Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Embrace this opportunity to take part in healthcare research, especially qualitative research (this aspect of healthcare research is not covered as much in the medical curriculum). Learning about the subject and general reading around qualitative research methods.
- Juhi Rastogi

The second year of the School's internship programme has once again given medical students opportunities to join  our partner departments for a few weeks over the summer break.

The initiative provides medical students with first-hand involvement in a research environment and access to a team of specialised mentors and supervisors. By the end of the programme, interns produce a piece of primary care focussed academic work and an opportunity to present at the School’s annual showcase event.

The programme came about to address some of the issues identified by the 2016 Health Education England and the Medical Schools Council published ‘By choice – not by chance’. The report considers the concerns faced when recruiting medical students to careers in general practice and highlights the need for greater collaboration to raise the academic profile of general practice.

As such, two new initiatives were introduced by the SPCR: The Medical Student Prize named after Professor of Academic Primary Care George Lewith, and most recently in early 2018, the Medical Student Internship programme.

The clinical aspect of the internship gave me the opportunity to apply what I had learnt in the research setting to a clinical environment. I had time to improve my examination skills and was introduced to medical ethics & philosophy through my GP supervisor."
- Sirat Lodhi
I would highly encourage this internship. Regardless of the type of research the student will aim towards, going through the formal and correct method of literature research, data analysis and typing up an abstract is a very useful skill to have In the long run during medical training." 
- Hamzeh Feddah
PRIMARY CARE DEPARTMENTS HOSTED THE FOLLOWING INTERNS IN 2019:
Department Intern Role and Project
Southampton Constantinos Regas Identify which topical preparations are the most effective and best tolerated. 
  Daniel Langley  Supporting the feasibility trial for the REDUCE study. This included conducting qualitative interviews with participants, analyzing questionnaire feedback, data entry and preparation of databases and working documents for the main trial. 
  Lydia Holtgrewe 

Antibiotic prescribing. Research question: “What are the main trials and interventions that have focussed on reducing unnecessary antibiotic prescribing?”

Cambridge Helen Lin Daily Physical Activity Levels in Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: Clinical Correlates and Subjective Perception of Activity
Newcastle Lauren Berry

Parallel surgeries in undergraduate medical education: the experiences and perceptions of the triadic interaction and roles within, from the GP, student and patient perspectives. A pilot study.

Newcastle Elizabeth Westhead Palliative care needs of people with frailty: A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies 
Nottingham Emma Poynton-Smith  Investigation of the impact of stress (hair cortisol and lifestyle measures) on fertility (success of IVF treatment). My role so far has included: data entry and basic analyses; lab work extracting cortisol from hair samples.
Keele Hamzeh Feddah Glucocorticoid related outcomes for treating Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR)
Bristol Grace Sellers Working in a lab, trying to identify bio-markers for osteoarthritis
Manchester Ashley Coope Producing a longitudinal cohort study on a mental health symptom in GP
  Matthew Betts
  Mohammad Hossain Join the journal club to pick and critique a research article as well as discuss careers in research and general practice. Health Economics research programming skills in Stata on health economics related data and attending meetings of the research groups in which we got to experience the presentation of a clinical doctoral thesis by one of the clinicians. 
  Sirat Lodhi

The research component of the internship allowed me to learn more about the role of an academic in the healthcare sector. I particularly enjoyed the weekly journal club, learning basic coding and discussing health inequalities in primary care. 

  Daniel Crowther
UCL Josephine Elliott A Scoping Review on Generalism: core concepts to inform clinical training
  Juhi Rastogi Patient and Public involvement (PPI) in Realist Reviews: A Review of healthcare research and Reflective Questions for Researchers