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Nicaragua is a beautiful South American country with a population of about 6.1 million people. However, they are also the poorest country in Central America and the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere. They have a GDP of $13.81 billion--$5,900 per capita, as of 2017 (World 2017). I went on a medical mission trip to Masaya, Nicaragua during spring break of my freshmen year. I took an International Healthcare Service Learning course to accompany the trip. The course prepared to serve in a country that was much less developed than my own. It taught me the customs of Nicaragua. I learned that agriculture is the most important part of their economy, that you don’t tip at restaurants, and that they heavily practice Roman Catholicism. Most importantly, I learned skills that I would need to work in the clinics to provide healthcare to Nicaraguans that do not have it (notes_from_nicaragua_seminars.pdf).
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In Nicaragua, I helped set up a medical clinic in a small village. In this clinic, we set up areas where we could take the patient’s vital signs and histories and introduce the patient to the physician, who would talk through and teach us each case. We also had a pharmacy set up that I rotated through to provide the prescribed medications to the patients. I also went door-to-door taking health assessments to determine the state of the community as well as to let them know we had set up a free clinic. The course taught me how to communicate with patients who did not speak English by teaching me basic Spanish and how to communicate non-verbally. It also taught me about common illnesses I would see, like diabetes, arthritis, parasites, and malnutrition. I learned the symptoms and treatments that would be given to patients with these diseases. The course also taught me how to take vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, and respirations. I utilized these skills beyond the classroom in the clinics in Nicaragua. Vital signs are such an important part of a physical exam because deviations in numbers could indicate severe problems. They had to be taken efficiently and accurately so that every patient was diagnosed correctly. In Nicaragua, hypertension was a common health issue. I had to use the skills I learned in class in order to take these patients blood pressures correctly so that we could give the correct diagnosis and treatment. I will use these skills I learned in the future when I become a physician when I give physical exams.
The course required that I wrote a daily journal while I was in Nicaragua (journal_entries.pdf,). This allowed me to reflect on how I used what I learned in class in the actual clinic. Journaling was a very beneficial part to my trip. The first couple of days it was hard to start journaling, but as we started to build the clinics and interact with patients all day long, my thoughts just flowed. My journaling time was such a relaxing time of the day where I was able to reflect and document everything that I learned that day. Many days, I didn’t realize how much I truly learned until I started journaling. I learned that there was an extreme lack of healthcare and many people had diseases that could have been prevented with medical knowledge and care. For example, preventable parasites were very common due to the living conditions and how they stored their water. Even though medical care is free in Nicaragua, many of their citizens can’t afford to travel to hospitals and clinics and depend on those who volunteer to bring a clinic closer to them. I also spent some time in a local hospital which had extremely low funding and was run down. Countless amounts of people lined up down the street in anticipation of being seen. In my course, I learned that about how poor Nicaragua was, but I was able to see it first hand while I was there.
The course required that I wrote a daily journal while I was in Nicaragua (journal_entries.pdf,). This allowed me to reflect on how I used what I learned in class in the actual clinic. Journaling was a very beneficial part to my trip. The first couple of days it was hard to start journaling, but as we started to build the clinics and interact with patients all day long, my thoughts just flowed. My journaling time was such a relaxing time of the day where I was able to reflect and document everything that I learned that day. Many days, I didn’t realize how much I truly learned until I started journaling. I learned that there was an extreme lack of healthcare and many people had diseases that could have been prevented with medical knowledge and care. For example, preventable parasites were very common due to the living conditions and how they stored their water. Even though medical care is free in Nicaragua, many of their citizens can’t afford to travel to hospitals and clinics and depend on those who volunteer to bring a clinic closer to them. I also spent some time in a local hospital which had extremely low funding and was run down. Countless amounts of people lined up down the street in anticipation of being seen. In my course, I learned that about how poor Nicaragua was, but I was able to see it first hand while I was there.
Citation:
World Fact Book. (2017). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/Publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nu.html
World Fact Book. (2017). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/Publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nu.html