Tackling “Othering” by Reinventing International Medical Electives

Abstract

This chapter, based on extensive ethnographic research in a rural hospital in Northwest Cameroon, contributes to scholarly debates about the value of International Medical Electives (IMEs). It aims at filling the knowledge gap at hospital level on staff dynamics and its short-term and long-term effects on building equitable international relationships in healthcare. The findings show that the international students as well as the Cameroonian health workers and students engage in all kinds of processes of othering that contribute to the establishment of a dichotomy between “us” and “them”. Although this is a way of coping with challenging situations, it hinders the building of stronger and equitable relationships, both at individual level (visiting student to rest of the staff, and vice versa) and institutional level (education institute to hospital and vice versa). The aim of this chapter is to encourage education institutes in High-Income Countries (HICs) to take up their responsibility to prevent harmful interactions, and improve their international internship support programs. The realworld examples can be used in pre-departure trainings to encourage students to practice reflexivity. This will also contribute to the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals.