A Fourth-Year Med Student Plans A Gap Year Medical Trip To Belize

You can learn the steps of medicine from a book, but you learn the weight of medicine when you sit across from a patient and have to earn trust fast. We’re joined by Gabby G, a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Carolina who just matched into general surgery, to talk about how international service learning helped shape her clinical confidence and her career path.

We trace Gabby’s journey through service learning medical mission trips to Guatemala, including the moment cultural humility became real: a women’s health case where a spiritual sauna tradition affected symptoms, and the care plan had to respect belief while still reducing risk. From there we zoom out to global health access, what rural communities face when hospitals are far away, and why community clinics can be the only practical point of care for many patients.

Then we get tactical about experiential medical education and leadership. Gabby helped build an inaugural med student and gap year student trip to Belize, recruited peers despite chaotic fourth-year schedules, and even created a “blue card” style skills checklist to make sure learners saw core clinical encounters across specialties. She also shares what it felt like mentoring gap year students, working in a rural hospital setting, and collaborating with Belizean medical students who grew more confident day by day.

If you’re pre-med, taking a gap year, or already in training, this conversation offers a clear look at what service learning can teach you about clinical skills, teamwork, and the kind of doctor you want to become. Subscribe for more stories from students and faculty, share this with someone considering a global health experience, and leave a review so more future clinicians can find the show.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to not only share with you our guest’s introduction to international healthcare, but also to share with you how that exposure to international healthcare has shaped their future path in healthcare. As true patient advocates, we should all aspire to be as well rounded as possible in order to meet the needs of our diverse patient populations. 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with my students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that healthcare focused students need, and greatly benefit from the opportunity to have hands-on experiential healthcare experiences in an international setting! I have seen the growth of students post travel as their self-confidence in their newly acquired skillsets, both clinical and cultural, facilitates their ability to take advantage of opportunities that previously may not have been available to them. By rendering care internationally, and stepping outside one's comfort zone, many more doors of opportunity will be opened.

Feel free to check out our website at www.islonline.org, follow us on Instagram @ islmedical, and reach out to me @ DrH@islonline.org

Transcript

Welcome And Why Service Learning

Dr. H 0:11

Well hey there, I am Dr. Patrick Hickey, or Dr. H, as many of my students refer to me. I want to welcome you to another episode of the International Service Learning Experiential Medical Education Podcast. During each episode, I will be interviewing healthcare-focused students and faculty from high school to university that have had an opportunity to participate in an international service learning trip. Additionally, I will be discussing the benefits and challenges to international service with healthcare professionals that have served abroad, as well as industry leaders in healthcare, education, study abroad, spirituality, and those living in the countries being served. Real excited today to have Gabby G with me, and Gabby and I have a lot of history. Gabby was one of my former capstone scholars at the University of South Carolina. We have traveled a few times together. I had to look back at her resume. I think it was March of 20. We had a service learning medical mission trip together to Guatemala. And then in 22, we were supposed to go to Nicaragua, but unfortunately, due to civil unrest, we had to kind of change plans right around Thanksgiving. We end up going back to Guatemala, but but that was great because we love Guatemala. But again, pleasure to have Gabby today. And in addition to those two trips that we traveled together, we've been able to interact on a third trip, most recent one, which is a great reason why we're chatting today. Gabby was responsible for International Service Learning's inaugural med student Gap Year student trip to Belize in February of 26th. So real excited to talk about all three trips.

Meet Gabby And Her Match

Dr. H 1:55

But before we do, Gabby, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Gabby 1:58

Yeah. So yeah, my name is Gabby. I'm a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Carolina. Um I also went to USC for undergrad, so I like to say I'm a double cock. And I am originally from Richmond, Virginia, but I've been in South Carolina for a while now. And I just matched actually into general surgery residency for the next five years at Navant UNC Wilmington. Um so I'm very excited to continue my medical journey in North Carolina.

Dr. H 2:26

Yeah, Gabby's gonna be a surgeon. Yeah. I'm so excited. Crazy. It's so amazing to to to to know you as I do and to to get so close to students as I have over the over the years, and to to see how you how you pick your your future path in life, because all of you kind of come in the door, kind of sort of think you want to do this, that, or the other, and and along the way there's a hook.

