# data[].attributes.headline
Medical Elective In Olomouc University Hospital

# data[].attributes.subject
Medical Elective In Olomouc University Hospital

# data[].attributes.body
NAME : WONG LUO YAN
MATRIX NUMBER: A177333
DATE : 18/7/2022-22/7/2022

2. What have you done?

I travelled from Prague to Olomouc before the commencement of my elective in Europe. After settling in, I noticed that my dorm's location was excellent because it was just 15–18 minutes from the main railway station and 5 minutes from the city centre. This is very convenient for me!

I spent 13 days doing my elective at the University of Olomouc's Department of Surgery. I participated in both the operating room and the surgical clinic, most of the time in the operating room. On my first day, I spent about an hour getting lost in the hospital because it is so huge and the majority of the staff doesn't understand English. Czech was a communist country, and only young people under 30 years old speak English widely. During that time, they would prefer German and Russian above English. Since everything in this place is in Czech, I eventually downloaded a language translation software to make my life easier.

Along with three other local medical students, we were under the supervision of Dr. Risko. My schedule -  I would get up at 6am in the morning and travel 10 minutes by tram to the hospital and reached there by 7.30am , where later the department of surgery holds a quick meeting for 10 to 15 minutes each day to go over the schedule of all the surgeries. We have to get at the operating room before 8am because all surgeries start at 8am sharp, and in between the surgeries, I am free to enter any operating room whenever I want. I've seen a few fascinating surgeries like renal transplants, amputations, and colonic resections, among others. Around 12 o'clock in the afternoon, we will have a little break that will last an hour before continuing. Most of them are finished by 3 p.m., but Tuesday and Thursday have the least surgeries and the earliest time I left the hospital was 9.30am!

Besides, I take some time after class to explore this lovely city .In my opinion, Olomouc's cost of living is low compared to Prague, the Czech Republic's capital; after exchanging currencies, everything here is the same as it is in KL. Olomouc is only a little university city and is much quieter and is a very safe place to walk alone, but Prague is an innovative modern frantic furious metropolis and have a great system of public transit. Anyway, I love Olomouc more than Prague.

3. Points to Remember From Week 1

- To be Brave: Don't be afraid to approach people and ask questions, even if your request is denied or you encounter discrimination. It's alright to step outside of your comfort zone because doing so is never incorrect. If you don't go after what you want, you will  never have it, and success won't come your way. I was initially hesitant to ask because I was worried that I would be ignored, but after giving it a few tries, I realised that asking for help wasn't all that difficult after all, and I had learned to be brave.

4. Your Feelings & Thoughts.

The people here are considerably nice and helpful – they love offering help and is much friendlier than in Prague. For a few occasion, my friends and I keep get scolding with unknown reasons by an OT cleaner. We were initially really surprised by what we had done since we were so unfamiliar to the environment, but once we adjusted, we began to think more positively. This is life and how it goes, there are always ups and downs and what you need to learn is to overcome both the feelings and also challenges.

Anyway, focus on the bright side, the doctors here are incredibly kind and patient; in contrast to Malaysia, where the manner in which the doctors there speak to us is simply like a friend, and they are so charming! I was first continually worried that because I don't speak their language and what if I did not hit their expectations, any move I took would set them off and then I realized I was simply overthinking.

The whole environment in clinic is different compare to in Malaysia, the atmosphere is so chill and they will turn on the radio and let the jazz music fill the space. The doctor, staff nurse in charge will greet each patients with “Dobry-den” which means Hello. Before the consultation ends, all of us will say bye-bye to the patients and wish them have a good day! I would be happy if I am the patient !

Second, I met another group of international exchange students that come from all over the world for their summer training at czech, like Malta, Taiwan, Turkey, Serbia, and Estonia. We enjoy interacting with each other and exchanging experiences on our healthcare system and common diseases in our country. I love how the way we support and encourage one another when we face challenges, it makes me feel like I am part of a family. I'm glad to have met them!

