Imperial Connection: LKCMedicine Elective Programme at Imperial

By Roxy Hughes, Collaborative Partnerships Officer, Imperial London 

This year’s batch of students who took up the opportunity of an overseas elective at Imperial London has completed their UK clinical postings to great satisfaction.

On Friday, 23 August 2019, we welcomed 34 LKCMedicine students to the third annual ‘LKCMedicine Electives Programme at Imperial’. Students completed a bespoke six-week programme of placements across Imperial partner hospitals, including Charing Cross, Chelsea and Westminster, Hammersmith, St Mary’s and West Middlesex hospitals. One hundred individual placements were arranged for the programme, across 40 hospital firms. 

Students attended an induction at Imperial’s main South Kensington campus on their first day before heading into the hospitals for clinical postings. Halfway through the programme, a mid-feedback session was held at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where students shared their experiences thus far. In the students’ last week in the UK, a Farewell Reception was held at Imperial’s grand Edwardian venue at 58 Prince’s Gate. Students were joined at the reception by First Secretary Vishnuvarthan Balakrishnan from the Singapore High Commission and Mr Martin Lupton, Vice-Dean (Education) for the Faculty of Medicine.

 
During the feedback sessions, we heard about the students’ positive and diverse experiences in the hospitals, including exposure to various clinics, taking part in surgeries, attending multidisciplinary team meetings and joining Imperial students’ teaching. The students were particularly interested to observe patients’ health literacy in the UK. Read more about the students’ experience at Imperial here. 

Professor Mark Nelson, consultant at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and Academic Lead for Collaborative Partnership Placements, is responsible for arranging clinical postings for the LKCMedicine elective students. Prof Nelson said, “This innovative programme, which has the tie-in of consultants and hospitals throughout North West Thames, has offered the students from Singapore a novel experience of British NHS (National Health System) care and has been thoroughly enjoyed by all parties. The students report an extremely positive experience which they believe has taught them several lessons which will help shape the way they will work as doctors in the future.”

LKCMedicine students and Imperial faculty enjoyed each other's company during the overseas elective

The selection of the 34 students for the 2020 elective programme has been completed by a panel of Imperial staff. Students applied for the programme through the new elective webpage on the Imperial website, where more information on the programme can also be found. Information is also included on the website about Imperial’s other joint student activities with LKCMedicine, the Imperial Immersion Week and the Professor Jenny Higham Collaboration Grant. 

We look forward to welcoming the next LKCMedicine cohort to Imperial in 2020!