Medlink 2, December 2012

In December of last year, I attended the second Medlink conference for three days, from the 19th to 21st of the month. It was a great experience that I feel I have gained alot from.

On the first day, we were given alot of lectures on what medlink can do for us, how the next few days were going to run and how to get to know our fellow delegates. Although these did not seem as helpful at the time, it did help me to make friends and feel less nervous about the whole process and also gave us time to orientate ourselves and leave our belongings in our rooms. We also heard from current medical students at different Universities in the UK which gave us the opportunity to ask questions and learn about how courses are usually formatted. Before the conference started, there was an exhibition which was one of the most helpful aspects of the four days as it gave me a chance to speak to representives from some of the Universities I wanted to apply to and learn about opportunities to gain experience before applying to medical school and how to successfully convey my passion about medicine to help me to get into medical school.

On the second day, we had lectures about the process of application into medicine, the roles of Doctors in different areas of medicine and even a charity lecture on 'Liking and Sexual Attraction'. I really enjoyed hearing about the dramatic experiences Air Ambulance and Army Doctors, as well as 'regular' doctors had experienced throughout their careers. I especially liked the aspect of being able to ask questions to the people who were, in short, my role models and who had successfully achieved what I had such a passion to achieve and had gotten to where I have been working so hard to get to. I also enjoyed learning about the different specialities of medicine and although it was far too early to choose one area, I began to realise how I feel I could happily work in any area of medicine. What I also loved was seeing the passion on Doctors' faces and realising that the people standing before us genuinely enjoyed every working day that they spent. The 'Liking and Sexual Attraction' lecture was also very interesting as it gave me further insight into the research side of medicine, even if it was with a rather humorous attitude towards it.

The third day featured more lectures but also Clinical Skills sessions which allowed us to learn how to use Otoscopes, Ophthalmoscopes and Stethoscopes. This was really interesting for me as I could see exactly what the people I had been observing the year before were looking for and I gained further insight into specialist areas of medicine. We were also given the opportuniy to interview actors, posing as patients, to try and discover why they had come to the hospital. This session was also very enjoyable, especially when I found that I had diagnosed one of the patients correctly.

The final day consisted of lectures about opportunities of studying abroad which looked very exciting, but sadly also very expensive. I also attended the extra Chemistry A* session which was very enjoyable as half was run by an examiner from OCR, the board whose exam I was due to be sitting in the next few weeks, I also enjoyed learning some Chemistry from the lecturers, giving me an insight into how I would learn when I got to University and also helping me get back into the working mindset for my exams that would be coming up in the next few weeks.

I feel overall I was truly inspired by Medlink and as I left the conference I realised just how passionate and determined I am to do everything I can to become a Doctor and spend my life helping others. I also really enjoyed the atmosphere of learning with and talking to many like-minded young people who were in the exact position I was in and I discover two unexpected benefits of the course; despite learning lots about medicine and becoming a Doctor, I also felt that I got a glimpse into University life, which I loved, and I made friends who I can talk to along the journey to getting into medical school.