CHP Program Team: Introducing Andrea

What position are you working at within the Czech Hospital Placements Program and what made you want to work here?

I work as an Assistant Manager – I love to be in daily contact with young people from all over the world who are doing their best to reach their career goals. Every single student who joins Czech Hospital Placements Program to shadow their assigned mentors has a different story and it is motivating to see their determination to become a healthcare professional. As I personally had been living in U.K. for a while, I know how important that experience was for me. One doesn´t know how independent you can become once living on your own abroad. Working with students from around the globe creates kind of international atmosphere, so you are halfway in your home country and halfway abroad, which is cool I am also current studying marketing and media, I appreciate the possibility to apply my theoretical knowledge even in work when preparing creative materials for CHP Program.

I have decided to join the CHP Program when Barbora, the program manager, offered me that job position. I used to work with her in different projects, and I knew that her own study program will be something very special. And I was not wrong, students actually love her, as she is a friendly, motivating, hardworking and trustful person, always making her best to meet preferences of future healthcare professionals. Friendly atmosphere is one of the key factors for feeling satisfied in your job!

What are your main responsibilities?

I am here to put together enjoyable content for social media, arrange leisure time activities outside of the hospital, to make sure that students will make the most of Prague – beautiful medieval city and the heart of Europe. Me and my colleagues always do our best to make students feel at home during all stay in Prague, so when they are any issues, I am ready to help with fixing it.

I am also one of the travel coordinators, so I can be the first CHP team member you will meet in the airport hall. Come to explore Prague with me, I will take you around the city and show you my favorite places you might love, too. Talking to you also gives me an inspiration for creating social media content – what can be a better source than real student’ s stories?

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

As our students are usually every week placed at different departments, each Monday we hear lot of stories students share. Even though I am more in marketing than medicine, it is always exciting to hear about the specific patient cases students have observed that day. For me it is also nice to be in contact with our mentors – these people are incredible professionals you want to follow who guide our students through their day to day job tasks.

I have visited the departments where our students are placed – it was an unforgettable experience to witness the real neurosurgery and to meet the patients. Another amazing thing is to compare a student who joins us, and the same person who leaves – to see the progress he or she did just in couple of weeks and how he or she thinks about the healthcare field later on.

My favourite moments are when it is someone´s birthday – we celebrate it all together with other CHP Students. For some of our students it can be a bit emotional that they are not spending their birthday with family and friends, so we try to make them feel at home as possible. It is impressive to watch the CHP students who didn’t know each other couple of days ago, how they get familiar in a while. I remember birthday of one boy, we have secretly learned to sing his favorite song with other students, made a cake for him, and then we have been playing guitar, dancing and singing karaoke, it was one of the best parties I have ever been to!

The most heartwarming part of it all is when we receive thank you note where a student writes he or she has found out thanks to CHP Program that medicine/nursing/midwifery/physical therapy/paramedicine is something they really want to do in their life. Last but not least, my colleagues are also great open minded people and I enjoy learning from them. 

What is your favorite:

1. Book

Detective stories by Agatha Christie

2. Movie

Well, I have maaaany of them, but what comes to my mind if you ask are definitely Green Mile, Intouchables, Love Actually or Interstate 60, could watch these over and over.

3. Food

Anything where mushrooms are J, I love healthy snacks & fruity fresh smoothies 

4. Activity

When I am not working, I enjoy making spray paint art, running with my headphones on, taking photos, playing social games, writing, hanging out with friends, travel, family and my 2 cats Carmen and Macek

5. Country

Spain. Czech Republic is an amazing place to live in, but I just miss sea during summer a little bit :)

What makes the CHP Program unique among other shadowing opportunities in your opinion?

With CHP Program, the students are choosing the department themselves on the basis of very detailed information about each of them. That is a great advantage and also perfect choice for  students, who are not sure about their desired specialty yet. We realize that the specialties differ a lot from each other, and someone who is interested in neurosurgery would maybe not appreciate a placement is ER and vice versa.

Another reason students choose us is the possibility to see their mentoring teams in advance – online on our website. That is the way they can identify themselves with mentors, it can help with choosing the right placement. We think that preparation is a key to success, that is why we have put together the exclusive study materials related to each specialty. Because of that advantage students are able to come to their placement with a solid knowledge base and understand the cases they are observing. These materials have been created in the cooperation with our mentors, so you are preparing for your working experience according to the required level and able to gain maximum out of it.

Why do you think students choose CHP Program?

What I have heard from our alumni students, they are happy with the level of detailed information they receive even before they apply and during their application process. You can feel it from the way how we communicate the CHP Program and about our mentors and specialties, stories of the mentors, videos, Instagram posts, etc. 

Our program is conceived as a professional service to doctors, nurses, paramedics, midwives and paramedics-to-be. We put an emphasis on a deep clinical insight into the job of these healthcare professions, lots of our students are applying or already studying on the most prestigious world universities. Czech Republic is also often ranked among the most safe countries is Europe, which also plays role when choosing a destination for international shadowing experience.

If you were a CHP Student, what specialty would you choose?

I would love to go on Gynecology and Obstetrics placement with the CHP Program to be the witness of the moment when a new life is born. I think it is so intimate and magical that I am always grateful that our students can be the part of the medical and midwifery teams in this specialized center. As I spoke with our mentors - Obstetricians - also for them this moment will always be the most beautiful one of all medicine.

What is your favorite motto?

The best way to predict your future is to create it.

What advice would you give to anyone considering a placement with CHP Program?

Don't wait for a better moment and try it yourself now. Sooner you find out which field or specialty suits you the best, the faster you can improve yourself in it. From the point of view of a young person, I also see the benefit in the traveling experience, as Prague is a wonderful city. Maybe you will make friends who will later study the same university or work in the same hospital as you. Take that chance! Looking forward to meet you!