José is a student of ophthalmology. He has been studying in Czech Republic in Brno for one year to do his Erasmus programme. „Knowing that sometimes I would be in the centre of Europe, I have started looking for extracurricular activities, not only travelling and parties but also with medical aspects. I am interested in ophthalmology, so I have started looking for the eye clinics in this part of Europe – Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia. I have done a brief investigation and I have seen UVEA clinic on Google. I have seen the website layout, the design part, the interaction with public and possibility of seeing the interior of the clinic. Then I have seen that you have an account on Facebook so I have sent a message if there is a possibility to visit you, I sent my CV and motivation letter,“ says José González, Erasmus student from Portugal. So this was it how José found our clinic.
During the Erasmus programme, students have a free week and they can spend it however they want. It is interesting that José has decided to spend his free time visiting our clinic. „I think that investing my free time to visit a place which could help me in the future is the best way for me to do something good for myself,“ says José. When he arrived, he did not have real expectations about his internship. He was acquainted with his prepared time schedule and programme. „The first day was like a brief presentation of the clinic. I have seen all the installations and the working place, operating theatre and ambulance. During the second day, I was with doctor Vida in eye ambulance where I have seen pre operation and post operation procedures, LASIK, LASEK and glaucoma examinations. In the afternoon I was with doctor Halička in ambulance. He showed me examinations, too and diagnosis and treatments of the amblyopia and the virtual reality – Oculus Rift. The next day was a little bit practical. I was with doctor Nikel and I have spent it in the operating theatre and have seen many surgical aspects like cataract, intraocular lens, crosslinking. It has been really good and during the last day, I was in the University hospital in Martin with doctor Žiak and Halička. I have been in the operating theatre and I have seen in vivo, in 4k and 3D the cataracts surgeries,“ says José. As José told us, there hasn´t been a language barrier with doctors. „In general, doctors have spoken English and if they did not known something, they tried to explain it,“ he adds.
„I can tell that UVEA is better in technology and in the procedures than other subjects in my country. You have the top equipment and the top diagnostic machines in ophthalmology. There are lot of machines you have there we do not have in every place in my country. We have machines only in the certain places, for example femtosecond laser is a laser which we can find in Portugal in four of five places – Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Algarve. It was a surprise for me to see a femtosecond laser there. And I think this internship has been really good for me because I have interest in ophthalmology in the future and this internship has really helped me to find out that ophthalmology would be my option in the future, so I´m really happy about that. I think it has been very rewarding for me,“ says José.