Professional Exchange Program

Krakow, Poland

by: Luthfiyya Syafiqa Tahany

Professional Exchange Program held by SCOPE IFMSA was the most valuable
experience for me. I got a lot of new and valuable experience, like share some health
and medical information, culture, and some other knowledge. I met with the other 28
students that came from another country. I did the exchange program on Jagiellonski
University and did internship on the University Hospital in Krakow. Jagiellonski
University is the oldest university in Poland and the second oldest in Central Europe,
that has been there since 1364. Jagiellonski University divided into 15 faculties, that
include medical faculty. Medical faculty on the Jagiellonski University is the oldest
medical faculty in Poland. Krakow is the second largest and the oldest city in Poland.
In this internship program, i was placed in General Surgery Department which is
supervised by dr. n.med. Tomasz Kruszyna, he is one of the transplant surgeon.
I started internship program internship program in the hospital on the 1st of
August 2017. On the first day, i was accompanied by the committee into the doctor
room to wait for the supervisor and the group list. In the general surgery department
there were 4 students which was divided into 2 groups. On the first day, our
supervisory doctor invited us to get to know more about hospital environmen.
Thereafter, i went to the changing room to change my outfit into scrub suit and went
to the post-operating room directly to saw wound management on a patient who have
undergone cholesyctomy surgery. My supervisory doctor explained the detail of the
patient's history and demonstrated us how to manage post-op wound correctly. My
supervisory doctor can speak english fluently so it was easier to understand. After
that, i went to operating room and changed my outfit with disposable scrub.
This internship program was lasted for 4 weeks with work schedule every
monday - Friday at 7.30 am until 3.00 pm. Every single day there was 2-3 surgery in
each room, and the surgery schedule could be seen on the computer and in the front of
operating room. They have 4 operating room on the oncology and digestive
department. When i went to the operating room, the operation has begun so i was only
accompanied by anasthesology resident, he told me about the case that happened to
the patient and explained about what anesthetics used on the surgery. On the first day,
i could only saw the operation, after the first operation was finished, the doctor on
duty explained to me about the case that happened to the patient. The second
operation would took place about one hour after the first operation, and the operating
room woukd be sterilized, so i had to wait in the eaiting room.
The differences between the health system in Krakow and Indonesia that i found
is in Krakow, everyone become easier to access and pay the hospital with the
insurance which is everyone in Krakow have to pay everymonth through salary
deductiin, when someone do not have the insurance, they have to pay more expensive
for hospital fees. So most people in Krakow prefer to have an insurance that can
facilitate the hospital fees. There are no difference between the patient with exclusive
room, vvip, or standart room which is also make the difference with the hospital in
Indonesia that have many different rooms for the patient. Each patient facilitated
fairly. Furthermore to be oncology/digestive surgeon only takes to 2 years to be
general surgeon, and takes 4 years more to be a subspecialist. Of course its different
with Indonesia, in Indonesia it takes 5 years to be a doctor and continue subspecialist
which tskes 2 more years.