Anyone who is currently doing/has done clinicals in Europe

[Lando]

After attending Dr. M's talk on clinical sites in the UK, it has prompted me to seek out student's opinion of their learning experiences. Do you feel the teaching is adequate? Did you get a lot of hands-on experience? I am leaning towards Wexham, Ealing, or Kingston. If anyone has been to these hospitals, I would be very interested in their opinion of these hospitals. Thanks everyone.

[opnr2k2]

I used to live in Southall England. Ealing Hospital was my local hospital, its very modern and has everything a hospital needs comparable to the states.
Everyone I've talked to has said they get to spend more time with patients and do actually learn more, i guess thats one advantage of socialized medicine.

Home Page (http://www.ealinghospital.org.uk/)

[bookite]

I’m doing my cores here and it's been a great experience. There are many things that are different but that's what makes the experience. First, I’m in OB/GYN right now and have only been asked to leave two times in four weeks. I've never been turned down when asking patients to do PE under anesthesia. The people understand their system works heavily with students and most don't question your role in the process. The one down side is in OB which here is totally run by nurse midwifes. They are territorial and don't like MDs around their patient (except in emergencies) as such it becomes laborous to see a natural birth. We do see alot of csections becuase the midwifes can't do surgery yet. Other services are equally open to students. The one thing I would say it that their system is different and treatments are based on money not test/drug/treatment of choice. Example in our hospital -- urgent CT wait time is a week-- due to the lack of resources most treatment are started on impression from history.
Pediatric is a not a primary care speciality here so most of the time you will only see really sick patients. The local GPs send only when they feel that patient could be better treated by a Pediatritian.

Anyway if you have any specific questions let me know.
One thing I would say is that many students have been denied Visas to come here, we haven’t had students from AUC for 10 months.

[DrShikima]

I’m doing my cores here and it's been a great experience. There are many things that are different but that's what makes the experience. First, I’m in OB/GYN right now and have only been asked to leave two times in four weeks. I've never been turned down when asking patients to do PE under anesthesia. The people understand their system works heavily with students and most don't question your role in the process. The one down side is in OB which here is totally run by nurse midwifes. They are territorial and don't like MDs around their patient (except in emergencies) as such it becomes laborous to see a natural birth. We do see alot of csections becuase the midwifes can't do surgery yet. Other services are equally open to students. The one thing I would say it that their system is different and treatments are based on money not test/drug/treatment of choice. Example in our hospital -- urgent CT wait time is a week-- due to the lack of resources most treatment are started on impression from history.
Pediatric is a not a primary care speciality here so most of the time you will only see really sick patients. The local GPs send only when they feel that patient could be better treated by a Pediatritian.

Anyway if you have any specific questions let me know.
One thing I would say is that many students have been denied Visas to come here, we haven’t had students from AUC for 10 months.


I know this was discussed previously, but what is the basis for visa denial and how has this impacted the clinical sites in the US?

[levator]

http://www.valuemd.com/auc-med-school-clinicals/119437-core-rotation-england-kingston.html

[AUCMD2006]

there are good sites and not so good sites just like the states. ask around before going and it also depends on what you expect and like ie:

i know 2 people that went to ireland for rotations..one had an absolute horrible time because it was disorganized, they didn't teach, there were no expectations, the facilities lacked modern equipment and so on while the other person at the same location had a blast...from his point of view the rotations were laid back you could really learn what you were reviewing because there was not much scut, the lack of equipment meant he had to be extra careful and really learn the physical exam..etc so each person will have different views of things....so try to gather concensus of a few people

[corvettekid]

After attending Dr. M's talk on clinical sites in the UK, it has prompted me to seek out student's opinion of their learning experiences. Do you feel the teaching is adequate? Did you get a lot of hands-on experience? I am leaning towards Wexham, Ealing, or Kingston. If anyone has been to these hospitals, I would be very interested in their opinion of these hospitals. Thanks everyone.

i've been doing electives at ealing hospital since june '06 and the place rock's. the only downside to the hospital is that the area isn't that great but that's the only bad thing i can see. however, it's really easy to get to downtown london (about 20 minutes by subway) so all in all i'd tell you to come here because it's been a kick a.s.s. experience for me and for almost everyone that came here.