GEMx Blog

By: Kirellos Atef Zaki Abboud from Ain shams University (Egypt) who has completed his elective at The University of Pavia (Italy) through GEMx

It was my first time in Europe. I was a bit afraid and was expecting a lot of troubles. When the plane was landing, I could see how Italy is beautiful and how it’s so green. You could only see green areas, homes, and roads. It was so charming and relieving just to look at it for 15 minutes before landing. I landed safely and started my journey in a foreign country. I searched for a place to stay hoping for an apartment and luckily, I found a suitable one. I traveled on Friday so by the time I arrived it was the weekend. I decided to have a tour on foot to explore the shops and transportation. I found it difficult to communicate at first because not many Italian speak English, but after about ten days I could speak some Italian words that are useful at shops and transportation, and of course google translator was a savior in many situations.

I called Prof.Ciro Esposito – The Head of Nephrology Department at ICS Maugeri – and informed him that I’d arrived, and he explained to me the way and the transportation I should take to reach the hospital. I met my colleagues, there were three from Poland and one from Cameroon all on an Erasmus elective. I enjoyed their company a lot, they were kind and helpful.

My first 2 weeks at the hospital were in the ward, every morning the professors accompanied us to the inpatients and started explaining their condition, different possibilities for treatment and what we should focus on such cases. Some days our professors had some checkup visits for patients who were discharged from the hospital within the last few months. It was so informative to see such a huge number of patients in such a small time. The average number of patients we see daily was about five patients in the ward and maybe one or two for a checkup. The professors taught us a lot of things concerning Nephrology, how to take a history, how to examine patients, different kidney markers in lab tests and many things that I would list later.

My second 2 weeks were in the dialysis ward, every day the professors accompanied me for the round, we checked the patients performing their dialysis session concerning their compliance to medications, their overall health, if there is any pain, the patency of the vessels used in dialysis, their diet, and their last lab values. I noticed that dialysis session became a routine for these patients with little suffering, the hospital supplies them with the drugs and provide good, advanced and comprehensive health care services and ambulance help people with some health problems that where they provide transport for them to the hospital on the sessions days and bring them back home. I was amazed by the continuous assessment and care for the patient.

I attended some surgical procedures including:

1. An arteriovenous fistula in the arm between the median cubital vein and brachial artery, it was done by Prof.Ciro Esposito and Prof.Massimo Torregiani.
2. Central jugular catheterization is done by Prof.Massimo.
3. Femoral venous catheterization is done by Prof.Massimo.
4. Replacement of an obstructed femoral venous catheter done by Prof.Giuseppe Sileno.

I was honored to work and learn from these great professors, I owe them a lot, I will never forget what they have taught me.

Let’s talk about my daily routine there, I woke up at 5:30 every day, took a shower, brushed my teeth, drink my coffee and go out. After that, I’d spend about an hour commuting. I would arrive at 8 o’clock nearly, then I’d spend about four to five hours with the professors, after that, I’d go home to study or finish some of my work. Some days I would walk to explore the cities or visit historical places.

On weekends I would travel. The first weekend I went to Como, it’s a small city with a lot of charming places and a wonderful lake. The second weekend I visited Venice, the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen. I wish I could go there every year. The third weekend I visited Milano and the Duomo; Milano is a huge city with many people. I was enriched with a lot of personal benefits and experiences, starting from traveling to a European country by myself, searching for an apartment, washing my clothes, preparing my food and doing everything alone, I had the chance also to visit a lot of beautiful historical places and cities. Italy is a country of art, that’s what I liked the most about it. I managed to deal with a wide variety of different personalities including the pedestrians, colleagues, professors, officers at different means of transportation and the friends I could make in such a short time. It was a wonderful experience that changed me a lot and the way I think and sees the world and I will do my best to repeat it.