Volountourist

[Medic741]

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The lengths that some people go to is amazing. An interesting story about someone who’s hopefully going to jail and not medical school in her future. If you’re ever overseas volountouring and see this walk away and call someone

 

[Engrailed]

Oh dear lord. There used to be a lot of discussion on medical voluntourism on here a few years ago.
Generally bad. If anything, it's something that people who are well off/high income can do to add to their resume.
Tons of people need help even within one's own community. I cringe when I see stories like this. Sad!

 

[lull]

the amount of pride you must have to come to these African countries, treating patients like guinea pigs because they do not have the regulations that western countries have, just so you can add a line on your resume is just beyond me

 

[NickNaylor]

My impression is that the perception of these kinds of experiences have, on the whole, shifted to being fairly negative, particularly as people have discussed the potential harms of a group parachuting into a random area of the country, "volunteering," and leaving with no sustainable way to continue the work they've done.

 

[Engrailed]

the amount of pride you must have to come to these African countries, treating patients like guinea pigs because they do not have the regulations that western countries have, just so you can add a line on your resume is just beyond me

Yes this. and also, usually when the people in these third world or underdeveloped countries see foreigners, (even if these are high school or college students) wearing SCRUBS (omg), they believe that they are being treated by medical professionals and are totally misguided on what is actually happening.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I don't think pre-meds come in with sadistic visions of trying to actively harm people. But in the ECs arms race, pre-meds feel that the more you do means a better experience. Therefore, someone may say their volunteering in a free clinic and being able to take vitals is "superior" to someone's ED volunteer experience where the most they can do is give a patient water and crackers. With this mindset, it's easy to see why overseas experiences are so attractive. You get to do stuff, all while going to some exotic place elsewhere in the world (this is many times more exciting than the soup kitchen in your city). So you feel that you are killing multiple birds with one stone while vacationing. It's sad, but this is ultimately the mindset.

If you think back to Kony 2012, you will see how much people actually care. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then it just proves my point.

 

[Engrailed]

I don't think pre-meds come in with sadistic visions of trying to actively harm people. But in the ECs arms race, pre-meds feel that the more you do means a better experience. Therefore, someone may say their volunteering in a free clinic and being able to take vitals is "superior" to someone's ED volunteer experience where the most they can do is give a patient water and crackers. With this mindset, it's easy to see why overseas experiences are so attractive. You get to do stuff, all while going to some exotic place elsewhere in the world (this is many times more exciting than the soup kitchen in your city). So you feel that you are killing multiple birds with one stone while vacationing. It's sad, but this is ultimately the mindset.

If you think back to Kony 2012, you will see how much people actually care. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then it just proves my point.

haha great point! Kony 2012. That was an interesting movement. I wonder where the Kony supporters are now.
Also the EC arms race has only sped up over time and I think in the future high school students will be getting first authorships in Nature Cell Science.
Or maybe that has already happened, im not sure

 

[LizzyM]

Did you read the story? This young woman had not even attended college. I don't believe she was doing this as a "pre-med" but as a very religious woman who saw feeding children who needed food for long term recovery of malnutrition as her "calling". After awhile, she got cocky, IMHO, and crossed the line between providing meals to fatten up the little darlings and into practicing medicine without any kind of formal training. Horrific and not excusable but you an see how it can happen when a lack of adequate services meets a well financed and well meaning young person who is practicing medicine as it was done in the nineteenth century (by apprenticeship).