Internship: A Glimpse into the Future of Life as a Doctor

Aristotle once said “teach me and I’ll forget, show me and I’ll have a vague recollection, let me practice and repeat and it will remain with me forever”. In light of this, a 3 week internship program was organized by IMSA for interested medical students at the Zhenjiang First Peoples Hospital. The departments made available were internal medicine comprising nephrology, gastroenterology, endocrine and respiratory departments, Emergency medicine and Surgery.

At the end of week two, all of the interns have a wealth of experiences to share; the excitement of shadowing a doctor on ward rounds, the empathy felt for the sick, terminally and chronically ill, fear from the first assist to a non-invasive surgical procedure, nausea and butterflies in the stomach from encountering a bloody accident victim in the emergency room. All these and more are the experiences which wouldn’t easily leave the hearts and memories of the participants; from the good and funny, through the sad and heart breaking, to the devastating and hopeless.

The part which warms the hearts of most of us is the Friday workshop and interactions; where selected doctors come and talk to us on specific diseases or just tell us more about their departments. We all look forward to learning new skills in the workshops and are ever eager to try our hands on the dummy(fake body).

Thanks to the staff and doctors at the hospital who cooperate and are ever eager to assist us, we have caught a glimpse of the life we are on our way to living as doctors and have been given the extra zeal to be studious and steadfast in our medical pursuits.