CAREER IN PLASTIC SURGERY 

Competitions and prizes 

As a medical student, you get more opportunities to win prizes compared to junior doctors. In addition, student can win prizes to go to conferences and open days.  Apply and participate in as many competitions or bursaries as possible. There are different types of competitions: posters (clinical or non-clinical), suturing competitions, research grants, presentations and essay writing etc. Most Medical or Surgical Societies require you to be a member in order to participate in any prize and awards events, and the membership price can range from £15-£50 per annum (*as per Feb 2015). Certain competitions and prizes are free. Please check the respective websites of societies about participating in any competition. Although it may be time consuming and you may not always win prizes, its the participation that counts - and remember to include proof of participation in your portfolio! 

 

Here are some websites that are recommended: 

 

• The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM): Student Membership: £50/year*

  • ​Surgery John Dawson Medical Student Prize

• Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT): Student Membership: £40/year*

  • ​ASiT/Elsevier Surgical Elective Prize

  • Preparing for a Career in Surgery Prize

• Royal College of Surgeons (RCSeng): Student Affiliate - £15/year*

  • ​The Professor Harold Ellis Medical Student Prize 

• The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSed): Student Affiliate - £15/year*

• The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG): Student membership - Free  

• Restore Research 

  • Medical Student Burn and Wound Essay Prize (Deadline: Annually, 1st October)

 

Bursaries

Surgical related bursaries are almost equivalent to prizes. As often the amount of applications are great and the competition between the applicants is high. The main bursaries to include in your portfolio are the ones related to surgery or academic excellence. Bursaries can be found in the same websites as listed above. In addition, money4medstudents also offers a long list of bursaries that medical students can apply for. Medical elective bursaries can be found in the next section. BAPRAS also offers bursaries for electives.     

 

Presentations 

Presentation is a very common feature in the medical profession as this is the main teaching tool for doctors. This is very important as modernisation of medical career involves encouraging medical students to develop their teaching skills in order to attain the skills to become a competent doctors as teachers. Doing a presentation now may get you ahead of everyone else. It does not mean that you have to present in a national or international conference for it to count, it can be any type of presentation. Although presentations have recently been removed from the points-system and will not be considered as much as before in your ranking (due to the high number of them), it will still provide a boost to your CV. Plus, it is always a good practice to be able to present to an audience. 

 

The types of presentations are:

• Local presentations: Events that happens in your local hospital.

  • Grand rounds, educational half-days, departmental meetings and journal clubs. 

• Regional presentations

  • Regional meetings. You will need to contact the appropriate person-in-charge, eg. an educational director. 

• National and international conferences 

  • Specialty conferences or meetings. 

  • Usually requires abstract submission and/or oral presentation. (1)  

 

Publications 

Any form of medical or clinical publications are advantageous to your specialty application (as a selling point) and as a interview talking point. There are journals that encourage medical students and junior doctors to publish articles; publishing may not be easy, but it is achievable! Significant or not, it is left for the panel of interviewers to decide - so put in your best efforts to publish!

 

Again, below is a list of possible publications:  

 

• Newsletters, local newspapers or magazines

  • ​Any newspaper or local magazine counts

  • Newsletters such as JuniorDr and HospitalDr 

• 'Letters to the editor' or responses ​

• Other publications:

  • ​For example, BMJ case report, JRSM Short Reports etc. Refer to the FOUNDATION guide for this section as some of the journal publication require a substantial amount of processing fees or fellowship fees. This is more appropriate when you are in foundation years; earning money. (1)