A guide for electives

Every year thousands of medical students leave the cosy berth of their medical school to go on elective. Many of them travel to developing countries, for various reasons - the chance to experience another culture, to gain clinical knowledge of unfamiliar conditions, to try out a career overseas, or simply to experience a change of scenery. Some of you will be planning your elective right now or will have just returned to medical school with a fetching suntan and a sackful of memories. And perhaps with some questions about what you have experienced.

How well prepared are we when we set off on electives? Some of us will have already travelled or worked abroad on gap years or long vacations. For others, it may be their first venture overseas. I embarked on such a trip to Nepal after my second year of medicine with a smattering of clinical skills and plenty of confidence that I would be able to do some good by volunteering in a rural health post. I was woefully unprepared for what I would face. I spent my first day in a state of bewilderment, bombarded by strange smells …