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Organ donation sounds simple until you see what it actually requires: a family facing the worst day of their lives, a hospital balancing end-of-life care with dignity, and teams flying in from across the country to recover and transplant organs on a tight clock. We sit down with Shelby, a former student of mine who just got a medical school acceptance call minutes before we record, to unpack what happens behind the scenes in transplant medicine and why this work changes you.

Shelby shares what she learned working with an organ procurement organization and now as a certified transplant preservationist supporting heart, lung, liver, and kidney logistics. We talk about the language we use, the teamwork it takes to coordinate operating rooms and visiting surgical teams, and the small details that protect organ viability during transport and preservation. We also spend time on the human moments, including honor walks and how trained coordinators help families understand and carry out a patient’s final wishes.

Then we zoom out to the bigger theme: building a healthcare career through experiential education. Shelby walks through Teach for America during COVID, research supporting multilingual learners, and the Nicaragua service learning trip that helped her decide medicine was the right path. If you’re searching for real-world insight on organ donation, transplant coordination, pre-med gap years, or international service learning, this conversation delivers both practicality and heart.

Subscribe for more stories from the field, share this episode with someone considering healthcare, and leave a review with the biggest takeaway you’re carrying forward.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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You can be clinically prepared and still feel unprepared the moment you meet the need face to face. I’m Dr. Patrick “Dr. H” Hickey, and I sit down with Camila, an ICU nurse and case manager in Texas who took a faith-based medical mission trip to Kenya and came home with a completely reframed view of what nursing means.

Camila shares how she entered nursing later in life after a personal patient experience, then added an MBA that unexpectedly sharpened her ability to advocate for families during transition of care. That blend of bedside nursing and systems thinking comes alive in Kenya, where her team sets up clinics across villages, partners with local healthcare professionals, and leans heavily on education: hydration, hygiene, wound care, oral care, and recognizing urgent illness when resources are limited. You’ll hear what conditions showed up most often, what surprised her, and why “doing something small” can still be the most meaningful care you give.

We also talk about the parts people don’t always name: the emotional weight of seeing preventable suffering, the challenge of diagnosing issues like vision loss when specialty care is out of reach, and the culture shock that follows you home. Camila describes the guilt of returning to abundance, and how the trip makes her see healthcare waste in the United States with new clarity, sparking practical questions about saving resources and sharing supplies responsibly.

If you’re a nurse, nursing student, or anyone drawn to international service learning, global health, and patient advocacy for underserved communities, this conversation offers a steady, honest starting point. Subscribe, share this with someone who’s on the fence about serving, and leave a review with the moment that stuck with you most.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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One week abroad can do what years of “checking the boxes” can’t: it can make medicine feel real. We sit down with Bryce, a University of South Carolina grad and paid cardiology medical scribe, to talk about the moment international service learning turned his curiosity about healthcare into a concrete vision for becoming a physician. Along the way, we unpack why scribing can be a high-value clinical experience for pre-med students, from learning Epic and medical documentation to seeing how trust is built over long-term follow-ups.

Bryce walks us through two global health service trips, starting with Costa Rica and then a gap year trip to Belize that adds hospital rotations on top of community clinics. He shares the patient encounters that stay with him, including what it feels like to see cerebral palsy managed far from major hospitals and how much low-resource teams can accomplish with limited equipment. We also get into mentorship as the real engine of growth: physicians who teach, medical students who guide, and the “pay it forward” mindset that can shape an entire medical career.

Then we look ahead. Bryce is now leading a two-week Tanzania experience built for gap year students who want meaningful hospital exposure in specialties like surgery, orthopedics, emergency medicine, pediatrics, and general medicine, plus cultural activities and optional excursions. If you care about global health, medical mission trips, underserved communities, or building clinical confidence before med school, this conversation offers a clear, honest roadmap. Subscribe, share this with a friend considering a gap year, and leave a review with one question you want answered about serving abroad.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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A blood pressure reading of 200/100. A patient who listens, nods, and still chooses not to go to the hospital because of faith. That single moment in Belize forces a bigger question than “What’s the right treatment?” It asks, “How do we care for people when culture, belief, and autonomy are part of the diagnosis?” 

We sit down with Ava, a University of South Carolina grad in her gap year, to talk about the international service learning trip that clarified her future as an MD. She shares the practical side of a strong pre-med path too: graduating a semester early, creating a focused MCAT study window, and finding the right communities through Alpha Epsilon Delta and Women in Healthcare. If you’re weighing a gap year, looking for experiential medical education, or trying to build authentic clinical experience, her reflections are grounded and specific. 

