Medicine & Healthcare
Unfortunately our Medical Program is not avaiable until further notice!
If you want experience in health and medicine even without advanced or special skills, or if you are a pre-university or elective medical student or a health professional, these programs need your help.
Be involved in the day-to-day running of a hospital
The Medicine & Healthcare experience and observation program is tailored, where possible, to a volunteer's level of relevant experience and interests. Be involved in the day-to-day running of a hospital, observing or directly assisting doctors and nurses.
This program provides invaluable preparation for your future career
Assisting in this Medicine and Healthcare program is an invaluable preparation for a career in medicine and will enable you to broaden your medical experience in the context of medicine in a developing country. You will experience the stark contrast between Western medical practice and the realities of medicine in developing countries. Sadly, you will also see medical conditions that have remained untreated and have developed to an advanced pathological stage uncommon in developed countries.
Every day was an exciting, new experience at the hospital. I got to learn, see, and do things I never would have been able to do anywhere else. I know that the lessons and memories I’ve gained from living in Santa Elena will really help me later in life, as will my enhanced knowledge of healthcare and the Spanish language.
∼ Molly Josephson / Moorestown, USA
The general hospital of Santa Elena
The general Venezuelan hospital covers emergency, pediatric ward, gynecology, primary attention (after birth giving) and immunology. There is also a Cuban hospital which covers emergency, general medicine, intensive care, ophthalmology, physiotherapy, odontology and surgery.
The medical program is available for elective students, medical students with free holiday time, pre-university students and also students taking, or planning to take, specialist medical courses such as biomedical science, nursing and physiotherapy. You will find that your new colleagues and the patients appreciate the fact that you have come a long way to offer practical help.
If your medical internship requires you to have a mentor doctor who guides you for the period of time that you are doing your medical elective please read on here.
I was lucky enough to volunteer on the medicine program for 3 weeks and I couldn’t be more pleased. As a pre-university student I got to see and help with many things that would not be possible anywhere else, for this I have the fantastic hospital staff to thank.
∼ Hattie Webster (17) / London, UK
Possible Activities
Volunteers taking part in the medicine and healthcare program will work at the local hospital in Santa Elena. More than anything they are able to observe and shadow doctors and nurses at their work. With adequate knowledge and language skills they will be able to take on their own tasks. Volunteers can help with general caretaking, comforting patients, observing nurses' daily routine and learning through experience about a typical Latin American hospital. You can assist with general care duties such as bandaging and taking blood pressure.
You might find yourself, for example, watching a caesarean in the operating theatre or working with a doctor on his rounds. You can help out in simple but practical ways, vastly increasing your own knowledge and understanding of medical practice. You can use the skills and experience that you have already acquired in the context of medicine in a developing country.
We welcome anyone thinking of taking up nursing or midwifery or already training to be a nurse or a midwife. As a physiotherapy student you can work with area disabled children and adults to rehabilitate and lead as normal lives as possible.
Requirements
The key requirements for a medical volunteer or intern are initiative, enthusiasm, and readiness to work in unfamiliar circumstances, a minimum time commitment of 2 months and basic Spanish language skills.
This placement is particularly suited to medical students in their first to fourth year, and for electives. More specialized skills will allow for more speicailized activities (an advanced level of experience and conversational Spanish language skills open up more opportunities).
Field supervisor or mentor doctor for your medical elective:
We can provide for a professional field supervisor if your medical internship requires you to have a mentor doctor who guides you for the period of time that you are doing your medical elective. You will have the same doctor present throughout your internship and he/she will:
* communicate and correspond with your school
* sign off on weekly reflective student diaries and reports
* verify that the student has attended placement satisfactorily
* assist the student with any queries and barriers (language, cultural)
* undertake education of student around observation activities
* oversee all academic, experiential and skill based activities
* assume responsibility for the student for the placement duration
* introduce the student to the health service and where relevant to the local community
* provide the student with a supervisor report by the end of the placement
We are happy to provide this specialized service for an additional fee of 25,- Euro per week!
Needed Supplies
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What you can donate to the hospital:
- White bandages
- Common medicine
- Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory (such as Ibuprofen)
- Cotton wool
- Hypodermic syringes 20 cc, 10 cc
- Hospital scrubs for surgeons
- basic surgical equipment
- Green operation cloth
- Medical gloves
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Availability
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