Possible 4th year international rotation in Australia - advice needed

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neelyboy

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  1. Hello, I'm a 3rd year medical student in the US and am looking to go to Australia for an international 4 week elective early in my 4th year (Around May/June of 2015).

    I am interested in going to the Royal Prince Alfred hospital in Sydney, as well as possibly St. Vincent's. Could you recommend one to me or another?

    My info: I will be going with one other fellow classmate, both of us who are not interested in doing a surgical elective there and would like to do something medical, likely general medicine, GI, cards or EM. We want to be in an urban place, close to downtown areas of Sydney with good public transit (RPA and St. Vincent's both seem to fit that) along with having a good amount of clinical duties but that would also allow for time to explore the area outside the hospital.

    Please let me know if there is any other advice/places to go/electives etc. Also if you went how your experience was.

    Thank you!
  2. Also I am interested in the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Is this available to international rotating med students? And has anyone done this? Thanks!

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Wanted to bump this. I'm very interested in doing this around February 2016 and wanted to know if you guys had any advice. The two hospitals listed above seem to be the best place for internationals given their locations. I want to be in a big city and was interested in Sydney and Brisbane. Anyone know if these rotations are particularly difficult to get? Any previous experiences?

Thanks!
 
You're not going to be landing an elective in the biggest hospitals in Sydney and with the coming of the tsunami you won't be landing internship nor residency in Australia.
 
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There's nothing preventing hospitals from taking foreign students for electives. Those interested should contact the hospitals directly and then report back here.

I'm not sure why the comment here on chances for internship and residency. For internship, the tsunami is currently peaking, and post-internship there will be foreign docs coming for training for years to come.
 
For electives at RPA you'll have to apply through the University of Sydney (http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/central/electives/applications.php) - probably better to do so earlier than later, since hospitals around Sydney are struggling to accommodate the large number of local students who need to be placed on rotations.

St Vincent's is well known for its Emergency Medicine, and it's in The Cross, so you're likely to get an interesting mix of patients. It is affiliated with the University of New South Wales, so you'll have to apply through them (not the hospital).

Both hospitals are centrally located, with buses running past every couple of minutes and a lot of places to eat within walking distance. Plenty of stuff to do in Sydney, would highly recommend it. Cost of living here is high though, so be prepared for that (although with the dollar where it's at currently, it shouldn't be too bad for you).

Good luck! :)
 
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PS If you can do your elective in December/January/early Feb, you're probably more likely to get a place, since local students are still on summer holidays (our summer runs from late November to February).
 
Yes definitely contact the Universities directly. I am based at Wollongong and we have a well established system for looking after incoming international students doing electives, I have no doubt that USyd and UNSW will have a corresponding system for RPA and St Vincent's electives. Good luck!
 
Hi neelyboy and NotFrankUnderwood (or anyone else who has traveled to Australia), were you successful in obtaining an international rotation in Australia? I'm thinking about doing a rotation in Australia and would be interested in hearing about your (and others') experiences. Also, I saw that student visa requirements for students going to healthcare in Australia require us to have a panel physician complete a physical exam, was that something you had to do? Thanks!
 
Hey,
I did not end up doing the rotation (family and scheduling issues came up). However it wasn't too hard to do and I did have the option. If you start now you should definitely be able to get it done. If your school doesn't some sort of affiliation with University of sydney it can be egregiously expensive. I would recommend University of New South Wales. Definitely email them NOW to get the process going. It took a little while for them to respond back to me. It seemed like an amazing opportunity I'm sad I couldn't make it work :(
 
Hey NotFrankUnderwood, Thanks! I'm sorry things didn't work out for you. I'll definitely look into New South Wales. Thanks again!
 
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