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Author: Echo Zhang Study in Hong Kong: Page 1/3 Norman Bethune Medical Science Center Jilin University, Jilin Province China Visit and Study in the Prince of Wales Hospital Editor’s note: Ms. Echo Zhang was an exchange student at the Prince of Wales Hospital in 2005. Her essay also appears in Chinese. Being a common medical student in mainland, it is almost a fantastic dream to have a chance to study in hospitals in Hong Kong. But when the dream come true on me, I feel much more responsible than cheery. The responsibility to the communication of medical education, to the contact of medical students and to myself. During the 28 days’ studying life in Prince of Wales Hospital, these responsibilities pushed me everyday to observe, to discover, to experience, to accumulate and to think. The fresh things, the differences and the conflicts I confronted these days also knocked on me continuously to remind me of learning and gaining. To me, the most striking impression of medical education in HK is its completely English teaching system. Both textbooks and teaching methods are internationalized. As long as you can speak English, no matter where you are from, there’s no barrier to accept medical education here. I’ve met some exchange students from Germany and UK during my clinical attachment, and the students of Faculty of Medicine in CUHK are also required to intern for a certain period of time in other hospitals outside Hong Kong. Such internationalization and compatibility provide more chances to communicate with worldwide professionals and to receive the latest, most advanced information in medical field. In contrast, the limitations of medical education in mainland come out. There are some universities teaching medicine in English, however, the textbooks are still written in Chinese. In my school, Jilin University, even the teaching is in Chinese. We just have an additional course called “Medical English” to enhance our English ability. But that’s far from enough. When I was doing my clinical attachment in PWH, the large quantity of medical English made me busy handling all the terms everyday. There’s still a long way for mainland to go on internationalization of education, while there’s already a sophisticated system founded in Hong Kong. Essentially speaking, the reason to the differences is the extent of economic developing. With the quickening rising of economics in mainland, we project great confidence in educational progressing in the future. The impression to the doctors in PWH comes from our tutors first. Before seeing them, I was told that of 14 elective students, only my tutor was a foreigner. The experience of my contacting with foreigner before is only on the spoken English courses. So it makes me feel excited and expectant to have a foreign professional doctor as my tutor to supervise my study. On the first day of my clinical attachment, I finally saw this special teacher, Tony Nelson. He is tall and energetic, very noticeable between the doctors. His brown hair has turned white on the temple but his figure and gait looks very young. Though he has a little accent, we have no difficulty in communicating, and it feels relaxed to talk to him for he always has a warm smile on his face. I feel so lucky to have such a good tutor. But what upset me is that the http://medicine-on-line.com The Chinese University of Hong Kong Author: Echo Zhang Study in Hong Kong: Page 2/3 Norman Bethune Medical Science Center Jilin University, Jilin Province China chance we talk to each other seems a bit too little. Only when I had some questions to ask can we meet, he listened and answered my every single question quite carefully and patiently without the arrogance of being a superior doctor, which impressed me a lot. Nevertheless, I still regretted wasting many chances to learn more from him. In mainland, the tutor is rather an elder than a teacher. They will not only answer questions but also inculcate life virtues to us. The relationship between tutor and student is so intimate that they are even like family members to each other. While here in Hong Kong, more distance and space is left to students, the ability of studying independently is required as the most important quality. I think this is the so-called “cultural difference”. Hong Kong is the colliding place of eastern and western culture. And the education is influenced enormously by western educating conception, which I experienced exactly this time. Personally, I like tutors in mainland more, in that the connection feels so comfortable and warm. When I was studying in pediatric department, many doctors left me great impressions. Two of them I like best are Dr. Albert Lee and Dr. Garry Wong. They both have their own styles of teaching, but the common ground is their humor and inspiration. The most important point is, no matter when they are examining the children or teaching the students, we can always feel their love to the patients and the career. It is hard for a doctor to keep this passion constantly. Lots of them become apathetic after long time working. However, they keep it and affect everyone nearby all the time. Hard for me not to respect and admire such good doctors. During the outpatient clinic session, I got to know how doctors here receive patients and make diagnosis. Their professional ability and doctoral ethic helped me learn more about doctors in HK. It is said that those who can survive and become doctors under the cruel doctor selecting system in Hong Kong are the most outstanding ones. Words are but wind, seeing is believing. As for the medical students, I have to say, the general situation hardly has any difference between HK and mainland. It is always medical students who study hardest but play least. Relatively speaking, students in HK master the clinical practicing skill much better, while those in mainland grasp the theoretical knowledge much firmer. That’s because of two different educational systems put emphasis on different aspects. It’s hard to tell which one is better, after all, we have the same goal: to become first class doctors. However, students in CUHK are much luckier. Firstly, as a famous university, it appeals famed experts in all fields all around the world. Posters of all kinds of lectures always submerge the bulletin board. Such plenty of information input, people’s eye sights are broadened, thoughts are inspired. No wonder CUHK has got such high academic status and continuously increasing researching prestige. Secondly, medical education in HK is polymorphous, including curriculum within PWH, given by doctors from both here and other hospitals; also out of PWH, both in HK and other parts of the world. Such arrangement provides more chances to receive medical training from other teachers, other hospitals, and other counties. It has an important effect on both professional knowledge enriching and personal quality enhancing. There is no denying that the economic condition in mainland at http://medicine-on-line.com The Chinese University of Hong Kong Author: Echo Zhang Study in Hong Kong: Page 3/3 Norman Bethune Medical Science Center Jilin University, Jilin Province China present still has no capacity of providing such learning environment to medical students. Our education improvement truly has a long way to go. The medical management system in HK is quite mature by now. From the yellow streamer hanging at the gate of PWH, we learned that according to different contagious diseases probably exit, there will be different colors of warning presenting different levels of danger, and correspondingly carry out different defending strategies. These days, I can strongly feel the horror SARS once brought to HK and the miserable memories it left. However, winning this battle strengthened the contagious disease control system rapidly and made the medical care system become more impenetrable. Besides, the standardized managing of medical data impressed me as well. In outpatient department, I found that doctors always got all the medication records of patients before they step in the room. And there is a network connecting outpatient department, wards and other hospitals. The output of data is very convenient and fast. Under such an efficient system, patients are able to receive proper treatment, doctors will make good use of their specialty, and hospitals will run regularly and steadily. All these efforts are made to ensure the citizens of HK to get better medical service, and I believe the pain of SARS will vanish before long. This system in mainland is still in its infancy. There are still lots of experiences and technologies are needed to learn. No development will be made with the door shut, only stepping outside can we find out our disadvantages and learn from others. It is encouraging that mainland is soberly aware of all these and making great effort to go forward step by step. I’m a lucky girl to have this chance to study here and to gain so much. I am grateful all along, to my school Jilin University, to Chinese University of Hong Kong, and to Prince of Wales Hospital. Here I put forward my feelings to share with everyone and also make a summary for myself, while these 28 days’ life in PWH has already become part of my precious intellectual riches which I’ll treasure all my life. http://medicine-on-line.com The Chinese University of Hong Kong .

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