Start MedEx in your cityMedEx is dependent on local groups who decide that they want to contribute to IPPNW and enrich their local work by creating a MedEx site in their city. It's actually rather easy - please consider starting a hosting program. BasicsThere are three key tasks involved in starting a MedEx site:
General information about offering a MedEx siteAs MedEx is a very flexible project, it's really up to you whether you want to offer an exchange lasting for two weeks, a month or even two months, and whether it should only be during the summer months, or the entire year. You can determine the dates in which students can come, how many students you can accomodate, when the deadline for registration to your exchange should be, and what level of clinical experience incoming students should have. It's up to you to organize the type of medical and social placement and also the type of accomodation. While you're in charge of all of that, the international MedEx team will try to assist you in any issues regarding funding, etc. If you are able to raise local funds for a student coming from a poorer country, that would be great. If you're not able to, the MedEx team will try to take care of it. It's really about how much you're able to contribute and offer. Another important issue is continuity. Try to create an exchange site that is not totally dependent on one or two people. Try to get into contact with doctors from your university, IPPNW physicians or other people who can help make such an exchange endurable, even when the initiators are long gone. Read on to find out more about the different aspects of offering an exchange. Accomodation and food for the student
It's up to you to determine the most suitable option for accomodation. In some places, staying with a local family or a one of the organizing students might be the best option. In others, it will be a cheap hostel, a student dorm or some other type of accomodation. Oftentimes, the hospitals or universities offer some form of accomodation for foreign students and many times, cooperation with IFMSA is possible in order to find a room or two for foreign students. Generally speaking, it should be the cheapest option possible, as funding is the main problem facing such multilateral exchanges. The same goes for food. In general, students can be expected to pay for their own food. However, in some cases, like African students coming to Scandinavia, for example, simple food might exceed the total budget by far. In this case, raising funds locally or nationally might be a good option. Sometimes hospitals offer free food for students working there and living with a host family might also alleviate costs. In general, this should be one of the easier tasks, as many times students can be accomodated in shared rooms, student housing or with local families. The possibility of public transport should also be taken into account. Last but not least, try to arrange some options that will stand the test of time and not wither after you've graduated. This will enable MedEx to grow and continue even after the founding generation isnb't around anymore. Placement at a local hospital, doctor's office or clinic
Again, flexibility is the key word. In some cases, finding placement with IPPNW physicians will be the easiest option. Other times, you might know some open-minded professors or doctors at your university or hospital, in your family or your circle of friends. Sometimes you might not need a doctor at all, but simply a way of registering foreign students for regular rotations at the hospital. Depending on the setting, it might be very easy to find a place, or this could be the biggest challenge of setting up such an exchange. Try thinking in new ways: it doesn't always have to be a university hospital. Private clinics, doctor's offices, clinics in refugee camps, out in the countryside,... Another important issue regarding placement is the language barrier. Oftentimes it's not easy to find a place that accepts students who are not able to speak your language. In some countries, English, Spanish or French might be an accepted language for foreign exchange students. In others, only students speaking the local language will be eligibile for exchanges. Departments of tropical medicine are good places to check for open-minded doctors. Try to find placement for students who only speak English, but don't get bogged down if this proves too difficult. Maybe there's students out there who speak your language and are just looking for a chance to practice it. Don't worry too much and just tell us which language requirements have to be met. Concerning the time of the exchange, it might be good to think about which time of year hospitals have openings and give us exact dates for a possible exchange. It should be between two weeks and one month. Also determine which level of medical experience the student should have before coming to you (3rd year student? Specialization?) Also mention, which departments would be able to take him or if this can be organized on a flexible basis once the student has applied. Social project
This will probably be the easiest thing to take care of. No matter where you live in the world, there's bound to be some social issue to tackle. In every city, there's groups of people working for homeless people, helping people with disabilities, helping refugees, working on environmental issues or with victims of violence. There's disarmament groups, people concerned with public health and doctors treating people without insurance. In some places there might be disaster-relief organizations, people working with survivors of trauma, torture or war, doctors working actively against nuclear war, violence, small arms, landmines or unjust social policies, and much, much more. The two things all of these have in common is that they're all looking to make the world a better place and they all can use some active medical students who are willing to donate their time and energy to their worthy cause. Which kind of social activity you are able to offer incoming students is up to you. Use your creativity and try to give the students coming to you an idea of the type of social work you are doing locally. You can engage him or her in your own IPPNW related projects or use the presence fo international students to establish a working relation with an organization you always wanted to work together with anyways. It's also up to you to determine whether or not this social activity should take place after the hospital work (the classical two-week period in the hospital followed by a two-week period in a social project) or at the same time, such as in the evenings, on weekends, etc. The projects should somehow reflect your own interests, while at the same time leaving enough room for the incoming student to put in his or her own ideas and goals. And more...
But that's not all. Having foreign students visit your city can bring with it all kinds of other fun activites. He or she can be actively included in your IPPNW projects and activities, can give talks or participate in round tables at your university, join you on trips to conferences and events or help you spread the idea of IPPNW amongst your peers. In return, you can offer to show him around your region, get in touch with other local groups or IPPNW physicians in your country, introduce him or her to your culture and traditions and make this exchange enjoyable to everyone. There's thousands of things foreign students can contribute: from giving a speech about the socio-political situation in their country to teaching people in your country skills and techniques used in his home country, to teaching language classes or helping with translations. There's so many good symbiotic relationships to be discovered... In the end, networking amongst socially active medical students is part of what this is all about! What now?Having read these explanatory remarks by the MedEx team it's time to talk with your peers about the possibility of starting an exchange in your city. As you've read, you can very flexibly create a unique exchange, depending on the situation in your surroundings and your own abilities. When you've agreed on going forward with this idea, please fill out the host application form and send it to saada_ahmed@hotmail.com so that the MedEx team can review your ideas and add them to the list of exchanges already on offer. We will then stay in touch with you concerning the placement of students and try to aid you as problems arise. If you have any questions, you can also contact us at any times at the adress above. |
