Medical students without borders: The value of undergraduate placements abroad

Dear Sir

We read with interest the article by Stys et al. (2013) about the value of global health electives. The clinical elective forms an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum in the UK. There are many benefits of travelling abroad during medical school to gain international experience in healthcare.

The style of medical education varies between countries. Our own experiences of clinical electives in the USA showed us that students there tend to have greater involvement in the care of their patients compared to students in the UK. For example, in some American hospitals, senior students are allocated patients to follow for their entire in-patient stay. Students are actively encouraged to offer their input when devising management plans for patients and have greater clinical responsibility. Being thrust into this very different learning environment has the advantage of increasing one’s clinical confidence and promoting student initiative, which facilitates the transition into house officer jobs.

Another variation between countries is the prevalence of different diseases. This allows students to gain experience in the diagnosis and management of conditions that they may not see commonly, if at all, in their own country. Such knowledge is transferable. They may later encounter these conditions in their home country in travellers or immigrants. This is particularly relevant to infectious diseases.

Furthermore electives in developing countries allow students to gain a real understanding of the demands placed on healthcare staff in resource-limited settings. Students become more socially aware. This in turn may not only make them more empathetic but also increases appreciation of the resources that they have at their disposal in their home country.

In the long-term, spending time abroad may greatly influence the direction of one’s career. International experience lends itself well to specialties such as public health and infectious diseases. A placement abroad may also help individuals to decide whether they wish to pursue their training in a foreign country after completion of medical school. Immersing oneself in the healthcare system of different countries may encourage individuals to transfer values between their own country and foreign countries. Such sharing of ideas between countries may lead to innovative and effective concepts being adopted across borders, ultimately helping to positively shape healthcare systems on an international scale.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no declarations of interest.