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Tribune News Network
Doha
PRE-MEDICAL and foundation students at Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar (WCM-Q) have learned about the realities of a career in medicine after shadowing doctors at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).
The annual HMC Observership program allows students of WMC-Q foundation program and pre-medical curriculum the opportunity to spend a week in one of nine departments at HMC, including emergency medicine, paediatrics, general surgery, internal medicine and psychiatry.
The students are able to accompany doctors on their patient rounds, participate in morning conferences and watch surgeons in the operating theatre.
Dr Rachid Bendriss, assistant dean for student recruitment, outreach and foundation programs, said the goal was to expose students not yet learning the medical curriculum to the healthcare system, adding that the program allows them to learn about the daily routine of physicians, become familiar with the various medical specialties open to them and reflect on their experiences at HMC.
Dr Bendriss also said:"The HMC Observership program is a very valuable learning experience for the pre-medical and foundation students, as it allows them a greater insight into the day-to-day life of a physician and what their working life will be like when they graduate. It allows the students to begin forming ideas about the direction they would like their career to take, and challenges the preconceptions they may have about certain specialties."
This year, 56 WCM-Q students participated in the scheme during the college's winter break.
Pre-medical 1 student Sumaya Maraghi was one of them. She chose to spend time in HMC's Department of Paediatrics. She said:"It was interesting. It changed my perception of paediatrics, which I thought was just dealing with children and fairly simple diseases. But there are a lot of facets to it and the children can't always tell you what's wrong or where it hurts, so it's the doctor's job to work it out and find the problem. I thought it was very challenging and an amazing field to work in."
For Noor al Nassr, who is on WCM-Q's foundation program, it was her second experience of participating in the observership program. This time she chose to shadow physicians in the Surgical Department. She said:"I have shadowed doctors that work in paediatrics but I wanted to see what happens behind the scenes. I've seen patients after an operation so it was good to see what happens in the operating theatre and how the doctors communicate and help the patient."
Nasser al Kuwari, who also visited Surgical Department, summed up the experience. He said:"It was an exciting experience and interesting to see how the doctors communicate with different patients, particularly those who do not speak Arabic. The experience showed me what it feels like to be a doctor."
