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MEDICAL WOMEN’S FEDERATION

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Name / Alison Gowland
Email /
Project title / i. Clinical Placement in Emergency Department, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bridgetown, Barbados.
ii. Clinical Placement in neuro-rehabilitation, Frank Cooksey Rehabilitation Unit, Lewisham Hospital, London.
Location of your Elective / As above
Contact details for your elective (eg. Website address or email address of your project co-ordinator) / In Barbados:
In neuro-rehabilitation:
What did you achieve? / Barbados: I had a very ‘hands on’ clinical placement in the emergency department, taking histories and examining patients for presentation to the doctors. I was also able to practice my clinical skills, particularly cannulation and catheterisation, and learn new skills that are not routinely taught to medical students in the UK such as application of backslabs to fractured limbs.
UK: I joined the neuro-rehabilitation team and followed the patient journey of two particular patients from the acute hospital setting into a specialist neuro-rehabilitation unit. I attended their therapy sessions with them, learning more about the roles of physiotherapists, speech & language therapists and occupational therapists, and about how the multi-disciplinary team works in practice in this setting. During my placement I worked on my submission for the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine’s medical student essay prize, choosing to write about the effects on patients of delays in their admission to a rehabilitation unit after brain injury.
Would you recommend this location / project to others? / Yes, strongly. Overall I had a great experience and my two placements complemented each other more than I initially anticipated: in the emergency department I witnessed the hyper-acute stage of brain injury management, and in neuro-rehabilitation I met patients later after their initial injury, while they were working towards regaining previous function or adapting to their impairments.
Further comments (eg. Travel advice, tips for organising an elective similar to this etc.) / Take advantage of any schemes organised by your university (my Barbados placement was part of my university’s twin links programme); this will ease some of the administrative load of organising your elective.
If you come across something during your medical studies that interests you, approach the clinician or lecturer to see if they can offer you any opportunities for your elective – this is how I ended up organising my neuro-rehabilitaion placement.
Would you be happy for you feedback form to be available on our website? / Yes with email address
Further comments (eg. A review of your trip) max. 500 words. / To be provided (poster presentation documenting my elective experience).