What Happens:
During the week, we go to clinical from 8 am to noon. We do not get a lot of hands-on experience, however we learn a lot of medical terminology just listening to the doctors explain to the patient what is going on with him/her. The patient comes in for their scheduled appointment, and checks in with the nurse. The nurse takes their vitals and history and prepares all the information for the doctor. The nurse determines whether or not it is important for the patient to go in and see the doctor, and if so, the patient is sent to the doctor's office. The doctor then diagnoses the patient. This portion takes about (patients 20-30 minutes, compared to our American 10 minutes of doctor time).
What I Have Seen:
Most of the patients that have come in (from my perspective) have been young, pregnant women in need of a check up. Also, the mandatory vaccinations are different here than in the United States. Varicella (chicken pox) is not required here, for example. The medical professionals here are also concerned about Chagas disease. Chagas disease is spread by insects and does not show any symptoms until later in life. Luckily, I have not had any patients with this, but every clinic I go to there seems to be some sort of public service announcement concerning Chagas.
How This is Funded:
Seguro Popular and Oportunidades: these programs pay for the patient to come in to see the doctor. Oportunidades has the whole family volunteer in the community to "pay back".
-----
I am feeling extremely comfortable living in Puerto and doing my best to fully embrace the "no pasa nada" lifestyle. Yvonne, Bonnie, Rosie and I are still exploring the town and finding new adventures. Tonight Yvonne, Bonnie, and I tried pozole de pollo. It rocked. This week we only have Spanish class for three days (instead of five) so we are planning on doing lots of exploring/beach-ing then!
During the week, we go to clinical from 8 am to noon. We do not get a lot of hands-on experience, however we learn a lot of medical terminology just listening to the doctors explain to the patient what is going on with him/her. The patient comes in for their scheduled appointment, and checks in with the nurse. The nurse takes their vitals and history and prepares all the information for the doctor. The nurse determines whether or not it is important for the patient to go in and see the doctor, and if so, the patient is sent to the doctor's office. The doctor then diagnoses the patient. This portion takes about (patients 20-30 minutes, compared to our American 10 minutes of doctor time).
What I Have Seen:
Most of the patients that have come in (from my perspective) have been young, pregnant women in need of a check up. Also, the mandatory vaccinations are different here than in the United States. Varicella (chicken pox) is not required here, for example. The medical professionals here are also concerned about Chagas disease. Chagas disease is spread by insects and does not show any symptoms until later in life. Luckily, I have not had any patients with this, but every clinic I go to there seems to be some sort of public service announcement concerning Chagas.
How This is Funded:
Seguro Popular and Oportunidades: these programs pay for the patient to come in to see the doctor. Oportunidades has the whole family volunteer in the community to "pay back".
-----
I am feeling extremely comfortable living in Puerto and doing my best to fully embrace the "no pasa nada" lifestyle. Yvonne, Bonnie, Rosie and I are still exploring the town and finding new adventures. Tonight Yvonne, Bonnie, and I tried pozole de pollo. It rocked. This week we only have Spanish class for three days (instead of five) so we are planning on doing lots of exploring/beach-ing then!
No comments:
Post a Comment