Then we head to the Belize hospital and community clinic days. Ava breaks down what it’s like to rotate through specialties, learn from fourth-year medical student mentors, and work with Belizean healthcare teams who practice in resource-limited settings without routine CT or MRI access. The big takeaway is simple and powerful: better medicine often starts with listening harder, examining carefully, and educating patients in ways that actually land. 

Ava also shares details on the upcoming gap year student trip to Belize in August. Subscribe for more global health and service learning stories, share this with a friend on the pre-med track, and leave a review with the biggest lesson you want to carry into your future practice.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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Photos of service trips are everywhere. What’s missing is the part that changes you: the voice, the hesitation, the courage, and the why. At our six-month mark, I’m stepping back to reflect on what International Service Learning with Experiential Medical Education is really trying to do and what I’m hearing across dozens of global health stories.

I share a bit about my own background, more than 50 years in nursing, over 20 years involved in international service, and a lifetime of travel that keeps reminding me how much you can learn when you’re not intimidated by language or culture. Then I walk through the guests who have shaped the first phase of the show: former students now practicing as physicians, pharmacists, and nurses, plus healthcare executives, Peace Corps voices, medical students, undergrads from all majors, and gap year students. The goal stays simple: get to know the person behind the work and how their path actually unfolded.

A few themes keep showing up with surprising clarity. Guests describe stepping out of their comfort zone as a leap of faith, especially when it’s their first time traveling or their first time working inside a different healthcare system. Over and over, they tell students who are on the fence the same thing: “just do it.” And beneath everything is the most important global health lesson of all, advocacy for people who don’t have a voice, whether that service happens abroad or right in your local community.

If these conversations help you reflect on how you can pay it forward, share the show with a healthcare-focused student or friend, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can find the stories.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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Watching medicine up close can change your plans fast, especially when you see it practiced in places that don’t have the safety net of big hospitals, endless imaging, and overflowing supplies. We sit down with Brice, a University of South Carolina grad and cardiology medical scribe, to unpack how mentorship and service learning turned his interest in medicine into a clear direction and a bigger mission.

We start with the nuts and bolts of being a paid clinical scribe: learning Epic, sharpening documentation, understanding diagnostic tests, and building the kind of long-term physician mentorship most pre-med students struggle to find. Then we go abroad. Brice shares what it felt like to leave the country for the first time on a Costa Rica service learning trip, why the happiness he saw in underserved communities surprised him, and the patient moments that made healthcare disparities impossible to ignore.

From there, Belize takes it further with a rare mix of free clinics and hospital rotations. Brice describes what resource-limited wards look like, what he learns from physicians who can do “so much with so little,” and a standout OR experience where an orthopedic surgeon teaches fracture care and imaging like a personal masterclass. We close with Brice’s advice for students worried about cost or fear of the unknown, plus details on the upcoming Tanzania gap-year trip built around hospital time, clinics, and cultural experiences.

If you’re thinking about global health, gap year plans, medical Spanish, or finding real mentorship before med school, hit play, share this with a friend who needs the push, and subscribe and leave a review so more future clinicians can find the show.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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A patient waits weeks with a worsening cough, trying herbal tea because a clinic is hard to reach and a hospital visit can cost an entire day of work. That single reality drives so much of what we explore with Leah, a University of South Carolina neuroscience grad and future DO student who’s served on international medical mission trips in Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize, and the Dominican Republic. Her stories aren’t highlight reels. They’re a clear look at what healthcare access actually means when distance, transportation, and time decide whether someone gets help.

We talk through what it’s like to move from participant to leader, including the unglamorous parts people don’t warn you about: upset stomachs, food and water precautions, and the responsibility of making sure students stay safe and supported. Leah also breaks down how strong in-country coordination can make clinics run smoothly, and why understanding local pharmacy norms matters, especially in places where antibiotics may be easier to get than they should be.

Belize becomes a turning point for mentorship and medical education. Leah shares what she learned alongside fourth-year medical students, what surprised her in hospital shadowing, and how quickly you realize that systems and workflows change when resources are limited. We also dig into interpreters, medical Spanish, cultural humility, and the idea that your most sustainable impact often comes through patient education and respect, not just prescriptions.

