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WHAT IS PREMED?
The History of PreMed:
PreMed is run by a team of Doctors, who wish to try to
demystify the world of medicine and medical careers. PreMed was started when,
whilst teaching first year medical students at Medical School, the PreMed
doctors were amazed
how little some students knew about their chosen career.
We aim to enhance students' knowledge of medical school
and medical careers, and increase their chances of getting a place at medical
school.
All PreMed lectures are given by fully qualified Doctors, who are
either Surgeons, Physicians or General Practitioners (GPs) and are all currently
practicing medicine. The PreMed Doctors all attended different medical schools,
which helps to provide wide scope of backgrounds and knowledge.
All information presented on the course is impartial and
unbiased. We are not related to any
Medical School and we do not promote any course or medical school over another.
Are Britain’s Future Doctors aware of what their career entails?
A study conducted in the UK in 1990 into the insight of
first-year medical students into their career structure and future working
conditions revealed an almost total lack of knowledge about the profession into
which they had just made a lifelong commitment. Many medical students regret
their choice, with significant numbers leaving medical school or subsequently
changing career after graduating. Indeed a study in 1998 of young Finnish
doctors showed that 22% of respondents would not enter medicine again.
Last year, we carried out our own survey of Pre-A level
students considering medicine as a career. This revealed some very interesting
statistics: Whilst 75% of these students were aware that medicine is a 5-year
degree course, only 42% were aware that post graduate exams were necessary in most
specialties. Many estimated a Consultant’s salary to be more than double the
actual salary, and 55% stated that a poorly run NHS and recent adverse media attitudes
to medical staff might dissuade them from a career in medicine.
The NHS will require significantly more doctors in
forthcoming years as doctors’ hours are restricted under new European working
time directives and the national demands on healthcare increase. This has been
recognised and consequently more medical schools are opening and the number of
medical students is increasing (17% increase between 1996 and 2000).
This fact, combined with a significant number of medical
students and trained doctors leaving the medicine, means that it is of great
importance that those applying to medical school are made fully aware of the
training programme and lifestyle of a doctor before they start, and that those
students with appropriate levels of awareness are selected. With the cost the 5
years of medical school estimated to be £250,000,
surely we should be ensuring that students are aware of what medicine involves, before they commence upon this path at university?
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