Traveling for a U.S. clinical experience is an adventure in its own right. However, seeing our visitors’ adventurous spirit carry over to outside the clinical experience always brings us such excitement!

Hear from Romina, an AMO visitor from Switzerland and our November Photo and Blog winner, about how AMO made her clinical experience in Hawaii possible.

The underwater adventure, though? That’s all her.

 

Making the Most of a U.S Clinical Experience

This was my first clinical experience abroad, and thanks to AMO I had a great time with Dr. C. in Hawaii. My coach always replied to every question I had and was a great support before and during the rotation.

Throughout my whole experience, from asking the first questions to an AMO Advisor through to the last day of my rotation, everybody was very kind and helpful. People in Hawaii, including all the staff and patients in the hospital, are very open-minded and lovely. They make you feel at home and comfortable.

Dr. C. really enjoys teaching and is always ready to answer questions. I saw many procedures in the Catheterization Laboratory (where I was three days per week) and I was able to practice taking patient histories and physical examinations in his office (where I was the other two days per week). Furthermore, Dr. C. handed out a pile of ECGs on my first day. After giving me some time to look at them, he managed to find time between procedures to discuss the ECGs with me, which was a great practice. Additionally, there are different lectures with the Cardiology Fellows including ECG interpretation, clinical imaging, or clinical case reports, and more. Whenever I had time to spare, I would shadow the Cardiology Fellows. Thanks to this opportunity, I got additional insight into transthoracic echocardiography, different types of stress tests, etc.

Hawaii is the perfect place for a rotation. One of the reasons is that you can really make the best out of your time off, too: the beaches, all kinds of different hikes, snorkeling and diving, visiting the North Shore, and watching the turtles and the surfers. Oahu offers the perfect mix of city life and Hawaii’s beautiful nature. Furthermore, there’s quite a good, cheap and, at least in my experience, reliable bus system (TheBus), which makes transportation around the city very easy. Honolulu is the perfect place for an informative and interesting clinical rotation and a relaxing vacation at the same time.