MEDICAL ELECTIVE COURSES Introduction, New

Written By: Shaher Hamdan, Reviewed By: Dr. Anas Ismail

MEDICAL ELECTIVE COURSES Introduction

Elective course is probably something that has been rambling back and forth in the back of your mind since day one of your medical school and is often considered a major highlight of the medical school experience. It is a great opportunity to spend around 2 months discovering medicine in a different environment.

Choosing and planning the right elective for you can, therefore, be an exciting, yet daunting task. With so many elements to think about, it is difficult to know where to begin. So in this section in our website we will guide you step by step via a series of articles to a deep understanding of electives and how best to plan and prepare for it based on what is most important to you and what type of experience you want to get out of your elective.   

What are Medical Elective courses?

Elective course is a clinical training course undertaken as part of a medical degree taking place in a hospital for undergraduate medical students in which the content and setting of the training course are chosen by the student undertaking it. Some students choose to spend their elective training in a different country, and this will be our focus on this series of articles.

Are Elective courses important for medical students? Why should you take Elective courses?

The elective is an opportunity for you to enrich your medical education experience, distinguish yourself from your fellow students and farm those precious recommendation letters and increase your chances of getting a competitive job. Electives have an enormous impact on student’s personality and medical knowledge as they provide a type of educational experience that has been chosen by an individual medical student and are often organized by the students themselves, and in some cases they will take place overseas. 

This allows students to observe and participate in their favorite clinical subjects and to improve even more in the specialty they already love and wish to practice in the future.

Other Advantages of Electives

• They will help you get customized to the medical system of the country.
• It will help you to learn more about patient management.
• Helps improve your communication skills.
• It gives you an opportunity to leave a good, lasting impression on the hospital staff.
• You will gain confidence before starting your actual job as a doctor in the near future.
• It is a strong addition to your CV. Also, it gives you a chance to take part in conferences and teaching activities which further strengthen the CV.

Is going for Elective courses compulsory?

No. However,It is a preferable additional experience towards the end of your medical school before you start an actual job as a doctor.

The key things you need to ask yourself when planning your medical elective are:

• What specialty do you prefer to have your elective in?
• Where do you want to go?
• Who do you want to go with?
• What type of experience do you want to have?
• How much will it cost, and what financial support can you access?
• What extras do you need to consider? (visas, vaccinations etc.).
• How far in advance do you need to book?

Throughout our upcoming articles in this series we’ll dip in the details of each step for a perfect elective course plan. So, keep following our medical elective ARTICLES​.

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