FQMS

FQMS Advice to Students for 2008 Electives

FQMS is again supporting a number of elective placements for the best students who find a place through their own efforts either in the UK or approved hospitals in other countries.

We are providing here a list of co-operating UK hospitals and supervising specialists, most of whom have helped Al-Quds medical students in the past.

Some details given are from previous years and may alter- it will be necessary for you to enquire about this. Take advice from students who have recently been to the UK.

You must apply independently and raise your own funds. You may get information and help from FQMS but only through the PMSS or IFMSA.

The amount needed will vary with each hospital, some provide free tuition and a few give free accommodation. On average the cost at each hospital is about £60 a week, but this must be checked on application. Air fare will be about £400 return. Lliving costs in the UK are approximately £60 a week minimum. Also travel costs within the UK and visa charges are to be taken into account.

Previous electives have been booked for a duration of 6 weeks commencing in early September. Placements normally start on a Monday.

Applications should be made as soon as possible as there is very strong competition for places. We would advise you to apply by mid January.

Attached to these note is an Application Form which you should fill in - make a separate copy for each placement to which you wish to apply. When your emailed application and CV have been acknowledged it should be confirmed by a fax of the same documents accompanied by a photocopy of your passport details. A good presentation of your CV and the application form, is important, as there is strong competition for elective places in the UK hospitals.

Do not make applications to a supervisor without first carefully considering his/her speciality and whether this is what you want to learn about. As there is always competition for places, make sure you explain something of what you have learnt about the field and why it is important to you. Do not apply to every supervisor without regard for this - you will lessen your chances of getting any acceptance.

Notes

Students will be responsible for their own flight bookings, travel arrangements and vaccination certificates. Some of the hospitals ask for evidence of extensive immunisations.

There are very high charges with excess baggage weight over the 20kg allowance so be careful with your purchases in the UK.

You may need a visa if travelling through another country e.g. by Alitalia via Milan,

All correspondence with UK people and institutions will be in GBP £ pounds. The current exchange rate (£1 equals approximately $2) may change. You should check the expenses against the current rate for JD and Shekel to the £pounds at the time of application.

Do not accept an elective placement if you do not intend to take it up. This deprives other students and leaves a bad impression. Remember, you represent not only yourself but also your country and your people.

If you have to cancel, do so at the earliest possible date and give your reasons.

Cancellations

It is very important that students accepting an elective placement do not cancel afterwards. Such cancellations, particularly at a late stage, are very wasteful of UK hospitals' and supervisors' time and risk losing for future Al Quds students the offer of elective placements.

To repeat: If you have to cancel any placement you have found, please do it as soon as possible and with courtesy, an apology, and a good reason.

FQMS Placement List

Mr Munther Al Doori, Consultant General Surgeon*

Huddersfield Royal Infirmary

Lindley, Yorks HD3 3EA

Email: liz.hirst@cht.nhs.uk

No of places: 2

Applications by end of January, decisions by end of February

Specialities available: Urology & General Surgery, Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and can be more flexible with regards to specialities

Costs: low

Mr Mahmoud Bustami, Consultant Cardiologist

Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital

Harefield UB9 6JH

Email: m.al-bustami@rbh.nthames.nhs.uk

No of places: 1

Speciality: Cardiology only

Costs- average- there are no tuition fees

Accommodation currently £190 per month - will rise early 05

Successful applicants must be prepared for self-catering accommodation

Apply not later than 01 April 05 and do not expect a decision before 01 May 05

Since only one place is available in Harefield, it is important that applicants make clear IN THEIR OWN WORDS why they are particularly interested and suitable for this placement.

Dr Mahmud writes: "There is one place in this leading tertiary centre for cardiovascular and Thoracic diseases. The elective program would be for a student who is interested in cardiology only. The centre is in west London. There is no General Medicine. The student is expected to join teaching sessions, clinics and observe procedures in the labs. Cardiac surgery exposure is included. No tuition fee is required, accommodation on site to be paid for by the student. The elective is for 4-6 weeks. The successful student will be informed in May/05"

Dr. Ahmed Massoud, Consultant Paediatrician

Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow. HA1 3UJ

Email: Ahmed.Massoud@nwlh.nhs.uk

Specialty: paediatrics

No. of places: 2 or 3

Costs: not known as no students last year.

