Cochrane UK present at a 'widening access' conference at the University of Birmingham for sixth form students hoping to study medicine

On Saturday 7th December, Cochrane UK presented at the ‘Dr.eam Junior’ conference at the University of Birmingham Medical School. This free one-day event is for Year 12 pupils from state schools throughout the West Midlands who are hoping to study medicine. The day aims to boost the students’ chances of a successful application.

The annual event is organized by ‘Birmingham Widening Access to Medical Sciences’ (BWAMS), a student-run society at the University of Birmingham. Their mission is to “support applications to healthcare degrees from young achievers in state schools who have the academic ability but may lack the motivation, confidence or knowledge to apply”. 

Over 100 students attended the event, and were split into four groups of around 25 students for a variety of talks and workshops. The sessions were designed to give advice and practical insights into medicine and what it means to be a medic.

Lynda Ware, Senior Fellow in General Practice, and Selena Ryan-Vig, Communications and Engagement Officer, delivered the sessions on behalf of Cochrane UK. They gave a brief introduction to what evidence-based medicine is and what systematic reviews are. The students also heard about the thalidomide tragedy; ‘one of the darkest episodes in pharmaceutical research history’. Thalidomide was originally licensed as a sleeping pill and was later used as an over-the-counter medication for morning sickness. Sadly, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, thousands of birth defects and deaths worldwide resulted from pregnant women taking thalidomide for this purpose. Why had the dangers of using the drug during pregnancy gone undetected? Because although the drug had been tested on animals, it had not been tested on pregnant animals. This story serves to highlight why it is so important that treatments and medical advice are based on robust evidence.

The students were also encouraged to think about how they would go about designing their own clinical trial to test the benefits and harms of a vaccine, and learnt about the evidence (or lack thereof) to support or refute a number of widely-used common cold remedies.

The sessions concluded by signposting the students to useful evidence-based links such as the Cochrane Library and further reading, such as Testing Treatments (which is freely available online).

The burgeoning relationship between Cochrane UK and BWAMS began when Kirsty Morrison, the president of BWAMS, spotted this blog by Lynda and Selena about our work teaching evidence-based medicines in schools and got in touch to explore opportunities for collaboration. We were delighted to be asked to present at the conference and very much look forward to collaborating with BWAMS further.

10 Dec 2019