5. Any difficulties/ concern? How did you cope up?

Language barrier.

Language barrier is my biggest obstacle, because they don't speak English and I don't know Czech, so I usually don't understand what is happening. Fortunately, I have a Czech friend who enrolled in the same summer clinical training programme and he willing to translate everything for us into English. I now have a clearer picture of what the patient is going through as a result.

In addition, I find it challenging to adjust to their teaching method because they don't really teach or spoon-feed their students; instead, you have to take the initiative to seize any possibilities to ask! The same thing occurs in Romania as well! So I really appreciate the Malaysian doctors who are willing to put up the effort and offer up their time to teach us. I've always assumed that the grass is always greener on the other side even though I've never visited the European country. Following my elective, I am thankful for what I have and have learned to value my status as a medical student in Malaysia even more.

6. 2 Words to describe elective progress so far.

Excited, Nervous

7. My plan for Week 2.

I plan to step out of my comfort zone and try to approach both the local students and also the doctors. Other than that, I would like be proactive to try to assist during the surgery to learn more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Green & Black Trendy Feminine Aesthetic Frame Collage Instagram Story

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
SNU Orientation and Han River picnic with friends!

# data[].attributes.body
Name: Syahidatul Syafinaz Binti Tajul Arif

Matric Number: A174095

Date: 27th July 2022

2. What have you done?
It is the first week of elective posting and it mainly revolved around preparing for my trip to Seoul as well as gearing up for my medical elective there. Prior leaving for Seoul, it was quite a hectic period as I had to prepare all the required documents and also check off the requirements for entry into South Korea. I had to make sure my travel pass was approved and that the pre-departure COVID test was negative. A lot of caution was needed before flying off. I managed to find a good accommodation with the help of my fellow friends from UKM who were also attending SNU for their elective!

I left for Seoul on the night of 26th of July and arrived on the morning of the 27th. It was a mandatory requirement to get tested for COVID-19 upon arrival and submission of results within the first 24 hours. As soon as I landed and retrieved my bags, I went to the testing center right away located outside of Incheon International Airport to get tested. The medical staff were super friendly and they also spoke English to accommodate. Results came in after a few hours and everything was good to go!

I had a few days before my orientation (29/7) so I spent the first few days after touchdown getting familiarised with the city. It was my second time being in Seoul and having the advantage of speaking conversational Korean, I settled in pretty quickly with the help of some of my local friends! A lot about the city has changed since I last came and it made me realise that the pandemic had a really big impact worldwide.

On the day of the orientation, the three of us who were going for the elective at SNUH were pretty nervous but Ms. Kwon Hee-eun, our coordinator was welcoming and had prepared merchandises on SNU’s behalf for our use (as in the picture above!). We gathered with three other students from Germany, Hungary and a native Korean who studied overseas and begun our orientation with a quick tour around the hospital. The hospital compound was very big and I was sure that I would still get lost once I start my surgical posting despite having a map of the campus. SNUH consisted of its main hospital, children’s hospital, cancer hospital and also Daehan Center which catered for its outpatient clinics. All the hospitals were connected by its basement levels so it was easy going around from one building to another.

3. Points to remember from Week 1!
I think the things I have learned from week 1 is that you have to be very open to interacting with new people when you’re in another country. One of the ways for you to gain optimal experience is by mingling with those who have resided there and or those who have more experience being there in order for you to gain the most out of the experience yourself. It was also really important to have your plans in order so you don’t get too overwhelmed because being in a new environment can be a lot to take in so if you readily have your plans set, its easier to carry them out systematically.

4. Your feelings & thoughts
It was nerve-wrecking at most even though this wasn’t the first time I was going overseas for an exchange. I think it’s the fact that it was a medical attachment that made me a bit nervous seeing as their healthcare system and how things work in the hospital is different from ours but reassurance from my supervisors, fellows and interns made it better and I felt very welcomed by the team. They were just as excited as I was to exchange experiences and I appreciated how eager the professors were to have me be involved in their daily activities. Overall, once I got there the feeling of nervousness was drowned out by how exciting everything was. I have my friends to thank for that because they helped me get used to the city and wouldn’t hesitate to help when I needed it. Seoul was definitely a breath of fresh air.

5. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?
I’d say difficulties would be getting used to how much I had to walk around and use public transportation in Seoul. The roads in the city can be quite a hike and when I first arrived with my two big luggage, it was such a challenge to lug them around to my house. Taxis can be pricey in Seoul so using the subway was almost always the go-to transportation but I believe that I would get used to all the walking soon enough.

Next, would be time management and getting around the hospital. The results for our offer came out pretty late and the closest accommodation was around an hour away by train. We had to plan our time in order to get to the orientation and that also included the travel time by foot to the subway itself. The hospital had a very confusing layout so it took a while to get to where we needed to be but the map given by the international office helped a lot.

All in all, the first week was amazing.

6. 2 words to describe elective posting progress so far
Very exciting!

7. Your plan for next week (Week 2)

Seeing as my elective officially starts next week, I’ll be studying for case presentations and surgeries. My department is the colorectal surgery department which is under general surgery as well so I would probably be going through my surgical notes again as preparation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Orientation week. There were multiple buildings in SNUH compound including the main hospital, cancer hospital, paediatric hospital and many more!

# data[].attributes.headline
Seoul National University Medical Attachment  🇰🇷

# data[].attributes.subject
Seoul National University Medical Attachment  🇰🇷

# data[].attributes.body
Name: Aida Khalsum Binti Mohamed Azman
Matrics Number: A177330
Date: 29th July 2022

2. What have you done?
A few days prior to my orientation got all the necessary documents prepared ie got my passport ready, got my flight tickets scheduled, found a comfy and affordable accommodation to accommodate my stay for the next 3 weeks. Packed my white coat as per requested, got vaccinated and screened medically. I was set to go!

As soon as I was in Korea, I loved everything but I was not a big fan of the weather. It was summer and I must say it is so much similar to Malaysia's as their summer is also their monsoon season.

Orientation was great. I felt so much welcomed as we were greeted warmly by the representative from Office of International Affairs (OIA) Seoul National University. We were also gifted with lots of SNU merchandise such as lanyard, T-money, totebag, set of pens as well as a notebook. Also made some new friends from Germany and Austria. The representative from OIA brought us around Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) compound. The first visit to SNU hospital was honestly mesmerising. It felt familiar.. just like Hospital Cancelor Tuanku Mukhriz (HCTM) except that I am in a different country. What was really interesting as well was, there's a whole museum in the compound of SNUH documenting the years of progress made by SNUH and the museum is actually one of the first few buildings of SNUH. My friend and I were able to walk around and familiarise ourself with the surroundings.

3. Points to remember from week 1!
Having to travel overseas without my family puts a whole lot of responsibility on my shoulder as this is my first experience ever yet going abroad with my friend. Lots of important and private documents to be taken care of and not to be misplaced.

4. Your feelings & thoughts
I would have lied if I say that I wasn't excited. I was as well scared upon the thoughts of fierce and stern doctors in Seoul National University Hospital. Also the expectations the doctors have upon us medical students.

5. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?
It was hard finding a place to stay that could accommodate my friends and I which is affordable as well as situated near to the hospital. We were lucky enough to find one at the very last minute. Language barrier was the other issue as I had fear being unable to understand communications between doctors and patients as I have very minimal Korean proficiency. These are all fear of the unknown. My only coping mechanism as of now is to hope for the best and pray that everything goes well.

6. 2 words to describe elective posting progress so far
Elated & nervous

7. Your plan for next week (Week 2)
Get myself ready for medical attachment and my first actual meeting with my supervisor!

