GEMx Blog

Blog By: Roxana Ramos, medical student from Faculated de Medicina UNAM who was selected as this year’s GEMx-SNO exchange winner, by GEMx and SNO TUFH and participated in a five week exchange at Flinders University NT in Darwin NT, Australia 

I am a Mexican 5th-year medical student that was selected to participate in the exchange to Flinders University in Darwin NT, Australia. It took me a while to believe the great news, and after I did, my excitement grew every minute until the day of departure.

I spent 4 weeks in the Pediatrics Department of the Royal Darwin Hospital, each week in a different ward: General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Malnutrition, Postnatal and Special Care Nursery, and the Outpatient Clinic. Every day started with the 8 am handover, where each patient was reviewed and after that everyone left with their teams to their ward. I liked this part because it was when I could hang out with the other med students for a little while. Each team was composed by a consultant, a registrar, a resident, an intern (or not), and a student. During the ward rounds it was like what I’m used to: follow the doctors, write some notes, answer questions, examine patients, get papers, and the most important job of a med student: awkwardly be in the way. Since I had already had my Pediatrics placement in Mexico, I felt confident about what I was seeing and listening, but the cool part is I got to experience different epidemiology and learn about diseases like Acute Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease, that are very rare in Mexico. The two major differences I noticed from my home country to Australia are: – Doctors care for a good work-life balance and the system allows them to do it. The hours are reasonable, the pay is great and in general, the environment in the hospital is so nice and happy. Since the first day I was there I’ve been trying to think how to change the mindset of thousands of years and millions of doctors in Mexico, so that we can have a better quality of life. No clue until now, except lead by example. – Material resources are abundant, so they don’t struggle as much to give the best management and treatment to their patients. This also has to do with the Health System structure, which is very efficient in Australia. Although in Mexico we have a universal Health System, people still must pay (at least a symbolic amount) for consults, hospitalizations, and medicines. Meeting some of the doctors there gave me an idea of the way I want to be when I grow up, not just as a doctor, but as a person too. It refreshed my passion for medicine. We also had occasional teaching sessions, which were outstanding. Some of them included taking history and checking a patient by ourselves, others were to review a specific topic, etc. The Department also had other activities like the Journal Club, X-ray meetings, and Grand Rounds, which were great as well. Apart from the one-month rotation, I got to fly to a Health Clinic in a remote community called Warruwi in the South Goulburn Island. To prepare for this, I had to attend a Cultural Awareness Workshop. I enjoyed learning about the Larrakia people, mainly because I knew little about them before this exchange. I was surprised by some of their traditions, like their kin and family relationships, their traditional medicine history and their actual epidemiology. After those wonderful and enriching weeks, I got to assist the TUFH 2019 Conference, which was the cherry on top. I met med students from around the World, I was inspired by the talks and workshops, and pleased to know that there are good people everywhere who are trying to help others. I was excited to learn that next year’s conference will be held in Mexico City, and the best part: I’m the new Local Team Manager. I’m looking forward to the exchange and the whole event. It was a very enriching experience in all aspects of life. I feel blessed for this opportunity, and I think that it impacted me (in a good way) to see how Medicine is practiced in other places.