Can you save Lucy Browning? encouraging
children to pursue a carEer in medicine using multimedia case scenarios
Jo Cross and Paul Scott*.
CONTEXT: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) have made
Widening access and improving participation in higher education one of their
key strategic aims in recent years. At Hull York Medical School (HYMS) the
overarching aim of the widening participation agenda is to encourage and
support applications to Medicine and other health related Higher Education
courses by young people from under-represented groups in society.
METHODS: The Lucy Project is part of HYMS’ Widening Participation programme and
is designed to stimulate children’s interest in Science using a range of media
focusing around a medical case study. Children are split into groups, and with
the support of HYMS students work through the ‘real time’ scenario of managing
the treatment of Lucy, who has been involved in a serious car accident. Using
multimedia resources the children have to decide which investigations are
appropriate and then based on these results develop and discuss a treatment
plan for their patient.
RESULTS: Although the project is still in the early phase of development the
initial evaluations received from the participating schools have been very
positive. This feedback has also generated significant interest from other
schools for further sessions to be made available.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS: Planned future developments are to create a web
application to support the project which can be accessed both before and after
the event. This would facilitate further classroom based activities extending
the scope of the project and would be a valuable asset for building lasting
relationships with schools in the region.