21 February 2011

Sonal's Web Diary

I have spent the last 4 weeks of my student selected component (SSC) in the Cardiovascular and Bone Research Unit working alongside the platelet group in Northern General Hospital.

For the last 4 weeks I have been assisting in a small study looking at platelet functions in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention also known as angioplasty. These patients could be emergency admissions or elective procedures.

Between patients I spent time reading papers and journal articles about platelets, anti-platelet medication and the principles behind the platelet tests and why they are used. For such tiny cells in our body platelets have many functions with many more yet to be discovered. The more I read about the subject the less I seemed to know about platelets! I can say with certainty that in the past 4 weeks I have learnt more about platelets than ever before.

I chose to spend some time in research as I believe that research is essential to medical practice. It is difficult in our course to get exposure to research as a medical student. There is a 6 week opportunity in second year (phase 1b) allocated for research, but other than that there is no formally allotted time. Students may use SSC blocks such as these to pursue such interests. Many students choose to take a year out of medical school and pursue other interests, usually research, ethics, tropical medicine etc. One of the ways students can get involved in research is by obtaining a BMedSci. However, this means extending a 5 year course to 6 years and of course has monetary implications.

I would like to pursue research in my future career and I am grateful to the platelet group for allowing me to have a taste of this sort of research. It is very difficult and unrealistic to expect to achieve great results in 1 month, but that is not to say that one does not learn anything. On the contrary in my one month I have learnt a lot of new things; laboratory techniques, how to collect and analyze data collecting data, further knowledge of platelets and of course insight into one side of cardiovascular research. I would sincerely like to thank Professor Storey, the platelet research team and all those in the CVBRU who made me feel welcome and lent me their time and patience to teach me and allow me to make the most of this experience.