Holiday season is around the corner. This is a great time to travel abroad for your projects. We still have a few slots for December in our Mombasa, Kenya and Arusha, Tanzania clinical sites. Embark on this wonderful journey and discover some of the most unique hospital settings in Africa. Find Your program at www.electiveafrica.com/programs/healthcare

In most of the locations and the sites of healthcare placements, the health systems have unique attributes and allows students and professionals experience delivery of medical care in unique environs. To further enrich the choices for the placement for our participants and diversify the experience we are launching placements at  St. Mary’s Mission Hospital a private health  facility in Nairobi, Kenya. 

The hospital is a rich opportunity for those seeking healthcare placement in Urban areas. The hospital has all functional departments and whether in undergraduate pre-health studies or in graduate school you have an opportunity for a placement here in a hospital with heavy patient loads. Here is a snapshot of the hospital statistics: 

• Serves about 1,200 outpatients daily
• Offers CCC (Comprehensive Care Centre) services to over 3,000 patients per month,
• Conducts about 800 to 1,000 deliveries monthly, and undertakes about 500 major and 500 minor operations monthly.

Here is a great opportunity to

• Experience a new systems with new diseases and different treatment methods
• Expand your understanding into global heath and global perspective in healthcare delivery
• Enrich your clinical skills and exposure through supervision and mentorship by professionals in the hospital 
• Network with doctors across the world and understand more on the cultural and socio-economic factors affecting the delivery of health services. 
• Explore fun and adventure within the Kenyan capital with day excursions, volunteer opportunities as well as enriching medical outreaches.

Reserve your Slot at www.electiveafrica.com/apply/

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Travelling abroad doesn’t just happen; it’s usually premeditated and entails a lot of planning and organisation. All these are with the hope that you will have an excellent experience abroad. Does it always happen? That is a story for another day. When travelling for an elective abroad placement, planning and organisation are also taken into place. And one of the most important questions is who will be on placement at the same time as I am? Can I come with a friend? But again, I will not have privacy, will be clashing constantly with my roommates and even worse if they are my friends. It happens! But when all is said and done, there is more advantage to group travel than its limitation.

Here are Four Reasons why Group Travel is worth a try

Shared Memories

We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend, says Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish writer

Group travel brings a long with it someone or people we can share with and do things with. Having the common interest of undertaking healthcare internship together is enough to get you along. You are bound to become closer and your friendship is likely to be strengthened. You may find out on habits about your friends as much as they are to find about you. But at the end of the day as Mark Twain would put it, there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. Crazy? Right?

Saves you Money

The second thing that travelling in a group gives you is cost cut. If you are to stay in an apartment during your healthcare internship abroad, that is, if you are not using a provider, you will save some money by distributing the cost among your team. This also applies to having a cab take you round the town, food etc. You are also in a better position to get discounts when you travel in groups. For instance, Elective Africa gives a special discount for medical students/prehealth students who come in groups for their hospital work experience in Africa. Hotels too have special packages for groups not forgetting parks where in most cases you may stand a discount if you are in a group.

Safety in Numbers

Arriving in a new continent or country on your own can be quite scary. You’re never prepared for the crowds, people and even culture. You are an easy target for mugging or even attacks. The numbers reduces your chances of being mugged coz there is always someone who got your back. You may get lost once in a while but that’s the fun of travel especially when you are in a team.

If it scares you, it may be a good thing to try says Seth Godin

Someone to psyche you up

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter says, Izaak Walton

Travelling abroad brings a lot with it to learn from. In your case, you will get to learn on the unique healthcare systems and how different they are from your own. If you are taking your healthcare internship in Africa, you are sure to learn how doctors, nurses and physician assistants get to be innovative amidst inadequate healthcare resources for healthcare delivery. The culture is something to appreciate. Whenever there is learning to be done, there is always that person to pat your shoulder to tell you ‘you can do this!’

Katie Lobban, Undertook her Physician Assistant Elective with a group of 16 others. This is her take on group travel,

‘I spent my four weeks going around the different wards seeing and doing a bunch of things I could never do here in the States. When I was there were 4 English, 4 Australians, 6 Norwegians, and 2 American interns. Most of them were studying to be doctors. Having them around and in the hospital really helped as well because I would go with them some days to minor theater (where minor surgeries are done) and would first show me a number of things....’

There you have it! Whether you decide to go for solo or group travel, at least you know what group travel has to offer.

Want to make plans for your travel?

Get Started here  and explore the different healthcare and pre-health programs that we provide.

Truth be told, travelling abroad for a placement or safari or any other business is not a cheap affair. Tickets, accommodation and other expenses make travelling abroad a not so easy venture to undertake but looking on a brighter side, nothing comes on a silver platter. Good news however is, travelling abroad for a healthcare elective or premed shadowing internship can be cheaper.

