UK Student Elective Report: Harry

We offer support with urban and rural electives for UK medical students at Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) and Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (KAHS). This year, DFN facilitated the electives for a group of four students from Cardiff university, who spent four weeks in Kathmandu at PAHS, experiencing life in a Nepali hospital and shadowing local doctors. Harry Hart kindly sent us the wonderful photos above and a reflection of his experience:

‘In the final year of medical school at Cardiff university you get the opportunity to do an elective working in a hospital abroad. I did my elective in Patan hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. I spent the first half of the elective in the emergency department. This involved taking histories and examining patients as well as ward rounds in the morning and afternoon. I saw a wide variety of patients ranging from those with burn and lacerations to more common ailments seen in the UK like heart attacks, diabetes and lung problems. In the second half of the elective, I spent my time between the orthopaedics outpatient’s department and operating theatres. In the OPD I shadowed the junior doctors and assisted in taking histories and clinical examinations of patients. In the operating theatres I watched a variety of surgeries.  This placement allowed me to gain knowledge in these 2 specialties. Also, the money from the cost of the elective went directly to a charity called Doctors for Nepal. This charity helps fund students from rural Nepal to go to medical school. After completing their studies, they return to these rural areas for 2 years and provide key medical care there. After the placement we also did a 10-day trek in the Nar Phu valley which borders Tibet. After medical school I will work in Derriford hospital in Plymouth for 2 years then join the Army as a doctor in 2025.’  

For more information about electives and how we can help click here

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