{"id":2782,"date":"2023-12-20T09:52:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T09:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/?p=2782"},"modified":"2024-01-15T15:34:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T15:34:48","slug":"vr-ready-placement-reflections-of-a-fourth-year-medical-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/vr-ready-placement-reflections-of-a-fourth-year-medical-student\/","title":{"rendered":"VR-READY Placement: Reflections Of A Fourth Year Medical Student"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cardiff University hosts a range of student placements within the on-campus internships<\/a> programme providing opportunities for undergraduate students to undertake summer placements within university departments. This year, the VR-READY team welcomed Anna Bijou, a fourth year medical student and here is what she thought about her experience!<\/em><\/p>\n

– Blog by Anna Biju and Dr Kim Smallman<\/a><\/p>\n

As a fourth year medical student, I came to realise that I needed to shift my focus into enhancing my career skills and becoming a good clinician as opposed to solely working towards passing all my exams. Upon reflection, I recognised that a personal area of weakness was my knowledge and involvement in medical research. Although there are several research opportunities throughout the course, I believe that there is very limited exposure to the research process as a whole. This ultimately encouraged me to apply for a research-based summer internship.<\/p>\n

Why VR-READY?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was incredibly pleased to be offered a position on the VR-READY internship scheme as it was my top choice within the several applications I had submitted towards the On-Campus Internship Scheme. There were several aspects that pushed me to favour this particular internship. First of all, seeing how the project was clinical and based on rehabilitation medicine suited my interests as I have always been keen on studying chronic diseases, holistic care and long-term recovery. Additionally, the involvement of Virtual Reality was another selling point as I understand its evolving use in the medical field through using it myself during simulation and training sessions. Lastly, the aspect that piqued my interest the most was the qualitative nature of this project as this opportunity would provide me a whole new skillset as almost all my previous work was quantitative.<\/p>\n

My experience<\/h2>\n

This project has been a steep learning curve for me with a fair share of challenges and new experiences, however, I was never short of support. My lead supervisor, Dr Kim Smallman was a constant guidance throughout the project and always allowed for open discussion about questions I had with regards to qualitative research (which was plenty!). Co-supervisor Dr Cheney Drew similarly introduced me to her role as a chief investigator of a research trial and I was able to attend several meetings led by Dr Drew which painted a picture of the true research process and its logistics. Lastly and certainly not least, Dr Ceri Lynch and co-lead for VR-READY was also an important mentor as she was able to show the role of a clinician in research which is more relevant to my background as a medical student. Dr Lynch also kindly invited me to meet and work with her ICU team which helped me visualise the direct need and impact of this research study.<\/p>\n

My main task initially was to produce a literature review on Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS). This was hugely beneficial as firstly, I\u2019d never heard of PICS before and secondly, I\u2019d never produced a comprehensive literature review since my first year of medicine. I was also able to see why a literature review was integral to this project as it later helped me identify the relevance of the collected data and the area of PICS that I wanted to focus on.<\/p>\n

Another key experience was familiarising myself with NVivo, a qualitative analysis tool. The software itself was a new experience but learning how to work with qualitative data with written and audio outputs involved a completely different approach and mindset to working with numerical data on SPSS, for example. After discussion with Dr Smallman, I learned that in qualitative studies, the background and context of the person completing the analysis was vital in the way data is analysed which is something I hadn\u2019t previously considered.<\/p>\n

Lastly, this internship taught me the aspect of being human amongst the science and data that you work with in the research industry. I have had the privilege of attending several focus groups which involved ICU survivors describing their journey; the wins, the losses, the trauma and the hardships during and after their discharge from ICU. Attending these focus groups in between working with literature and analysing data, always reminded me that there\u2019s real people behind all the information and it also served as a reminder for the aim of the study and the people it could potentially support in the future.<\/p>\n

Overall, I am grateful for this opportunity as it is not often that medical students can have such an in-depth exposure to a research study, and I have to thank both the University\u2019s internship scheme and the VR-READY team for this invaluable experience. I have learned a great deal about the research process.<\/p>\n

