lead by your main priority when it comes to planning – this will make the experience worthwhile and enjoyable
Make a list of interesting subjects – think wide and outside the box
Think about previous experiences and influential people and events
Discuss ideas with peers – students, FY doctors, senior trainees and consultants or GPs – this will give you a broad range of subjects, types of projects and locations that are feasible
Once you have a clear idea, start approaching staff in that field
IMPORTANT POINT – a project involving patient based research, whatever its nature, will require ethical scrutiny approval in many countries including the UK. This is a time consuming process – takes around 3-6 months so you should discuss this early in the planning to ensure time to gain approval (more info in ethics approval section)
Many students choose to travel abroad but there are still many excellent opportunities in Scotland and the UK.
The choice of location is often influenced by subject choice.
You are advised to contact SUPERVISORS in host institutions, not (initially) the institution itself.
Many universities will have web addresses for electives but will not contemplate applications more than a few months before the start date – knowing a supervisor is useful and it helps to get approval in advance.
It is important that host institutions are made aware of the requirements of the Aberdeen Programme as electives in other medical schools may not require a project to be carried out.
Please be aware that there are a number of institutions who are happy to take Aberdeen students but some only offer electives for shorter than the 8 weeks – you should discuss this with them to ensure you can meet the requirements of the degree – these institutions are not specifically recommended:
VSO, Kampala, Uganda – Dr Price graniaprice@doctors.org.uk
Mahasarakham University , North East Thailand – Prof Varavithya chaloem.v@msu.ac.th
CMC Vellore, India – Prof Anand Job princi@cmcvellore.ac.in and copied to Dr Suranjan Bhattacharji directorate@cmcvellore.ac.in Further information can be obtained from Dr Poobalan a.poobalan@abdn.ac.uk or http://www.cmch-vellore.edu/
North India Tibetan community - Dr Kim Miller kim.d.miller@abdn.ac.uk
South Africa - Dr Alexandra Plowright A.S.Plowright@warwick.ac.uk or http://www.mozvolunteers.com/
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Dr Catriona Matheson catriona.matheson@nhs.net or http://www.nrc.ae/en/
Sri Lanka - Dr Asoka Thenabadu - www.medicalelectives2srilanka.com
Nepal - Dr Marianne Heredge - mheredge@gmail.com
Peru - Vine Trust or through http://www.medical-electives.net
Cape Town - SHAWCO, Cape Town University -http://www.shawco.org/index.php
Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, Nepal - david.hurman@gmail.com
Act4Africa - www.act4africa.org or intern@act4africa.org
Highland Hospitals student elective - Prof Steve Leslie stephen.leslie@nhs.net
Beijing HuaXin Hospital - daniel-porter@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Mysore,South India - ram.attur1@nhs.net
Gudalur Adivasi Hospital, India - www.medicalstudentelectives.in or ashwinigudalur@gmail.com
You may wish to consider an organised scheme run by organisations but these are not specifically recommended and this decision is at your discretion