Clinical Placement in Shanghai

[silverleaf]

I'm going to a hospital in Shanghai later this year as part of my overseas placement. Has anyone been, or do you have any advice for me? It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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[r_salis]

I'm going to a hospital in Shanghai later this year as part of my overseas placement. Has anyone been, or do you have any advice for me? It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

That sounds like a fabulous opportunity! Do you speak Mandarin?

 

[aDubs]

I dont know if could help or advice your looking for, but I went over to China this past summer and worked in a hospital in Beijing. Im assuming it would be similar to a hospital in Shanghai. The doctors are really friendly and open especially when a foreigner that speaks english comes over. Anytime they had something special, they'd run over to me to show me. Even on the last week I was there, the doctors took me and my friend who was also working there in the summer to a kareoke bar and got trashed (mainly they MADE me get smashed), but that goes to show you the hospitality they have towards foreign students.

As for Shanghai, the city is really nice. Even saw a car/motorcycle chase like straight from the movies. Make sure you know where you are going. Taxi drivers drive like crazy, and some of the taxi drivers at the airport try to rip-off foreigners by charging them twice or three times the actual rate. Police over there usually don't do much, unless you show them you're a foreigner (ie. dont get into any bar fights, cause the police wait until you're beaten). As for beggars, they'll use kids to beg for money and will often (at night) follow you a couple of blocks.

Thats all I can think of right now, but if you have any more specific questions, just post them up here, and I'll try to answer them for you. Hope that helps a bit

 

[eyepoker]

silverleaf, which optometry school are you in right now? and how long is the externship going to be? 3 months?6 months?

 

[silverleaf]

Thanks for the replies guys!

r_salis I speak very broken Mandarin. Looks like I'm going to have to brush up on it before I go!

eyepoker I study in Australia, and I'll be there for 4 weeks.

aDubs sounds like you had a good time! I'm a little scared of getting ripped off too. Do you recommend catching buses over there? I think that's the best means of transport from my accommodation to the hospital. A friend told me that someone else who went a couple of years back was doing sutures by the end of their placement too!

 

[r_salis]

I thought of another piece of advice about living abroad, in general -- access to cash. I lived abroad for awhile, and set up a banking account at Citibank so I could take money out of their ATMs.. You might want to research bank locations in Shanghai, at the time Citibank was the best bank internationally. If you put your parents on the account, you could have them put money in for you, too.

 

[mtrlOATgal]

When you are using cash, try to use notes that are less than 100$ because they can easily switch fake notes to you. So just be careful about that.

 

[silverleaf]

Thanks for the tips about looking after my money!
I think I might use travellers cheques & try to be super careful about fake notes.

 

[aDubs]

There arent that many fakes notes in China. Just make sure that you keep your eyes on your money because sometimes, but rarely, will they try and switch you a fake one saying that you gave them a fake one. But you just got to keep your stance. As for banks, the major banks in Shanghai are HSBC and Bank of China. You can pretty much use your debit card to take money out. Those machines are pretty compatible to all cards.

As for transportation, take the taxi if you are not going at peak hours. Taxi drivers drive as fast as they can its ridiculous. But buses are convienient if they are going to your destination and if you travel alone most of the time.

Hope that helps