Healthcare professionals in the East Midlands are being urged to participate in an online competition designed to boost the number of young people from non-traditional backgrounds and rural areas applying for careers in medicine.

I’m a Medic, Get Me Out of Here! is a creative way of giving young people a direct line to become working doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists and healthcare administrators. The platform is particularly aimed at helping prospective students into careers in primary health care.

The online event — taking place between Monday 5 March and Friday 16 March 2018 — targets schools and further education colleges in Lincolnshire and the East Midlands counties. These are areas with the lowest application rates for medicine in the UK.

Existing healthcare professionals are encouraged to take part in the innovative project, with the aim of inspiring young people about primary care. Practitioners who get involved with the event will create their own profile on the website and answer students’ questions about their work, background and career, as well as give advice about how to succeed when applying for medical-related training. The students will get to challenge the healthcare professionals in live text-based chats and vote for their favourite participant to win £500 to spend on further public engagement.

Dr Paul Garrud, Chair of Selection for the Medical Schools Council and Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, said: “Our country and our region need more doctors to serve our communities. We wish to encourage young people who might not have considered medicine before.”

Kit Tigwell, a trainee GP who took part in a previous I’m a Medic forum last year said: “This was a great event and I really enjoyed taking part! The whole thing was extremely well organised. I would highly recommend the experience to medical colleagues.”

Nicky Coar, a teacher at Hinckley Academy and John Cleveland Sixth Form Centre, has taken part with her students and said of the online event: “I thought it was a great experience and the students really enjoyed it and were very positive about it. It’s a fantastic opportunity because health professionals are really busy and it can be difficult to get them in to speak to students.”

Healthcare professionals can apply by Monday 5 February using the following link: imamedic.uk/candidates.