Rural Allowance: No
Doctors Quarters:
- Didn’t stay there but had friends who did and it was clean and a good environment to stay in (shared bathrooms and kitchen though).
- On hospital grounds. Neat, shared kitchens and bathroom areas, shared balcony. Bedrooms can fit double bed. Small built in cupboard.
Academics:
- Very good academics despite covid pandemic.
- Amazing consultants who taught a lot and made me feel very confident to step into commserv.
- Majority of my internship was during COVID pandemic, so many academic activities were cancelled.
- Everyone very keen to teach. ESMOE in obs. Tuts in paeds. IM ongoing extensive teaching on rounds. Psych and surgery – presentations. Anaesth very academic.
Supervision:
- Good supervision during the day, on call at night you get left alone more frequently.
- Great during the day, but you’re alone for a lot of the night. You do however always have a senior available telephonically in internal medicine. In paeds, O&G, surgery and anaesthesia you have a senior on site. Level of independence depends on you as an intern. Senior on call available telephonically for ortho as well (and they do all the cutting during the night).
- Some departments’ interns call on their own, other departments’ intern calls with an MO. MOs always available for calls to discuss patients. Very good supervision during the day. Some departments less friendly/helpful than others.
- Excellent – you are never alone. Generally MO supervision and not many students so you get to do and see a lot.
Clinical Exposure:
- Wonderful exposure.
- You see all the common conditions and some rare ones as well.
- Lots of practical skills to be learnt under good supervision. High standard of care – you will learn to do things the correct way.
- Secondary level so you see all the basic pathologies as well as the cool ones! Useful for commserve.
Social Scene:
- Winelands are amazing.
- Winelands are great. There’s a massive amount to do in the area. Closeness of internship groups depend each year. I personally had a great group and made life long friends.
- Depending on your intern group. Some interns are originally from the WC, so have already formed friendships in the province. May be difficult to make friendships with these interns.
- 45 min to Cape town; very cute town. Interns hang out together.
Additional Comments:
- Would 100% recommend Paarl for internship. You’ll work really hard and also have a great time. And when you step into commserv you’ll be ready for the absolute dumpster fire that is rural medicine.
- An excellent choice for a person who is willing to work hard and well (however generally not under inhumane conditions), but under good supervision with adequate resources.
- Beautiful modern hospital. Well run. They care about patients so consultants can be very strict at times, but its good. You learn a lot, also gain independence. You are definitely NOT the admin clerk! Rounds are with consultants which is very nice. Highly recommend!
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