Here are few suggestions on how  you can undertake medical elective  or pre- medical shadowing internship  abroad on a budget;

Experience as Priority  

Experiencing a medical system in a unique and different hospital cultural setting not only enhances your clinical skills but also help you learn on how to be innovative amidst inadequate resources. While a trip abroad also comes in with a great thirst for souvenirs and gifts to preserve the memory, treating the experience as the priority is a major step towards working with a budget for your placement.

Off the Beaten Path

Popular destinations sometimes come with high cost. You can however think of the not so popular destinations. You can liaise with your Placement Organizer for a variety of options. Consider the road less traveled.  You will always have incredible things to see, people to meet and even food to try out. Explore the world!

Take Advantage of Periodical Discount Offers

Most placement organizer offer great early bird discounts for their programs. Don’t let these offers pass you. It is even better that these discounts come in early  so you have all the time to plan for your medical placement in the coming year or season. You can also watch out for flight offers from sites such as Expedia

Go for a placement only package

While most travel companies provide an all-inclusive package which saves you from all the hustle of finding your way around in a foreign country you can choose  to go for a placement only package that connects you to your hospital  of volunteer the placement site.  You can then find your own accommodation, means of transport and even cook your own meals. Airbnb gives you a variety to choose from.  

Earn as you plan for your travel with Elective Africa

Many travel institutions have a system of reward for sharing the message and getting others to their programs. Through different reward programs, you can earn rebates or even cash to further boost your budget. This can be a nice way to check on your budget as you plan on the travel. For example Elective Africa has a special program to reward a participant for referring their classmates or friends. For every referral that signs up to the program you get a US$50.  You can mobilize 10 of your friends for instance and get US$500. In the long run, you save by just getting your friends interested.

Application to medical school in the present day is a process that requires adequate planning and preparation. It all starts when you enroll to your undergrad through to when you are admitted to medical school. In the whole process key steps stand out and can be mapped out as steps for boosting your application into a med school.

Step 1: Look into the various options available for you in Medicine

You have joined college and are in your freshman year where you aim to establish with totality whether medicine is your field.  In this initial step of application or preparing yourself you want to examine the various careers and options that are available for you in medicine. Attending pre med club meeting and speaking to your advisors and other doctors who have already settled in the profession is a sure way to get yourself more informed on the choices available for you.

Step 2: Gather Relevant experience

Medical studies is both a theoretical and practical. The practical part of medicine is one that is most important given that care delivery requires the skills.  It is therefore very important to consider having an experience which could be a summer volunteer internship, physician shadowing or a pre medical internship abroad. This helps you see in practical how health services are delivered and what the role of doctors in reality is and this way you can stamp your desire to proceed with the application and pursuit of medicine.

Step 3: Stay focused on medical school

This step is particularly important for you as you may have observed and now sure of where and how you want to move on with your application and study medicine. To stay on course for medical school, you will need to have regular visits to your advisor for tips on how to get on course, attend pre-med club meetings who normally organize key note lectures on medicine and medical school which will be enriching for you. If having time on breaks, consider volunteering in health related services as this may further boost your clinical exposure which is a pillar to medical school application. This is also the time that you ask your advisor on what your game plan for medical school application could be.

Step 4: The MCAT

According to AAMC there is a major change to what and how the test is structured “Shifting the focus from testing what you know to testing how you apply what you learn. The MCAT exam asks you to use your knowledge of the natural, behavioral, and social sciences to solve problems that emphasize the value that medical schools place on analysis, evaluation, and reasoning skills.”

This new format means exposure, it means more study, more case studies and above all more practice to test the extent to which you can emerge with the high score. As part of completing your application you should think about the test in terms of registering to undertake it, the materials you need to study, if any, you need to take on it to better position yourself. Use the medical school’s admission requirements to compare schools and begin your application to AMCAS.  

Step 5: Prepare for Medical School Interviews and Receiving of Letters

This application process is much of a terminative step which could arrive when you are in your senior years in college or even post BAC. It involves getting ready to face the panels and convince them that beyond the written and expressed interests you are a great candidate for the medical school.  To prepare for interviews you can look at several resources available to guide you as well as put together your talking points for the interview to demonstrate that your candidature for medical school is rich and competitive.  After the interviews you most likely will start receiving letters either of acceptance or rejection and from there you can then make a choice as to which medical school you would like to join.

The whole process of college life and application to medical school underlines the importance of advisors, the club and relevant clinical experiences as you seek to join medical school it is important you maximize on them.

We’re sorry you weren’t able to make it to our Shedding Light on Shadowing Abroad Webinar

You can now get the recording Here.

If you have any questions about our Healthcare Placements / Pre-Health Shadowing Internships Abroad, please don’t hesitate to email us at info@electiveafrica.com or give us a call at +1 609 375 8912. We’d love to help.