If global health, international service learning, medical Spanish, osteopathic medicine, and healthcare access are on your mind, this conversation will give you practical insight and honest motivation. Subscribe, share this with a future healthcare professional, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway: what would push you to step outside your comfort zone?

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

Send us Fan Mail

A four-hour drive should not be the difference between a routine fix and a life-altering outcome, but in many places it is. We sit down with Austin, a graduating medical student about to start internal medicine residency, to talk through the moments that made global health feel real: the patients you cannot “just transfer,” the family decisions shaped by cost and distance, and the quiet skills that matter when resources are limited. 

Austin walks us through his training path from the University of South Carolina, where he switched from biology to a public health degree and then earned an MPH. We unpack why public health is more than a nice add-on for premeds: it is a framework for health equity, social determinants of health, and understanding how systems push patients toward or away from care. If you have ever wondered whether you need a specific major to get into medicine, this conversation brings clarity without the hype. 

From there, we explore international service learning and experiential medical education through three settings: a first service learning trip to Nicaragua, a Guatemala project studying diabetes prevalence in underserved communities, and a month in Uganda combining clinical learning with quality improvement and capacity building. Austin shares how a teach the teacher mindset turns short rotations into sustainable impact, plus what “MacGyver medicine” looks like when creativity replaces equipment. 

If you are weighing an international rotation, we talk honestly about motivations, costs, and what it can and cannot do for your application. Subscribe for more global health and service learning stories, share this with a student who is on the fence, and leave a review if it helped you think differently. What experience has most shaped the kind of clinician you want to become?

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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Want to help without harming? We sit down with Dr. Patrick Hickey—nurse, educator, author, and veteran leader in international service learning—to map the real work behind ethical global health volunteering. From the first country risk check to the last clinic debrief, we unpack how preparation, cultural humility, and clinical guardrails protect both communities and volunteers while creating powerful growth for early‑career clinicians.

We start where most trips should: assessing risk with U.S. Department of State travel advisories, CDC travel health notices, and realistic logistics that prevent problems before they start. Dr. Hickey walks us through the essentials—reliable flights and visas, vetted lodging and food safety, insured transport with seat belts, and written crisis and evacuation plans that are practiced, not just printed. Then we get practical about culture and conduct: confidentiality that travels with you, informed consent for photos, attire that respects norms, and orientation that blends clinical refreshers with local context so teams arrive ready to listen, not impose.

Communication and boundaries anchor safe care. You’ll hear how to use the interpreter‑patient‑provider triad, why language access is a legal right in U.S. settings, and how that training turns students into advocates. We dig into scope of practice—what learners can do, what they should only observe—and how those limits actually speed confidence and competence. Dr. Hickey also opens up about emotional resilience: preparing for hard moments, accepting gratitude with grace, and finding meaning in “small” wins like matching donated eyeglasses that change daily life. Along the way, we address parent concerns, first‑time flight jitters, and the career impact that follows when service becomes a habit, not a hashtag.

If you’re planning a medical mission, weighing a service learning program, or mentoring students eager to serve, this conversation offers a clear, humane blueprint for doing it right. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s curious about global health, and leave a review telling us the one safety step you’ll add to your checklist.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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You can feel the moment a clinician realizes the test they want simply doesn’t exist. That’s where our conversation with Rafik goes, and it’s why his reflections on Belize stay with us long after the trip ends.

We sit down with Rafik, a fourth-year medical student fresh off Match Day, to talk about choosing internal medicine, navigating the residency match process, and then stepping into a very different kind of classroom: an international service learning clinic in Belize. Our ISL model pairs fourth-year medical students with gap year students, so leadership and mentoring happen alongside real patient care. Rafik walks us through a typical clinic day, the patient flow, and the common problems the teams see, especially diabetes, hypertension, and seasonal cold and flu. If you care about global health, underserved communities, or experiential medical education, you’ll recognize how familiar conditions become challenging when time, supplies, and follow-up are limited.

We also dig into what surprised him most: how much overlap exists between protocols in Belize and the United States, and how powerful great teaching can be when attendings make space to debrief and explain their clinical reasoning. Coming home sparks a deeper reflection on medical privilege, technology, and how easily we can lose the art of history taking and physical exam skills when labs and imaging are always within reach. Rafik shares his poem “O The Privilege,” a vivid snapshot of practicing medicine with and without the safety net.

If this made you think differently about training, service, or what kind of clinician you want to become, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review. What’s one “resource” you rely on that you’d miss immediately in a low-resource setting?

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort!