Transcript KUMCIO Medical Mission

Charlie
Davis
Brian
Kurt
Barnes
Zacharias
Adam
McCann
Robert
Ryan
Funk
Norman
Mallory
Tanner
KrahN
Isaacson
Amy
Sarah
Johnson
Taliaferro
Haley
Addia
Bowers
De Allie
Andrea
Frances
Kieffer
Clifford
KUMCIO Spring Break 2015:
Panajachel, Guatemala
Patanatic Centro Educativo y de Salud
Panajachel, Guatemala
Personal Goals
- Provide medical care for a large number of underserved people
- Strengthen our physical exam taking skills
- Have an impacting encounter with patients despite the language
barrier
- Enhance our cultural awareness through daily interactions with
patients
- Improve our ability to understand and speak Spanish
- Practice providing quality care for patients in a time efficient
manner
The Clinic
Most days were spent at Patanatic Centro
Educativo y de Salud
- clinic provides care for surrounding
communities
- NO hospitals in area
- mostly staffed by other rotating international
volunteers
- plans to add permanent physicians and
nursing staff in the future
We also spent one day at a local school in San
Juan
- checkups for elementary-aged children
Health Issues & Challenges
-
Native Translators
Medical Equipment
Patient Privacy
Lack of Laboratory Testing
Water/Food Contamination
Recurrent Injuries
General Care
Health Issues & Challenges Cont’d
-
Available medications and supplies we provided:
- Over-the-counter and prescription medications
- Essential medical supplies (alcohol, gloves, tape, medical scales, tools, and scopes, etc)
-
Unavailable:
- Lab Testing
- Not able to get a standard blood work-up
-
Radiological imaging
Difficult to diagnose musculoskeletal injuries
USA: Confirm diagnosis, then treat.
Guatemala: We often had to treat patients prophylactically and based upon physical exam rather
than confirmation from a lab value or image.
-
Only 30-60 day supply of medications before patient will need to see another provider.
Noche de las Tortillas:
A Profound Academic Experience
“All throughout our week in Guatemala we worked with three doctors to perform
children and adult examinations as well as work on our history-taking skills and
presenting important clinical findings to the doctors. We diagnosed a wide variety of
patient medical issues that included: scabies, torn radiator cuffs, a few broken bones,
allergic reactions, blindness. We pulled teeth in children and adults that were causing
gingivitis and also distributed children’s vitamins and prophylactic anti-parasite
medications to all children.
It was incredible performing patient examinations. By the end of the week, each one of
us had performed at least twenty. We learned to give eye examinations, use an
otoscope correctly, palpate for lymph nodes on the neck and chest, percuss and
palpate the abdomen for signs of swelling or ascites, perform an oral examination to
look for signs of an infection or enlarged tonsils, take patient temperatures and blood
pressures, height and weight in an efficient manner and even take blood glucose
levels. All these examinations occur almost every time a physician sees a patient, so
being given the chance to improve our familiarity with them will no doubt contribute
to an increased clinical professionalism during rotations our third and fourth years and
during clinical skills labs and time spent with physicians seeing patients outside of
class.”
Recommendations
for future trips
-
Contact and be informed about local dentists and physicians in the area
before any patient interactions so referrals can be made to specific providers
-
Encourage as many group meetings as necessary throughout the week to
organize and resolve any unexpected hurdles as they arise
-
Prepare Need-to-Know translations for basic medical interviews and
prescription directions before going to the trip
-
IMPORTANT: Be flexible and prepared for the unexpected
Noche de las Tortillas:
A Profound Cultural Experience
-
One night in Panajachel, we had the
opportunity to learn how the popular corn
tortillas of this region are made.
-
This kind woman began working in the store as
a teenager with her mother, and continues to
do so daily.
-
Each of us got the chance to mold a tortilla with
our hands, drop it onto the hot grill, and taste
our work once they were done.
-
She was decidedly better than all of us!
La Escuela:
A Profound Cultural Experience
-
Open air, concrete.
-
Restroom was a small outhouse in the back.
-
Located at the very top of town.
-
Large concrete soccer “field” in the back.
Still, despite the poorer infrastructure, some things feel remarkably familiar: walls are decorated with
posters of animals and cartoons depicting the alphabet and basic grammar, much as you’d see in an
American school.
La Escuela
Looking Ahead
The Impact on our Future
“As future physicians in our first year of medical school, this is an experience that we will
carry with us throughout our careers. For many of us, this was the first time that we
were able to interact with patients in a hands on setting for an extended period of time.
This adventure provided us with a foundation for patient care that we will continue to
build upon throughout our education. We picked up a lot of new skills and techniques,
but most importantly we were exposed to a culture that was foreign to us. I would hope
that our experiences in Guatemala will inspire us to continue to apply ourselves to the
best of our abilities so that we can continue to make a difference in the lives of those
who need it most.”
Additional Photos
Sorting medications and
children’s vitamins to give to
approximately 200
schoolchildren on day 4 of our
week-long trip in Panajachel,
Guatemala.
Using some local
transportation to
get from lake
Atitlán to a
mountain town to
give pediatric
examinations to
school children
A busy day in the clinic, taking temperatures, measuring height, and testing vision!
PHOTOS ON THESE
SLIDES
Enjoying Fresh Coconut Juice, freshly carved with a machete seconds before!
Street art in Antigua.
During Semana
Santa, or Holy
Week, leading up
to Easter, the
streets decorated
with intricate
alfombras or rugs
made from brightly
colored sawdust.
A small selection of the beautiful landscapes surrounding us throughout the duration
of our time in Panajachel.