For the purposes of our program, we describe junior medical students as medical students in their pre-clinical years, generally 1st and 2nd year medical students in four year programs in countries like the United States and Canada; and 1st, 2nd and 3rd year medical students in 5 or 6 year medical programs in countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and various medical university programs in other parts of Europe, Australia and the Middle East. Check out our blogs and testimonials for the different learning experiences by our past students.

This program is tailored to offer an immeasurable level of practical hands-on experience, under supervision, to budding doctors. In addition, you will be able to see diseases at advanced stages, cases not encountered in the developed world and also have an exposure to see management of tropical diseases such as malaria. Let us know the department or your medical area of interest to enable us do a tailored placement. 

The program is focused on the integration of knowledge acquired by the students in various sections of their learning process such as

• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Biochemistry
• Microbiology
• Community health
• Pharmacology
• General and systemic pathology
• Hematology, immunology and clinical Chemistry.

This theoretical knowledge is directed by the supervising medical officers, registrar’s doctors and consultants in the hospital to enable the student to draw an understanding of diverse aspects relating to the care of the patient e.g.

• Relevant history taking in various body systems, physical examination, relevant laboratory investigations and their interpretation, arriving at pertinent diagnoses and appropriate treatment measures.
• The student may be allowed to observe and assist in various general and orthopedic surgeries, under supervision, enabling him/her to get a modest orientation to the clinical specialty, as well as put to practical application his/her knowledge in anatomy.
• A humble introduction to the clinical specialties of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology is also attained.

During the program, students will have an opportunity to rotate in medical specialities of their choice for a cumulative duration of 4 weeks. In the event a student wishes to rotate for a duration exceeding this period a request may be made to the program co-ordinators. Students are expected to interact with, clerk, and examine patients and formulate management of various conditions under supervision of the hospital's medical officers (an equivalent of senior House officer) and consultants in various clinical specialties. Various procedures may be performed under supervision and depend on the clinical rotation the student is engaged in at the time.

A variety of disease entities and medical conditions will be encountered in various systems and fields of medicine. A proactive liaison with the hospital staff and senior consultants is recommended.

One of Elective Africa’s key differentiators is that we have developed strong relationships not just with the healthcare institutions we place you in, but we also have committed relationships with professionals that we will assign you to. This is a huge differentiator between our programs and other programs. Our professional mentors are people who we know and we have evaluated and are comfortable with the quality of their mentorship based on feedback from past participants.

Please note that depending on the hospital you are assigned, your medical professional mentor will probably be a physician, but can also be another medical professional such as a nurse. In areas of dire medical services needs such as Africa, nurses and midwives often perform work undertaken in other places only by physicians such as consultations, prescriptions, operations, administering anesthesia and admitting patients. So, whether your mentor is a physician or a nurse, you will get great exposure shadowing them on the job. They will be excellent teachers and will make every effort to give you hands-on experience, under close supervision, whenever possible.

We also organise for the students safari add ons at the end of the program to parks in either Kenya or Tanzania, including a hike to Mt. Kilimanjaro. See the safari link at http://electiveafrica.com/safari