The Moments That Led To Surgery

Dr. H 2:50

And somewhere there's a hook, and and I remember seeing the picture from your hook, so to speak, when you were doing surgery, but but tell us about that hook, just just out of curiosity. How did you how did you make the determination of surgery as opposed to pediatrics or OBGYN, etc.?

Gabby 3:07

I think it wasn't like one thing for me. I think there were several different what like looking back now, there were several different hooks, I guess. One of one of which was when you actually got me in touch in undergrad with Dr. Camps, who is the pediatric general surgeon at Prisma. And I remember being in the OR with him and feeling a sense of like very calm and kind of at home there. And I kind of didn't remember that until recently, thinking back about it. But for a lot of medical school, I actually wanted to do pediatrics. And then once I did my once I did my surgery rotation, I realized kind of how I mean it's pediatrics is very special as well, but I realized how unique surgery is and that you're fixing a problem where a lot of other medical specialties and very a lot of management, a lot of kind of long-term tweaking medications and tweaking lifestyle things. Whereas in surgery, you get to kind of go in and if uh if the you know gallbladder is inflamed, you get to take it out and the person gets to go home the next day without that problem anymore. And I felt like that was really special and gratifying and is what gets me up every day.

Dr. H 4:14

Well, it's great. Well, thanks for sharing that about Dr. Camps. I didn't realize that that made a an impression on you. Oh, absolutely. He is such he is such a wonderful person, and and I'm so glad I was able to connect you with him. And he actually mentors.

Gabby 4:27

He actually wrote one of my letters of recommendation for residency. Um wow. Yeah, because I was able to stay in touch with him. Yeah.

Dr. H 4:35

That's great. Now, did you learn have you been able to converse with him in Spanish? Because I believe he's from Spain originally, isn't he?

Gabby 4:40

Yeah, he is. No, I never got that good at Spanish to be able to do that. But I always address, I always say a lot to him when I when I text him.

Dr. H 4:51

So you made a lasting impression on him, and that's that's

Why Guatemala Felt Worth The Risk

Dr. H 4:56

fantastic. Well, Gabby, reflecting back on on your first service learning trip, which was back in 2020. I mean, can you recall? I I know you were in a class at the time, but what what actually motivated you to sign up to get out of your comfort zone, so to speak, and and travel to Guatemala with a cohort of students you really didn't know that well?

Gabby 5:15

Yeah. I think I had heard rumors of the legends of the of the capstone trips and I know making jokes, but but really I had heard um like how amazing they are and how it was a competitive process to actually even get a spot in those trips because they were unique in that you got to do the course beforehand and really learn about the culture and about how to take a medical history and about different skills, and then go there being really prepared and like you invest so much in the trip beforehand and then get to learn from you, Dr. Hickey. And I think that was the really a big motivating factor is you feel like you get so much more when you put a lot in at the in the beginning. And so that's a huge reason and getting that hands-on experience as well. I had heard really great things about that, and you really don't get that hands-on experience really until your third year of medical school. So it's a really invaluable experience. I knew it was going to be a valuable experience to get that ex to get that like hands-on one-on-one with the patient and the attending so early in my medical journey.

Dr. H 6:21

That is so unfortunate, isn't it, that that that we don't get those experiences until later on in our in our medical uh pathways, and and that sometimes we have to go out of country to actually get the experience, but but so be it. And and and I guess going back to what you said about the competitiveness of of going on that trip or taking that course, you got to see that two years later when you were a leader because there was a process where we reviewed applications and and categorized students by I I can't even recall what the questionnaire involved, but I'm sure it was what was your service history, what are your aspirations, and and so on. And and you saw that there was a a great interest, and and the hardest part was was turning people away, as I recall.

Gabby 7:05

Yeah.

Dr. H 7:07

What did you hope to learn both professionally and personally by by going on this trip? Uh, you'd heard about the opportunities that were on the trip, and and and I can't recall at that time if you were for certain that you wanted to be a doctor at that point in time, and and if so, did this solidify that decision?

