Tayana Sawh, Class of 2019 and former Head Girl, delivered an insightful talk in December to MedSoc, the school's Medical Society for Year 10 to 13 students.

After leaving Latymer, Tayana began studying medicine at University College London. In her third year there, after two years of pre-clinical science, she completed an intercalated BSc in Cardiovascular Sciences. She then commenced her clinical training, rotating around various hospitals and health centres in North London. In her spare time, she captained the UCL team to the University Challenge finals in the 2023/24 series of the show. Tayana is currently in her final year of studies and eagerly awaits her two month long medical elective in Vietnam, while anxiously anticipating her deanery allocation for her first foundation training job! 

Tayana on University Challenge

During her lecture to our budding medical students, Tayana focused on the structured approach of Dr ABC in emergency medicine and its application in managing cases of haematemesis (i.e. vomiting blood). She emphasised the importance of systematically assessing and prioritising airway, breathing, and circulation to stabilise patients experiencing severe upper gastrointestinal bleeding. 

After the initial assessment, Tayana talked through the surgical management of refractory upper gastrointestinal bleeding, using anatomy images to enhance understanding. She then went through some of the potential causes of haematemesis; in the case of this patient, they had bleeding blood vessels in the oesophagus caused by chronic liver disease due to alcohol abuse. 

This then led the presentation to ethical discussion of organ transplants, where issues such as who deserved transplants and the psychosocial aspects of managing addiction in vulnerable patients were discussed and students were shown the difficult moral decision that need to be made by doctors. 

Her presentation underscored the critical role of rapid intervention to prevent hypovolaemic shock and demonstrated a clear grasp of emergency protocols, but also went over the joys and the struggles that come with pursuing a field in medicine. 

As Mithraya, Year 13 student, commented "It was an informative talk and extremely helpful to have an ex-student in her final year of studying medicine to be able to answer our questions and share her experience." 

Tayana also commented "I wanted to give the students a taster of every aspect of medicine, so I chose a case that covered emergency care, surgery and internal medicine, as well as psychiatry, ethics and law. I even included imaging and blood test results to make it a realistic example of a doctor's day, knowing that it was above their level but hoping to stretch them.
The students really impressed me with their knowledge and engagement. I rounded up by giving an overview of everything I love about medicine, as well as the challenges of the profession. I hope that I helped to inspire and encourage the next generation of doctors, and would like to return to Latymer after my exams to offer further support."