The Lancet and TheLancetStudent.com  are SO fortunate to have such brilliant medical students with us on placement just now. Nadine Cozens from Kings College, London, is doing part of her elective with us. Here she tells you what she has been up to so far. Over to you Nadine-Rhona

 

When considering ideas for my elective, it suddenly occurred to me that whilst it is usually assumed for medical students to disperse all over the world for eight weeks, there were plenty of opportunities right here in the UK. I had given a great deal of thought to doing an elective abroad, but suddenly I realised that this was the perfect opportunity, before I started working as a doctor, to get involved with something less clinical, but still very medically orientated…not to mention of course the thousands of pounds I would save by staying in the UK!

After much thought, I finally realised that I wanted to gain more experience in medical writing/journalism. So that brings me to where I am now - like Katie, spending several weeks at The Lancet in Camden Town, London. I was a bit apprehensive that I wouldn’t gain much from my time here, (other than polishing up on my tea/coffee making and photocopying skills!), but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Firstly, I have had several opportunities to actually write for The Lancet and TheLancetStudent.com , and this has not only improved my writing/journalistic skills, but also raised my awareness of many issues. For example, as I was given the opportunity to interview Dr Ed Mills with fellow medical student Rachel Brown, this allowed me to gain a better understanding of the issue of health and human rights.  Furthermore, I have now been given the job by TheLancetStudent.com of interviewing the author of the recent Lancet paper on cervical screening by visual inspection with acetic acid in India. I feel extremely privileged to be able to interview someone who has been involved in such a vital study.

My time here has certainly been a real eye-opener. It has been particularly interesting to see the process in place to find suitable papers to be published. As a medical student, I have definitely taken it for granted how much work and time goes into the publication of a journal paper. Each week The Lancet is sent an abundance of articles that the authors have undoubtedly worked extremely hard to produce. These articles are then scrutinised by both internal and external review processes. Many are rejected immediately, whilst others are sent back to the authors for changes to be made, before being reviewed yet again. This process can take several months to complete, and the articles can only be published once everyone involved is satisfied that the article is suitable for The Lancet. There are so many people dedicated to ensuring that only those truly worthy of publication pass through the system.

It is also incredible to be one of the first to read ground-breaking new studies that will change the way we practice medicine. For example in my first week here, I was involved in a meeting regarding the publication of an article comparing the sensitivity of mammography and MRI in the detection of ductal carcinoma in situ. The following week, this article was published, and many newspapers worldwide reported on this significant study. I really feel that to be working for The Lancet is to be working at the forefront of medicine.

After my time here, I will be spending the last part of my elective working for The Times newspaper. It will be interesting to see the difference between how various medical issues are tackled in a highly reputable journal, compared with a national newspaper. Obviously this will also be an amazing opportunity to find out more about the world of journalism, an area I have always been interested in. One of the brilliant things about a career in medicine is that you can combine it with so many other things, such as journalism, and I hope that in my future career I will be able to combine both my love of medicine and journalism. So I suppose I just want to encourage other medical students that there is an abundance of elective opportunities here in the UK, and it is really a perfect time to get involved with something you have a passion for.

Finally, TheLancetStudent.com has provided me with an amazing opportunity to contribute my ideas and opinions, but luckily you don’t have to actually work here to do that, so I urge all of you to get writing about any of those burning issues you feel strongly about, as this is an amazing way of making others listen to your views! Nadine

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