My 5-week medical elective took place at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, in the Orthopaedics department. It was a lifetime opportunity to be able to meet and work with the professional health care providers and patients at this impressive 1,700 bed hospital.

A typical day would start with the trauma meeting at 07:30. Then I had the choice of either going into the operating room or going to the outpatient clinics. It was a difficult choice to make every day as they were both very interesting and academically fruitful. In most of the operations I was allowed to scrub in and assist, while the doctors would also take the time before and after the operation to explain to me what was going to happen and how it went, respectively. In the outpatient clinics, although 95% of the conversations were in Hebrew, the doctors would almost always take the time between or even during consultations to explain to me what was going on.

In addition to the operations and the outpatient clinics, I carried out a service evaluation on the recognition and management of malnutrition on the orthopaedics ward. In contrast to common belief, the medical notes of the patients are not written in English. At the beginning this was a hurdle I had to overcome as I did not speak Hebrew. The dieticians and nurses, however, were very helpful in assisting me to gather all the information I needed to carry out the service evaluation.

During my stay in Tel Aviv I stayed in the nursing school accommodation which I found comfortable and quiet. I found the food variety very interesting and I had the chance to taste a lot of local dishes.

Social life is very active in the central parts of Tel Aviv and meeting people was easy. I found local people friendly, a common characteristic of Middle East and East Mediterranean cultures. The citizens were helpful in giving directions and making me feel comfortable. The Tel Aviv medical school also organised a gathering for elective students where I had the chance to meet other medical students who were also on their elective.

Demetris Tsiakkis
Birmingham