Shanghai

I left Shanghai 5 weeks ago, but I'd like to post my official report about my clinical experience there... My first publication... Although it has been polished and shortened by my the editors.

here's the English version:

A German student's experience in Shanghai East Hospital

It all started with a google search – I was looking for a possibility to do a surgical rotation in China during my final year of medical school at Germany’s Heidelberg University. Soon I found what I had been looking for: A report written by a certain Philip Dautel, medical student from Hamburg, who had been in Shanghai in 2006. A few more online research and telephone calls later, I had established contact with Prof. Zhao Zhongxin, the head of the general surgery department in Shanghai East Hospital, who was very welcoming from the start on. Five months later I arrived at the hospital and was immediately introduced to the entire ward staff. What surprised me most was the friendly reception I received by everyone. In Germany, students are sometimes viewed as a burden by doctors at the larger hospitals. Even though doctors here are busy, too, they often helped me by translating what patients said in Shanghainese and explained things to me. Maybe I was in a somewhat special position, since there haven’t been many European students over here yet. In any case, I must say most Chinese I met treat foreigners very well, which is a field where Europeans certainly can learn from China!

What was also remarkable from a German perspective was the involvement of relatives or friends in the hospital routine. The first difference one notices in a Chinese hospital compared to a German one is how many people there are everywhere… Every patient seems to have someone he knows around him most of the time. [this paragraph was left out in the published version].

Of course, I was most curious to see how surgery was practiced in China. I had been to China before, but I had never come into contact with its medical system. I have to admit that I was surprised by the high level of technical equipment; on the other hand, I was impressed by the efficient way in which many procedures where performed.

Very interesting were some complex operations I hadn’t seen before, like a splenorenal shunt implantation or heart valve replacements. My most exciting moment – in the true sense of the word – was the defibrillation during an open heart op…

Because of the diverse cases I saw I think my rotation in China was not only a great personal experience and a chance to get in touch with Chinese medical students, doctors and patients, but also valuable for my medical studies.

Hopefully, other students will “google” my report on the web and share my experience!

And here is the Chinese version as translated by my girlfriend - 这是我女朋友翻译的报道:

一个德国学生在上海东方医院的实习经历

一切源自于一次在google上的搜索——为了自己在德国海德堡大学医学院最后一年的实习期能顺利完成，其时我在寻找一个在中国外科实习的可能。很快我就找到了自己想要的：网上刊登了一个叫Philip Dautel的来自汉堡的医学系学生的实习报告，他曾于2006年在上海。接着通过几次网络搜索和同他互通电话，我和上海东方医院普外科主任赵中辛教授取得了联系，赵教授从一开始就对此十分欢迎。五个月后我来到了这家医院并马上被介绍给整个医疗队伍。令人惊喜的是，我在这里得到了每一个人的友好接待。在德国的大型医院里，学生有时被医生视为他们的负担。尽管这里的医生也同样很忙，但是他们仍然帮助我翻译病人说的上海方言，或者解释各项事务。也许我处在一个比较特殊的位置，因为医院目前还没有很多来自欧洲的实习生。不管怎么说，我必须说我所见过的大部分中国人对待外国人都非常友好，这一方面欧洲人确实应该向中国学习！

另外在一个德国人眼中看起来值得一提的是，医院的工作程序中介入了许多患者家属或朋友。一下子能感受到的不同便是，和德国医院比，中国医院里到处都有许多人。每一个患者看起来都有某个他认识的人大部分时间陪着他。

自然使我最好奇的是外科手术在中国的实施。尽管我曾经来过中国，但是过去我还从未有过和中国医疗体系的实际接触。必须承认我对这里高水平的技术设备有些出乎意料；从另一个方面说，许多被展示的高效率工作步骤也令我印象深刻。

之前我看到几个复杂的手术十分有趣，譬如说脾肾转移移植手术，心脏瓣膜替换手术。在一次手术中对心脏实施电击的同时——一语双关而言——也同样是我的心最激动的时刻……

因为我所看到的许多人和事，我想我在中国的实习不单单是一个极好的个人经历以及提供了我一个去接触中国医学生，医生和患者的机会，也同样对我个人的医科学习具有十分价值。

希望将来会有别的学生能够在网上google到我的实习报告并分享我的所经所历！