Students need better career advice

Editor - I am writing in response to Showrob patwary's letter last month.¹ I am also a fourth year medical student and agree completely with his complaint that medical students receive little or no formal career advice.

Although we can complain, in the hope that something may be done about it in the future, it is unlikely that that any steps will be taken by medical schools to remedy this situation in the next year or two-that is, in the time that is relevant to current third and fourth years. Therefore may I suggest that medical students do, as I and some of my colleagues have done, and set up a student run careers society. In our case this is a surgical careers society.

We have the backing of the Royal college of Surgeons of England, and have already hosted a successful careers evening with speakers ranging from a preregistration house officer to a consultant, and, in the future, intend to host evenings on different surgical specialties. Although this is a surgically oriented society, I don't see why other societies couldn't be set up, such as a medical careers society, or perhaps just a generic careers society. In the current climate of autodidactic learning and problem based learning perhaps it is time we worked out how to give ourselves career advice.

Neil Ferguson, fourth year medical student, university of Manchester
Email: neil­f@fs1.with.man.ac.uk


studentBMJ 2001;09:217-260 July ISSN 0966-6494

1. patwary S. Students need better career advice. studentBMj 2001;9:209. (june.)