Electives In Vietnam

The university teaching hospital we’ve partnered with is the perfect environment to undertake a clinical placement. The diversity of departments you can get experience in is remarkable — A&E, paediatrics, psychiatry, oncology, the reproductive endocrinology and infertility centre, the centre for gastrointestinal endoscopy and more are open to you. The Vietnamese traditional medicine department is also open to you, meaning you can see how traditional techniques complement more contemporary practises. Please note that we cater to all branches of nursing.

In Hue, you can spend time in A&E, OBG, internal medicine, and general and orthopaedic surgery among others. Oncology is particularly insightful. Modern ‘Western’ medicine remains unregulated in some areas, so you could even see cases of arsenic poisoning in infants who have ingested unregulated baby formula. Vietnam sees a large number of tropical disease cases such as malaria and dengue fever. You may also see cases like chronic malnutrition in paediatric patients, and high volumes of patients involved in RTAs.

In Hue we’re fortunate enough to be partnered with a university teaching hospital, which means you can get an exceptional level of experience. Alongside nurses, medics and fellow midwives and midwifery students, you’ll get first hand insight into a Vietnamese OBG department. From prenatal and postnatal care to attending live births, you’ll see exactly how local professionals use ingenuity to deliver care with limited resources.

Based in a university teaching hospital, the rehabilitation department in our partner institution has decades of experience training physiotherapists. Under the supervision of local specialists, you’ll assist with the rehabilitation of a breadth of conditions. These could include everything from severe burns to paediatric spina bifida caused by the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. This is an exceptional opportunity to learn of how care is provided, despite severe resource limitations.

Paramedic science placements in Vietnam are fascinating. This is, in part, because traditional medicine is built right into the healthcare system. This means you’ll see how modern practises complement ancient traditions. In our partner hospital’s A&E department you’ll see cases like RTA’s and trauma, and unfamiliar tropical diseases like malaria and dengue fever. Many patients travel in from some of Vietnam’s most rural areas, so the patient demographic is mixed.

Our partner institution in Hue is a high-level university teaching hospital, delivering a breadth of experience when it comes to practising radiography in a low-resource setting. Much of the diagnostic equipment in the hospital is out of date, and some machines that better-funded hospitals might take for granted do not exist at all. While equipment may be lacking, local staff have adapted techniques to make up for the limitations imposed by a lack of equipment. This will teach you how to be resourceful in ways you might not have previously considered.

Pharmacy placements in our Vietnamese partner hospital highlight the limitations poor funding places on the provision of medicine. The resource gap is particularly notable when it comes to pharmacy. Certain medicines have limited availability, while others are non-existent. This has an obvious impact on patients in that they don’t have access to medicines that you’re used to dispensing freely in the UK. Unique to our programme in Hue, you’ll also be able to observe traditional Vietnamese medicinal practices being used alongside more contemporary techniques.