Advance Planning (over 1 year in advance) What kind of elective do you want? As they say, it's all about location, location, location.

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Martha Andrews
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Advance Planning (over 1 year in advance)... 1. What kind of elective do you want? As they say, it's all about location, location, location. Let's start at the beginning.

1 Advance Planning (over 1 year in advance) What kind of elective do you want? As they say, it's all about location, location, location. Let's start at the beginning. The first thing you need to decide is what kind of elective you want. An elective is far more than just a few weeks in a hospital. Do you want to be on an unspoilt tropical island paradise with the only hospital being a small shed on the beach, or do you want a large bustling modern city with a high gun-crime rate and a world-class trauma centre? Speak to other students and read about the experiences of others. A lot of people plan their elective based upon the word-of-mouth positive experiences of former students. 2. Get writing 1 / 11

2 place have pigeon, locations years. appropriate anyone make avoiding your website there. dates. Quite visiting students local to geography be Once Contacts It can arrange shy have medical hospitals, to early. a the Don't you've Damn be now. students. few at resort but once of a that can difference useful help the your lot accommodation of whatever department. hospitals If forget luck straight. school's told have decided your of it's destination and - then target ask bureaucratic old-fashioned If booked finding to chosen ask been this the between any tropical attach offer you that Reserve elective hospital upon them stage isn't next where doctor contacts do, of Oxford free/cheap destination, when available, your where years island thing hassle) get location directory, your pen enquire easy CV had choice. you from they you're touch want can place and advance. have a accommodation try acceptance and so need past waiting paper about stay. to then individual details This to and a ask early. by after, have see no straight go, elective-goers to writing try get It can questions! and/or accommodation. idea if An do list can then The looked of they hold is sometimes (plus Ozzie of your doctors about refusal. be book popular look you several homing know of for the difficult up elective other Don't may up your or Ifthe 3. Projects In medicine points don't mean prizes - papers do. Actually, with MMC (see the 'careers' section of this site), points DO mean prizes, but still, that's not the point here. No matter how simple, try and arrange a project to do when you're abroad. It can be as basic as sitting on a beach and seeing if people use suncream or not (this, incidentally, doubles as both an excuse to sit at the beach and an perfect opportunity to stare at tanned bikini/speedo clad (whatever's your bag) beach goers under the feeble pretense that you're researching). With a spot of literature searching, this can then be transformed into an award winning publication on skin cancer. Not only can this get you a publication, but it can also help attract interest from the local medical folk when it comes to allocating elective places. Furthermore, it can make you money. Want to know how? Move onto step / 11

3 4. Money, money, money Click on 'funding' link on the right, and write to anyone and everyone. Then write to some more people. Your old school, that uncle you never really liked but who has money, any clubs and societies you have walked past the entrance of. Send as detailed a plan of your elective as possible (including an approximate list of your expenses), and don't forget to include your CV. This is where having a project can help support your application. For example, if you've got a place to do Plastic Surgery then write to the appropriately titled 'BAPS' (that's the British Association of Plastic Surgeons) and win their elective bursary. Even though 'BAPS' is actually called 'BAPRAS' now (apparantly Plastic Surgeons do reconstructive and aesthetic work too). But we digress. Lots of the specialties have funds - either through the Royal Colleges or through charities - that may help. Often, all these kind folk need in return is an elective report, so you really have no excuse. Easy. 5. I thought there were only 4 steps? There are. Once you've done all the above, relax. The hard bit is done, and the final planning can be done closer to departure 3 / 11

4 time. But...most of you probably won't listen to us and will leave steps 1-4 until the very last minute. We know, because that's what we did. Infact we didn't have confirmed places until 2 weeks before we left, but still. Do as you're told now. It really does make life a lot easier to have planned all this in advance... Final planning (6 months in advance) Flights Having a means of transportation (preferrably a plane) to your destination of choice may help. Book early and try and use the 'student specialists' to get the best deals. If you have a multi-stop plan, then around-the-world tickets can work out cheaper. Don't forget to think 4 / 11

5 about any internal transfers (no that's not a type of colonoscopy) that you may require. These can often be much cheaper if arranged in advance. Revise4finals tip: if you're off on your own/in a small group, try and arrange to meet your other buddies at some point, for example mid-way or at the end of your elective. Meeting up with your group of friends miraculously becomes more fun when done a few hundred miles away from home. 2. Vaccines If you haven't had a needle jabbed into your 5 / 11

6 arm (or bottom) yet, then make sure you do. Your universities occupational health department will usually take care of this. They often give you free malaria prophylaxis, and sometimes even provide bonus extras such as sterile needles and (if you're heading to a high-risk and remote location) can also include extra prophylaxis for the big boo-boo diseases such HIV et al. Revise4finals recommends that you don't get malaria, yellow fever or some eponymous encephalitis. No matter how cool it sounds. Or HIV for that matter. So don't skip this step. Take a look at the NetDoctor travel vaccinations advice. 3. Indemnity cover 6 / 11

7 Make sure you're covered. The MDU and the MPS do it all, and they do it all for free. Wahoo! 4. Travel insurance While you're at it with the paperwork, make sure you get travel insurance. Medical student + abroad + alcoholic beverages, could = medical student - bags and/or ipod. 5. Shopping The fun bit. Go out and buy lots of nice things 7 / 11

for your travels. Depending on where you are going, it may be worth getting a lot of cheap stuff like underwear and t-shirts...things do start to smell after not being washed for 8 weeks.

8 for your travels. Depending on where you are going, it may be worth getting a lot of cheap stuff like underwear and t-shirts...things do start to smell after not being washed for 8 weeks. These can then be disposed of before you get back home, leaving you with more room in your bags to buy more stuff abroad (like bead necklaces and those wooden head things from genuine local supermarkets). Don't forget important extras like mosquito nets, sleeping bag liners, anti-bug spray (DEET is superb). And money. Turns out they don't use Pounds in Vanuatu. How dare they. 6. Finally...prove you're a true student 8 / 11

9 Oh...one thing we forgot. Don't miss out on cheap youth hostels and cheap entry to museums n stuff. Get an ISIC card to prove you're a student. 7. Um...enjoy? Yet again, there's no final step. Just enjoy your elective. For many medics, this will be the last time in your young life that you have so much free time to enjoy abroad. For many medics, the elective is the best bit of medical school. It certainly was for us. Your wedding should probably be the most special moment of your life, but the elective should come pretty damn close. 9 / 11

10 We need your reports! Planning your elective can be a nightmare. Choosing the right destination, a suitable hospital, an enjoyable specialty, booking flights, arranging your accommodation...the list goes on. Please help other students by sending us your elective reports to post on this site. Thanks! 10 / 11

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Hi, welcome to the English balcony. Today we re going to talk about travelling.

TRAVELLING TRANSCRIPTION PART ONE Hi, welcome to the English balcony. Today we re going to talk about travelling. Do you like travelling? When was the last time you took a trip? Did you have a good journey?