August 18 2008
Vietnam Trip Report
This trip has given me the opportunities to learn various Vietnamese medical terminologies, analyze the culture more deeply, practice basic clinical skills, widen my medical knowledge, and exchange perspectives with foreign practitioners. I was able to see many abnormalities and disorders that I would never get to see in the U.S. However, I think it would have been more beneficial if I had a more extensive knowledge of the basic medical science. It was amazing to be immersed in such a different environment and I recommend it to anyone who desires an exotic learning experience.
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July 09 2008
University of Ghana Medical School, Accra, Ghana
Ghana, a country of ten regions, coastal areas, rain forest, and plains, is one of the most rapidly westernizing nations in Africa. The Portugese were the first to come to the coast and begin trade and transport of goods, and the Dutch, English and Swedes followed. The coast also served as an outlet for the slave trade for man years in the 18th and 19th centuries. Fifty years ago, Ghana became a republic and the celebration of that is seen everywhere. For health in particular, if teaching hospitals like Korle-Bu continue to attract promising students as well as dedicated and respected professors aned physicians, and if the government allows proper funding and resources, quite a difference will be seen intime in Ghana and its surrounding countries.
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July 09 2008
Lima, Peru
My first trip into the OR’s at Madre Niño was eye opening. After two years shadowing an ENT surgeon in college, I had become pretty familiar with OR’s…more appropriately American OR’s. Stepping into the Peruvian OR was like a trip into the past. Lacquered hardwood swinging doors with small round porthole windows, oxygen pumps from the early part of last century, and most foreign: cloth. Rather than the impervious gowns, drapes, and table covers used in the US, everything was made of green cloth, sterilized over and over again. It gave me a new perspective on waste. Also terribly curious was the idea that patients had to purchase all of their supplies before the procedure. Everything from anesthesia to closing sutures had to be purchased beforehand in the hospital’s pharmacy. It’s an interesting concept. I actually prefer it because it allows the patients to actually see the cost of medical supplies.
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July 09 2008
Durban, South Africa
The HIV/AIDS program in Durban, South Africa is structured so that students can rotate through different types of health facilities in and around Durban. During my internship, I rotated through a community health clinic, a primary hospital, a tertiary hospital, and an orphanage.
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July 09 2008
Lisbon, Portugal
I spent the second summer session doing a Cardiology rotation in the main teaching hospital of Lisbon, Portugal, the Hospital de Sta. Maria. Portugal is a relatively small country in the western edge of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and Spain on the other. It is an industrialized nation with a very temperate climate and a population just under 11 million. The population is mainly between the ages of 15-64 (66.2%) and is 93.3% literate.1 The Human Development Index lists Portugal as 29th out of 177 countries for which data is available.
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