Day 7: La Psiquiatra

Yes! I finally feel like I'm getting into my groove in Ecuador. Today was another good day!

I started off my morning doing rounds at the hospital. Rounds at the General Hospital in Ecuador are far different than anything I ever expected. Most of the patient rooms are large rooms with six patients in each room. In addition to the patients, there were a lot of medical professionals rounding on each patient. At one point I counted 18 people including myself. There were like 6 attending physicians, 6 interns, there were nurses, and nursing students. And when people were late and joined the group they did it with a bang! They came in loudly greeting everyone regardless of who was talking. I was amazed! Besides thinking that so many people could be distracting, I noticed that the Hospital staff at this hospital was very close. They seemed to know each other well, and really value the opinions of other doctors.

The interns were responsible for presenting the patients. I can imagine how stressed the must have been presenting to so many older doctors. As a matter of fact I noticed that the intern who helped me out yesterday seemed to have a hard time with one of the doctors. Now I can't verify this, because I couldn't understand what they said to each other, but body language is universal and I could see that his countenance changed. I wanted so badly to say something to encourage him, but what would I say? So, I whispered a prayer for him.

While I was on rounds I made a goal for myself to understand the chief complaint of all of the patients. That did not happen. I understood  some of them but not all. However, I was able to understand the order of the presentation of patients. Its the same exact order that we are taught in the United States, and just like our teachers expect us to use the same order every time, these interns were expected to use the same order every time. I also learned that another advantage of studying medical Spanish is that medicine is a language in itself. So there are some words that I know simply because I study medicine. For example, pancreatitis is the same in English and Spanish...just pronounced differently.

For the second part of my day I shadowed a psychiatrist. As I watched her listen to the patients and talk to them a passion arose in me. If I ever wanted to understand Spanish fully, it was then! I wanted to fully understand the patients' stories and empathize with them. One thing I noticed was that I could tell what the patient was suffering with before they even opened their mouth by their countenance. I could tell when someone was anxious, depressed, and I could even tell when there was a schizophrenic patient. There was one patient in particular who I wished I could just hug. She was a 22 year old medical student...just like me. And I realized that if it was not for the grace of God, I could have been in the same place as her. Depressed, lost, and lonely. I wished that I could tell her that Jesus had healing for her, and that she could run into his arms and feel safe and loved. Again since I couldn't talk, I prayed.

Well that's all for today! Tomorrow is Friday...and I'm very excited for the weekend to start! Look out for entries about my medical Spanish class and the food here in Riobamba!
Hasta Luego
EP<3