Robin Mitchell Fellowship, Gillian Pickering

In August 2016 I was fortunate to be awarded the Robin Mitchell Travel Fellowship which allowed me to go to Toronto Sick Children’s (SickKids) Hospital Emergency department, Canada for 4 weeks. During my time there I completed a 4-week Paediatric Ultrasound Fellowship and worked clinical shifts. This was a great experience as it pushed me out of my comfort zone to experience Emergency Medicine in another country and see different approaches to the management of an ED.  I got to partake in trauma calls and see different team structures to the traumas that came in. I also got to see some of Canada which is beautiful!

On my return I was able to instigate a paediatric trauma booklet and continue to develop my US skills. Doing the Robin Mitchell Travel Fellowship was a great way to develop my clinical experience but the main area of growth was confidence and recognising the training I had had so far in the UK and building on in it from new experiences. I would encourage anyone thinking of doing this as it is a wonderful opportunity and will benefit you in your career.