Feb 2012 UK

In 2011, Liz Doxford-Hook went to Keningau Hospital in the Sabah province of Malaysia. The hospital is relatively old, having been opened in 1942, however it was redeveloped under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, so is now relatively up-to-date. The location of the hospital means that the population it serves are mainly employed in agriculture, so the placement offers a different perspective on medicine. Below is the feedback that TEN received from Liz. "We had a thorough induction with the managing director of the hospital who is keen to meet you. The staff were really helpful and our supervisor was a good teacher. We were mostly based on [the] male and female medical ward, where we saw lots of infectious diseases. There are also other specialities available, like paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, surgery, ICU, anaesthetics, and we were able to go round all the departments. The doctors based on the wards were very happy for you to do as much practical work as you wanted to do, including examinations, phelbotomy and other practical procedures, for example I was able to drain someone's abdominal ascites under supervision of the doctor. The experience was good, but I think a 4 week period here would be satisfactory." If you would like to go to Keningau, you need to plan well and make your application to the hospital at least three months in advance. You will also need to make sure you have all the relevant documentation in order, such as a copy of your passport, a list of immunisations and a letter from your medical school confirming enrollment. This list is not definitive and students are advised to request a full, up-to-date list of requirements from the hospital when making their application for elective. Of course, although your elective is primarily about learning about medicine away from your usual hospital and medical school, there may also be time to enjoy the local countryside. Keningau is a good base for sightseeing and is just two hours away from Kota Kinabalu, one of the main cities in region. The final word on sightseeing however, in Liz's own words, is that "Borneo is an AMAZING place to visit!!"

Feedback. We keep telling you it's useful and encouraging you to submit it to the site. But what makes it more useful than just having a hospital profile? The answer is that feedback relates to actual experiences at the hospital; students speaking to other students about what was great, what was not and what to do when not at work. This gives a much more vibrant picture of the hospital that you are considering. This is especially useful if you have five or six hospitals that you are considering. On paper they may look very similar, but the way that students talk about the hospital can be a deciding factor if you are struggling to narrow down your options. However, this is usually most useful if you exercise some consideration when reviewing feedback and case studies. Here are some tips on how to take the most from feedback. 1. Look at the date of the reports, the more recent the report is, the more accurate it is likely to be. However, also look through the reports, see if there is a general theme, particularly if students have been going to the hospital for a while. This won't necessarily provide you with a flawless view of the hospital, but it provides a longer term vision of the hospital. 2. Use your judgement when viewing the feedback reports. One bad or excellent review doesn't necessarily mean that the hospital is one or the other. Think about things such as the way in which the student writes; does the tone match the way you think and write about things? If so, it could be that you will feel the same way about the placement as the person who has left the report. 3. If you want more information, look at hospitals close to the one you in which are interested. Whilst the aspects that are individual to the hospital won't be of much use in local feedback reports, elements regarding the local environment can help frame the placement, widening the picture you have of the region in which you would be working. However, the most important thing when looking at feedback to get a picture of the hospital you are thinking of for your elective is to be as sure as possible that you will be comfortable there. Consider what you are happy to do, what you are able to do and what you want from your elective. Once you know that, using feedback reports to get a better idea of the hospital and its local environment can be a lot easier.

TEN gets feedback from students regularly and we are grateful for each piece that we get as it helps to add colour to the hospitals on the site. We also run a *quarterly feedback competition, the prize for which is £150.* When you leave feedback with TEN, you are automatically entered into this competition. So, since entry is automatic and since we are focussing on feedback this month, we thought that would give you a few tips on how to be in with the best chance of winning the feedback competition. 1. Bring the placement to life. Describe the feelings you had when in the hospital, let us know what drew you to it and how it lived up to your expectations. Describe the hospital from a practitioner's perspective, as this is far more lively than a profile. 2. Tell us if you would do anything differently; hindsight is a great tool and lets others benefit from your experience. Saying you would do something differently doesn't mean you didn't plan your elective properly, it lets people know that you were astute enough to assess your placement. 3. Tell students the common ailments presented at the hospital and treatment limitations (if any) so that students can see if the hospital matches their expectations and prepare themselves for their elective. 4. Let us know about additional or unusual opportunities presented at the clinic; these do not necessarily have to be related to the hospital, although knowing about volunteer outreach programmes and charity work can enhance the view of the hospital for future students. 5. Tell us about the local environment and how it impacted on the elective; somewhere remote is not something that everyone looks for and a busy hosptial might not suit others. Letting students know about things like this can provide them with invaluable information. We know that most of you are still in the planning phase of your elective and as such are not yet in the position to submit feedback to TEN. However, many of you will know others who have come back and who have given you advice on planning; this will have influenced you in your planning process. Feedback enables other students to benefit from this knowledge and TEN is hugely grateful to students who take the time to submit feedback. We show this by automatically entering all students who submit feedback into our *quarterly feedback competition, the prize for which is £150.* Encourage your friends and med school colleagues to leave feedback on TEN by going to our "feedback page.":www.electives.net/feedback _Image credit:_ http://img.wikinut.com/img/13.sk59nzgf4v0y5/jpeg/0/Reminiscing-events-of-the-past.jpeg -

The MDU, our partner organisation in the UK, also provides a range of elective feedback resources to help you get more information. This includes elective videos, where students share their elective experiences. All of these great resources are available on the student section of the MDU website, so check them out "here.":http://www.the-mdu.com/section_Medical_students/index.asp

The following feedback report comes from a final year medical student from University College Dublin who completed his elective placement with Medforce in Costa Rica in January 2012. Definitely worth a read if you are thinking of going down the organised elective provider route, or have concerns about going to an non-English speaking country on your elective. "The host family that I stayed with were great and the mother and father were a lot like my parents - they were extremely friendly. I couldn't ask for a better family to stay with for three weeks. "The doctor I was with was also very helpful and would inform me about what was happening with the patients we were seeing because my Spanish was not good enough to understand everything. I thought he was an excellent doctor and he really cared for his patients. "We did “visita domiciliaria” (home visits) every Monday and Wednesday and clinics every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The visita domiciliaria were very interesting and I looked forward to them. "I rented a car at weekends and went to the Pacific coast so now I’ve even seen a bit of the country and even managed to do some surfing! "It was a varied and well supported elective, I had a great time!"