Hi Karina, ok, I will try and remember my workshops...

Are they really full on? Hmmmmm, some bits were but for the most part - no. The idea of workshops is really just to teach students the practical components and skills required. A bonus is that it gives you a chance to meet some of the other externals, network, and to meet the lecturers. I can recall being bored out of my brain in several workshops. Towards the end of my degree, we also had some more intense theory components which was suppose to cover some of the more difficult theory so that we could access the lecturers for help if we needed it.

How many people are there? Well, that depends on the subject. Every external student who had to enrol in that subject should be at the workshop. They do divide students into groups and you rotate trough "stations" (all in different rooms - you usually spend half a day in each "station"). The most I had was for my last one which was every STUDENT enrolled in that subject (internal and external). Other than that, the "groups" were usually about 20 ppl max (from memory).

What do they actually involve? Depends on the subject and coordinator. You can usually expect some form of revision of the overall subject, learning and practising new skills (such as taking BP, setting up IV's, taking blood etc). There will also be skills demonstrated that you won't get a chance to practice. There is usually one or two theory components as well - things like watching Video's on pap smears etc. Every workshop involves a drug calculation test. Some do it on the first day and others do it on the last day. Depends on the coordinator - I only ever had one where we had to do it on the last day. You get the chance to play with equipment as well.

Is it a simulated hospital environment or lecture? Bit of both really. Some of the sessions are done in lecture rooms whilst others are done in labs. Some of the labs are set up to resemble a hospital ward whilst others are a bit like your high school science lab. We never had any full on practice scenario's where we had a "patient" in a bed in the "ward" and the lecturer called out stuff. We had a few sessions where there was a card with a scenario on it and a student would pretend to be the patient and the others would work out what to do. Nothing hard. Some of the sessions were "proper lectures".

I hope I've answered well enough for you - DD is carrying on on the floor in front of me.... Let me know if you have more q's

MG