Gabby 7:26

Yes, it did. I I did know that I wanted to go into medicine or to to be a doctor pretty early on in my college career. I was really looking forward to getting that hands-on experience and like learning how to take a history and learning how to take blood pressure and which is a lost art, I feel like these days, but learning how to take blood pressure, learning how to listen to heart sounds. And I was really excited to work one-on-one with attendings too, which again, you don't get until pretty late in your like medical training. And that was a really valuable experience being able to, you know, the doctors oversee what everything we're doing, and we get to present to them as if we're as if we were medical students, which was really special and kind of scary at the time. But as the week went on, we got better and better at it, never, never, you know, being exactly perfect, of course, but that was something I was really excited about. And then making connections with the people, the other like students there too. I was excited about.

Dr. H 8:26

It is a really unique experience, actually, when you think of it, that as a freshman, sophomore, junior, or or maybe even senior, you get to go on a trip like this, you learn how to take vital signs if you didn't know it, you learn how to take a patient history, you learn how to do an assessment. Then you get to dialogue and collaborate with an attending physician, very similar to what you do as a third year, but you've done this as an undergrad at a very early juncture in your life. And where else do you get that opportunity?

Gabby 8:55

Right. And I felt like once I got there, I think it was my our second year maybe in medical school, maybe first year in medical school. We have this class called ICM where we practice our clinical skills with with faculty and just like practice taking history. And I felt like I was so far uh like I had a jump start on everybody else because I had done those things in undergrad with you on these trips. So it really did come back to to be very beneficial. Very beneficial in medical school.

Dr. H 9:23

You know, I've heard that also from nursing students in a in a four-year program. Nursing students who go on these trips as a freshman or sophomore, once they hit their junior year, which is clinical, they're so much further ahead than their peers because they've already done vital science health assessments. So, you know, the sooner you can get that experience, the better. I don't know if you can recall, but there were anything surprising on that on that first trip? Any any of your encounters, any patient scenarios or or conditions that that stood out?

Gabby 9:51

Yeah, there was there's one actually, or a couple, I guess, but one in particular I've written about several

Cultural Humility In Women’s Health

Gabby 9:56

times. I think I read about it in during my for my medical school like Common App essay. But the women's health down there in in Central America was really interesting in that they have a lot of traditions and like practices that we don't have in the US. For example, I there was this one woman I remember came in with she had a yeast infection, which is super, super yeast infections in UTI that were really common. And it was because she was pregnant and she was spending time sitting in this sauna, which is just kind of a clay like dugout almost down there because it's a spiritual practice for pregnant women. But because she was sitting in this hot, kind of moist environment, she was getting these yeast infections. But because that was their spiritual practice, we can't go in there and tell them, oh, you have to stop doing that because that's you know not culturally sensitive and it's important to them. So we it I learned really quickly that it's really important to meet the patients where they are and make sure you're talking about medical conditions in a sense that they understand and can kind of meet you in the middle with. So, you know, we can't go in there and say, hey, stop doing that because it's really important to them and it's something we should we need to respect and and value as much as they do. But we we could then can say, after you, you know, spend this time in the sauna, maybe you know, shower, bathe, or change clothes or something like that to kind of meet them in the middle. And so that's a scenario I think about, or I wrote about a bit just learning about that cultural sensitivity and something that I take with me even on in patients in the US. Um, we still have patients that have cultural beliefs and spiritual practices that we have to respect and and honor.

Dr. H 11:38

So great that you bring up that example of of cultural sensitivity and know that on the ISL trips we also get to go into people's homes, which helps us a lot of times to understand the pathology of the diseases or the medical problems they have because we see the living environment and the fact that you're knowledgeable about that sauna that that lady was was sitting in or going into, you could put two and two together, so to speak, and figure out what was going on and then better educate her on how to put herself in a better place. And you wouldn't have had that unless you had that cultural sensitivity which you're exposed to. That that's

Rural Access And Healthcare Reality

Dr. H 12:13

fantastic. What about the healthcare system that you saw? Because you you've been to Guatemala twice now. Can you speak to the the healthcare team and and the system itself, the good, the bad, and the ugly, so to speak?

