Jessica Kinsella

I’ve done several overseas placements throughout my degree, and I enjoy travelling and learning how other healthcare systems work.

I was impressed by the size of the hospital—there were so many departments to choose from! I was also shocked to see the number of staff.

My placement was spent mainly in A&E. The doctors and nurses there were very encouraging and allowed me to carry out several procedures, such as placing NG tubes, catheterisation, suturing, and debriding wounds.

I also learned about diseases such as malaria and sickle cell disease. I also developed my history taking and examination skills.

In the A&E, a patient presented in cardiac arrest. CPR was initiated, and students got to actively participate in the attempt to resuscitate. The AED didn’t work, and there wasn’t any equipment to intubate the patient. Sadly, they died.

Another case was a child who presented with burns across 45% of the body surface area. This meant there was great difficulty passing line. That a femoral line was done in A&E was a surprise in itself.

There were many differences between the Ghanaian healthcare system and back home. There was a distinct lack of resources — as I mentioned above, the AED wasn’t working, there were no ventilators, there was no MRI… Patients paid for treatment before it was initiated.

Infection prevention and control procedures were not priorities in Ghana. Many procedures weren’t performed under what we consider ‘sterile’ conditions—staff often ran out of hand sanitiser and gloves. Pain relief was an afterthought.

My experience outside of the hospital was memorable, too. We spent most weekday evenings decompressing by the pool. We even watched the Euros at a hotel called Choice Lodge.

During our weekends, we had plenty of time to visit places like Busua, a village on stilts, and Kakum National Park, where we went on a treetop canopy walk. We also visited some waterfalls and travelled to Accra.

I can't recommend a Work the World placement enough! We were so well looked after from the moment we contacted them. And everyone in the Work the World house truly felt like a family.