Clinical Science BMedSC and Intercalation

Professor Paul Moss and student Suzanne Raffles explain the benefits of the BMedSc course and taking on a year-long research project as part of your studies.

Duration: 03:28mins

Speakers

S1 Professor Paul Moss, Director – Clinical Science BMedSc (Intercalated degree)
S2 Suzanne Raffles, Fourth year student – Clinical Science BMedSc
S3 Dr Manoj Raghavan, Deputy Director – Clinical Science BMEdSc

Trasncript

S1 Medical research is undergoing tremendous change at the current time with amazing advances on many fronts and medical students are going to see tremendous change in their professional experience over the next 30 to 50 years. But it’s really important that we keep the medical profession at the centre of this change and so that’s why we’ve designed the intercalated course so that students and get appreciation of some of the current debates in medical science and also get a chance to work in the laboratory for eight months on a really world-class project

S2 Hi, my name’s Suzanne Raffles and I’ve complete the intercalation in clinical sciences last year and I’ve just rejoined my medicine degree in my fourth year. Intercalation in clinical sciences to me offered the opportunity to gain a whole new set of skills and also to get an idea about what clinical research is all about as it plays such a vital role throughout medicine, throughout our careers. I hoped that it would give me the confidence in a new situation, which it definitely did and I think that’s one of the most important things that I took from my intercalation. The confidence to approach new situations and to take opportunity. Intercalation in clinical sciences allows you to explore one specific topic which I don’t think really you get the opportunity to do throughout med school. So for me, I took the personal interest in cancer immunology and also sort of a growing interest in haematology and I was really able to explore my topic and get my head round it and that felt great. As well as that, you have the exposure to research which I find can almost run parallel to your career in medicine. Whilst they should be really interlinked because how else will we translate this new research into clinical medicine at the bedside, I think can be difficult as a medical student to really understand that.

S3 Research, translational research, is going to be an incredibly important aspect of whatever we do, whether we’re directly involved in research as doctors or whether we’re trying to improve the treatment for our patients and the technologies involved are getting ever more complicated and will have a big impact on how we practice. This is really giving you an opportunity to learn about these things and be involved in that revolution.

S2 If you’re thinking about intercalating, in any of the modules that you can do, then I definitely advise you to talk to people who have done it and really see what you can gain from it. I mean I’ve gained a huge amount, being able to approach situations, this new set of skills, confidence and also I had opportunities to go and present at conferences and what not. It is really important to do it out of interest but it can be quite nerve-wracking to sort of believe in yourself, to be able to go into something so different. But now really is the time to do it and medicine as a career is so long that taking one year out now to take this opportunity, to do something new with the help and support, is something that I highly, highly recommend.

End of recording