Teaching for Tomorrow
In the last week of July, PRP joined up with a charitable organisation, the Social Mobility Foundation, for an interactive training day attended by aspiring medical students. Sitting in a brimming lecture room at UCLH, were over sixty enthusiastic Year 12 students from across the UK, all waiting for Phill to begin his session.
The workshop covered many aspects of the processes required to become a successful medical student. Phill spoke about general interview skills, passing the MMI's and the rules of role play. Participation from the audience was encouraged and resulted in several interesting discussions.
Our role players who volunteered for the day then spoke about their personal experiences and offered some invaluable advice. 'Don't be a robot, remember to be human.' 'Try not to let nerves get the better of you, use them to perform,' and 'silence is a powerful tool,' were some of the comments given.
After this, the students were put into groups and were given their own scenarios to role play. Each group was assigned a PRP facilitator who conducted these smaller sessions. The facilitator split the students into two roles—patients or medical students. The scenarios were role-played in forum theatre style, whereby other students could stop the interview to offer encouragement and advice. Students stated, 'I didn't know five minutes could be so long! I'm not sure what else to say ... ' 'What should I ask now? This is harder than I thought!' With the guidance of the facilitator, they were given the communicative tools to handle the situation in a fun and safe environment.
When the session came to an end, the students thanked the team for their help. Some even had selfies with the role players they recognised from the TV! There was certainly a buzz in the room from the students, the co-ordinators and the PRP team. Everyone came away feeling rewarded.
We would like to thank Sammy at the Social Mobility Foundation for her hard work organising the event and our role players who volunteered their services. We hope we can be involved in another event soon. Finally, we would like to thank the students for their positive spirit and diligence, and wish them the best of luck in the future. We look forward to seeing them in the booth of an OSCE in a few years time...