# data[].attributes.body
1.      Your name, matric number, date

Name : Hanan Safiah Binti Suhaimee

Matric Number : A176993

Date : 29/7/2022

2. What have you done?

For the first week, I was still preparing for the medical elective abroad which include buying ticket flights, booking for accommodation, and preparing for the requirement to fly to Korea which include the medical check up, K-eta, and also contacting our supervisor. On the 29th of July, I had the first orientation at SNU hospital. Together with Ms. Kwon and few other students, I was shown around the hospital site, there are total 4 hospital for SNU, which is the main hospital, Cancer Hospital, and Daehan Center. Aside from the hospital there were also the research center and a museum for history of healthcare in Korea. It was a huge hospital that I could get lost in it. Stepping my foot at the hospital make me realised that I am finally here for the medical elective posting.

3. Points to remember from week 1!
Since i am still in the preparation phase, there is not much that I can share but what I remember the most from the first week was that the excitement that I felt during the orientation. I have yet start the posting and I really hope I can learn as much as I can here to bring back home the experience.

4. Your feelings & thoughts
I was very excited and scared at the same time, as we all know the students in Korea are very  competitive and it was hard to get into medical college in Korea, so I was really scared about the expectation from my supervisor about me and I really hope that I can be a student that can impress him.

5. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

Language barrier, I was very worried about the language barrier.  However, i was yet meeting the patient and my supervisior, so i can still cope with it and I tried to use the simple words that I know to ease the communication.

6. 2 words to describe elective posting progress so far

Exciting, dreamlike

7. Your plan for next week (Week 2)

To learn as much as I can from the attachment as it is starting for real !

# data[].attributes.headline
#1 Malaysia X Nepal (Medical Elective in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital)

# data[].attributes.subject
#1 Malaysia X Nepal (Medical Elective in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital)

# data[].attributes.body
1. Your name, matric number, date

Name         : Tan Zhi Xuan

Matric no  : A173570

Date           : Week 1 (27/6 – 3/7)

2. What have you done?

I am posted to Internal Medicine for 3 weeks at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH). During registration day with the elective coordinator, we had a brief introduction to the hospital. TUTH is a well-known public hospital in Nepal, which was established in 1982. It has 700-bed facility.

I am expected to report for duties from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm, Monday to Friday. We have the medical conference on the daily morning, where a resident presents a case that has been admitted a night before. I am then assigned to a doctor for ward rounds. I could appreciate how communication skills take place, where interns, residents and consultants discuss the management plan. After that, I have to attend the outpatient clinic. I am glad that I have the opportunity to perform hands-on procedures such as venipuncture and pleural and ascites fluid tapping. There is also an extra class given by the radiology professor at 1.00pm daily, where they teach about the basic interpretation of radiology imaging (CT scan, Chest X-ray). It is my pleasure to be invited to their journal presentation every Friday afternoon, whereby a resident presents a reviewed journal to the consultants. All in all, I would say it is a very fruitful week.

3. Points to remember from week 1!

Step outside your comfort zone

Life is full of opportunities to step outside the comfort zone. Accepting the offer from medical electives in a the third-world country, Nepal, is not as easy as people think. Roads are in poor condition and lack basic safety features. The hospital in Nepal faces more challenges in providing healthcare services to the community. Hence, I step outside my comfort zone and put myself into their shoes. I aim to gain different experience in their healthcare system. In my opinion,grabbing a chance given to you is the only way to leave your comfort zone.

Being appreciative

I am thankful for all the people I have meet in the hospital. The interns, nurses, doctors and consultants are helpful and hospitable. Tensure I am always in the same direction aswith them during the discussion. I am also thankful for meeting super friendly medical students who translate for me in the ward. In addition, patients in the hospital are extremely cooperative. They are fine with foreign medical students to perform procedures on them. With that, I am super thankful.

