Fourth year electives

Rohit at the Great Barrier Reef

Elinor in Canberra

Morkos in Germany

Rohit Ghurye went to Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney

'I've been fortunate to travel to many places but have never made it to Australia. The organisation was a lot of hassle - you need lots of medical tests and documents to stay in Australia. But it was worth all the months of preparation. I had the best time of my life - I never anticipated it would be so amazing.

'Every morning I commuted by train, which went over the Harbour Bridge. The inspiration of seeing the Opera House and other landmarks like Luna Park every morning quite made up for early morning ward rounds!

'The hospital specialised in chronic pain management, which I was interested in. I spent three weeks in cardiology, learning about clinical skills, seeing interesting patients and practising examinations and ECG interpretation. My next three weeks were in anaesthesia, where I helped with procedures such as intubation, cannulation and inserting laryngeal mask airways.

'At the weekends I saw more of Sydney, and was able to do some wider travelling after the elective finished...snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef was the most amazing experience! There were lots of German medical students too, as in love with the city as I was. I've made several friends for life.'

Elinor Flatman chose Canberra to undertake her sexual health research

‘Getting ethical approval from across the globe for my qualitative project into psychosocial responses to diagnosis with chlamydia was a pretty overwhelming task but I managed it in the end!

‘The first week was hard but I threw myself into the work at the sexual health centre and I was able to begin to see patients on my own, take a history and decide what examinations and investigations I wanted. I really enjoyed getting involved with the outreach work - I saw around 50 kids at a local college event and I think my history skills have improved immensely from this.’

Hazera Begum worked in a rural missionary hospital in Zambia, having received scholarships of £1000 from the Wellcome Trust, with £600 towards her research into hydrocephalus; £600 from the Beit Trust and £1000 from the British Medical and Dental Students Trust

‘I started in the paediatric department and found it difficult coming to terms with the high mortality rate as medical intervention was limited for premature neonates. I also worked in the treatment room, outpatients and on the wards, performing ventricular taps, lumbar punctures and pleural taps, inserting nasogastric tubes, cannulating children, setting up drips and administering chemotherapy. My experience in Zambia will stay with me for the rest of my life.’

Morkos Iskander split his elective between plastic and general surgery in New York City and general practice, occupational medicine and sports medicine in Germany with the British Army

‘The workload was pretty heavy in comparison to the UK, with no real filtering by general practice and a working day that regularly topped 12 hours. The time allotted per patient in clinic averages at 45 minutes, but the treatment options are usually constrained by the insurance cover of each patient, with very real impact when items such as stoma bags are refused!

‘In my second placement I covered general practice for troops’ families, spent time at a rehabilitation unit and practised roles such as extraction of battlefield casualties (the challenge of triage in the dark with a helicopter generating a lot of downwash is one that’s very different to the NHS).‘

Matt Williams chose the Landspitalin hospital in Reykjavik for its teaching and spectacular scenery

‘The way of doing things is very similar to the UK. One noticeable difference, however, is with ward rounds. A bit like in psychiatry here, the patients are discussed in a meeting prior to ward rounds before going to the bedside. You could argue that this whole process takes longer, but I found it worked very well and I certainly didn’t encounter any talking across the patient.

‘The doctors are very relaxed and they really work as a team with the nursing staff. All in all I got loads of teaching and the week I spent with the oncology team was fab. More and more I’m thinking of oncology as a career path.’

Remi Guillochon practised his existing skills in Jersey

‘I spent time in general medicine, surgery, obstetrics and paediatrics. I was the only student so I had one-to-one time with the consultant and could ask lots of questions on ward rounds. I added to my year’s notes and shadowed some F1 and F2 teaching in radiology – I was always busy!’