MedSoc London Trip 2019

After settling down at the hotel, our first destination in London – the Science Museum. The museum was huge and a lot of it was about aviation and space, however, the medical part of the museum was under renovation, so unfortunately, we were not able to learn much about history of medicine.

We then visited Imperial College. We had a quick tour and we went in for some seminar-type talks. We first had an activity answering different fun questions about the human body, then we had a talk related to admissions and studying at Imperial and living in London. After visiting Imperial College, we went on to the Wellcome Collection where we got to see a lot of models of humans and also a lot of equipment used for surgeries in ‘the old times’. It was quite interesting; for me that was the highlight of our first day. At night, after dinner, we went for a walk around the London Eye and Embankment area.

On the second day, we went to St. George’s University near the outskirts of London. We had a short talk about admissions and also life at St. George’s. We then had a tour taking us around different parts of the hospital and university, including the Human Dissection Room, which was amazing. We got to see and touch a real cadaver and different organs too. We also got to see a collection of different specimens and learn a lot about them in the Pathology Museum. Shortly after lunch, we had a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) session with our guides, including tips about tackling exam questions and also a group discussion. For the last part of our tour in St. George’s University, we had an activity workshop with different stations including clinical skills on how to check blood pressure, CPR, testing our reflex in our joints and many others. Afterwards, we had dinner at Marco Pierre White’s restaurant and I think we all had a great time.

We started our third and final day by going to King’s College London, where, once again, we had a lecture-style talk and then a tour around the university, including going to their own pathology museum which was huge, and lots of specimen were displayed. Afterwards, we went to the Old Operating Theatre and learnt about its history and stories about the types of procedures and methods that used to happen there in Victorian times. That was our final activity before some free time for shopping and  then a train journey back to Shrewsbury.

It was definitely a great experience to visit different parts of London and a handful of universities, and importantly, to also learn more about medicine. But, I do think the Science Museum would have been more beneficial if all areas were finished and open, and I would have liked to have spent more time at the pathology museum at King’s College.

Gayvn – 6.1

Medics Trip to London

The London Medical trip was yet another amazing opportunity given to the aspiring medics of Concord College. We were privileged to receive guided tours of prestigious medical schools in London such as University College London Medical School, Imperial College London, and King’s College London.

Our visit to the well-known Science Museum in South Kensington was very educative and interesting. We went through three major exhibitions; Superbugs – the fight for our lives, Journeys through Medicine, and Wounded: Conflict, Care and Casualties. These exhibitions explored how society responded to challenges of antibiotic resistance as well as displayed medical collections from World Wars. Although the university tours and the visit to The Science Museum were educative and interesting, I found the three hour medical tour by the Blue Badge Guide and our visit to the Old Operating Theatre in Southwark the most thrilling and exciting. I learnt a lot about medical history, medical progress for the past five hundred years and most importantly I had the opportunity to see what operations were like back in the 1800’s and 1900’s.

The medical trip was also quite recreational. Aside from the tours, the science museum and the theatre, we got to spend quality time with our friends. We had a lovely dinner served at Wildwood Italian restaurant and visited Covent Garden, as well as shopping and free time on Oxford Street. This was definitely a good way to take a break after another term of hard work.

I would love to thank the staff who we were with on this trip for their great care and support.

Antoinette – 6.1