Flair Cullup - Summer STEM Work Placement - Weekly Reports

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Flair is getting on with her STEM placement! 

Week One 

"I’ve had a really interesting first week at St. George’s in the cardiology department. I spent the first part of the week learning tonnes of new information about some of  the cardiac diseases that they deal with there and the work they do to help people. I have been working with Dr Joyee Basu and she is currently doing a research project into HCM ( Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy ) so I have been learning a lot about that and have lots of information that I can hopefully put in my presentation in September. 

I’ve managed to see Dr Basu at work with her patients but also had a look at some of the data basing that has to go on before the research project can begin and it is really mind blowing how much preparation has to go into research. So far I’ve had a really fantastic time and I can’t wait to go back and start the next week."

Week Two

"This week, we started focusing much more on our research project and have chosen what we will be studying. We have decided to ask patients that are attending clinic in the hospital whether they would be willing to take part in a questionnaire we have written so we can see whether their perceptions of exercise have changed since being diagnosed. 

This week has been really interesting because I have had the chance to talk to so many people affected by heart conditions and have seen how every case is different. I have also had a chance to look at some echocardiograms and have been learning how to interpret them properly (which is quite complicated!). I feel this week has been very productive in terms of our research and I can't believe we're already halfway through."

Week Three 

"This week has been really fantastic! I can't believe we only have one week left. I've managed to meet loads of new doctors this week and they have all been really lovely, helping to explain to me what is going on in clinic. I have also heard lots of interesting stories from patients with various heart conditions and the idea that every case is different has been reflected in our results too with a real variety of answers from our questionnaire. I think this week I have learnt how to improve my communication skills and I am becoming more confident at approaching the patients for our research. I really feel like I'm beginning to fit in as I get to know all the doctors here so I am kind of sad about the thought that my month will be over next week. It seems to have flied by!" 

              - Flair Cullup