Manchester Graduate in new BBC3 series of Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands

If you want to get an insight into the job of a junior doctor, catch up with the recent graduates working at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in the new series of Junior Doctors – Your Life in Their Hands on Tuesdays, 9pm on BBC3.

What’s more, one of the doctors featured in the programme is a Manchester graduate who came in to medicine from an arts background!

Read her story on the BBC3 Junior Doctors website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013fdbd/doctors/lucy-hollingworth

Mini Medical Careers Fair

3rd November, 4.30 – 6pm

Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Crewe.

All undergraduates and Foundation doctors are welcome!

Over 20 specialties represented – stands with dedicated advisers and interactive materials.

Get your CV checked for spelling and grammar to include in your portfolio!

Meet the F2 supervisors before you chose your rotations.

Meet the Associate Deans and the Postgraduate Clinical Tutor!

Thinking of a year abroad?   Visit our “Working Overseas” stand

All-you-can-eat curry buffet provided by local restaurant.

 

UK Foundation Programme confirms oversubscription for FP2012

The UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) has confirmed that, as predicted earlier this year, there are more applicants to the Foundation Programme starting in August 2012, than places currently available.  It is anticipated that all eligible applicants will be placed before the start of the Foundation Programme – it is expected that approximately 98% will be allocated in December and the rest over the following months.

As previously communicated, this means that applications from individuals who did not provide proof of their right to work in the UK by 7 October 2011 will not be considered.  These applicants will now be withdrawn from the national process.

All applications from individuals with the right to work and remain in the UK will be ranked in score order, and the top ‘n’ scoring applicants will be placed on the primary list to be allocated to a particular foundation school on 8 December 2011. The remaining applicants will be placed on the reserve list and allocated to a foundation school on the dates specified in the Applicant’s Handbook.

Professor Derek Gallen, UKFPO National Director, said:

“I am confident that despite the programme being oversubscribed once again, all eligible applicants will be placed in jobs by the start of the Foundation Programme in 2012. Last year, there were 184 more applicants than places available, but due to withdrawals for failed finals or other personal reasons all applicants were allocated by May.”

Primary and reserve list applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application on 8 December 2011.  Those on the reserve list will receive support from their local medical school and will be kept informed regarding when subsequent allocations will take place.

UKFPO/Medical Careers Website Application Podcast

The Medical Careers Website in association with the UKFPO has produced a podcast aimed at everyone preparing their application for the Foundation Programme 2012. It gives an overview to the application process including the timing of applications and what is involved together with some helpful tips. The podcast lasts just 12 minutes and is a great way to being preparing for the application. To view the podcast, go to http://www.medicalcareers.nhs.uk/medical_students/fp2012_podcast.aspx  

Don’t miss the annual National BMJ Careers Fair

The 10th BMJ Careers Fair takes place on 30 September – 1 October 2011
at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London.

Whatever your grade and specialty, the BMJ Careers Fair has a lot to offer. As well as courses covering CV writing, interview skills, career planning and more delegates can visit the exhibition stands to receive careers advice, find a new job and identify alternative career pathways.

Advance registration is now closed. You can still register on the day of the Fair.The cost is £20.00  For full venue details and opening hours visit their  FAQs page.

This is what some of last year’s delegates had to say about the event:

“The whole event was extremely well organised, useful and exciting – a real
credit to BMJ Careers”
BMJ National Careers Fair delegate, 2010

“Very helpful careers advice from deaneries and specialties, and good
networking opportunities. Also, excellent to have opportunity to discuss
with so many recruiters in one location”

Full details about the day are available from http://careersfair.bmj.com/en/1/home.html

Situational Judgement Tests, are you ready?

Aimed to accurately assess your aptitude to perform effectively as a foundation doctor and based on a direct analysis of the job you will be asked to repond to descriptions of challenging situations you are likely to face in the role. Your responses will be in the form of ranking a  multiple choice list of possible courses of action.

Situational judgement tests (SJT) look to replace ‘white space’ application questions for foundation applications from 2013. The initial pilots have proved successful.

Sat under exam conditions 2013 candidates will be asked to tackle 60 questions in two hours. Papers will then be machine marked.

Details of situational judgement tests along with example questions with answers are worth a look.

