On Thursday 8th December, we went off to a Christmas lecture “I’m a Consultant…Get Me Out of Here” at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London. The lecture was extremely entertaining yet very useful as it explained the steps required to study Medicine at university. The lecturer also explained the process of becoming a specialist Registrar:· Medical school (4-6 years)
· Foundation years (2 years)
· Speciality training (7 years)
· Once you are a Speciality Registrar then you can apply to be a Consultant.
During the talk, we learnt about the three types of birth deliveries which include: Normal (65%), Caesarean (25%) and Vacuum (10%). The lecture was very visual and we saw videos of surgeons carrying out Caesareans on patients with twins and suturing up complicated pregnancies. The speaker, Mr Kim Hinshaw also raised awareness of mortality rates of pregnant mothers across the world, and the figures were shocking; 1 in 8 mothers die while giving birth in undeveloped countries and when this figure was applied to this country, it would mean that 500 mothers would die a year in one hospital alone. The lecture ended with a question and answer session where we discussed teenage pregnancies and the risks involved as well the link between diabetes and pregnancy. The lecture has encouraged us to explore different fields of Medicine and raised our awareness of the healthcare situation round the world.
Tabasum Aslam and Aayushi Shukla (both Year 12)