Dr Mustafa El Zebdeh, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon

Newham University Hospital Trust, Newham General Hospital

Glen Road, Plaistow, London E13 8SL

Email: elzebdeh@excite.com

No of places: 4

Specialities: Orthopaedic (also known as Trauma) and General Surgery

Costs: average but accommodation cannot be arranged by the hospital. Students must make their own contacts for accomodation.

Placements can be arranged as late as May/June for starts in early September.

Professor Simon Frostick, Professor of Orthopaedics*

Royal Liverpool University Hospitals

Prescot Street, Liverpool L69 3GA

Email: sramos@liv.ac.uk

No of places: 5

Specialities: Medicine and Neurology

Costs: Low

Mr. Naif El-Barghouti PhD FRCS Consultant and Vascular Surgeon*

Scarborough General Hospital

Woodland Drive, Scarborough, North Yorks YO12 6QL

Tel: 01723 368 111 ext 2024 & 5224

Email: naif.el-barghouti@acute.sney.nhs.uk

Mr. El-Barghouti is a surgical tutor at the Royal College of Surgeons.

No of places: 2

Specialties: General and Vascular Surgery

Costs: not known, as we have not used this placement, but it comes highly recommended.

Dr. Omer Abbas Ahmed. Consultant Paediatrician*

Lister Hospital

Coreys Mill Lane, Stevenage, Herts SGl 4AW

Fax: 01438-781575

Email: omer.ahmed@nhs.net

No of places: 1

Please give three months notice, if at all possible

Proposed elective: 5 weeks in General Paediatrics and Neonatology

1 week in Community Paediatrics including one day a week in General Practice

Cost: not known, as we have not yet used this placement

Dr Chris Stephens, Director of Education Southampton General Hospital

Hants, SO16 6YD

Tel: 02380 777 222

Enquiries to Tracy Finn, Administrative Officer

School of Medicine (MP 801),Southampton General Hospital, Hants SO16 6YD

Tel: 023 8079 6586

Email: mdb3@soton.ac.uk

No of places: maximum of 2 Specialties: There are very few places available in General Medicine and General Surgery (none in Paediatrics or Obstetrics and Gynaecology)

Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust Web site is http://www.suht.nhs.uk/index.cfm?articleid=112

Costs: Average. Note: A non-refundable fee of £70 is payable upon confirmation of acceptance of an elective

Accommodation: Successful applicants will need to find their own accommodation. Further information will be made available to successful applicants on confirmation of an offer of a placement.

Applications: Applications forms are available from: mdb3@soton.ac.uk

Other information: English Language Qualification: in order to be considered for an elective period applicants will need to have an IELTS certificate or equivalent.

1. The last dates when applications can be received - 3 months before they wish to start their elective (this allows us time to make the necessary arrangements from this end depending on what specialties they wish to do etc).

2. Date when acceptance will be given - asap. It's difficult to give an exact time scale.

3. Any info you can gain on expenses and local support - further information will be sent to successful applicants

Dr. Hashim Reza, Consultant Psychiatrist*

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Psychiatry Outpatients Clinic, 1-6 Carlton Parade, Orpington BR6 0JB

No of places: 2 - decision within 4 weeks of application

Tel: 01689 892345 Fax: 01689 879062

Email: Hashim.Reza@oxleas.nhs.uk

Dr Hashim writes: The most crucial issue is that the students must have a very good command of spoken English to get any benefit out of this elective experience. My worry is that sometimes people tend to over-estimate their skills in this area and I don't know how this could be evaluated objectively. If you know any one in the campus at Al-Quds who can be a good judge/advisor on this, please do consider involving them in short-listing process. Otherwise, I am afraid the student may incur a lot of expense to get disappointed when they are not able to get much out of their elective.

My plan is to show them how a good community mental health team works in the UK. The students will be able to see a diverse range of psychopathology in working age adults by shadowing the SHO. They would be allowed to sit in the weekly teaching sessions of the SHOs. There is no other formal tuition available but they will be encouraged to shadow our community team workers to see how community nurses and social workers manage acute and chronic mental illnesses without having to admit patients into hospitals.

