leadership and teamwork skills.

"An important aspect that I learnt was that each patient was different, highlighting the importance of patient-centred care, ensuring you tailor your practice to each patient's individual needs.

"Work experience alongside volunteering confirmed that Medicine was definitely the career I wanted to go into."

Sarah's experience and tips

Why do work experience?

Reflect on your experience

You may find it useful to record your experiences and your subsequent learning in a reflective diary.

You can download and, if you can, print the Royal College of General Practitioner’s reflective diary to reflect on any of your experiences and complete complementary activities.

The diary has been designed to be used as a guide during any ‘relevant experience’ including:

Primary care work experience at a GP practice
Secondary care work experience in a hospital setting
Completing the interactive video platform Observe GP
Voluntary work in a care home
Suitable paid employment
Informal conversations with healthcare professionals
Reading relevant literature or listening to relevant podcasts

You might also wish to reflect on how your experiences align to the NHS Constitution.

Where to start

How to get work experience

To get clinical work experience, you might find it useful to contact places in your area which relate to healthcare and prepare a short CV, saying that you are willing to volunteer.

Any volunteering or paid work that you undertake outside of healthcare settings will also be relevant in order to develop skills we are looking for in future doctors. Work related experience which requires you to have interactions with members of the public is always particularly useful.

Gaining experience during the Covid-19 pandemic

We understand that current pressures on the NHS and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic may prevent you in taking part in ‘in-person’ clinical work experience. The Medical Schools Council has released guidance on gaining experience during Covid-19.

We would recommend taking part in the following online experiences:

Brighton Sussex Medical School Virtual work experience
Observe GP from the Royal College of General Practitioners
Patient Journey to GP Practice from the General Medical Council