May 2016 Transition Year Students Attend NUI Galway Medical School Programme

Over 60 students from schools across the country attended the recent SIMMED School at NUI Galway.  Now in its third year, SIMMED School is an innovative and unique programme for Transition Year students who are interested in exploring medicine as a career.

Students were immersed in the world of medicine over the four days, giving them a flavour of what life will be like as a doctor in a major teaching hospital. Throughout the programme, students were part of a simulated medical team and got to carry out medical and surgical skills in the centre for simulation in Galway University Hospital, SIMWEST. They heard the experiences of current students starting their journey in the School of Medicine and those of fully qualified doctors. They also met different professionals employed in a wide range of roles throughout the hospital, learned about common medical problems and discovered interesting facts about plastic surgery, orthopaedics, HIV, oncology, diabetes, asthma and many more topics.

The focus of SIMMED School is to give students a genuine insight into hospital medicine and in teaching them to develop psychomotor skills. The students are also challenged to work as a team to solve medical and surgical clinical cases. At NUI Galway, the School of Medicine recognises the importance of a good introduction to the medical world for Transition Year students who might otherwise not have access to accurate information to help them to make career choices.

Professor Sean Dinneen, Head of NUI Galway’s School of Medicine, said: “SIMMED is an innovative and unique programme at NUI Galway and Galway University Hospital that is a genuine opportunity for students to get hands on experience of what it is like to be a junior doctor. It is enormously popular and enjoyable as well as challenging and real eye-opening!"

Speaking of her SIMMED experience, Imy Lundon of Presentation College, Athenry, Co. Galway, said: “I really liked the variety and the practical aspects of the course. For me the Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the heart surgery segments were the most interesting.”

Cormac Nugent from Summerhill College in Sligo said: “I liked the simulations and hands-on parts of the course where we got to try things out for ourselves.”

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