Most psychiatric schemes are becoming terribly bureaucratic in terms of Criminal Records Bureau checks, etc. Fortunately, our NHS Trust is not into that yet. If there are any other requirements that students need to fulfil, I am going to discuss that with our clinical tutor later this week. My intention is that there should be no tuition fee. Our Trust does not have any accommodation to offer and private rentals may be costly around Orpington/Bromley area in South East. I am not in a position to give any advice on the likely living costs in this area.

Mr Magdi El Guindi FRCS, Consultant Surgeon

Stoke Mandeville Hospital , Aylesbury

Email: Chris.Austin@smh.nhs.uk

No of places: 2

Specialities Orthopaedic & General Surgery

Costs: average

Dr Saif T Awwad, Consultant in Clinical Oncology*

Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

Shrewsbury SY3 8XQ

Email: awwad@btopenworld.com

No of places: 3

Specialities Oncology, Medicine, Opthamology, General Surgery, Paediatrics, Gynae & Obs, Psychiatry

Cost: low

Dr Pauline Cutting FRCS, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon

Bangor Hospital

Gwynedd, LL57 2PW

01 248 355 024h/372748 fax: 01248-384003

Email: kimberley.thomas@nww-tr.wales.nhs.uk

From end July

Specialities: various surgical/Medicine

Costs: Low

Professor Paul Boulos FRCS

University College London Hospital

Email: p.boulos@ucl.ac.uk

Specialities: Colo-rectal, Breast, Vascular, and General Surgery, plus Urology

No of places: 2

Dates and costs to follow

Dr Ramzi Freij

A&E Department, Queens University Hospital

Derby Road, Nottingham NG7 2UH

Email: ramzi.freij@btopenworld.com

0115 970 9151

No of places: 2

Tuition & accommodation costs to follow

Dr Ramzi Freij writes: For general information the A&E department at Queen's receives 130 to 140,000 patients per annum, there is an opportunity to get involved in seeing a wide spectrum A&E patients we have an active research and audit programme and should the students wish to get involved we would encourage that.

Mr Basil Ammori FRCS*

Department of Surgery, Manchester Royal Infirmary

Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL

No of places: 4-5

Email: Basil.Ammori@CMMC.nhs.uk

Dr Ali Jawad, Consultant Rheumatologist

Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel

London E1 1BB

Contact Dr Emma Breese email: Emma.Breese@Bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk

Specialities: Rheumatology with a wide choice of short attachments eg Dermatology, General Medicine, General Surgery

No of students: 2

Professor Carl Shakespeare, Consultant Cardiologist*

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich, London SE18 4QH

Email: carl@carlshakespeare.com

Specialities: 4-6 weeks intensive cardiology experience and general medicine

No of Places: 2

Professor Meguid El Nahas, PhD, FRCP, Professor of Nephrology*

Head of the Academic Nephrology Unit Sheffield Kidney Institute Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, UK

Email: M.El-Nahas@sheffield.ac.uk

Check website: sheffield.ac.uk/ski

Dr David Worth, Consultant Physician & Nephrologist

York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York YO31 8HE

Experience with me would be in general (acute) medicine and nephrology, including dialysis other medical specialties in York include gastro, cardiology, endocrine, chests, haematology, dermatology, rheumatology and neurology undergraduates in York are from HYMS (Hull York Medical School)

Hospital email address: david.p.worth@york.nhs.uk

Personal email: dworth@doctors.org.uk

Phone: 01904 725393 (my secretary) Contact me and I'll make enquiries with our HR department

Other countries: please check the following Websites of IFMSA Palestine:

Egypt

http://www.ifmsa.net/public/ecscope.php?id=23

Germany

http://www.ifmsa.net/public/ecscope.php?id=23

Lebanon

http://www.ifmsa.net/public/ecscope.php?id=25

Norway

http://www.ifmsa.net/public/ecscope.php?id=19

Poland

http://www.ifmsa.net/public/ecscope.php?id=18

Spain

http://www.ifmsa.net/public/ecscope.php?id=5

Georgia

http://www.ifmsa.net/public/ecscope.php?id=15

Bahrain

http://www.ifmsa.net/public/ecscope.php?id=133