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

Send us Fan Mail (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2534345/fa...) 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 "share the voices of international service" with you!  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 students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally.  Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort!