After completing an overnight shift caring for twenty critically ill patients in on her own, Nurse Barabra Nshemereinwe graciously agreed to let me interview her. She flashed a weary smile as she told us that the hospital was fortunate to have a backup generator that would start during the frequent power outages they encountered. My team then followed her to a tiny storage room, crammed with what once was tens of thousands of dollars worth of donated medical equipment. As she explained how power surges had rendered many of these medical devices inoperable, I jotted down “SURGE PROTECTION” to make sure to incorporate this crucial insight into our revised prototype.
My team decided to tackle the issue of high sepsis-related mortality in resource-limited
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This experience taught me the value of international and interdisciplinary collaboration in solving problem in healthcare, especially how much you can learn from doctors working on the ground nearly every day. I also learned that I enjoy working with patients face-to-face and discovered my passion for studying the social and cultural determinants of …show more content…
In seeing the impact that doctors could have on the spirits of their patients, I realized that healing requires much more than just the application of technology and scientific knowledge. The compassionate elements of patient care are equally, if not more, important than the technical elements. Although the field of bioengineering is also intellectually stimulating and can lead to profound impacts towards the betterment of patient care, I want to be able to care for patients first hand. The medical profession offers a unique opportunity to tackle a wide range of challenges including those that are technical and some that are distinctly human. Recognizing my desire to solve problems on a patient-by-patient basis and to go beyond addressing a patient’s directly disease-related needs led to my decision to pursue a career in medicine. Upon returning to the United States, meeting patients in hepatology and HIV clinics only solidified this
Today, many medical students are learning how to face cross- cultural issues. For example, the University of Wisconsin developed an “integrated multi-cultural curriculum,” in order to practice cross-culture. This includes the following: “panel and group discussions, case conferences, student interviews, role-playing exercises, and home visits (271.)” Furthermore, Stanford is trying to convey the “whole doctor-whole patient” model to be used again. What this model does is it allows doctors to, “bring his or her full humanity (275.)”
Tracy Kidder presents many important themes in this book through his experiences and talks with members of Partners in Health including Dr. Paul Farmer. One of my takeaways was the emphasis on compassion and spending time with patients. In my experiences with the healthcare system in the United States, everything seems very rushed, almost like it is an inconvenience for the doctor to see the patient. However, Paul Farmer went great distances to care for his patients. He took hour-long hikes in Haiti to see patients, there were many nights when he didn’t sleep in order to see patients instead, and he traveled back to Haiti against recommendations because of his injured leg.
The case of Lia Lee can be used holistically to showcase the negative effects which a culture and language barrier can produce between doctor and patient. It can reveal how communication and cultural sensitivity can aid in medical practice. Nevertheless, Lia’s case also shows the need for doctors and healthcare practitioners to learn more of about a culture so that treatment may be administered smoothly and without complete comprehension of the patient and their
My experience in medical school has taught me that I do, in fact, exercise the characteristics vital to being an excellent internist. My altruistic nature leads me to be compassionate to every person I encounter: patients, coworkers, and friends alike. I have already worked in several different locations around the world, I have treated patients of different cultures and learned about many new cultures through my practice. Yet, the most consistent fact of my tenure came from how each of my patients were treated. Even in highly-stressful situations, I remained cool under pressure, treating said patients with the utmost respect and compassion.
Health care is a term that describes a broad range of services. Members of a health care team range from family members to neurosurgeons, but each member of a patient’s health care team plays a critical role in optimizing patient care. Therefore, it is important to recognize and appreciate all the players in the medical field and their contributions to health care. I was drawn to the medical field because of my love of science and endless curiosity. However, it was not until high school that I narrowed my science passion down to human science.
In those hospital visits I had become accustomed to the sights and smells of a doctor’s office that instead of reminding me of pain, comforted me. I knew from then on, that the medical field was where I was called to serve.
Despite my young age of just 15, I had the opportunity to respond to any emergency and code in the hospital. I fell in love not only with the adrenaline rush but with the fact that I, a teenager, was experiencing in real life the events that I watched in medical-themed TV shows and movies. Because of my growing interest in the medical field, my mentor provided me with opportunities to observe the work of doctors and other medical professionals in almost every area of the hospital. Luckily, each experience in one area of the hospital lead to even greater opportunities in other areas, some of which few doctors receive. I observed several surgeries- including a gall bladder removal, an exploratory belly, and an open heart surgery-, small procedures in the Cath Lab, and the daily duties in the Radiology, Emergency, Nursing, Intensive Care, Physical Therapy, Pre-Operation, and Post- Operation Units.
The level of care that the varying healthcare professionals provided to these patients was fascinating and became intrigued to a career path in the medical field. Over the next couple of years, I narrowed the possibility
Cultural and language barriers play an important role in patient-provider communication. American health care system is unique among industrialized countries in areas such as technology, scientific discoveries, laws and codes of conduct related to the healthcare system. Despite these advances, the American healthcare system is inefficient compared to other advanced industrialized countries’ healthcare systems. After reading, “The Spirit Catches you and you Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman, uncovers the area that we need to focus on to be a more efficient healthcare system. Evidence and statistics suggest that population in the United States is growing to be more culturally diverse.
Owing to my knowledge of critical issues in healthcare, I wove these experiences together and became acutely aware of the inefficiencies in healthcare and the defunct circuitry of the grid of healthcare. The words overutilization and shared decision-making have been burned into my memory to this
In seventeen years, I have worked in both private and public health settings. My career has exposed me to many aspects of healthcare. I have developed many technical and clinical skills over the years, learned the importance of being thorough yet gentle, and engaged in problem solving of dental-medical issues and patient care. I have worked independently, obtaining a public health license and at other times as a part of a team, providing comprehensive care to patients. My work outside of the traditional office has been the most rewarding and fulfilling: working with disabled, migrant health programs, volunteering through dental outreach programs and as an ambassador with People to People International.
It is reasonable that a response appropriate to trauma activation is one that provides the optimum patient care but has a minimal impact on other patients within the hospital and resources available (Haukoos et al., 2011). To evade overtriage of the trauma team, which is regularly cancelled after initial assessment of the patient has been performed, some hospitals have adopted methods which aim to limit the impact of trauma calls on the rest of the hospital, such as a system known as a two-tier activation system (Rehn et al.,
Medical technology and technology in general is constantly evolving every day with many new breakthroughs. With more sophisticated technology making work for us easier, it is inevitable that the evolving technology will be used in emergency rooms whether we like it or not because it can only make the job for doctors easier and more efficient. I’d like to believe that we will not let it make decisions for us, but eventually it just might. Overall I think the most ethical way to use this technology is more as a reference, rather than a decision
Over the course of the past few years I had the privilege of shadowing Dr. Ghandi M. Saadeh and Dr. Ravi C. Kahatapitiya at Sentara Leigh Hospital. I was able to spend a substantial amount of time with both and I consider each man a great leader and mentor. The medical shadowing experience changed my views not only as a student, but as a person in general. I was taught the importance of the doctor-patient relationship and how to successful build bonds with people both in the office and outside of it. Both continuously conveyed that a patient should be viewed as a friend and each should receive the same level of respect and treatment no matter what the cause is.
My experience taught me to assimilate medical knowledge into a practical and evidence based