The Atlantis Project sends American fellows abroad to shadow doctors in foreign hospitals. While gaining medical experience, fellows are also immersed in a foreign culture and learn to live in a new environment. The program ranges from 2-10 weeks and features locations in both Spain and Portugal.
This summer I embarked on a four-week journey to Sáo Miguél, one of the nine Azorean islands off the coast of Portugal. I joined 6 other American fellows to shadow doctors in the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo by week, and explore the remainder of the tropical island by weekend.
The hospital employs approximately 450 doctors in several specialties. Each week, the fellows were given a schedule that displayed their department assignment, where we would shadow for 2-3 days. The most prominent specialties included anesthesiology, cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, the intensive care unit, and obstetrics & gynecology. All of the doctors I shadowed were exceptionally welcoming and eagerly answered any questions I asked about their daily routine, patient prognosis, or technical skills. I shadowed approximately 5 hours per day and feel as though I gained priceless experience. Because of the unethical nature of providing unlicensed patient care,no patient contact is hands-on. However, I was much closer to the procedures than I expected and got to observe some interesting procedures: I got to see a nephrectomy and laparoscopic surgeries in the operating room, three live childbirths in labor & delivery, and pacemaker implants in cardiology.
The hospital is a fast-paced environment that required the fellows to be attentive every morning when we arrived. The language barrier made it so I really had to watch what the doctors were doing and try to understand on my own before they had time to translate. I ended up liking this aspect of being in a hospital abroad because it challenged me to figure out what the doctors were doing and why before I was provided with an explanation (in case you didn’t guess, I do not speak Portuguese. The Atlantis Project does not require foreign language fluency, although it would be helpful, especially when going out to restaurants!).
I stayed in the University residence for the duration of my stay, where young adults were staying from all across Europe. The American fellows and I made some great friends from Barcelona, Spain, who we explored the city of Ponta Delgada with and the rest of the island. I knew nothing of Sáo Miguél before my acceptance to the program, but now can say that it will feel like a small piece of home for the rest of my life. I highly recommend a Google search to catch a glimpse of the island’s beauty, as I highly recommend the Atlantis Project as a whole.
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