I have just returned from 2 amazing days of Primary and Secondary taster sessions being held at Southmead Hospital on the 4th and 5th of July. The event put on by the NHS Clinical Teaching Fellows and the University of Bristol with 55 students from 6 different local WP schools attending the event.
“hits home as to why I got involved with outreach as a career”
The day was designed to inspire, inform and motivate students and help them understand more about the different careers related to the healthcare and health science professions. The interactive session really helped open the students eyes to the range of roles within this healthcare sector as they met and spoke with doctors, HCA’s and patients.
The students clearly gained a lot from the day as beatifically summed up by a letter Mohammed wrote after the event.
I think this event has really helped Mohammed and reading his letter really hits home as to why I got involved with outreach as a career.
The students loved getting hands on experience of Basic Life Support as they practised resuscitation and the Recovery Position. They learnt about the lungs by measuring their peak flow and listening to them through stethoscopes. They discovered all about the heart by measuring their own electrical activity on the ECG machine, handled a plasticised ox heart, measured their pulse and oxygen saturation levels and saw how they changed with exercise. They decided that it was handy to know all this before their Sports Day the following day!
They also had a guided tour of the hospital and met the wounded lion sculpture outside the main Brunel Building. They had a talk from some doctors, HCA’s and patients about their experiences working and using the NHS.
The event coincided with the 70th anniversary of the NHS and the students were able to witness lots a celebratory activity going on in the main atrium from cake sales to piano playing and raffles.
The whole day was nicely captured by this pupil’s drawing of the healthcare professionals she has heard about during the day that she presented to the Clinical Fellows to put up on their coffee room wall.
