During my elective I have made many friendships with fellow students and the people I worked with that I intend to continue. In addition patients were very helpful and the staff at the hospital were always willing to teach.

I would like to thank all those involved with my elective in America, in particular to the trauma team of Ortho team A whose time, patience and many hours spent teaching me helped make my elective a rewarding and enjoyable one.

The US is a wonderful place and I can strongly recommend this elective to future Southampton students that I hope this report will be of some value to.

Were my expectations met at the end of the elective? Most certainly, I will look back at my elective as a rewarding, educational and an important part of my medical training so far.

The USMLE costs $700 that I would need to do if I ever wished to practice there on a permanent basis, so will have to consider that carefully. But will I go back to the US during my future career, this elective has done that no harm and my experiences have encouraged me to want to do so.

Outside the ER – a member of ortho team A was present in the orthopaedic room of ER 24 hours a day. The hospital ER handles 75,000 visits and the surgical staff perform 32,000 operations each year.