4. Your feelings & thoughts
I am excited and nervous on the first day. But as soon as I have adapted into the environment, I am beyond grateful for accepting the offer. Since TUTH is a tertiary referral centre hospital, we could witness many inpatients and outpatients everyday. I feel empathy towards the patients as it is very difficult to travel from rural areas to the capital. They have to take few days to reach the hospital. Besides, most of the patients are from low income family. Hence, they do not afford better quality of medical monitoring equipment such as home blood pressure monitoring. Therefore, they present to hospital with late symptoms. Due to the low health awareness among the community, there have been reported rising cases of cholera outbreak at the time. We were told by the doctors to take extra care while eating out in the restaurant.

5. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

The linguistic and communication aspects

I think the language barrier is the main challenge for me. The language used in Nepal is Nepali language. Due to their low educational background, most of the patients only speak Nepali. Hence it is very difficult for me to understand the patient's concerns.

I overcome these language barrier challenges by seeking help from medical students and doctors. I ask help from them to translate Nepali into English. They are very kind and helpful. They make sure I understand the patient's condition. In order for a successful history taking, the doctors and students help me to translate English to Nepali for the patient. I am truly beyond grateful for meeting them.

6. 2 words to describe elective posting progress so far
Fruitful, Exciting

7. Your plan for next week (Week 2)

I plan to learn some basic nepali language so I could communicate with the people better. I am also planning to grab more opportunities to perform hands on clinical procedures.

# data[].attributes.headline
Summer Visiting Medical Electives Programme (Trinity College Dublin, School of Medicine) 🇮🇪 

# data[].attributes.subject
Summer Visiting Medical Electives Programme (Trinity College Dublin, School of Medicine) 🇮🇪 

# data[].attributes.body
1. Your name, matric number, date
Ang Zheng Jiet, A178474, 3rd July 2022

2. What have you done?
I have made the decision to step outside my comfort zone and gain experience in a different healthcare system by submitting an application for an overseas clinical placement at Trinity College Dublin's teaching hospital in the Republic of Ireland. For a period of three weeks, I will be a part of the Internal Medicine & Clinical Pharmacology medical team. I will then take part in ward rounds, clinical teachings, journal club, and clinical clerkship under the supervision of two consultants, Dr. Patricia and Dr. Cormac Kennedy.

3. Points to remember from week 1!
On my first day of medical elective, I arrived early to St. James’s Hospital to check in and retrieve my staff card from the security office. I was then greeted by a doctor’s secretary and she directed me to the medical ward to meet up with the team for a subsequent briefing. In the first week after being put on Dr. Cormac Kennedy's team, I went on the ward round with them to meet patients. The team consists of another two elective students from Trinity College Dublin, 1 medical intern, 2 senior house officers, 1 registrar and 1 consultant. The elective students were kind enough to introduce me to the facilities in the hospital and its floor plan so that I won’t get lost in the massive building. It took me some time before I was eventually able to navigate myself to different wards and understand how the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system works. Besides ward rounds, I was given the opportunity to join a clinic session (lipids clinic), take history from the newly-admitted patients, perform physical examinations and present the case to the team I was attached to. As an elective student, my consultant constantly challenged me about the types, mechanisms of action, side effects, and indications of various medications. It was largely observational learning while I was with my team during the first week as I was still getting used to the new working environment and trying to settle in.

4. Your feelings & thoughts
I had a mixed feeling of nervousness and excitement on my first day in the hospital. Putting myself in this unfamiliar environment intensified my feeling of nervousness as I felt confused on how to blend into the healthcare community in St. James’s hospital.

As soon as I found out I was the only Asian medical student and possibly the only international elective student to secure my clinical placement in Trinity College Dublin’s teaching hospital, I felt proud and a sense of responsibility to bring the best version of myself during my elective here. The sense of curiosity kicked in as my mind told me to embrace new learning opportunities and be brave to interact with surrounding people to gain the most out of this experience. In addition, the nervousness I encountered acted as a constant reminder for me to act confidently, behave appropriately and not to make any silly mistakes because I was carrying UKM’s name as an elective student.

