Clinical international experiences during medical school: medical students’ perspective

Abstract

Migration and cultural interconnection has been one of the major contributors to globalization of disease. This is often a challenge physicians face as they encounter illnesses that they have not seen before while working in dissimilar environments to their training. Given this, international experiences are trending among medical professionals to be cognizant and proficient in dealing with such situations. In this paper, we will briefly reflect on our international exchange experiences as students and how such experiences can contribute to developing stronger global health knowledge and enrich our medical education experience as future physicians. We will also discuss some of the challenges medical students face while pursuing such opportunities, and how such challenges could be overcome.