Gabby 12:25

Yeah. Um in Guatemala, we I think I remember being surprised by how difficult it was almost to get to a hospital. And there just aren't that many around. And they do have, you know, big tertiary care centers, but they're like in Guatemala City, which it which is not accessible to people that are living in the rural like environments and the Mayan people. And so what they have is very, very limited, and they have they rely on people to coming to them like we did, and even their own healthcare systems coming to them because they might not have the transportation to get to a big tertiary care center. And so that was really surprising to me and made what we were doing feel very important and and useful, and we felt it felt good to be able to provide that care.

unknown 13:15

Provide that care.

Dr. H 13:16

Actually, not very different from the United States with access to health care being a challenge, right? Yeah, I mean, depending on your rural area. And and you're right, most of the times, and that's the beauty of these service learning medical mission trips. A lot of times we're the only ones that these people see for their health care. And you know, their own system tries to help them as best they can, but way too many people fall through

Leading A Trip And Choosing Students

Dr. H 13:37

the cracks. Now, on your second trip as a leader, what was that like? First time shock and awe, your first time being down there, second time yourself and a co-leader actually taught a course, and then were in charge of I I can't recall the size of the cohort, probably 20 or 30 students.

Gabby 13:54

It was so much fun. Me, Amanda and I got we were selected to be leaders pretty early, and then like I think maybe late the year before, and then we got to kind of build the trip from the ground up with you, which was super fun. So we got to you know read applications and decide who we were gonna pick to be on the trip, and it was really fun. Like, really, I feel like my biggest criteria when I was reading applications is just like how much effort people were putting into the application because some people would write like two sentences, and then I'm like, well, they don't really care that much. And then other people would write, you know, longer things, and I could tell they put a lot of time and thought into it, and that was really important for me to make sure because that to me was going to translate to how much effort they were gonna put into the trip and how much thought they were gonna put into the trip itself. So that was really fun. And then Amanda and I got very close through the process too um teaching the course and then going on the trip, and it was really fun to be to lead the group of students because we got really close with our with our cohort of students as well. And those are some us kept some of those connections moving forward, and in fact, one or at least one. I think one of the students that was on that trip was on the trip with me this year to Belize. So that was super fun to kind of keep that connection. I also, as the leader, got to be more involved with the leadership in Guatemala, which was really fun too. I got closer with our like trip leaders, and I got to be the one that delivered the kind of address or speech to give them um our donations, which was really fun.

Dr. H 15:27

Yeah, you you gave a lot to uh your certain community. That was right. Yeah, that's that stood out. Yeah, that that's

Building The Belize Gap Year Trip

Dr. H 15:33

fantastic. Um, that that you had that leadership experience, which which kind of leads to the purpose of the podcast, really, was just the the this inaugural med student gap year student experience that you just had in February. Gabby and I were were able to work on this together, but I I I firmly believe it's a seed that was planted in you in your early years of of being at the university, of having done two service learning trips. And I always say your service heart doesn't leave once you go to grad school, and and you're a perfect example of that. How tell us how did you how did you plan a service learning trip as a fourth-year med student juggling all the other things you had going on? What was that like?

Gabby 16:16

I think just really it comes back to everything with medical school is time management and and not in the way you might think. I feel like it's not like it's not allocating time for everything, but it's it's taking the things that are important to you and making sure those are your priorities to allocate time to. And this was something I was I wanted to do, go back to do a trip like since my first year of medical school. And so it was something I was very excited about and wanting to commit some time to. And so it wasn't that hard actually for me to find time because I was excited about it. But also, ISL was incredible, like they were so great. Like I feel like I didn't even have to spend, I mean, I definitely put some time in for sure, but but they were so great at you, they were so responsive, so willing to work with me, so willing to take my suggestions, building our itinerary and being very communicative through the whole process. So it made it really easy for me to spend that time. So the time that I was spending wasn't doing busy work, it was, you know, the really important decisions that needed to be made.

Recruiting Med Students Amid Schedules

Dr. H 17:22

Speaking of easy, how easy or how hard was it to actually recruit peers for your trip?

