This week, Mrs Lawrence arranged a super Medical Extension session which was very well supported by potential U6th, L6th and 5th Year medics. Dr Claire Kelly and Dr Helen Tyrrell from Coventry’s Priory Gate practice, together with two of their current medical students, led a very open, fresh view of life as a GP, before answering a host of excellent questions.
ISSUE 13 – Friday 12 April 2019
A NEWS EDITOR’S REFLECTIONS – AN ETHICAL ISSUE
This week, former pupil Mandy Bhandal Jensen, who works as a news editor in Denmark, posted her personal reflections about her initial experience in a newsroom:
“The first time I ever stepped into a newsroom was 25 years ago. I had a week’s work experience at the BBC in London and was given a seat next to the picture desk where all the raw footage from correspondents around the world came rolling in.
The footage I saw on those screens that week gave me nightmares for years The screams. The faces of terrified babies and children. The desperate parents flailing their arms trying to protect their families. The sheer number of dead bodies. The bloody machetes. The murderers that just kicked a path through body parts piling up in their paths. The senseless cruel brutal slaughter of hundreds of children, women and men was happening right there on that screen.
Horrified by what I was seeing, I could hear the News Editor trying to judge just how much we could show and how much we should shield from audiences. If you don’t show the truth, will it ever stop? If you sensitise it too much, will people take it seriously? It was my first lesson about the ethics of journalism.
We obviously showed too little and too late, because nearly a million people were killed in the genocide in Rwanda. Powerful countries looked away and international forces in the country did little but stand on the sidelines. We all failed.
This week marks 25 years since those atrocities. I read that the country has healed and the survivors have forgiven. There’s hope. But, I wonder if we’re doing enough to stop hatred being used as a political tool today? And I also wonder if the commemorations this week will trigger traumatic memories of what happened, just like they have mine.”
Mandy would be proud to hear that recent Bablake assemblies by Mehreen Kazmi, Reverend Slavic, 6GLP, 6KGD and 6MGW have enlightened, instructed and empowered us all to stand up and question homophobia, racism, sexism and injustice.
Her views will interest many students but particularly those studying religion, philosophy and ethics.
18 HASHTAGS WHY…
Following this week’s excellent Medical Extension meeting, we have identified 18 clear reasons for students looking to work as a general practitioner (GP).
1 #DailyVariety
2 #PracticalClinicalMedicine
3 #MakingAnImpact
4 #ChallengingWork
5 #Rewarding
6 #ConstantlyLearning
7 #ExcitingTechnologicalAdvance
8 #ChoiceOverEnvironment
9 #PositionOfPrivilege
10 #ManagingNotBeingManaged
11 #ThePeople
12 #BreadthAndSpecialism
13 #IntellectuallyStimulating
14 #PortfolioCareerPossibility
15 #AttractivePay
16 #FlexibleHours
17 #FamilyFlexibility
18 #WorkLifeBalance
The honesty and humour expressed by the doctors and medical students from the Priory Gate practice were very clear. Thankfully, it also seems that no amount of bureaucracy or austerity can erode the simple pleasures of being a GP.
