Nepal – what’s on during your elective?

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Nepal has a hugely varied landscape considering it’s relatively small size. You have the highest mountains in the world leading down into the best river rapids and finally into the steamy heat of the plains. It is a mecca for adrenaline activities and canyoning, trekking and mountain biking are available all year, but also one for spiritualism; there are amazing temples and world heritage sites with some fantastic architecture and history. Weather often dictates a trip to Nepal, but we don’t think you should restrict yourself…..

DSC03533 150x150 Nepal – what’s on during your elective?

The peaceful lake - good for kayaking / boating

Abby 2011 27 150x150 Nepal – what’s on during your elective?

World peace pagoda - Pokhara's best walk

(more…)

The Weekly Question – why did you choose to do your elective placement with Work the World?

Friday, April 6th, 2012

It’s a fact of life; everyone likes to ‘big themselves up’ from time to time! And while we can go on until we’re blue in the face about why you should choose to do your overseas placement with Work the World, the best people to ask are those who did choose us and are on placement right now.

This week we asked students in each of our destinations “why did you choose to do your elective placement with Work the World?” Here are some of the responses…

dental students argentina 150x150 The Weekly Question   why did you choose to do your elective placement with Work the World?

Students on placement in Mendoza, Argentina

In Argentina the leading answer was the opportunity for students to brush up on their Spanish with our fantastic week-long Intensive Spanish Course. Amanda Woods, a medical student from Alabama said “interacting with patients in a Spanish speaking company is definitely the best way to improve my Spanish…the programme has everything I was looking for.” Amanda also found us to be one of the only companies she researched offering placements in South America and to include the placement, accommodation, food and in-country support in the total cost.

(more…)

Kids and bad teeth….. what can we do?

Monday, March 19th, 2012

We are gearing up for our summer Dental Outreach Projects in Nepal, where we treat thousands of school children that have no access to dental care. In a bid to get in the mood, I switched on to watch ITV’s Tonight documentary “Our Kids Rotten Teeth” last week. It made for gripping, and shocking television!

Children as young as 3 or 4 were having surgery to remove 10, 11, 12 or more of their milk teeth because of  too much sugar and bad oral hygiene and never visiting a dentist. And that is in this country –  where we get reminders to go to the dentist, can easily buy dental aids like toothbrushes, have “flouride varnishing” sessions at school, have flouride added to our water and are regularly told that sweet things are bad for our teeth. It made me think about the realities of young children like those in Nepal, who don’t have the same level of education, have no access to care and no assistance in protecting their milk teeth.

Faye 2010 90 150x150 Kids and bad teeth….. what can we do?

Work the World run yearly Dental Outreach Projects

(more…)

State of the art midwifery equipment in Portsmouth vs back to basics care on your elective!

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

RCM reported today that the redevelopment at Bournemouth University’s midwifery campus in Portsmouth boasts the latest training equipment and high-tech audio-visual kit. Professor Gail Thomas, midwife and dean of health at the university, commented

Midwife 05 150x150 State of the art midwifery equipment in Portsmouth vs back to basics care on your elective!

New facilities at Bournemouth!

‘The developments at Portsmouth will enhance the experience of our east-based student midwives, providing them with high quality skills laboratories, lecture and seminar rooms and general learning space……the skills room contains a birthing bed, costing over £7000, a birthing couch, a profiling bed and a Resuscitaire, costing about £8500.’

(more…)

The top ten…. diseases in Nepal

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

Top 10 (Inpatients)

  1. COPD  (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  2. CVA  (Cerebral vascular accident)
  3. Birth asphyxia
  4. PLWHA (People Living With HIV/AIDS)
  5. Septicemia
  6. NIDDM  (Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus)
  7. Pneumonia
  8. MI  (Myocardial infarction)
  9. ADS (Acute Death Syndrome)
  10. IHD (Ischaemic heart disease)

Top 10 (outpatients)

  1. Pneumonia
  2. GE
  3. EF
  4. Appendicitis
  5. COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  6. RTI (Respitory tract infections)
  7. Injury / Dislocation
  8. Hepatitis
  9. Pyrexia
  10. Sepsis

The weekly question – What is the public transport like?