Gabby 17:28

It was not hard. Well, the hardest part about it for me was as a fourth-year medical student, we have a lot of our our schedules are very up in the air and kind of moving around as the year goes on. And so that was really the hardest part is figuring out what everyone's schedules are going to be and getting commitments early on because our schedules kind of changed as the year went on. But we got a lot of interest from both fourth-year medical students and gap year students early on. And then as we got closer, schedules kind of nailed down, and then there were ended up being four of us medical students and five gap year students that were able to go. And we were supposed to have a couple more too, but then like there was some problems with their PTO or something. So it was that was the hardest part, I guess, was just like the logistics of it when you're not in school and don't have a spring break that you can count on. But it all worked out, and I think the size of our group ended up being really perfect, and it was an incredible trip.

Dr. H 18:25

In your cohort of med students, just out of curiosity, uh, you're at the University of South Carolina Medical School, Columbia. What percentage had been on service learning trips during their undergrad? I I'm sure you didn't poll them, but just through conversations of of other students, do you have any idea what what number had been on service learning trips?

Gabby 18:47

Um I don't know. I don't think it was all that many. Like I definitely less than less than a quarter, I would say. I would say and there were a couple other students in our class that did like their own experiences too this year. But I don't think it was that many.

Dr. H 19:06

That's a good number. That's still pretty good.

Gabby 19:08

Less than a quarter, I would say, yeah, but I'm not totally positive.

The Blue Card Skills Checklist

Dr. H 19:12

Gabby, tell us about, and I apologize if I say it wrong, the blue card experience or expectation process. Can you tell tell us what that's all about? And for those who are going to medical school, what to expect?

Gabby 19:24

Yeah. So I think other medical schools do things differently, but this is what we do at as a third-year medical student. When you go into your clinical rotations, you get what we call a blue card. And it's like literally a blue piece of kind of construction paper that has all the skills and like encounters you're supposed to have during that eight-week rotation. So for surgery, it'll be like, you know, put it in an NG tube to take a history and physical, like learn about serial procedures, like those kinds of things. Um, and then you have to get your preceptors or your residents to sign off that you've done those skills and then turn that card in at the end of your clinical experience. So I thought it'd be what it would be fun to kind of replicate that for our gap year students. So I in general surgery, we had an OBGYN medical student, a pediatrics, and an internal medicine. And so I asked them to give me like four or five things that they thought were really kind of basic but really important in their specialties. And then I put those on a little sheet for our Gapier students to check off as they got to them. And we just made sure to talk about those things if they didn't get to see them in the hospital or in the clinics. But that way we could kind of almost standardize the experience and making sure we're talking about all those important things for your specialty.

Mentoring Gap Year Students Reignites Purpose

Dr. H 20:51

Speaking of the experience, what was it like mentoring Gapier students?

Gabby 20:55

It was so much fun. We had such a good like I can't say enough good things about this trip. Um, I'm definitely not over it and maybe it won't be for a while, but um, it was so much fun. They were so incredible, and they really like I didn't expect this, but I feel like talking with them and like seeing their excitement about medical school. Like medical school definitely it's difficult. Um, and it beats you down a little bit just because you are you're taking you know all the best and brightest students that are motivated already, and then you're putting them in a in a cohort together in medical school, and so it's the first time like you're really studying and kind of struggling with coursework. I feel like I feel like but I mean ultimately it's I would choose it again and again, and it's an incredible experience. But it was really cool to see how excited the gap your students were, and it kind of back to when I was in there, it made me like excited to continue in my medical training and reminded me like what's important and and why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Inside A Rural Hospital Rotation

Dr. H 21:51

What were what were your rotations like? Now, now before we go on, uh I don't I don't think we share, but your your experience was in Belize, that was in February. It was a small rural hospital, I believe, that you were in. What were your your medical rotations like in the hospital setting?

Gabby 22:07

They were really great. We it's we hadn't done or I hadn't done this on a previous trip, like gone into the hospital. So it would, I didn't really know what to expect. And it was really cool that the the attendings there were alerted that we would be there and they were excited to teach us as well. So we got to, I assigned days to go into the hospital based on specialty interests. So I kind of pulled our students and I said, you know, what special you're most interested in between these four pediatrics, OBGIN, internal and general surgery. And then I put them into little groups. So like one day was a pediatrics focused day, the next day was an internal medicine focused day, et cetera. So I went on the general general surgery focused day. And it was we saw like, I think it was like nine surgeries. It was either six or nine surgeries we saw that day. It was amazing. We just kind of they were they had two ORs and we got to kind of just like bop between them, and we saw like a huge range because they just have those two ORs. So whoever needs surgery has to go there or like has to go into one of them. And so we saw like a really large range of things. We got to see babies being born, we got to see some orthosurgeries, we got to see an X lap. And I actually got to scrub in on the X Lap, which is really exploratory laparotomy, which is really amazing. And I got to like close the abdomen and everything, which it was so it was a really incredible day and very fun experience.

