後醫三馮珮綺

交換基本資訊

學生姓名	馮珮綺
學校與系級	高雄醫學大學/學士後三年級
交換日期	02/06/2015~02/27/2015
交換國家	匈牙利 Hungary
交換城市	佩奇 Pecs
見習醫院	PTE-KK
見習部門	General Surgery
住宿狀況	Nursing Dorms
膳食狀況	1 meal at cafeteria/working day
見習狀況	5-6 hours/day, Get to scrub in on surgeries
接待人員(人數、態度)	1, could speak Chinese
醫院外觀

一、   見習部分

Most of the doctors in Pecs, Hungary, speak Hungarian and rarely English. In the University of Pecs, there are 3 programs for students: Hungarian, English and Germans. I had a supervisor called Dr. Szanto Zalam but I could go to any surgeries in the general surgery department. Different departments are located in separated buildings; they are not all located in the same building like Taiwan. Our general surgery department had about 5 floors with first floor being the outpatient clinic and operation room. The 2^nd and 3^rd floor was the ward for general surgery. The 4^th floor was the ward for plastic surgery and operation room. 5^th floor contained the transplantation ward and operation room.

Each morning, I went to the ward at 7:30 AM to join their rounds. Even though they spoke in Hungarian, some of the medical students explained what had been said between the doctors and the patients. Their charts are all written in Hungarian and each-day progress is written in a very big binder chart for each patients. The medical students told me whoever had the binder means they are in power! Their wards are really small. A room consists of either 2 beds or 6 beds with no curtains in between! There were only 5 total rooms in the ward I participated in. When a patient passed away, they would not take the patient right away but put movable curtains to surround the patient. They hope to wait for his soul to fly off before taking the patient away. I just felt weird as I was so used to having curtains between each patient but in this ward, all patients were practically facing each other.

At 8:00 in the morning, I would join their big morning meeting which they discuss about yesterday’s surgeries and today’s surgeries. If there were complications or any problems, different doctors would mention it to the chief of general surgery! They would go through each surgery and students had to present each case. However, everything during the meeting was in Hungarian! Later on the day, I would always check the operation schedule each day because they only printed out on the afternoon of the day before. If my name was on the operation schedule, that would mean I get to scrub in during the surgeries. If my name weren’t on the schedule, I was able to also choose the ones I hope to observe. Besides operations, I also get to admit patients with the residents and also perform physical examination on them. The doctors also allow me to change wounds at the outpatient clinic. I assisted in general surgeries such as mastectomy, inguinal hernia, epigastric hernia, stomach cancer, ileostomy and jejunostomy. Watching them as they tied up knots was fascinating because they are really fast at tying the knots. The residents also taught me the different ways of tying knots during my free time.

Their outpatient clinic consists of a changing room and a bed. The patient would lie on the bed with disposable sheets and we would change the wounds and care for the wounds there. They do not have so many patients in their out-patient clinic like us but perhaps only about 20 maximum patients per day. Sometimes, even none!

Overall, I felt exchange students had more chance to be involved in surgeries and all the doctors and nurses are wonderful in that they will try to help you as much as possible in English! I usually stay at the hospital till 3pm because that is their work hours! Their working hours is from around 7:30 to 3pm. Their surgeries will end at 3pm because of lack of the anesthesiologists. It has been said that a few months ago, they could not perform any surgeries for 2 months due to the lack of anesthesiologists!

二、   住宿部分

The exchange students usually live in the nursing residents. They have rooms for students like us! Each floor will share about 3 bathrooms and 3 showers. The kitchen is free to use but we had to bring our own utensils. The washing machine was free to use which was definitely really nice. I lived in a 2-person bedroom; however I had no roommate so I was able to have the room myself. All Hungarians bedroom will be equipped with a sink which is very surprising to see at first. We had tons of closets as well for use! The place was pretty clean, and if we wished to be cleaner, we can always burrow the vacuum cleaner with the security guards. The bed-sheets, pillows and blankets were all free to use and can be washed if we want to. Free wi-fi is only available at the lounge and not in my bedroom unfortunately.

Beside our nursing resident is the medical students’ residence! I even met a medical student studying in Pecs from my way to my residence.

