Articles onthethis Volume's Theme

"The Role of IFMSA Exchanges in Future Healthcare"

SusanaBelénSeminarioLópez

UniversidadPeruana

CayetanoHeredia,3rdyear

Exploring the potential of IFMSA Exchanges in Future Healthcare

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in the first Professional and Research Exchange training, also known as PRET, held in the post-pandemic Americas in Lima, Peru and I have to say that I learned a lot about the role of exchanges in pillars of our beloved federation and its influence on each medical student who performs one.

I learned that exchanges strengthen all the abilities and skills of medical students through experience. When a student has an opportunity like this, it's not to be missed! Knowing how other health systems work and the different explanatory models of health in each country broadens their knowledge and strengthens qualities that graduate doctors must have, such as empathy and excellent communication skills as well as active listening with patients Contributing, therefore, to the success of their medical training and, at the same time, to the care of their future patients.

At the beginning, there may be some challenges such as cultural differences, but that is why each student can know different realities and learn about them, both the good things and the things to improve. Each exchange is organized by a team whose objective is that the person who goes on the exchange returns to the country with a broader picture of health and new communication techniques for patients regardless of their sex, religion or beliefs.

Likewise, regarding Healthcare and exchanges, they provide an opportunity to connect with different people around the world, meaning that in the future, there are greater possibilities for cooperation regardless of the barriers we may have due to distance or language.

What I am finally trying to say is that exchanges are an opportunity that brings many benefits for the student, his environment and his future patients. As I said at the beginning, the exchanges strengthen the pillars of IFMSA, especially medical education, today we need doctors who know what they are teaching at medical schools but who also know how to treat their patients because finally, as I read once a long time ago, "It is worth nothing to have read an entire book about medicine, if at the moment of treating a patient you do not have the necessary empathy”.

Personally, every day I am happier and prouder to belong to the exchange team, knowing that each exchange that is organized can have a positive impact on each student who does one and an even stronger impact in the future for society and patients Thank you very much for reading me!

SCOPE is not a month-in-a-lifetime experience but a lifetime in a month. IFMSA exchange programs are not something new nor a farfetched concept but rather the link between medical students worldwide and the acquisition of skills, knowledge and connections which will be beneficial for their future professions. The IFMSA represents the mother body of all national member organisations (NMOs) worldwide with professional exchange programs at the heart of SCOPE being the backbone of this organization. Based on how much medical education has been evolving over the past years, it is necessary to say that professional exchange programs which are often described as “enriching” “month in a lifetime” experiences focused on equipping medical students with the right medical knowledge and skills which are essential in the medical student’s practice. We won’t remain medical students forever and we will indeed become doctors. The field of medicine is a very broad, diverse and dynamic one offering countless opportunities but also requiring doctors who are able to equally display such dynamism, competence and diversity with the main goal of providing optimal healthcare services for the population. The answer to this is provided by nonother than IFMSA exchange programs which would never leave participants the same A medical doctor isn’t somebody who has all the medical knowledge in the world but one who shows mastery of his work while exercising scholarly attitudes, exhibiting leadership qualities, communication, collaboration, advocacy, medical expertise and also professionalism, just as seen in the CANMed criteria. All of such roles can’t be acquired from just one setting but exploring many more after all, the world is a big place and made of people from varying ethnical backgrounds and cultural perceptions; the world is a culturally diverse universe of its own. A lack of understanding of these varying cultural perceptions could fail to provide conducive and inclusive grounds during medical practice.

Thus IFMSA exchange programs create culturally sensitized medical students who are able to meet with new individuals, mix, share, and relate with them and also appreciate different cultures while discovering new health systems. The impact of these exchanges is immeasurable and spans across many more domains including patient-centred care and global health. Exchange programs enable medical students to think out of the box and cause a shift in their mindsets, a shift directed towards tailoring provided healthcare services to suit the needs of the patients. This in return fosters and reinforces the patient-doctor relationships and allows for more effective communication, understanding, engagement during the consultation and better treatment outcomes.