Larnaca General Hospital

Six months ago I decided to spend my elective in Cyprus. Despite the fact that I was born in England, I lived for many years in Cyprus. Therefore, I thought that it would be useful to gain experience in the way Medicine is practiced in Cyprus and in the sort of diseases that are seen there. During my elective, I spent one month in General Medicine, one month in Accident and Emergency and one month in Cardiology at Larnaca General Hospital.

During my attachment in General Medicine work was starting at 8.00 o’clock in the morning with a ward round. The ward round was starting in the intensive care unit where the most seriously ill patients are kept. On the intensive care unit I had the opportunity to see and examine patients with very serious conditions such as acute myocardial infarction, acute heart failure, cardiovascular accidents, severe chest infections etc. After the intensive care unit, the ward round continued on the rest of the general medical wards. There 1 saw a lot of patients with stroke, pneumonia, tuberculosis, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer patients (thyroid, lung, lymphoma) with additional medical problems, pyrexia of unknown origin and deliberate self-harm. During the ward rounds, the doctors were very keen to discuss the patients with us and answer any questions that we may had.

Following the ward round, I was either going to the outpatient’s clinics or I was doing and watching procedures on the ward. I had the opportunity to do venepunctures, insert venflons and do ECGs. Moreover, I observed many exercise tests, lumbar punctures and bone marrow aspirations.

During the second month of my elective I was in the Accident and Emergency department. This department is always busy since about two hundred patients visit it every day. Over that month I gained invaluable experience in many acute medical and surgical conditions since I could see patients on my own first. Then, I had to discuss them with a colleague. I saw many patients with acute myocardial infarction, acute heart failure, pneumonia, asthma, children with laryngitis, renal colic, pancreatitis, appendicitis, gangrene, severe road traffic accidents leading to multiple injuries, accidents at the place of work and at school leading to orthopaedic injuries, suicidal attempts etc. I took the opportunity in the casualty department to do a lot of venepunctures, insert venflons, insert urinary catheters, give many injections and do a lot of suturing. Unfortunately, Cyprus has many road traffic accidents and I saw very young people dying as a result of these.

During the last month of my elective, I was in the Cardiology department which includes both invasive and non-invasive Cardiology. Every morning, there was an angiogram meeting where all the angiograms of the previous day were reviewed. Following that, there was a ward round. I saw many patients with myocardial infarction, angina, heart failure, arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation), valvular heart disease (mitral stenosis, mitral incompetence, aortic stenosis, aortic incompetence). I was always given the opportunity to take the history from, listen to and discuss these patients. Following the ward round, I was going to the invasive Cardiology laboratory in which I saw many coronary angiograms and many balloon angioplasties. By seeing many of these I learned how to interpret angiograms and recognize most of the coronary vessels.

All the doctors, nurses, paramedics and other hospital staff were extremely polite, helpful and cooperative. They were always willing to teach, guide and help me. Moreover, I was impressed by the high standard of Medicine in Cyprus. They have easy access to all the necessary investigations, even the most expensive ones such as CT scans, NHU scans, angiograms etc.

All the patients were very co-operative and they were very happy to talk to me and be examined by me. The only problem is that some of them can’t speak in English and so the knowledge of the Greek language helps a great deal.

I am very pleased that I chose Cyprus for my elective. I believe that I gained invaluable clinical experience which will help me a lot in my future career.

Christakis Christodoulou