* Ta Bong??
Oi! Como vai?? = Hi, How are you?
It´s been a lot of days since my last blog post. I´m going to try to update you guys according to days.
Domingo/Sunday
I didn´t do much but slept in because the night before, Bruna and I watched the movie, Casanova, starring Heath Ledger that we rented from Block Buster. Lol. She invited me to go to a club with her and her friends on Saturday (Sabado) but I was too tired. Later on the day, I went to a "mall" with Bruna and her friends, Julianna and Adrienna, which was more like a market where you can buy all sorts of food, accessories, and clothing. But there wasnt anything to buy. The clothing here at the market was definitely not as good as the trends in Toronto.=P. Nor were the shoes at all. I am trying to find a pair of flat shoes that almost resemble slippers (For those of you who know me, its the pair of shoes that I´ve been looking for all summer) but I couldnt find any because Brazilians here love platforms shoes!!!
Segunda/Monday
As some of you already know, the first day was sort of a disaster. To give you some background, Brazilian students go through three years of high school. They then write a test called the Vestibular (equals our MCATs) to get into medical school. Medical school is 6 years - the first three years is just academia, learning the anatomy, physiology, and such. In 4th year, there is schooling and clinics, and the 5th and 6th year is their internship/clerkship. So to get back to my story...The exchange program placed me with the 6th year medical students who are doing their obs/gyn rotation, not with other international students, nor with one-on-one preceptor. The first day was a little frustrating because everyone would speak in portuguese and I don´t speak it well or understand it well at all. It´s especially annoying when we do Rounds on the patients and there is a group of us presenting the patient and discussing the cases. I want to pull out my hair or wave my hands in the air to remind them to frigging translate to english!!! It´s so unfortunate because had I known the language, I would be learning so much from the classes that the students go to every morning and discussion of complex cases on the ward.
The number one question and number one pet peeve of coming to Brazil is why I chose Brazil...if I don´t even speak the language. I´ve been asked that question like a million times. Another big frustration is the huge language barrier - I didn´t know that communication would be that difficult because why would they have an international exchange program available if they can´t even speak english properly??
Terça/Tuesday é Quarta/Wednesday
So instead of going to classes every morning, I am going to the emergency obstetrics and gynecology ward. Their emergency department here is nutsos! In the emergency departments that I´ve been to so far back home, the ED consists only of the ED and no other speciality. If there is a need for cardiology, let´s say, then we refer to cardiology and such. But here in the hospital, their ED is an ED, but it has an ED for every speciality. So urology, cardiology, radiology, obs/gyn, are all included with their own separate wards on another floor as well. Also, there are no separate patient rooms. There is also an overload of patients that the halls are filled with patients waiting in the halls. Another weird observation is that everyone here including the doctors have their cell phones turned on everywhere - apparently except for the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).
My first day, I saw a patient who was experiencing a miscarriage. She had a lot of vaginal bleeding and clots of blood. It´s difficult to remember a lot of details since I´m blogging at a later date but the majority of patients we see are patients who are pregnant with vaginal bleeding, lack of fetal movement, lower abdominal pain, UTI´s, and on rare occasions, sepsis. Twin pregnancies for some reason is commonly seen in this hospital because it´s a tertiary or quartenary hospital, so a lot of the complex cases are referred here. For instance, I´ve seen five patients here with twin-twin transfusion syndrome within a week and a half. That´s nuts.
I really like the PSO (Obstetrics ED). I work with the residents Tomyo, Cris, Cynthia, and Fernanda who are really patient with me. I always have a million questions that they take the time to answer and translate patient history. They allow me to practice my gyne clinical examination skills (besides history taking because I don´t speak portuguese) so I really feel that I am improving my abilities to pick up cervical dilation and effacement, to feel what a contraction should feel like, to be able to finally distinguish body parts with Leopold´s Manuevers, and more. I´m especially learning how to read trans/endovaginal and abdominal ultrasounds. It´s really fun!
Quinta/Thursday
It was my first day going to the CO, which is the obstetrics/gynecology Operating Room (OR). I got to see a D & C (Dilation and Curettage), two Manual Aspirations, and two Cesarean sections. The former is used for incomplete abortions and abortions in general (though abortion is illegal in Brazil). And the latter... it was my first time seeing life being brought into this world. It´s so amazing. I even have a picture of one of the deliveries. However, because the hospital is a tertiary hospital, the indications for having a C-Section is quite sad here. I´ve seen a few neonates who are premature with hydrocephalus, their head diameter is way, way greater than 10 cm so it´s difficult to have a vaginal delivery.
Anyhow, this week it´s freezing in Brazil, freezing in the house, freezing everywhere. I´m borrowing my hostess´ clothing to keep warm. It´s weird to see people wearing winter jackets and scarfs in Brazil...not the hot girls in bikini´s or hot guys people were expecting. I think I´m catching a cold or am developing an allergy because I sneeze a lot and have a sore throat. The winter is also very dry. The pollution is horrible. People smoke so much. I swear to you that I feel like I can´t even take a breath of fresh air sometimes because I´m chronically inhaling crap. I just hope I don´t come back developing a lung malignancy or something!
More on the Brazilian primary health care and the Hospital das Clínicas later...
It´s been a lot of days since my last blog post. I´m going to try to update you guys according to days.
