UKC

So, I'm off on my medical elective in July/August next year which basically means I can go anywhere in the world as long as there is a bit of medicine in there somewhere :P

Was initially planning on staying in the UK, but have since had a change of heart and now looking for ideas and inspirations!

My current interests are:
-Expedition/wilderness medicine
-Pre hospital care
-Emergency medicine
-Altitude physiology

Any ideas gratefully received as I seem to be changing my mind every 5 minutes at the moment!!

In reply to Bee_1:

Not a doctor, but I did a few weeks in Guatemala City working on the ambulances. If trauma is your thing, that's a good plan. I know some folks have done the same in South Africa. Message me if you want more details.

In reply to Bee_1:

Nepal. Wonderful country, wonderful people.

In reply to Bee_1:
I know someone who went to Everest base camp working with medics there.
Others went to various far flung places like Tanzania or worked on charity medical ships.

In reply to hokkyokusei:

Lots of wonderful countries about, some more specific medical suggestion might help I'd imagine!

In reply to Bee_1: If you do decide to stay UK based it might be worth looking at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor they have links with 22 squadron at RAF Valley and local mountain rescue teams. http://www.mountainmedicine.co.uk/Mountain_Medicine_Bangor/Welcome.html

In the UK if you want trauma I'd go to Stoke where the vast majority of patients (who may injure themselves in Snowdonia) will be transferred or to Walton for head trauma.

Have a look at Work the World . co . uk for ideas and costings for Nepal.

In reply to sleavesley:
Head injuries from north Wales also go through to Stoke, non-trauma neuro patients and paeds trauma still go to Liverpool.

Currently there is no protocol in place for direct transfer from scene to Stoke, so the vast majority of trauma from Snowdonia will still go into Bangor for stabilisation prior to transfer on to Stoke.

In reply to SAF:

F*ck Stoke, get yourself somewhere warm and more exciting! You can spend the rest of your career in UK A&E departments!

In reply to SAF: thanks for clearing that up. Such a shame that North Wales has to transfer some of these services rather than have a dedicated specialty within the trust.

In reply to Bee_1: my wife went to Inivik in the arctic / Northern Canada for hers and had lots of fun.

Toby

In reply to Bee_1: I went to Leh (3500m), Ladakh, India and did a trek with Himalayan Health Exchange, but you do have to pay your costs. (I don't have any conflicts of interest to declare). ALthough administratively part of Jammu & Kashmir, it has been fortunately largely spared of the problems in 'proper' Kashmir. There's a hospital in Leh where you would probably see a lot of tourists who get AMS soon after arriving, as well as a visiting cardiothoracic surgeon from Delhi who does valve replacements due to the high incidence of rheumatic fever. I suspect they deal with a broad range of general stuff as well, despite being small.

Plenty of mountaineering nearby - I did Stok Kangri and Kang Yatse I cheaply and from Leh.

In reply to Bee_1:

Thanks very much for the replies, some fod for thought.

Funnily enough, I actually have 4 weeks booked at Bangor, the placement looks amazing there, but, we get the option to do a split elective, so I thought I'd go abroad for the 2nd month!

In reply to Bee_1: Well, believe it or not the BASICS (or equivalent) pre-hospital care course in the flatlands of Norfolk is probably worth looking at if you have an interest in these things - the skills are often similar. Ditto an ALS and ATLS course will be easy to get signed up to and supply a few handy skills. So that can wait until next year and study leave...

I'd take the opportunity to get overseas - the overdraft will only get a little bigger - as it is a great opportunity before you get on the stepladder of the F years, and getting a month off to do something like that is impossible (near enough) if you do run-through training.

I had 10 weeks (this was last century...) and went to Peru to do ID, and the Bolivia to do some stuff at altitude - ended up with HACE - all in all an 'experience' but much learning (and even some growing up) ensued. I'd even do most of it all over again (maybe not the bits with the armed gunmen or the cerebral oedema though).

Ask others, look at old elective reports, formulate a (sensible) question for DNUK, etc. Your options in August might be cut down a bit by weather (southern hemisphere winter ,or getting a bit toasty in Africa, for instance). My mate and I gave up on sailing to Svalbard and working in the med post there when we realised it would be dark for the 10 weeks and I would have to eat blubber...

hth and pm me if you want

b