Dr. H 23:30

Well, being that it was the inaugural opportunity, we've learned a lot of lessons and it's gonna be much better for the next cohorts going through, and and we appreciate your your recommendations and the work that you've done to set

Learning With Belizean Medical Students

Dr. H 23:43

that in place. Now, you were also able to dialogue with Belicin medical students, is that correct?

Gabby 23:50

Yes, we were.

unknown 23:51

Yes, we were.

Dr. H 23:53

Tell us about that experience.

Gabby 23:54

Yeah. Well, that wasn't something we knew was happening actually until like the week of, but it was really cool. We they on the last day, or I think the two last days of clinic, they came to the clinic with us and they were first year medical students, so they were very green, didn't have you know any clinical experience really. So I kind of broke them, I broke them up and put them with our different pods, and they got to watch how to take a history physical and how to take vital signs and everything. They hadn't seen any of that before, I don't think a lot of them at least. And I know at first the kind of feedback from our group was that they were very shy, didn't really contribute a whole lot. But then by the end of the second day when they were there, they were, you know, helping out, performing the histories and getting way more involved and stuff. And so that was really, really interesting. I think it's hopefully an experience that we can kind of build on from there and get to get to interact with them more in the future.

Dr. H 24:53

So your your February trip, the the med student gap, your student experience involved hospital rotation as well as clinical rotation. Is that correct? I mean clinical rotation in the community. So it was a balance of both. And what were what was it 60% hospital, 40% or 70-30? Can you can you share with us the the the approximate time you spent in the hospital versus the community?

Gabby 25:18

Um well, we had hospital rotations every day, but not everyone went to the hospital rotation every day. So like overall, I'd say it was 50-50, but but like I didn't I only went to the hospital to the rotation one day in that so in that sense it was more like I don't know, 2080 clinic. So we were definitely in the clinic more of overall. Which was still great because we got to, you know, still do what I remembered loving about the previous trips and everything. So yeah.

Dr. H 25:53

So it's so much is so much has come from this trip. I mean, in addition to being our inaugural med student gap year student trip, which we're really excited to to continue and and moving forward with recommendations that you and your team have given us on how to make it better. We now have developed gap year student trips. So actually, two of the students that were on the trip with you who are now gap year students want, they were so amazed by the experience, they want to lead their own trips. So we have one student leading a trip to Tanzania, Africa, and another student leading a trip back to Belize, uh, which we're gonna be promoting, which is very, very excited. According to what the literature I've read, 70% of uh students uh after graduation from another grad before going to medical school are taking gap years now, which is just amazing. So we have a a large number of gap year students out there that would love to have that similar kind of experience that you had with with your gap year students, so we're we're excited for them to have that opportunity.

Why These Trips Stand Out In Interviews

Dr. H 26:54

Gabby, what would you say to students that are kind of on the fence with, you know, whether they're gap year student, undergrad, or or even a med student that that have never taken advantage of a service learning medical mission trip, what would you what would you say to them uh regarding your experiences?

Gabby 27:13

I would say that both in undergrad and in medical school, my experience on the service learning trips has been very much a highlight, something I'm excited to talk about and something that like when it I mean during residency interviews, that was like a huge thing that I talked about a lot of the time. Is um, you know, they they can pull up your your CV and see the your most meaningful experiences that you've highlighted. And that was always one of them for me is I always wrote more about my medical service experience and they always brought it up and I got to talk about it and get excited about it. And that's something that I think sets you apart. And I don't know how I would replicate that in any other sense, but it it can be scary to kind of take to step out of your comfort zone and you know go with people you've never met before. But these are all people that are very like-minded and for the most part and want the same things and want to, you know, are good people that want to do good in the world. And so it's very easy to get along with all of the people that that I've ever met on these trips. And there are friendships that I've formed that will, you know, last a lifetime. So I think it's definitely worth it no matter what.

