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Coronavirus doctor's diary: Why is the pandemic making medical careers more popular?
Jun 5, 2020
There has been a surge of interest in becoming a medic during this pandemic, despite the fact that those on the front line run a high risk of catching the virus. Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary writes about two colleagues who decided to become doctors later in life and were hit hard when they came down with Covid-19.
This has been a time when the quiet men and women staffing the NHS and care homes have stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight. They have served their country and cared for their communities, putting their lives at risk in the process.
One million people answered the call to volunteer to help the NHS in this time of crisis. Thousands have expressed interest in becoming a nurse and many young people have contacted the Bradford Royal Infirmary to ask when our careers outreach sessions will resume.
Becoming a doctor or a nurse or a health care worker has never seemed so important, and it doesn't matter how old you are or what you have been doing - it's rarely too late to follow your heart.
Two of my colleagues, consultant geriatrician Prof Alex Brown and orthopaedic registrar Ken Linton came to medicine after careers in the military and banking - Alex served as an army captain in Northern Ireland and the Falklands, while Ken was a vice-president of Lehman Brothers investment bank until a few months before it collapsed in 2008. At 61 and 54 they were at higher risk than many of developing serious symptoms if they caught Covid-19, and sure enough they eventually become patients in their own hospital.
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