Summer Placements--Yipeeee!

Vista from the road near Dingle.

The school has just released our placements for 1st semester of third year. I am very excited as I found out that I will be rotating first through surgery in Tralee, County Kerry.

So, surgery is the thing I am most looking forward to next year as it will allow the greatest leap from my experiences as a nurse...and not to mention the fact that I adored every minute in the O.R this summer!!

I had originally asked to be placed in the Big Regional Hospital but then the placements coordinator emailed me and asked if I'd consider going to Kerry for the entire year. I had put Killarney (near Tralee) as my preference for GP placement in 2nd semester so moving for the entire year made sense.

I hummed and hawed for the evening, drank two glasses of wine, called a few of my Irish pals for advice, then responded "yes" before wondering what I was getting myself into.

The hospitals in Tralee are much smaller than Big Regional but the location is one giant beautiful wide open space of mountains and ocean. And I will be close to Killarney and Dingle. For those of you who've been to the area you'll be able to appreciate why I am so excited to be a 30 minute drive from the Ring of Kerry.

Dingle Harbor

The other interesting thing is that there is only going to be one person from my class at the same hospital as me, and we'll be on opposite rotations (he'll be in med while I am in surg). He's actually one of the most down to earth and sincere lads in the class--plus he's a fellow West Coast Canadian! So having a bit of company (of the quality variety) will be good. My heart is always in smaller centers, I adore rural health care and I think for electives it will be nice to be as far away as possible from some of the competitive knobs in my class.

Fingers crossed I land some decent preceptors...