where is best to do a medical elective?

[yusur317 430]

Salam, 

I hope you're all well. I have started to look for places to do my final year medical electives in 2018, as recommended by previous medical students. It is a 8 week block, however we only need to attend a clinical placement for 6 weeks within the block. I'm currently studying in the UK. My major concerns regarding choice of elective placement is safety and discrimination (both islamophobia and anti-shia hate). Plus I'm aware some hospitals may hold a no-hijab policy, so I hope to avoid applying to those. Currently I hope to find a hospital in dearborn or (west of) sydney to apply to, mostly because they hold the largest shia populations. Malaysia and indonesia interest me also, although to a much lesser extent (due to the language barrier). My university has ties to two german universities, so I hope to fall back on those if my application to any of the locations mentioned previously does not succeed. But again, I'm not unsure about hijab policies in Munster unversity and moritz university (greifswald). I understand german completely and with a little jog of the memory I probably will remember how to speak it fluently too. 

I was wondering wether you could help steer me away from discriminating places/cities and direct me towards safer locations. My choices are not limited to the countries/cities I listed. For instance, I have considered zanzibar too. I have been told it's quite the rewarding experience and sets a strong contrast between medical care in MEDCs and LEDCs. My university has ties to other locations like lisbon (portugal), madrid, cordoba, paris, tokyo, rome, beijing, hong kong etc. The reason why I'm not listing these is due to the lack of interest in the culture AND the language barrier. Although, and to be fair, I do like the japanese culture. But I have been told they don't take kindly to foreigners, or at least don't enjoy seeing them. 

I hope you can help and thanks for reading =D 

 

jazakum Allah kheiran!  

 

 

[salman1 130]

Salam,

 

It's great to hear that your are almost done with your medical school. Congratulations. I would say that, as paradoxical as this may sound, but the US and Canada are much better off for Muslims than Europe. Firstly, hijab is allowed here and secondly, hijabi med-students are common here. If you choose a hospital that is located in a major metropolitan city, then you should be well off. Speaking from my own experience, I would recommend that you try Dallas-Forth-Worth metroplex or Houston. These are mega cities and are also melting pots where you see visible minorities of various types (african americans, hispanics, muslims, etc). I would try to avoid Dearborn per chance you end up in a hospital that is chock of Hijabis (too much interpersonal conflict I suppose). But that's my personal opinion. 

[dragonxx 891]

afmcstudentportal.ca

this is for Canadian electives, familiarize yourself with all of the elective details/requirements as soon as possible as it is really a hassle to get all the documents and what not.

Canada, especially toronto/ottawa/kingston are very arab/muslim friendly.

Also try not to do all 6 weeks in the same elective, it's too much cuz your supervisor(s) are likely to get tired of having the same face for so long. I would recommend doing 4 weeks in one and 2 weeks in another, under different doctors (or different electives depending on what you would like to do).

 

Edited March 20, 2016 by dragonxx