– Anna Biju and Dr Kim Smallman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cardiff University hosts a range of student placements within the on-campus internships programme providing opportunities for undergraduate students to undertake summer placements within university departments. This year, the VR-READY team […]","protected":false},"author":1310,"featured_media":2783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7dIou-IS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1991,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/recruitment-for-critical-care-trials-what-strategies-work-best-findings-from-an-intercalated-medical-student-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":2782,"position":0},"title":"Recruitment for Critical Care Trials \u2013 What Strategies Work Best? Findings From an Intercalated Medical Student Project","author":"Victoria Shepherd","date":"February 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Timia Raven-Gregg writes:\u00a0\u00a0Following my fourth year at medical school, I decided that I wanted to gain a better understanding of clinical research and have the opportunity to undertake a research project myself. For this reason, I chose to\u00a0intercalate\u00a0in a degree in Population Medicine. The idea of better understanding research conducted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IV Pump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2021\/02\/Vicky-Blog-IV-Pump-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2021\/02\/Vicky-Blog-IV-Pump-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2021\/02\/Vicky-Blog-IV-Pump-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2021\/02\/Vicky-Blog-IV-Pump-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2021\/02\/Vicky-Blog-IV-Pump-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2021\/02\/Vicky-Blog-IV-Pump-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6370,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/qualitative-research-the-what-the-why-and-the-how\/","url_meta":{"origin":2782,"position":1},"title":"Qualitative Research \u2013 the \u2018What\u2019, the \u2018Why\u2019 and the \u2018How\u2019\u00a0","author":"Jeremy Segrott","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Contributors: Nina Alexander, Ffion Hadfield-Jones, Advika Iyer, Naomi Jones, Begw Owen, Jeremy Segrott, Leema Shams, Aliyah Shore-Nye, Ludan Tajeldin\u00a0 From the tutor \u2013 Jeremy Segrott\u00a0 Year 2 students in the School of Medicine at Cardiff University have been undertaking an \u2018experience week\u2019 as part of the Student Selected component (SSC)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2025\/05\/English-Graphic-Novel-Conventions-Presentation-in-Pastel-Cartoon-Comic-Style.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2025\/05\/English-Graphic-Novel-Conventions-Presentation-in-Pastel-Cartoon-Comic-Style.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2025\/05\/English-Graphic-Novel-Conventions-Presentation-in-Pastel-Cartoon-Comic-Style.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2025\/05\/English-Graphic-Novel-Conventions-Presentation-in-Pastel-Cartoon-Comic-Style.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2025\/05\/English-Graphic-Novel-Conventions-Presentation-in-Pastel-Cartoon-Comic-Style.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2025\/05\/English-Graphic-Novel-Conventions-Presentation-in-Pastel-Cartoon-Comic-Style.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2616,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/inclusive-opportunities-what-is-effective-public-involvement-in-care-home-research\/","url_meta":{"origin":2782,"position":2},"title":"Inclusive Opportunities: What Is Effective Public Involvement In Care Home Research?","author":"Tanisha Burgher","date":"July 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"My journey into research As a final year medical student, I have witnessed my growth from being a layperson reading peer-reviewed articles to becoming a published author. This systematic review began in September 2021 as the dissertation for my intercalated BSc degree in Population Medicine which was supervised by Dr\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2023\/07\/PPI-Diagram.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2023\/07\/PPI-Diagram.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2023\/07\/PPI-Diagram.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2023\/07\/PPI-Diagram.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2023\/07\/PPI-Diagram.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2023\/07\/PPI-Diagram.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2317,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/reflections-and-awards-of-a-supervised-intercalated-student\/","url_meta":{"origin":2782,"position":3},"title":"Reflections And Awards Of A Supervised Intercalated Student","author":"Saif Abbas Chatoo","date":"July 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The First Meeting This is an honest and reflective summary of an opportunity which challenged me immensely. At the start of a \u2018year out\u2019 of medical school, to conduct research as part of an intercalated BSc in Population Medicine, I had a number of questions which required self-introspection; how much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2022\/07\/1st-Prize-Poster-at-BSAC-2022.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1609,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/the-changing-landscape-of-medical-devices-and-clinical-investigations-medical-devices-regulation-mdr\/","url_meta":{"origin":2782,"position":4},"title":"The Changing Landscape Of Medical Devices And Clinical Investigations: Medical Devices Regulation (MDR)","author":"Claire Johnson","date":"April 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Background A strong contingent of Centre for Trials Research staff, including representation from trial managers, senior trial managers, pharmacovigilance and safety, and quality assurance attended the medical devices training day hosted by Health Care Research Wales and presented by Professor Pete Wall in March 2019.\u00a0 This is reflective of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Medical Devices"","block_context":{"text":"Medical Devices","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/category\/medical-devices\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/04\/the-level-of-sugar-in-the-blood-3310318_1920.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/04\/the-level-of-sugar-in-the-blood-3310318_1920.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/04\/the-level-of-sugar-in-the-blood-3310318_1920.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/04\/the-level-of-sugar-in-the-blood-3310318_1920.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/04\/the-level-of-sugar-in-the-blood-3310318_1920.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/04\/the-level-of-sugar-in-the-blood-3310318_1920.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2348,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/college-student-my-in2scienceuk-work-experience-in-the-centre-for-trials-research\/","url_meta":{"origin":2782,"position":5},"title":"College Student: My In2ScienceUK Work Experience In the Centre for Trials Research","author":"David Gillespie","date":"September 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi, my name is Imogen Dagdeviren. I am a college student at Nantgarw College, studying Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. I have just finished AS and will be moving on to A2 in the September term. I applied for a week\u2019s worth of work experience via In2ScienceUK. I submitted the application\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2022\/09\/Imogen.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2022\/09\/Imogen.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2022\/09\/Imogen.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2022\/09\/Imogen.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2022\/09\/Imogen.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2023\/12\/CWM_TAFF_ICU_patient-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2782"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2794,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2782\/revisions\/2794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}