CHS News

Category: Medical & Molecular Sciences

College of Health Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences students, wearing green scrubs and white lab coats, pose with Medical and Molecular Sciences associate professor Virginia Hughes outside Hospital de Mérida in Spain, where they shadowed physicians over Winter Session.

College of Health Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences students pose with Virginia Hughes (middle), associate professor of medical and molecular sciences, outside Hospital de Mérida in Spain, where they spent 75 hours shadowing physicians over Winter Session.

Influencing Career Trajectories

March 16, 2023 Written by Amy Cherry | Photos submitted by students, Virginia Hughes

UD students see surgeries for first time in Winter Session study abroad in Spain

On her second day in pediatrics at Hospital de Mérida in Spain, Shannon Eberle was mid-conversation with a physician when they were forced to drop everything to help an 8-month-old baby suffering from repetitive seizures.

“He was turned on his side and given high-flow oxygen,” Eberle recalled. “That day, he had five more seizures.”

The junior, who is majoring in medical diagnostics with a pre-physician assistant (PA) concentration (MDD-Pre-PA), was shadowing doctors at the teaching hospital in Mérida over Winter Session as part of the University of Delaware’s first study abroad trip to Mérida. For the first time, Eberle saw the diagnosis process unfold.