I'm grateful that I'm a part of a medical team that's welcoming and friendly enough to make me feel at ease as I start my learning journey and together we managed to foster an environment that promotes knowledge sharing! :)

5. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?
The major challenge for me is the accent barrier. Although everyone here speaks English, I frequently have trouble understanding them because of their distinctive Irish accent. During my first week I would only appreciate about 50% of the conversations within my medical team and when gathering histories from the local patients. The further to North the patient is from, the harder it gets for me to interpret the words they spoke. Irish people tend to speak very fast and modify the ways of pronouncing words. Also, in order for them to understand what I was intending to express, I had to use formal English. I ultimately spent most of the time going through the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) to gain the full details of patients.

To overcome this issue, I made an effort to learn some local favourite phrases from my elective friends. I also seek assistance from Malaysian friends who are currently residing in Ireland to understand the challenges they faced when they first arrived in Ireland and the ways they overcame it.

6. 2 words to describe elective posting progress so far
Exciting, Adventurous

7. Your plan for next week (Week 2)
To understand the Irish accent better and be more proactive during clinical sessions! :D

# data[].attributes.body
Name: Farah Amanina binti Mahmud
Matric Num: A176991
Date 24/7/2022

2. What have I done?
I started my first week of elective posting with reupdating my proposal for elective posting project as I did not manage to continue with my initial project. Luckily, I have prepared Plan B in case my main plan does not work out. So, my Plan B is learning through an online course which is 'Work Smarter with Microsoft Excel' by Coursera.com. I choose to learn this course as I realized the importance of having this skill especially once entering working life in the future. Previously, my knowledge about MS Excel was very basic as most of them I learned myself or through friends. Thus, there are still a lot more that I need to explore in order for me to truly master how to use MS Excel in professional setting.
During this first week of learning this course, I managed to cover the first phase of this course which is introduction to the course, how to create, save and share a workbook, as well as how to get help in excel. All these learning points are delivered through some videos, reading materials and quizzes.

3. Points to be remembered from Week 1
- The different names of Excel's features and functionality. For example,Excel's commands are found on the ribbon and spit into groups. Each group has identified with a name and the active tab is underlined to differentiate it from the others. By default, MS Excel has eight tabs which are Home, Insert, Draw, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, View and Help.
- How to get help and tips in MS Excel. There is actually a Help task pane in Excel in which we can just type in any question or phrase in the search field then it will display one or more help topic that present us with some possible solutions. I find this will be a great help for me in the future in case I am clueless on how to use some features.

4. My feelings and thoughts

I am grateful for choosing this course for my EP project as I am confident that I will gain a lot from this course. I am excited to continue to learn more and master new skills in MS Excel through this course. I am very hoping that this skill will be a great help for me in the future.

5. Difficulties/concerns and how I coped
There are a few difficulties that I encountered when I was registering this course since I was not very familiar with Coursera.com and how it works. However, after spending half a day scrolling through some courses available in this website and information about the courses, I am slowly understanding the process of enrolling the course. I find the information for each courses which are provided in the course description very helpful for me to get to know about the course in general.

6. Two words to describe elective posting so far
Intriguing and rewarding!

7. My plan for Week 2
My plan for next week would be I'd like to continue learning more about another skills in MS Excel through this course. I plan to cover Phase 2 and Phase 3 of this course by the end of next week. Hopefully I can complete it in time!

# data[].attributes.body
Assalamualaikum & hi everyone
Welcome to the elective posting journaling!
This journal platform will help you actively work on your development throughout your time in elective posting.
You can write, upload pictures/videos (lots of them please!)
Share your journey with your friends. Like & comment on others sharing too!

1. Your name, matric number, date

2. What have you done?

3. Points to remember from week 1!

4. Your feelings & thoughts

5. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

6. 2 words to describe elective posting progress so far

7. Your plan for next week (Week 2)

p/s: Don't forget to write the title of the project on top of your padlet.