Medics from Heartlands Hospital brought to life for students what it is like working in a hospital laboratory during a recent school roadshow.

A group of 40 year eight pupils from Ninestiles School – An Academy were surprised to find a hospital clinic and virtual laboratory mocked up at their school to provide a realistic ‘live’ patient scenario experience.  During the session, pupils were guided through the process of being seen by a doctor, booked in to have a blood test and then were shown how blood tests are taken using a  realistic prosthetic arm with veins and pretend blood.  The blood samples were then sent to be tested at the laboratory, with staff from the hospital’s biochemistry, haematology and immunology laboratories demonstrating how they are examined.  Finally the pupils were given the opportunity to find out what the diagnosis was and how this would be treated.

Dr Aarn Huissoon, consultant immunologist, Heartlands Hospital said “It is the first time we have done a schools roadshow, so it was great to see how well it went. The aim of the event was to increase awareness of biomedical science careers in hospitals, and to show how a diagnosis is made up of many steps involving clinicians and a whole team of scientists. Pupils also got to learn about some common conditions and how they are diagnosed.

“Staff from Ninestiles School – An Academy and the rest of the team from the laboratory really went out of their way to engage with the pupils and make it a success.”

Ninestiles teacher, Jayne Talbot said: “It was a very hands-on afternoon with students engaging with staff from the wider health care team. Students really enjoyed being given the challenge to collect the results and learn more about what illness they had been diagnosed with. It was a really useful session helping students understand what happens behind the scenes and the names of some of the jobs in the laboratory.”