• We are a specialist company arranging Medical Electives designed by doctors and approved by universities
• We make arrangements for the Elective as convenient as possible for students. We do our utmost to make the Elective safe and valuable to Medical Students in hopitals outside the United Kingdom, especially where it would be extremely difficult for students to make their own arrangements. Often students find their own self-orgainzed Elective is cancelled by their chosen hospital, with very little notice. A substantial portion of our business has been to provide "rescue" to those unfortunate students.
• We are not an Elective Index or referral service. We only send students to locations where we feel we have a very worthwhile hospital; attractive, safe location; where we can contibute substantial "added value" and have a reliable level of local representation. We visit and test many Elective locations and out of 10, we would historically reject 7 of those as not meeting our critera. There are locations for which there is considerable demand but to which we will not send students due to safety concerns or being just too boring.
• Our electives are reasonably priced and cost-wise are competetive with self-organised equivalents, especially as we do NOT have a policy of students "roughing it". As far as we know, such a service is not currently available anywhere else. A self-organized Elective cost is very difficult for a student to estimate ahead of time, especially when the actual accommodation they are allocated may not be endurable for a long period. In that event, the student or parents end up paying for acceptable and much more expensive alternative accommodation. We understand that most students cannot acclimatize quickly to local conditions, as they are for the populace they are treating, so we believe in providing a haven of comfort and sociability in their accommodation. Often students have independent travel plans during or after their Elective and having acclimatized, they are better prepared for the challenges.
• Although we cannot guarantee this, many students find that having an Elective with other students (whom we schedule at the same times and locations) adds immensely to their Elective experience and combats their inevitable "homesickness". Comments from students after their Elective with us, such as "They were the best six weeks of my life." are not unusual. That is not necessarily only to due to Medics Away but the support and camaraderie of their fellow students and future colleagues.

When taking your Elective with Medics Away, you can expect to be attached to and working within a non-United Kingdom overseas hospital, suitable for Medical Students. We do our utmost to ensure that you will be welcome and will receive good support and teaching.

We must make it plain that students are guests in their Elective Hospital, where the main priority is treating patients, not entertaining students. As with any hospital, the amount of "hands-on" experience that a student can expect depends very much on their medical supervisor and their relationship with that supervisor. All Elective experiences, whether with Medics Away or not, range from "disappointing" to "outstanding". Sometimes "hand-on" can be hazardous to a student's health and often an "outstanding" Elective (according to the student) may have meant dangerous exposure or participating in surgical procedures, of which neither university, nor the medical authorities nor Medics Away can approve.

However, students are mature adults in the final stages of their medical training. Medics Away cannot govern a student's activities, professionally or socially while on Elective but hopes that they will be prudent in all matters.

During an Elective you can expect:

• To be attached to and working within an overseas hospital that has been visited and vetted by Medics Away personnel, most often a doctor, to ensure that it is suitable for Medical Students. We make every effort to ensure that you will be welcome and will receive good support and teaching during your time there.
• To be accommodated in a clean and secure environment, situated near the place of work, during the hospital phase of the elective.
• Our set electives have a Discovery Trip as part of the Elective.
  This will usually last up to two weeks and aims to give students the
  opportunity to see and experience the host country and its culture away
  from the hospital environment. For Electives to more Western countries
  we can organise car hire (USA) and we work with www.ozexperience.com in Australasia so that you can see the country simply and safely.
• We have Representatives at all our locations who will be able to facilitate
  reliable contact between students, their parents and the universities. If problems emerge, either abroad or at home, they can be addressed, if not solved, swiftly and efficiently.
• To be furnished with flights and agreed transfers from the host country's airport to the Elective location and back.
• To be given expert vaccination and visa advice as well as appropriate guidance on insurance cover.
• We do not provide insurance and cannot indemnify students against events that are only properly covered by insurance companies. We recommend that special Elective Insurance be purchased by all students and we make that clear on our Elective Booking Form. The BMA provides such special Elective Insurance and has many exclusive features, including cover for the cancellation of an Elective caused by Examination failure, needle sticks and medication etc.. We believe that ordinary travel insurance is NOT sufficient. Indemnity Insurance is also recommended.
• We do not provide flights (although we assist with Internal Bookings and stopovers.) The cheapest flights may not be the best flights. In the event of emergency, a flight which allows a variation of travel dates may be a wise investment.