Media Release
Date: 30 June 2017
RUH Sixth Form Conference a hit
Over a hundred students from Bath and the surrounding areas have been taking part in this year's Sixth Form Conference at the Royal United Hospital in Bath – learning what it takes to work within a busy NHS hospital.
The three-day event offers students with an interest in a career in health a unique opportunity to familiarise themselves with a busy hospital environment and discover the career paths that may be open to them.
As well as enjoying a range of lectures from clinical staff at the RUH, students have been taking part in practical workshops, trying their hand at a range of medical techniques and skills – from caring for an emergency admission, to suturing a wound, taking blood, and even delivering a model baby. On the second day of the conference, the attendees got to witness a knee operation take place in real time via a live video-link to one of our theatres.
One young attendee, Celeste Lewis Williams, said the conference had helped her to address some of the concerns she had had about the personal side of pursuing a career in health. She said:
"Watching the live operation made me think, 'I could do this'. Doctors so often seem superhuman. But they're not – they are human, just like me. It was a really reassuring experience."
Aspiring doctors in the group also got the chance to talk to our junior doctors, asking them about the training involved in become a qualified medic and what it's like to work on the wards. The session prompted some fascinating discussions, covering everything from learning how to cope with death to how to strike a happy work-life balance.
Conference organiser Daniele Fawkner-Corbett said:
"Once again, we had a really great group of students who got fully involved in the activities on offer. So many of the students come onto the course interested in a career in the NHS, but a little apprehensive or unsure of what exactly that might involve. The conference is the perfect way to demystify the NHS and showcase the wide variety of opportunities on offer for rewarding, lifelong careers here at the hospital."
Student Zary Nwakodo said:
"I'd give the conference a ten out of ten. I'd definitely do it again! I had been wavering a bit but this experience has firmed up my mind. I'm going straight into studying medicine when I leave college."