"A model student. I wish I had a video of her to show all other students what 'active learning' means and looks like."

These were the words used by Dr Jonathan Fryer, professor of surgery in organ transplantation, to describe Nitiksha Wesley, who completed an exciting elective visit to the Northwestern University (NWU) Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, USA in July.

Nitiksha, a fifth-year medical student at Stellenbosch University's (SU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), says her life changed during these five weeks and she is seriously considering a career in transplantation surgery.  "I fell in love with the environment, the treatment of patients waiting for organ transplants, working with the staff and getting to know the families. One really becomes part of a multi-disciplinary team and really gets to know the patients."

According to Nitiksha, staff working in transplantation environments have a different manner in which they treat the patients, which she ascribes to the interactive relationships they have with the patients.

The staff also answered her endless stream of questions and curiosity with great patience. "I decided that I had only one opportunity to learn as much as I possibly could. I used the hour-long trip to and from work to read a lot of articles and text books and turned to the staff and fellow students for explanations for and answers to everything I didn't understand," she said.

Nitiksha received a shining letter of recommendation from Fryer, who was her supervisor at the NWU. He commended her for always coming to work prepared, asking many appropriate questions and doing a lot of reading around issues pertaining to the patients. He also noted that she would challenge proposed treatment strategies and present these at daily rounds, and that she has shown the insight and initiative to take advantage of learning opportunities.

One of her highlights was a two-hour long flight on a private hospital jet when the team had to procure a donor organ in Springfield, Illinois. She also undertook a few journeys by car for collections at hospitals in nearby towns, which allowed her the opportunity to explore the country a little bit more.

International travel can be daunting, especially if it is your first time abroad. But not for this energetic and curious young lady. She had to take care of all the logistical arrangements herself, including her travel and accommodation bookings and managing a budget. She admits that it was scary at first, being a single female. However, she quickly adapted to the public transport system and says travelling as 'a working adult' was an experience on its own.

Nitiksha was the first FMHS student to be selected to apply for this elective visit, which formed part of an agreement between SU and NWU, in which the NWU sponsored one fifth-year medical student for an elective for the 2016 academic year.

This involved a strenuous two-fold selection process. First, Nitiksha had to outdo her fellow classmates to be selected to apply for the elective, and thereafter she had to compete against various international medical students to be accepted by NWU. "They only accepted one international student in each environment," Nitiksha said.

She also had to undergo a Universal Precautions training course and online training in the USA's Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), for which she had to score above 80%.

During her last meeting with Fryer, he invited her to apply for the NWU's postgraduate fellowship in transplantation surgery after she has graduated and completed her internship and community service obligations.

"This is something I will most definitely consider. I really want to further a career in transplantation surgery," Nitiksha said.

Photo: Nitiksha Wesley and members of the transplantation team at the Northwestern University pictured in front of private hospital jet on their way to procure a donor organ.