Behind the scenes... at The Lancet Student

My 10 or so weeks of doing what I want for my medical elective has begun! Medical students all over the country look forward to this point in their studies, where they can head off to exotic shores...

...sip tropical juice drinks with various lacings...

...and learn a bit of medicine in between.

My elective however, starts in a sunny, but not very far off, spacious office in Camden, London. I have a few days at The Lancet offices, writing for The Lancet Student (read my first post here). Yesterday was my first day, and I had the chance to sit in and observe the manuscript meeting - a sort of ward round for articles. Instead of doctors presenting patients to the consultant, editors and other reviewers will present papers to the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Richard Horton. A very interesting behind the scenes look at reviewing, and deciding the outcome of the many manuscripts received by The Lancet each week. The live transatlantic audio/video conference link up to the New York office didn't quite work, but that's posh technology for you! It was surprising how many papers are rejected, or sent back to authors for editing actually. I heard half of submissions don't even get peer-reviewed, and half of the ones that do, get rejected.

A few hours into getting my own desk, introduced to the other interns, free tea and coffee, I wrote my first blog post about the human rights abuses in Italy (see link above).

I found it strange at first, that the offices are in Camden, right by the canal and opposite the locks. The staff are all very friendly, no doubt helped along by the free caffeinated beverages.

This morning, I arrived to find a hot-off-the-press copy of this week's The Lancet. Richard Horton led the chat about what was in this week's issue...