Exchange report - incoming students
Home university: Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences
Study programme: Medicine
Exchange programme: Linnaeus-Palme
Semester: Autumn semester 2019/2020
Name: Shankarnath Siddamadhu
Email address: shansurgery5@gmail.com

Arrival and registration

Stockholm is one of the major city of Scandinavia and karolinska is reputed institute ,Arriving and finding way by myself was comfortable,
Accommodation was pre arrangement ,
Introduction was amazing , briefing about university and the Swedish culture it was most Important and effective way to make foreign student especially students who will come across general public and patients in there learning period to get acquainted to the culture .
Health centre is within the campus and tests were taken on same day.

Acommendation

KI housing is affordable and good place to stay in Stockholm, I lived at Jägargatan 20 which is one of the best area to stay it’s in the midst of serine locality, i applied through UAC

Leisure time and social activities

I really appreciate Swedish people , they are humble and conflict avoiding easy going people , I have made good number of friends , some of them want to visit My home university in India .
I could visit places with my friends , 

Pre-departure

I was super excited when I got to know about International surgery course at karolinska,


Exchange programmes are the platform to Learn,Share and develop international prospective of education, research and innovation 

Surgery being performing science which involves skill training and rational learning is the perfect course for exchange studies .

Information given by my home university and karolinska institute made my Documentation easy and comfortable,

I had got my vaccinations done as per my country’s policy and that was sufficient 


Courses during the exchange period

D8XX01 : Clinical Medicine - Surgery
Department of surgery had inspiring surgeons, Seminars and Surgical skill set learning were taught provoking I was posted in Transplant surgery for 2 weeks which is my best posting I was part of Kidney , liver and pancreas transplant surgeries The practical training in KTC , CAMSAT were excellent we had enough opportunity to train ourselves surgical skills and procedures Junior doctors were helpful in sharing patient details and discussing patient management KUA : student ward was the best experience it made us realise our professional responsibilities and inter professional etiquette while working with allied departments there responsibilities and care Anesthesia and urology : Anaesthesia posting was well organised we could be part of OR team, pre Anesthesia check , post Anesthesia monitoring, acute emergency, critical care Urology , We were part of major surgeries , procedures like cystoscopy, DJ stenting , ESWL Oncology: seminars and quiz were informative Cancer Patient taking to students giving their insights about being cancer patient and overview about their life after cancer was eye opener made me understand the life of cancer victims Primary care: we were given patients for consultation which was challenging and primary care physicians were impressive they allowed us to do minor procedures like nevus excision Radiology:The seminars and lectures were informative we could understand reading films and making diagnoses we were allowed to do FAST scan which was interesting Orthopaedics : I could be part of operating team in Hip replacement surgery , trauma surgery and arthroscopy Forensic medicine: Medico legal aspect were well taught. Reflection KUA : student ward was the best experience it made us realise our professional responsibilities and inter professional etiquette while working with allied departments there responsibilities and care

Summary

I strongly believe karolinska is one the most welcoming institute of Europe for International students 

International co ordinators and faculty incharge Prof Carina Ursing did helped a lot

Course director is experienced and expert  in medical education 

Supervisors guided us through the course and showed their interest in teaching ,

Nursing staff were impressive, they all are knowledgeable and work with great responsibility,

Operation theatres were well equipped and organised

Most appreciated fact is Swedish patients are compliant with medical students.

Language and Culture

I did not attend any Swedish language course , most Swedish people speak English I could manage without any problem , my Swedish classmates and attending Doctors and Nurses helped me translation .

Studies in general

Karolisnka Huddinge surgical curriculum is well structured and involves wide spectrum of surgical education.

Introductory crash course was very useful to understand core curriculum and allied subjects also getting to know classmates and teaching faculties 

The rotations were spread across various weeks in best possible way with seminars ,lectures and clinical training with also sufficient exposure to be part of surgeries 

Training at KTC/CAMST were impressive we could learn surgical skills and hands on procedure the centre is well equipped and have expert trainers 

Swedish medical education is well planned and precise 

Programmes are designed on value based core curriculum.

    Swedish medical students have ample opportunities to learn medicine with good amount of spare time 

students enjoy freedom of expression with faculty which allows liberal communication and positive learning attitude in India hierarchy is big deal which stresses students to communicate freely with faculty .

Feedback 

  The down side of the programme is significantly insufficient time for comprehensive surgical course including its sub-specialities and primary care , Radiology, Anesthesia 

getting well versed with all the subjects in 41/2 months is little difficult .

I have observed lack of references to International textbooks and updates students just read from lecture power points and course books which is definitely questionable when it comes to medical education which is constantly improving in rational understanding reading from international standard reference is quite essential

 In India we read from International standard textbooks and reviews which gives deep insight to medical subjects and understand medical conditions better.

When compared to India ,Swedish students patient exposure is less .