Dr. H 28:24

Gabby, do you remember when you went for your med school interview? Did the fact that you'd been on two service learning trips in your undergrad, did that come up at all?

Gabby 28:33

Absolutely. Because it's something unique for for the most part, and a lot of times in both medical school interviews and in residency interviews, a lot like every there's so many qualified, smart people that want these spots in medical school and in residency. And they're looking for ways to kind of round you out as a human being and kind of get to know you. And so I definitely think that being able to talk about these trips and be excited about them and see how much I learned from them and those kinds of things helped a lot in being able to be or like for the interviewers to remember who I was, this being part of my application.

Residency Road Map And Paying It Forward

Dr. H 29:13

Now you've got a long road ahead of you, don't you? As far as your your education. Tell us about your residency.

Gabby 29:20

So yeah, so I just matched into residency and it's gonna be at least five years in Wilmington doing surgery, which is very exciting. I get to do surgery at the beach, which I'm you know, what more could a girl want? And so I'll have it's similar to medical school in that you kind of rotate also. So you generally it's like month-long blocks that you're rotating through surgical specialties. So I'll spend, you know, two months on like acute care general surgery, which is your cole's and your rapies and stuff, and then I'll do you know a month on like pediatric surgery, and then a month on thoracic surgery, and a month on trauma surgery, and that's kind of how it goes. And then as you get up in your training, so as you get to your chief years, which are your third, fourth, fifth years, you get kind of more autonomy and get to get more autonomy in the OR and in the hospital, but also more autonomy over your schedule, and you get to pick electives and kind of start narrowing down what you want to specialize in.

Dr. H 30:22

That's a long road, and um so I'm so in awe of of what you've done to date all already and and and what you're about to do. And and I really appreciate your service heart, you know, giving as you've paid it forward in your undergrad and grad school and and who knows down the road, never say never. Maybe those skill sets that you're gonna acquire in in your residency might help an underserved population somewhere down the road. Well, Gabby, thank you so much for your for your time. I've really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know you as a student and as a friend, and and really excited to see you step up. Really, really, really excited for you with your path moving forward as a surgeon and can't wait to see you progress through that residency program. Thanks for your willingness to share your experiences today. And I I know you've probably made a difference in a lot of people that were kind of on the fence about where to go and what to do. And any any last words you want to share before we sign off?

Gabby 31:22

I just thank you so much for your, you know, an incredible mentor and undergrad. I don't I don't think that I'd be where I am today without you and without these trips. So thank you so much for all that you do and continue to do for for me and for all the students who have been impacted by by you and these trips.

Dr. H 31:39

Well, thank you so much. And you know, the the the neat thing about doing what I do is uh I just feel like I'm investing in in our future. And and I know when I meet people like yourself, quality people like yourself, that you're gonna be doing the same thing that I do, you know, years and years from now. So I'm I'm planting a seed with you. And and I hope when you're that Dr. G down the road and someone comes up to you and says, uh, Dr. G, we've got a high school student who would like to shadow you today. Is is that is that feasible? Uh I hope that you're gonna say, but of course. Yeah, I hope that's that's the kind of person you're gonna be. And I can I can see that in you already that you are, because you already know what the challenge is in our healthcare system to get those experiences today, which is very, very challenging. And hopefully you're gonna make it easier for our future kids to want to become doctors so they can see what a day is like in in your shoes, so to speak. So thank you in advance for being that kind of person. It's been my pleasure.

Gabby 32:34

Thank you.

Final Thanks And Closing Reflection

Dr. H 32:37

I want to sincerely thank our guest, Gabby, for her willingness to join us on the International Service Learning Experiential Medical Education podcast. But most importantly, I want to thank Gabby for the passion that she has shared with us. Gabby is a great ambassador for fourth-year med students and for service learning. Her future patients and their family members will be very privileged to have her as their healthcare provider. I am hopeful that by sharing details from her two service learning theme trips during her undergrad and also her recent trip as a fourth-year med student, that she will inspire both undergrads and graduate students to step out of their comfort zones and to go for it as far as pursuing a similar opportunity.