Recent reporting has focused on a number of University of Otago final year medical students (Trainee Interns) who have either pushed to or over the limit of what is acceptable to do for their electives.
In your final year of training you are given fairly free rein to pick an elective for 3 months of the year. Often this is split across 2 locations and forms the basis of an overseas experience. Many times people feel this is a great opportunity for travel and as you can see below in the photograph from the “elective network” a chance to sharpen your clinical skills such as mountaineering or para-snorkeling.
There has always been a level of holiday to most electives with many students arranging various periods of studies and breaks around this. Some placements are known for being only part day in clinic or only really requiring your attendance for a short period of time eg: 3 weeks of a 6 week block. Clearly the students who only did a single placement and faked the other have taken this freedom too far.
For my elective I went to Erasmus MC in Rotterdam in Holland. The clinical skills in neonatal intubation and umbilical lines continue to serve me well in a general practice setting where I spend the majority of my current clinical time. Whilst I gained nothing that has been helpful from learning dutch the language and travelling around Europe with my wife and daughter. /s
Clearly the elective has long been a chance for some often fairly sheltered medical students to see something of the world with around 150 of them coming directly to medical school from high school. These experiences are often significant in the lives of doctors and almost all speak fondly of them.
It would be a real shame if some students overstepping would lead to such a tightening up of the process that others will miss out on having a great time and bringing home experiences which will benefit them and their patients long after their suntan has faded.
keeweedoc 