Læknaneminn - 01.04.2018, Blaðsíða 77

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The only challenging moment of our average
day at the neurology department was the
morning meeting. Every morning at 8 AM
the doctors, medical students and nurses met
to discuss new cases and to update everyone
on developments and changes in patients’
clinical status.
Fortunately, that was the only Icelandic­
speaking moment of the day (that I used to
spend trying to guess what they were talking
about and going over the topic on Medscape).
Once a week this moment did not come
thanks to a scheduled lecture given in English
by one of the residents.
During the rest of the day almost every doctor,
both residents and specialists, used to translate
what patients said. Sometimes they just spoke
to them in English, so that we could get more
actively involved.
I found that both residents and specialists
were really keen on teaching (which is not so
obvious for Italian students) and they used
to get us involved in the diagnostic process.
They also encouraged us to go and see
some diagnostic procedures such as lumbar
punctures, EEGs, EMGs and so on.
In short I found that there was a smaller
gap between students and specialists in
Iceland compared to what I found in some
departments at my hospital in Italy.
Outside the hospital, among the best
moments were the international dinners
we had in the apartment that I and other
exchange students shared for the month (and
when I say “international dinner” I mean
“fights to decide which national cuisine was
better”). That apartment somehow became a
place to call “home” for all of us so far away
from home.
To be honest, the very best moment, the
moment when I felt I was the luckiest
person on earth, was the night we saw the
northern lights. Just impossible to describe.

Since it seems almost impossible for me to
sum up in some words what this experience
meant to me, without belittling the intensity
of the whole thing, my suggestion is simple:
Take your backpack and leave. You will not
regret it.

Það er ekki sama jón og
serum jón.
Hvað sagði
thrombusinn við heilavefinn?
– Eigum við að koma í slag?
Af hverju fæst neurólógískt konsúlt svona fljótt?
– Taugasímarnir leiða svo hratt.