Pilots taking place at University of Manchester Medical School this autumn will be a shortened version of the test with 30 questions in one hour.

Reflecting on your experiences, reviewing and maintaining your portfolio is good professional practice as your medical career evolves. Mapping your current practice against the UKFPO person specification will help you anticipate the attributes which will be tested. (Key documents section)

Resources about assessment tools used in recruitment and selection are available from the North Western Medical Deanery Careers and the university careers service.

Further situational judgement test practice questions available here.

Fancy yourself as a writer?

The Royal Society of Medicine Awards

Deadlines for essays and competitions run throughout the year and many are open to current medical students. Many of them carry cash prizes, and of course are a valuable addition to your CV, especially if you are considering a career in academic medicine!

Examples of two awards with up coming deadlines are:

Emergency Medicine Section Students’ Prize

Submission Deadline: 30 September 2011
Meeting Date: tba
Prize: £500 & 1 year’s membership to the RSM
Open To: Medical Students

This prize is to contribute towards the cost of an elective abroad, with the intention of gaining experience in the practice of emergency medicine.

Epidemiology & Public Health Section Brooke Bursary Award

Submission Deadline: 25 November 2011
Meeting Date: tba
Prize: 2 prizes of £800
Open To: Undergraduate students of a UK university going on an elective module abroad related to public health or epidemiology or students taking a postgraduate degree such as an MSc in Public Health or similar at a UK university who plan to travel abroad on an elective module as part of that degree (This award is not open to PhD students).

For full details of these two awards and a list of many more opportunities, visit the Royal Society of Medicine website.

Medical and Dental student funding 2012 – official update

On 28th June 2011 Health Secretary Andrew Lansley wrote to the British Medical Association, the British Dental Association and Universities UK, detailing tuition fee funding for medical and dental students starting their courses in autumn 2012.

 

His comments in full can be found on the Department of Health website.

How good are your research skills?

The charity HealthWatch is offering medical students a £500 first prize and five £100 runner-up prizes for for the critical evaluation of clinical research protocols.

To enter, simply download four test protocols and demonstrate your research skills by selecting the best study protocols and briefly explaining your choices. Entries should be made by e-mail and must arrive on or before 30th June 2011. 

For protocols and entry forms click here.

Graduate Internship as Osteoarthritis Research Scientist – Ref: MGIP/11/20

The following vacancy is now available to view on CareersLink:

This is an excellent opportunity for a candidate interested in becoming involved in the development of clinical studies from a commercial prospective. Depending on performance, there will be an opportunity to be involved in future research, and the work is likely to lead to a number of important publications in the field of osteoarthritis.

Imorphics is a spin-out company from the University of Manchester, specialising in the development of advanced 3D shape analysis of medical images. The founders of the company were instrumental in the application of statistical models to the analysis of medical images. Imorphics specialises in providing automated and very accurate measurements for the orthopaedic and pharmaceutical sectors, particularly in the area of musculoskeletal disease and function.

Working in association with Professor Phil Conaghan from the Section of Musculoskeletal Disease at the University of Leeds, Imorphics have identified several novel biomarkers of osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a disease which progresses slowly, and is difficult to monitor within the normal length of a clinical trial for a new drug, typically 6 to 12 months. The biomarkers we have identified are capable of identifying change in bone shape within this time period, and show considerable promise as a tool for use in clinical trials, and for better understanding of the disease.

We have access to a very large public database of around 5,000 individuals, some with osteoarthritis, and others who are at risk of the disease. We have now analysed over 1,000 of these subjects, for up to 3 years, and generated a huge set of results. These results are in need of analysis, and we believe that this research work would be well suited to a graduate student, working closely with Professor Conaghan and members of Imorphics
Essential:
• Experience of participating and completing research projects.
• Able to work to deadlines.
• Working knowledge of statistics.
• Capable of spending significant periods of time carefully marking up images manually (training will be provided).
• Good communications skills.

Desirable:
• Research degree.
• Proven ability to write for scientific journals.
• Musculoskeletal clinical medicine experience.

Send CV and letter of application quoting the reference number to email: mgip@manchester.ac.uk

This opportunity is offered through the Careers Service’s ‘Manchester Graduate Internship Programme’ (MGIP) exclusively for graduates of The University of Manchester who are due to graduate in 2011. For further information about MGIP see www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/mgip