The time I spent in Guangzhou with the AACC was a completely unique experience. I had shadowed a little before attending this program but the difference in the level of the experiences astounded me. Not only that, but this program also exposed me to Chinese culture to an extent that I had never really seen before. Overall I highly recommend this program for anyone looking for a memorable experience.
To go a little more in depth on what I experienced, I got to see most of the departments in the hospital. Before, when I shadowed on my own, I was confined to one department as I had asked a specific doctor for shadowing. In this program, as they have negotiated with the hospital as a whole, the entire hospital knows and is ok with us watching. So practically this means that each shadowing day was spent at a different department over a two week span. And keep in mind, each shadowing day lasts from 8 in the morning until nearly 5 in the afternoon so the doctors are able to go very in depth.
And speaking of the doctors, they were all openly friendly and willing to show us around. In fact, the emergency department director even showed us around personally and took us out to lunch when we were with him. With their openness we were able to ask questions and do things that we could not do in an american hospital like be in an operating room during a surgery.
Beyond the shadowing, there is also some time set aside each day for chinese culture lessons. These lessons include classics like Tai Chi and Calligraphy to things that are much more obscure such as the tea ceremony or flower arrangement. With all of these lessons, we were exposed to much more chinese culture than any of us, the chinese americans like me included, had ever even known about. We were all affected on some level by these experiences. For some of us, we got more in touch with our chinese heritage and for others they were exposed to a culture that was completely different from how we in America do things. For all of us though, these cultural lessons were enriching and very valuable experiences.
Overall, it was a very fun and interesting program full of new and valuable experiences for me and all involved. I will definitely be talking a lot about it to my friends and I highly recommend any of you reading this to try it out if your looking for an interesting experience.