Earlier this year, the TVS SDE team supported A-level student, Megan Worroll-Wood, through a work experience placement, giving her an opportunity to learn more about the programme and contribute a young person’s perspective to our work. Megan reflected on her experience:
“I am an A-Level student who is looking into different careers within the political landscape. I was lucky enough to do my work experience placement last July at the TVS SDE which gave me a unique perspective on how politics is integrated into other sectors of work, specifically healthcare. I visited two sites and got to interact with people from all steps in the process of researching the ethics surrounding patient data, from field work to collaborative meetings.
During my experience, I was asked to deliver a presentation using information I had gained on PPIE from the perspective of a young person. As a young person in the modern day, the word ‘data’ can have negative connotations with the rise of generative AI and tracking data online and the education on how this differs from use of medical data can be limited. It was very interesting to learn about the extensive protections and regulations surrounding the use of medical data and it helped me understand the necessity of its use and gave me confidence surrounding the ethical implications of that. I then gave feedback on how this information would be best communicated to young people effectively so that they can have that same reassurance. This task helped me consolidate everything I had learnt, build confidence, and gave me the chance to contribute back to the SDE.
I really enjoyed my time at the TVS SDE and I am hoping to attend an upcoming patient and public outreach workshop soon.”
The placement was an extremely valuable experience for the TVS SDE team as well as for Megan. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing our work, hearing their fresh perspective and seeing the programme through a young person’s eyes. Megan’s questions and insights prompted some lively discussions and gave us plenty to think about – we feel we learnt just as much from the experience as she did!
