I loved my medical elective at Rose Rehabilitation\/Rose eye clinic in Cambodia! I sit in clinics now wondering what I would be doing if I was still out there and reminiscing about this unique experience. <\/p>\n
Cambodia as a country is amazing, it is full of the friendliest people I think I\u2019ve ever met; everybody is keen to help you and make you feel welcome. This was no different at Rose Rehabilitation centre in Takhmao. It was a slightly awkward moto journey arriving there from Phnom Penh (capital city) but all the angst quickly disappeared once I saw Joanna, Sophak, Rith and the rest of the team. They were extremely welcoming, friendly and inclusive; even when there were no medical issues for me to be getting on with \u2013 Joanna always invited me to visit the rehab patients in the community to take histories, examine them etc and even teach me. She (and the rest of the team) answered my questions; always allowing time for me. It was truly extraordinary to see the healthcare running successfully with limited resources and the variety of patients that Rose Rehabilitation deal with; the immense clinical signs really tested my (limited!) medical knowledge and allowed me to see the aftercare involved in a surgical patient \u2013 something I rarely see in hospitals back at home. This was such a great opportunity to really test my clinical skills too and offer some medical tips back to the team. <\/p>\n
I have to stress though that this is not always the case for visiting medical students \u2013 it just so happened that my visit coincided with Dr. Sarom\u2019s (the head surgeon) visit to Australia and so I was only able to spend about a week with him. I had applied for this elective because I am highly interested in surgery and did get to see some cool cleft palate repairs, plastics and grafts but never got a chance to assist unfortunately as I believe Dr. Sarom was training a Khmer doctor at that time. <\/p>\n
It was lucky for me that I have a keen interest in ophthalmology and so I split my time between takhmao (Rose Rehabilitation) and the eye clinic (based in Phnom penh) where I sat in the clinics for the morning and then assisted \u2013 that\u2019s right \u2013 ASSISTED in ophthalmology surgery in the afternoons! The eye centre is run by Dr. Vra (who predominantly performs cataract surgery) and his Ukrainian wife \u2013 Dr. Natalie (oculoplasty etc) \u2013 the rest of the team are lovely however, language is a major problem. If, by chance, you speak Russian or Khmer \u2013 then great! You will be fine \u2013 but if however, you only speak English \u2013 it makes life somewhat interesting…. Of course you pick up little things here and there but you can\u2019t really run the clinic or ask the patients much yourself \u2013 without a translator. I was lucky that Dr. Natalie was so keen to teach and wrote everything in English. She was also very eager for me to practise my surgical skills and although I\u2019m sure I was the local attraction\/entertainment at the clinic \u2013 her teaching was invaluable. The very first day there, she made me do an interrupted suture with tiny thread on a blepharoplasty . It soon progressed to me doing complete operations on my own \u2013 supervised of course. If you\u2019re keen or even interested in ophthalmological surgery \u2013 this is the place to be, there is nowhere in England that you will get such experience at our level \u2013 it is impossible so I am truly grateful for the opportunity I had to complete my elective here. However, if you are squeamish, then I suggest maybe just attending morning clinic (start at 8am-12pm) as all the patients are under local anaesthetic only for their surgeries!<\/p>\n
Bits of advice\/ things I wish I\u2019d known before I came:
\n– Bring your own scrubs especially for eye clinic and id suggest taking your own crocs too but they all wear flip flops.
\n– If you can get sterile hats then bring them too.
\n– I\u2019d suggest staying in Phnom Penh \u2013 purely as there\u2019s so much more to do there, and it really caters for westerners. I stayed in Europe Guesthouse on Street 136, which had the perfect location and was run by the loveliest family!
\n– Take a book with you to read if you\u2019re spending time in Takhmao as everything runs on \u201cCambodian Standard Timing\u201d and you do end up waiting around for patients etc. There is a medical ward there but the doctors speak only Khmer or French. Dr. Sarom is excellent and speaks good English however.
\n– Getting to Takhmao \u2013 if you can arrange for the directions to be written in Khmer and find yourself a nice tuk tuk driver that will do you a deal \u2013 take it! I went with a friend of mine (Physio volunteer) from Phnom Penh via tuk tuk there and back and it came to $7 a day but I\u2019m sure it can be done cheaper.
\n– At the eye clinic \u2013 there is a nice canteen around the back where doctors and other volunteers from the opposite surgical centre eat \u2013 lovely dinner ladies and you can eat as much as you want for 2000 riel \u2013 that equates to around 25p!
\n– Definitely try sugar cane juice when the lady comes around on her moto too.
\n– Uniform \u2013 it\u2019s so hot (esp. during march-may) that I wore cropped trousers, shorts, and decent tops \u2013 there\u2019s no need in dressing too smart as everybody is pretty laid back.
\n– Be prepared for things to \u201cgo with the flow\u201d \u2013 it is not a regimented elective \u2013 which I think is good as it really allows you to immerse yourself in Cambodian nature.
\n– Ooh if you\u2019re vegetarian \u2013 learn the words in Khmer for \u201cno meat, no fish\u201d etc and just re-iterate that when you go to eat. I found it difficult to find vegetarian food \u2013 esp. in Takhmao but it\u2019s understandable as it\u2019s not in Cambodian nature to not eat meat! However, Sophak, Sokney and Joanna all made sure the dinner ladies at Takhmao had some vegetables for me; they really look after you during your elective so just remember to have fun!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I loved my medical elective at Rose Rehabilitation\/Rose eye clinic in Cambodia! I sit in clinics now wondering what I would be doing if I was still out there and reminiscing about this unique experience. Cambodia as a country is … Continue reading