I undertook an elective in orthopaedics and trauma at Massachusetts General Hospital, USA between 25^th July and 10^th September 2003.

During my time I learnt a huge amount about medicine in the US compared to the British system that I was so used to before setting off.

It was a very hard working elective. This reflected the hard working nature and reputation of the Harvard Medical School programme as well as the attitudes to healthcare within the hospital and the surrounding population.

My reasons for choosing an elective in the US and at Harvard were firstly having been to Cambridge University before coming to Southampton I wanted to experience life at Harvard. Also the reputation of the US with its high quality of care and sophistication that I always perceived was something I wanted to experience in that many of our textbooks and instruments are made in the US.

This has in part led me to a view of maybe doing further work out there as part of my future career.

Thus seeing what it was like and if it really met my expectations as well as to gain experience of how medicine may be similar or different to the UK was what I set out to discover.