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
028 150x150 The weekly question   What is the public transport like?

Safari

The majority of our students use public transport to get into town or to travel to their placement. In fact joining the hoards on a busy bus can sometimes be the best way to integrate yourself into local life. Trips to work can also provide some of the funniest travel experiences of your time away. We asked our students “ what is the public transport like in your area” in the hope we might hear about some of these funny and typical travel experiences. We had some fantastic responses from each of our destinations, with real insight into each country.

Starting in Africa;

(more…)

Weekly Question ”Why would you recommend your destination to future students”

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

We get hundreds of students coming to us knowing they want to do a clinical placement overseas, but with no idea exactly where they would like to go. If this sounds familiar then maybe our current students will help you decide…..

Abby 2011 13 150x150 Weekly Question Why would you recommend your destination to future students

Prasanga the caterer and the gardener Uncle

Katie and Clare in Sri Lanka have a list too long to post but here are some of our favourites; (more…)

Weekly Question – popular games

Monday, October 24th, 2011
Alison April 10 29 300x225 Weekly Question   popular games

Hanging out

We set the Assistant/Programme Managers on a mission this week to find out ‘’…What games are popular in the house and what are the rules …’’

We often get students asking what participants do during their free time, especially in the evenings. Most agree that it is a pretty relaxed affair which is definitely required after a hard day’s work in a foreign environment, time is spent journal writing, exploring the local area, chillaxing as well as going back to basics and playing a good old game. Surprisingly, a lot of the games played are traditional local games learnt in country as well as things brought from home. Feel free to have a read of the following blog about what games students are playing whilst on placement, you may even learn a few new ones to help pass some time during the upcoming cold winter evenings

Natalia our programme manager in Argentina says ‘’ during the cold winter evenings, two games became popular among students and staff at the BBQ nights. The first one was “Chancho” (Pig), which is a variation of the famous card game “Spoons”. The objective of the game is for each player to be the first to have four of a kind. When this happens, the player says “chancho” loud, and places one hand on the centre of the table. This has to be followed by the rest of the players; the last one loses and gets a letter. The game ends when the word “chancho” is spelled out by a player and, officially becomes one. In some cases, the player who loses is required to complete a dare.

(more…)

What it’s like to work in Nepal…

Friday, October 21st, 2011

I worked in the Emergency Department of a a non profit International Non-Governmental Organisation teaching hospital. It was an imposing building overlooking the city of Pokhara and looks expensive (i.e beyond reach for many of the locals). The reality of the fact is that it isn’t, but not many people know that. As a result between the hours of 08:00 and 15:00 – when the regional ‘cheap’ hospitals are open – the teaching hospital ED is remarkably quiet.

In ED we saw the many similar conditions to those we see in the UK. However there was an awful lot more trauma (resulting from RTCs and falls from trees!) and an alarming number of cases of meningitis.

In Nepal, if you injure someone resulting in a disability that stops them working, you have to support them for the rest of their life. There are horror stories of people reversing to kill people that they have run over. I heard stories that it is cheaper to bribe the police when there is a dead body!

(more…)

No more disappearing behind a bush on Everest…. toilets are being installed!

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

For the last few years there has been plenty of chat about Everest base camp and the amount of litter that people leave each year. We’ve heard about highways being built to cope with the number of tourists and we’ve seen lots of footage of overly burdened gurkas carrying sack loads of tin cans back from the well trampled route. The Saving Mount Everest Clean-Up Expedition team bring over 8 tonnes of rubbish from Mount Everest and its trekking trails!

rubbish 150x150 No more disappearing behind a bush on Everest.... toilets are being installed!

Rubbish removed by Saving Mount Everest

People and rubbish = a big problem.

(more…)