We’ve officially finished our Clinical Observation Seminar for the semester and it’s definitely been an interesting experience. Some of the highlights:
1. I witnessed my first two births at the Hospital Sotero del Rio, the public hospital in the southern part of Santiago. It was really amazing to watch the whole process and it was definitely the highlight of my observations. I followed the newborns into the nursery, where I got to watch the nurses clean and examine the babies. It was really interesting to watch the exams, especially after I got to watch so many of those same exams at Bellevue Hospital in NY last summer.
2. We visited a hospice clinic, which had about 20 terminally-ill patients. I wasn’t expecting much out of the observation, but it was definitely one of my favorite. After weeks of seeing rather poor patient care in the hospitals and clinics around the city, I was amazed by the wonderful care that the patients receive at this clinic. The nurse who welcomed us explained every little detail to us, which was so much better than other observations where the nurses mostly ignored us. We got to talk to a couple of patients about their experiences and they all seemed so comfortable – it definitely surprised me how great their care was.
3. I went into surgery on a baby with foot problems. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling very well that morning, so I figured it would be best that I not scrub into the surgery and risk passing out in the middle. I did get to watch the anesthesiologists at work, though, which was much more complicated given the small size of the child.
4. For my last observation, I visited an ENT clinic, or “otorrinolaringologia” – perhaps the longest word I know in Spanish. Much of the observation was pretty boring, as I watched the technicians clean the tools for about an hour… I did get to see real vocal cords, though, when the doctor used a long camera through the patients’ noses to see inside their throats. I also got to see some hearing exams of a 4-year-old with a developmental disability, so that was really interesting for me.
Overall, its been an up-and-down experience, with some observations being amazing and others being a waste of time. For example, when we went to the pediatric unit at the clinic, the nurses basically ignored us and we didn’t get to see much of anything – definitely disappointing seeing as that was one of the observations I was most excited about! Nevertheless, I’m glad I completed the observation seminar and got to witness the inequalities in the Chilean health system. I wrote my final research paper on the state of breastfeeding in Chile and the importance of education in raising the rates of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding. I’m excited to go back to US hospitals and see what I can compare to what I saw in Chile!
1. I witnessed my first two births at the Hospital Sotero del Rio, the public hospital in the southern part of Santiago. It was really amazing to watch the whole process and it was definitely the highlight of my observations. I followed the newborns into the nursery, where I got to watch the nurses clean and examine the babies. It was really interesting to watch the exams, especially after I got to watch so many of those same exams at Bellevue Hospital in NY last summer.
2. We visited a hospice clinic, which had about 20 terminally-ill patients. I wasn’t expecting much out of the observation, but it was definitely one of my favorite. After weeks of seeing rather poor patient care in the hospitals and clinics around the city, I was amazed by the wonderful care that the patients receive at this clinic. The nurse who welcomed us explained every little detail to us, which was so much better than other observations where the nurses mostly ignored us. We got to talk to a couple of patients about their experiences and they all seemed so comfortable – it definitely surprised me how great their care was.
3. I went into surgery on a baby with foot problems. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling very well that morning, so I figured it would be best that I not scrub into the surgery and risk passing out in the middle. I did get to watch the anesthesiologists at work, though, which was much more complicated given the small size of the child.
4. For my last observation, I visited an ENT clinic, or “otorrinolaringologia” – perhaps the longest word I know in Spanish. Much of the observation was pretty boring, as I watched the technicians clean the tools for about an hour… I did get to see real vocal cords, though, when the doctor used a long camera through the patients’ noses to see inside their throats. I also got to see some hearing exams of a 4-year-old with a developmental disability, so that was really interesting for me.
Overall, its been an up-and-down experience, with some observations being amazing and others being a waste of time. For example, when we went to the pediatric unit at the clinic, the nurses basically ignored us and we didn’t get to see much of anything – definitely disappointing seeing as that was one of the observations I was most excited about! Nevertheless, I’m glad I completed the observation seminar and got to witness the inequalities in the Chilean health system. I wrote my final research paper on the state of breastfeeding in Chile and the importance of education in raising the rates of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding. I’m excited to go back to US hospitals and see what I can compare to what I saw in Chile!