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A foreign medical trainee


Pediatric dwarfism clinic

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Fellows with Prof.Song


Fellows with Prof.Song


1. First of all, this internship was a very good opportunity because I have never had an internship before and worked 8 hours per day. The name of the internship was “Rare Disease Research Lab”, so I thought of a lab where researchers would research or have experiments. However, I was rather sad when the internship was a lot similar to a hospital internship. I am not certain if the work interns contributed to the rare disease research. However, judging by how other interns who applied had the same thought as me, I think it is better to change the name or at least put a little description of the job. However, the internship at Korea Guro Hospital was a very valuable experience and work.

I say it is a good method to get your feet wet. For students who are very sure of their desire to become a doctor, they should consider this internship because you do learn a lot just by observing. It was a privilege for me to watch surgeries so closely. I am sure students who are interested in becoming a doctor will be very excited when they get the chance participate in a surgery. Unfortunately, I did not have any medical knowledge, so I had a rough time trying to keep up with the doctors’ kind explanation of surgical procedures. I also recommend this internship very much to students who are interested in orthopedics. As I did this internship, I have realized that Dr. Song has one of the rarest clinics in Korea because there are not many clinics that focus on short statured people. By watching various doctors doing clinics, interns have the chance to interact with people with rare “disease” such as achondroplasia, scoliosis, and multiple epiphyseal dysplasia. It would be a very good experience to observe rare clinics. Furthermore your thoughts on short statured patients could change, too. Some would consider short stature is sickness, but, after translating videos and documents, I had my chance to learn that being short does not hurt people, only complications bother and injure them.

I had a grasp of how it feels to be a doctor from valuable experience during the “Rare Disease Research Lab” internship. And I believe the future interns will do, too.


2. Even though this is only one month internship, it has been a great experience for me. Working at Korea University Rare disease Research Institute provided many opportunities for me to learn many things. Throughout my work experience at KU hospital, I could experience the daily life of a doctor in orthopedics. Every morning we would make a round of visits to see patients. I had chance to talk to them in person and learn about their diseases. Watching the operations was the most interesting experience for me during the internship. I had a chance to observe the real-life surgery that I could only watch from television programmes. During the operations, doctors kindly explained about diagnosis and some of the main steps for the operations that they are going to perform. Therefore it was easier for me to understand what they are doing. At outpatient clinics, I could see many cases of rare disease such as achondroplasia, which is a short stature. Before I came to this hospital, I did not know much about achondroplasia and whenever I saw people with short stature, I tended to avoid them. However after this internship, I could understand the disease better and empathise with them. I could also change my misperception on short stature. I had opportunity to watch different video clips about short stature and also learn about history of Little People of Korea. From attending talks held by professors from different universities, I could learn about other aspects of doctor’s life.

Some suggestions that I would like to make is that it would have been better if there was a prior explanation of job. From Korea University website, it said ‘Rare disease Research Institute at Korea University’ and I did not know much about what I was going to do. I just came to the hospital and realized that this internship is not really about research. In addition, it would be clearer if there was organized schedule for this internship. Nevertheless, it was enriching experience for me because I had a dream of becoming a doctor when I was young. From this internship I could learn more about doctors and orthopedics, which was unfamiliar to me. I am grateful to many professors for their kind advice and sharing their experience. I feel that I met a great mentor from this internship. After I graduate, if I get into medical school, I would like to come back for another internship at this hospital.

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