Dear reader,
Welcome to the Cambridge Widening Access to Medicine Society monthly newsletter😊. We hope you’re having a good summer! August is a busy time for medicine applications: making decisions about where to apply, starting your personal statement and siting the UKCAT! So well done for getting this far - and good luck for the next few months! Food for Thought: an example interview question In the last year, we have seen that different groups are more likely to get ill and die from coronavirus. For example, the elderly. Can you think of any other groups of people and why are they at an increased risk? A suggested approach to this question is available here on our website! Behind the Headlines https://jacobinmag.com/2021/08/lockdown-australia-coronavirus-delta-variant-neoliberalism-public-health-care-system Australia is an interesting example of a country to compare the UK to regarding the coronavirus response. The British government’s errors in the early handling of the pandemic and subsequent high case and death figures starkly contrasted the swift restrictions and control of the virus in Australia and New Zealand. However, the political organisation of Australia has greatly impacted their long term response to the virus , which is examined in this article. The single, national, public system of healthcare here in the UK enabled the fastest vaccine rollout of any large developed country; in contrast Australia has a fragmented, semi-private system devolved to individual states, making a swift rollout impossible. Australians are also very reluctant to get the AstraZeneca vaccine because of exaggerations of the risk of very rare side effects by politicians and the media. One could argue that this was in part ideological; it was the only not-for-profit jab and received huge scrutiny - we now know the other vaccines have similarly severe, but similarly rare, side effects. The author would also blame neoliberalism and a failure to think about other people in your community. The article also describes the effects of austerity (cuts), with some shocking examples of large cuts to healthcare budgets during the height of the pandemic. It also looks at how, with low rates initially, Australia had the opportunity to pursue a more public health, contact tracing-based system to control the few isolated cases. Instead they pursued a heavy-handed, lockdown-based approach, which involved harsh policing of deprived and minority ethnic communities. The article finishes with a broader point about how blame is being wrongly shifted onto individual rule breakers, rather than the government’s failures. This is an important point that is probably even more relevant to us here in the UK. What do you think about the ways in which different countries have handled the pandemic thus far? How could we do better moving forward? The pandemic is an extremely important topic for healthcare professionals all over the world, so be sure to keep up to date with the news and form your own opinions. Myth-buster ‘Cambridge is a medical school for people who want to work in a lab, and isn’t as good at training you in the practical and clinical aspects.’ The student room would lead you to believe: “I heard that approximately 95% of Cambridge medical graduates get a research job and that only 5% go on to become a medical doctor.” This is not true. In fact, more Cambridge graduates go on to practice clinical medicine post-Foundation than the national average! The medicine course at Cambridge is known for being science-heavy (especially with the mandatory intercalation and notorious 5th year pathology exam). This means it does set you up well for research if you choose to do some in the future. However, the idea that clinical medicine is not thoroughly covered is a myth that comes from a misunderstanding of the course structure. In clinical school we have 3 full years spent as 'apprentice doctors'. There is a big split here from the basic science - we don’t go back to university for biology lectures, and instead spend all our time learning on the job. Cambridge has some of the best exposure to key, general clinical specialities which are excellent for learning the basics of medical practice. This includes plenty of A&E placements and well-organised GP placements every year (unlike some other med schools...). The latter is especially important because approximately half of doctors train to become GPs.
Thanks for reading – if you have any questions then as ever please just email us at access@clinsoc.co.uk! We hope you have a great month! Love, CamWAMS Committee
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