三、   交通部份

Depending on which department you are in, you will have long travels or short travels. The cafeteria is located at city center which is about 30-min walk from your dorms. However, you can also choose to take the bus. I liked walking because I get to see their architects, shops and people while I tour around their little city. If you are assigned at internal medicine, it is only a 5-min walk from the dorms and the building is very new! However, the cafeteria will still be 30-min walk away from you. If you chose surgeries, it is located near the cafeteria and near the city center. Thus, most people would take the bus to get there and back each day. If you have traumatology or orthopedics, you are far away from the dorms and the city centers! However fear not, as buses run in front of your dorms directly to the hospital. (Bus 30 and 130 are the ones we can take from our dorms to hospitals!)

Basically you will live at the address of Ifusag utja, and the address of where I worked was at Istvan ter. There are at least 2 supermarkets near your dorm that is at a walkable distance with daily needs. Bread and fruits are supplied daily! There are also café and bread stores around Pecs which is very nice to try out!

There are no airports in Pecs, Hungary, but they do have an international airport located in Budapest. From the airport to Pecs, we could either take the train or bus or minibus! Taking the train and bus is a hassle for me since I was carrying luggage. The way from airport to bus station or train station can take time. Therefore, I chose the minibus service which can be a little expensive but it is like a shuttle bus taking 4-5 people from the Budapest International airport to anywhere in the city of Pecs! I personally felt it was safe as there are others travelling along with me.

四、   Social Life

When I was there in February, there were no social programs provided which was a bummer. However, I was able to explore the city myself by walking. The spending in Pecs is pretty cheap. You can get a whole 30-cm round pizza for about 250NT the most! Spending can be the same price as Taiwan or sometimes even cheaper! The best place to change money with little commission is in front of the hospital at the city center! Hungarian use forints as their currency and you can only change it in Hungary. There was 1 center dome which was built by the Turkish long ago. In addition,　there was also a cathedral with a Christian cemetery underneath.

They have a famous shopping mall named Arkad which has McDonalds and Burger King to satisfy your taste bud when you have too many Hungarian meals! There is also the biggest supermarket in there and mediastore useful for your electronic devices. Other brands are also sold there such as Adidas or Timberland.

Hungarian food can be a bit hard at first to adjust because it can be very salty, cheesy or very sweet. People usually buy lots of bread and dip it in the very famous goulash soup! We get to have 1 free meal of cafeteria food each day. The cafeteria food consists of 1 big bowl of soup and 1 main dish. The main dish could be rice, fish, beef or anything! However, there was one time I had my main dish that was like sweet donuts with jam inside. It was a very interesting and weird feeling as usually in Asian culture we like to eat hot salty food!

Their famous drinks in Hungary are Palinka which has about 50-70% alcohol so be very cautious when ordering them! They come in many different flavors and it is said that most Hungarians brew their own Palinka flavors in their own house! Plums are for guys and strawberries are for girls! Another famous wine is Tokaji, which is a very famous sweet wine in Hungarian. They said if you are in Hungary, you must have a sip of it! Hot wine is also known as a popularity of drink during daily activities. It is very sweet but tastes a bit like hot cough medicine to me!

On weekends, I would travel by myself to Vienna and Budapest for sightseeing. Austria and Hungary had a very tight close relationship in the past. Austrian emperor, Sir Joseph and empress, Sisi often visited Hungary. They both have parliaments, opera theaters and the most beautiful churches located in city centers! I met a medical student who studied the English program of dentistry in Budapest and it was very interesting on how the European medical students programs are like! Most of their tests and exams are oral which can be nerve-racking. She also told me that almost all the people who passed away in Budapest are donated as cadaver but this still has to be confirmed.

五、   整體

Doctors in Hungary do not earn as much as any doctors in Taiwan or the United States. Residents only earn about 1/3 of Taiwanese therefore many doctors move to other countries to practice after they graduate from school. Hungarian students usually do not have to pay for their tuition as their governments pays for them. It was only a few years ago (2 or 3) that Hungarian governments decided to sign contracts with these students so that they have to work for Hungary for at least 6 years before they go elsewhere to practice. Many Hungarian medical students actually told me they wished to go to Germany (the most popular place) after graduating!

The healthcare system in Hungary is all paid by the government. Residents of Hungary can see doctors or have operations free of charge. However usage of some materials can be self-paid as well. Their systems are somewhat similar to Taiwan and governments are really poor due to this.

The overall experience was very pleasant. The doctors who spoke little English really tried to explain different operation procedures and information to me. They were all very helpful. Because I did not have training of general surgery in Taiwan during my clerkship, this exchange was to complete my full training as a clerk for the surgical department. I was able to scrub in on surgeries as an intern and watch the surgeries very closely!