Electives in The Philippines

This placement has a highly clinical focus, and you’ll get a considerable amount of experience. Nurses in the outpatient department look after areas including everything from paediatric care to the treatment of rabies. You can also spend time in the animal bites clinic, helping patients with everything from dog to snake bites. You’ll see conditions that are unfamiliar to you, but typical of the Philippines — clubfoot, for example, and tropical diseases like dengue fever. You can get some experience in anaesthesiology, and in A&E, seeing patients present with conditions like respiratory failure, acute gastroenteritis, burns, rabies, hernias, and hyperglycemia.

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. If you're looking for a medical elective in the Philippines, Iloilo is an excellent choice.

You can get a fantastic experience in Iloilo as a midwifery student. You can rotate through the OBG ward, OBG emergency, the milk bank, the antenatal clinic, NICU, and Labour… you have plenty of options. The delivery room is where you’ll see the most obvious differences between birthing procedures at home and in the Philippines. Episiotomies are much more common in the Philippines than they are in the UK, and applying fundal pressure is still common practise. You might want to spend some time in the hospital’s program for young parents, too. This is a recent initiative to provide support during pregnancy to vulnerable girls and women between the ages of 12 and 19.

On your Work the World biomedical science placement in Iloilo, you’ll get to grips with a broad range of tropical communicable diseases, like dengue fever, and their diagnosis and treatment. You might also choose to spend time in the animal bites clinic, where you’ll see everything from dog to snake bites and the occasional resultant case of rabies. You can get broader experience in departments like A&E, where you’ll see patients present with conditions like respiratory failure, acute gastroenteritis, burns, hernias, and hyperglycemia. And, in the realm of internal medicine, you'll have the opportunity to observe cases like acute pancreatitis and diabetic ketoacidosis, offering insight into how these conditions are managed within the constraints of an under-resourced clinical setting.

As a physiotherapy student in Iloilo, you’ll see conditions you might never see in the UK, like Bell’s palsy and clubfoot. You’ll also see more common conditions like burns and trauma-related injuries. One of the biggest differences between the UK and the Philippines is the difference in practise. One example is that local physios tend to use TENS, ES and US machines for cases that you might not use them for in the UK. You’ll see a number of neuro cases too, like cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, and help rehabilitate post-traumatic brain surgery patients.

On your paramedic science elective in Iloilo, you’ll spend time in A&E, OBG emergency, and surgery. The A&E is the general emergency room for the whole island. You’ll see a difference in both practise and resource, like manual intubation and a lack of anaesthesia. Patients present later than you’ll be used to, and family members undertake a surprising amount of patient care — bagging, for example. When it comes to cases, you’ll see things like respiratory failure, gastroenteritis, burns, rabies, hernias, and hyperglycemia.

Do your Work the World elective in Iloilo, and we'll place you in a busy radiography unit.  Depending on your previous experience and enthusiasm, you could help with things like inserting IV lines, injecting contrast dye, helping perform fluoroscopic procedures, and observing T-tube cholangiograms. You’ll see plenty of different patients from orthopaedics, internal medicine, and cardio patients with pulmonary diseases (there’s a high number of tobacco smokers in Iloilo). A&E is just next door, and they send a number of patients to the X-ray department, so you can expect a lot of trauma cases too. One big difference you’ll notice right away is that while patients' conditions are similar to those in the UK, they’re often much more severe.

On an occupational therapy elective in Iloilo, you’ll gain experience in the physiotherapy department of our partner hospital. Engaging in a diverse range of conditions like Bell’s palsy, burns, trauma, cerebral palsy, and injuries sustained from traffic accidents, you’ll grow to understand the challenges delivering care in low-resource environments can bring. Gaining insight into the rehabilitation treatment plans of a wide range of patients and how they’re put together will create an experience that will broaden your understanding of healthcare in a global context.

On a Work the World pharmacy placement in Iloilo, you’ll rotate through six different outlets. There are satellite pharmacies in A&E, the OR, neonatal, OBG, and what’s known as ‘the drive-thru’. You’ll also have the rare opportunity to observe in theatre and the OBG and antenatal departments to understand how medicines are dispensed in such a low-resource setting. If you’re interested in learning how conditions like leptospirosis and malaria are medicated, and about how medication plans are generated more generally, you can also go on ward rounds with local doctors.