Teaching English in China - medical opportunities for the pre-med?

[wjin06]

Hi,

I'm not sure where to put my question, but this forum seemed like the most appropriate place. I'm a senior pre-med (from the US) who wants to take a year off before attending medical school. Ideally, I would have liked to spend this gap year doing medically-related work in a different country. However, every organization I've looked at has been unaffordable. An option I'm looking at now is teaching English in China, which seems to be more affordable, but I'm concerned about the lack of opportunities to do anything medically-related while I was in China.

I'm wondering if anyone knows how possible it is to get medical exposure if I were working in China. For instance, could I volunteer at a hospital, shadow physicians, etc.?

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[pingouin]

moving to pre-allo per OP request

 

[BigMDT]

you should teach english in SoCal.....so many people need that.

 

[Textuality]

My family lives in beijing, so I'm there quite often. They have some hospitals that specially cater to "foreigners" where everybody needs to speak English. You might be able to try to volunteer there? In theory the staff is all more or less English fluent. And if you can also speak mandarin, they'd probably more than likely take you as a volunteer. I've never really tried though.

 

[stillapplying]

doublw post

 

[stillapplying]

Hey wjin06. I had a similar idea to you when I first came to China a year and a half ago. I thought I would get my Chinese up to scratch (from a starting point of zero) and then volunteer in a hospital to get some experience. I came over as an English teacher knowing that I wouldn't be able to do anything for awhile. As it turns out, though, I wasn't able to do anything at all. They do not have the concept of going and volunteering in hospitals here. They don't understand it and the hospitals don't want to start doing it.

Of course this is an enormous country with vast population so I am sure it would be possible some places but those places might prove extremely difficult to locate. I had the help of doctors in 3 different cities and their opinions were unanimous that it would be next to impossible to find what I was looking for. However, if you have more deep rooted family connections and they know someone in a hospital then you never know. (Note: If you have a connection in a hospital then you could definitely pay the right person in the hospital to let you volunteer as long as it is a fairly small hospital or in a mid-size city. But if you have no connection through someone else to the decision maker there will be no way to pay anyone to let you volunteer.)

There is also the international development agency route but from what I understand you'd be hard pressed to garner the type of experience you want in most roles you'd take on with them given your current education. I'm sure that's not a dead-end route, though. I have an American friend who did some work with a couple agencies in the south. I can ask her about those if you like.

All in all definitely don't just come over here as an English teacher with your fingers crossed you will find something once you arrive. I know it might seem hard to believe but it really isn't something they seem to do. They just employ some extremely cheap labour instead.

BTW, how is your Chinese? You are planning on graduating from an American university, right?

Feel free to send me a PM if you have any more specific questions about China.

 

[neuroprotector]

I studied in China as a junior, and while I was there I worked in a hospital. The thing about the Chinese medical system, and culture, is that it's vastly different from our own (big surprise)! As many things in China, there's a degree of corruption - if you know the right person, you can get anything. But even if you don't, volunteering isn't impossible.

I was in Shanghai, and I went to a local hospital (I had some decent Chinese) to ask if I could volunteer. Seeing that I was western (it's really easy to stick out in China), they sent me to the VIP ward, which is really commonplace in China. VIP wards consist of high-quality facilities and staff, and are attached to large Chinese hospitals. The doctors are often western-trained, and can speak both Chinese and English to cater to foreigners (who have a lot of money, and are therefore considered VIPs).

Most of the VIPs come from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and other places, but in large coastal cities there's generally a significant population of foreigners, and that's where you might come in. I spent most of my time as an interpreter for the westerers, but for some reason they also had me help out in ortho with simple casts and splints.

In general, the previous posters are right. Volunteering isn't really as well understood in China, and especially in hospitals (neurotic premeditis is a largely American condition). You might not get many responses if you ask to volunteer, but if you're persistent, anything can happen. Also, since you might not have a work visa, things can get sticky with the officials (I had to hide in the closet when the Beijing investigators came by), but someone will find some way to pay you. I translated and edited people's papers for them, and they gave me some decent under-the-table cash. It's all about who you know.

So I would say that your best bet, especially if you're not completely fluent in Chinese, is to stick to a large coastal city (like Beijing or Shanghai), and to find a hospital with a VIP unit. Expect a few strange glances, but it's definitely worth it.

As for teaching English, you can do that virtually anywhere in China, but you should NEVER have to pay for it, especially if you're going to be there for a whole year. Find a program that covers your airfare, gives you a stipend and provides you with a place to live. You'll be on your own for personal expenses like food, but if you save up, living in China can be really cheap (about $5/day in Shanghai, which is more expensive than most places). Also, make sure the program doesn't "seem" crappy. Call them up, see what kind of support they offer. Trust me, in China, having little things like access to the embassy can be extremely comforting.

 

[pinkblue]

I had a similar experience in china to the above posters. My chinese is pretty good for a foreigner. Perhaps you could contact someone at a Chinese medical school & see if you can sit in on rotations or something.

 

[neuroprotector]

bump (everyone should think about going abroad)

 

[yacom1118]

...
In general, the previous posters are right. Volunteering isn't really as well understood in China, and especially in hospitals (neurotic premeditis is a largely American condition). You might not get many responses if you ask to volunteer, but if you're persistent, anything can happen. Also, since you might not have a work visa, things can get sticky with the officials (I had to hide in the closet when the Beijing investigators came by), but someone will find some way to pay you. I translated and edited people's papers for them, and they gave me some decent under-the-table cash. It's all about who you know.
...

I like this one

This is so true -- medicine has never been a top career choice among chinese college students because of the length of training and more importantly, the low return. For a doctor working in a mid-sized city your pay can be as low as $200 dollars per month. There are very few, very few doctors who manage to garner enormous income but again, they can't do it without have something to do with the corruption.

 

[neuroprotector]

I like this one

This is so true -- medicine has never been a top career choice among chinese college students because of the length of training and more importantly, the low return. For a doctor working in a mid-sized city your pay can be as low as $200 dollars per month. There are very few, very few doctors who manage to garner enormous income but again, they can't do it without have something to do with the corruption.

That's really true. Corruption is corruption, but at some level it's just another part of the system there. Things wouldn't really work without it.