Electives In The Philippines

In Iloilo, you’ll see unfamiliar conditions like tuberculosis, clubfoot, and maybe even the occasional rooster bite. The local population tends toward a high-sugar diet, meaning cases of hypertension and cardiac arrest are much more common than in the UK. In A&E, you could see patients with respiratory failure, gastroenteritis, burns, rabies, hernias, and hyperglycemia. In internal medicine, you can observe conditions like acute pancreatitis, stroke, and diabetic ketoacidosis, and how these conditions are treated in an under-resourced clinical setting.

Nurses run the wards in Iloilo, leaving patients’ families responsible for tasks like washing and feeding. Nurses are free to engage in more clinical responsibilities. In fact, this placement has a highly clinical focus and you’ll get a considerable amount of experience. The outpatient department looks after areas including everything from paediatric care to the treatment of rabies. There is also an animal bites clinic in which you can get unique experience, helping you to develop an entirely new skillset. Please not that we cater for all branches of nursing.

As a midwifery student, the experience you can expect from a placement in Iloilo is wide-ranging. One of the government hospitals with which we’re partnered sees up to 40 births each day. You can rotate through the OBG ward, OBG emergency, the milk bank, antenatal clinic, and of course the delivery room, which will allow you to gain a deeper understanding of the differences between the birthing procedures at home and in the Philippines.

As a physiotherapy student, you’ll enjoy a structured placement in a one-on-one style. On this placement you’ll observe and help to treat conditions such as Bell’s palsy and cerebral palsy, varying degrees of burns, and trauma related injuries. Much of the department’s equipment is handmade, but perfectly functional. You’ll use this equipment to help rehabilitate patients. But there are also TENS, ES and US machines. Paraffin therapy is also used on occasion.

Your paramedic science elective in Iloilo takes place in the largest government tertiary referral hospital on Panay Island. The hospital is recognised as one of the government’s centres of excellence. Emergency services here are housed in one central complex with separate areas for triage, resuscitation, internal medicine, trauma, ENT ophthalmology, orthopaedics, and paediatrics. In this busy department, you’ll see cases of everything from tropical diseases like dengue fever, right the way through to stab wounds.

In a busy radiography unit, you’ll spend time alongside specialists who use techniques that will be largely unfamiliar to you. For example, the department has three X-ray machines, but they all use film rather than digital technology. This means you’ll use the hospital’s darkroom to develop the images using much older practices. You’ll see orthopaedic patients, patients from internal medicine, cardio patients with pulmonary diseases (resulting from the high number of tobacco users in the country), and more. As far as radiology goes, there are two ECG machines, two-dimensional echo machines, and an array of other diagnostic imaging tools.

Students who choose to practice pharmacy in Iloilo will be rewarded with insight into a unique system completely different from their own. This is a specialised placement on which you’ll have the chance to rotate through five separate departmental pharmacies, gaining practical experience in each. You’ll also have the rare opportunity to observe in theatre, in OBG and antenatal departments to understand how medicines are dispensed in such a low resource setting and more.