Domingo/Sunday
I didn´t do much but slept in because the night before, Bruna and I watched the movie, Casanova, starring Heath Ledger that we rented from Block Buster. Lol. She invited me to go to a club with her and her friends on Saturday (Sabado) but I was too tired. Later on the day, I went to a "mall" with Bruna and her friends, Julianna and Adrienna, which was more like a market where you can buy all sorts of food, accessories, and clothing. But there wasnt anything to buy. The clothing here at the market was definitely not as good as the trends in Toronto.=P. Nor were the shoes at all. I am trying to find a pair of flat shoes that almost resemble slippers (For those of you who know me, its the pair of shoes that I´ve been looking for all summer) but I couldnt find any because Brazilians here love platforms shoes!!!
Segunda/Monday
As some of you already know, the first day was sort of a disaster. To give you some background, Brazilian students go through three years of high school. They then write a test called the Vestibular (equals our MCATs) to get into medical school. Medical school is 6 years - the first three years is just academia, learning the anatomy, physiology, and such. In 4th year, there is schooling and clinics, and the 5th and 6th year is their internship/clerkship. So to get back to my story...The exchange program placed me with the 6th year medical students who are doing their obs/gyn rotation, not with other international students, nor with one-on-one preceptor. The first day was a little frustrating because everyone would speak in portuguese and I don´t speak it well or understand it well at all. It´s especially annoying when we do Rounds on the patients and there is a group of us presenting the patient and discussing the cases. I want to pull out my hair or wave my hands in the air to remind them to frigging translate to english!!! It´s so unfortunate because had I known the language, I would be learning so much from the classes that the students go to every morning and discussion of complex cases on the ward.
The number one question and number one pet peeve of coming to Brazil is why I chose Brazil...if I don´t even speak the language. I´ve been asked that question like a million times. Another big frustration is the huge language barrier - I didn´t know that communication would be that difficult because why would they have an international exchange program available if they can´t even speak english properly??
Terça/Tuesday é Quarta/Wednesday
So instead of going to classes every morning, I am going to the emergency obstetrics and gynecology ward. Their emergency department here is nutsos! In the emergency departments that I´ve been to so far back home, the ED consists only of the ED and no other speciality. If there is a need for cardiology, let´s say, then we refer to cardiology and such. But here in the hospital, their ED is an ED, but it has an ED for every speciality. So urology, cardiology, radiology, obs/gyn, are all included with their own separate wards on another floor as well. Also, there are no separate patient rooms. There is also an overload of patients that the halls are filled with patients waiting in the halls. Another weird observation is that everyone here including the doctors have their cell phones turned on everywhere - apparently except for the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).
My first day, I saw a patient who was experiencing a miscarriage. She had a lot of vaginal bleeding and clots of blood. It´s difficult to remember a lot of details since I´m blogging at a later date but the majority of patients we see are patients who are pregnant with vaginal bleeding, lack of fetal movement, lower abdominal pain, UTI´s, and on rare occasions, sepsis. Twin pregnancies for some reason is commonly seen in this hospital because it´s a tertiary or quartenary hospital, so a lot of the complex cases are referred here. For instance, I´ve seen five patients here with twin-twin transfusion syndrome within a week and a half. That´s nuts.
I really like the PSO (Obstetrics ED). I work with the residents Tomyo, Cris, Cynthia, and Fernanda who are really patient with me. I always have a million questions that they take the time to answer and translate patient history. They allow me to practice my gyne clinical examination skills (besides history taking because I don´t speak portuguese) so I really feel that I am improving my abilities to pick up cervical dilation and effacement, to feel what a contraction should feel like, to be able to finally distinguish body parts with Leopold´s Manuevers, and more. I´m especially learning how to read trans/endovaginal and abdominal ultrasounds. It´s really fun!
Quinta/Thursday
It was my first day going to the CO, which is the obstetrics/gynecology Operating Room (OR). I got to see a D & C (Dilation and Curettage), two Manual Aspirations, and two Cesarean sections. The former is used for incomplete abortions and abortions in general (though abortion is illegal in Brazil). And the latter... it was my first time seeing life being brought into this world. It´s so amazing. I even have a picture of one of the deliveries. However, because the hospital is a tertiary hospital, the indications for having a C-Section is quite sad here. I´ve seen a few neonates who are premature with hydrocephalus, their head diameter is way, way greater than 10 cm so it´s difficult to have a vaginal delivery.
Anyhow, this week it´s freezing in Brazil, freezing in the house, freezing everywhere. I´m borrowing my hostess´ clothing to keep warm. It´s weird to see people wearing winter jackets and scarfs in Brazil...not the hot girls in bikini´s or hot guys people were expecting. I think I´m catching a cold or am developing an allergy because I sneeze a lot and have a sore throat. The winter is also very dry. The pollution is horrible. People smoke so much. I swear to you that I feel like I can´t even take a breath of fresh air sometimes because I´m chronically inhaling crap. I just hope I don´t come back developing a lung malignancy or something!
More on the Brazilian primary health care and the Hospital das Clínicas later...
posted by miss.chip @ 17:46
2 Comments:
WOW SOUNDS AWESOME AND CRAZY AT THE SAME TIME! i miss you soooo much. take care of yourself, buy a winter jacket and scarf and stuff and a sweatshirt
that will save u. ahhhh stay SAFE i worry about you! i love u loads so come back soon?
XOXOXOOXOX times 50000
dogggaaa
Man, do I have a lot to update you on.
Come home soon!
Keep warm in Brazil.
Missing our chats and missing you.
<3
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