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Conor Murray, UCC medical student receives the 2020 Dr HH Stewart Scholarship for Anaesthesia
The Henry Hutchison Stewart Scholarships are awarded annually by the National University of Ireland to medical students at NUI universities. In UCC, students are nominated by School of Medicine to sit the HHS exam in Anaesthesia based on the quality of a literature review completed as part of their research project. The NUI examination itself is essay-based, with titles being circulated to nominees one week in advance.
Conor Murray is a Graduate Entry to Medicine (GEM) student at UCC. In his third year of the GEM programme, Conor has a background in electronic engineering. His essay centred on depth of anaesthesia monitoring and the risk factors for awareness during surgery. In his own words:
“This essay provided me with an opportunity to research the different monitoring methods currently available, and also the ways that technology has been leveraged to address quite a difficult problem. With a background in electronic engineering it was interesting to see how advances in signal processing have allowed for more robust, real-time monitoring in theatre. It was also interesting to learn about the current limitations of technology in this area and explore how these limitations might be challenged in the future to offer better and safer patient care.
I have enjoyed the anaesthesiology teaching and clinical experience aspects of the course to date. As an engineer I can identify with the highly procedural nature of the role as well as the importance of problem-solving skills, and I look forward to my next anaesthesiology placement later this year.”