I chose to intercalate in Pharmacology as I’d found it a really interesting part of my degree so far and thought it would be useful no matter what I one day specialise in. I wanted to explore the theory behind the drugs I will go on to prescribe to patients in the future.
Although I initially missed the familiarity of PBL groups and MCQ exams, I began to enjoy having more in-course assessments and directing my own learning. I learned to think critically about papers and trials that had been published and grew to understand that science is never black and white as it had seemed so far.
It was challenging to come into the course and feel like the Pharmacology students had had an extra year of teaching up to that point but all the lecturers were appreciative of this and I never felt at a disadvantage. Instead, it was refreshing to meet science students and be able to work on group projects where everyone had a different insight and brought something different to the team.
One of the highlights of the course was our group poster presentation day where we got a chance to learn from our peers as they presented an area drug development they had researched.
I decided to do a lab project in the second semester and although this was daunting (I hadn’t so much as picked up a pipette in years) I loved being able to do research first-hand. By the end of my project I was working independently in the lab running protocols that had seemed alien to me months prior.
Although the 5,000 word write-up was not as fun as experimenting in the lab it was rewarding to put the pieces of the puzzle together in my dissertation and it felt great when I could finally submit my work. I was really happy to produce some good data from the project and be able to present my research at the INSPIRE conference which was a great way to conclude my year as a scientist before returning to medicine.
Pharmacology has given me a great insight into the theory of drug development and the running of clinical trials which I hope to be involved in as a doctor in the future.
My advice to students choosing their intercalated degree is to pick something you might have chosen as your degree if you hadn’t applied to medicine – that’s how I went about it, and it worked out pretty well!
