My final and last week in Belize began today. It is nice to know I'll be going home in a week and seeing my family. This experience has been pretty fun though and I'm glad I came.
I can't say the day was too exciting today. I've been trying to figure out how I can make my last week here more productive than the last week was. It's hard when they don't really seem to want my help here. I talked to Dr. Lazo and told him I would like to be doing every procedure possible this week under a doctor's supervision of course. I thought that might be a better approach than asking for total freedom which he seems to be really against. Then he may at least let me know if there's something going on. Up to this point, it seems like I've had bad luck with procedures. Many times stuff would happen when I was out on one of my weekend trips. And I swear whenever I'm hanging around the ER it is slow and nobody shows up, but as soon as I turn my head something comes in that I miss. I've been showing my interest to Dr. Lazo, but he doesn't seem to want to include me. I gave him my cell phone number (a phone I'm borrowing from Ardis) and told him if he could come get me or call me when procedures are going on I would appreciate it, because this week I'll be working with Dr. Sierra and in his office. When I'm in his office I don't usually know what's going on in other areas of the hospital. Well, I was feeling good about this upcoming week. I'll be able to work with Dr. Sierra who is great to work with and actually let's me be involved and I'll be able to be involved in any procedures happening whether its stitches or putting a cast on. So I was talking to Steve after lunch about his day and he asks me if I had gone in to participate in the D&C they had this morning. I responded, "What D&C!" He tells me a lady came in and for one reason or another she needed a D&C. Dr. Lazo's wife did it, but I am sure that Dr. Lazo knew about it, because he is the medical director and always knows what's going on. I was so ticked! Here we have this conversation this morning and I thought I might actually get somewhere with him, but it was to no avail. I'm not sure why he didn't get me. He knew where I was and he knew what I wanted. I doubt that he didn't know about it, so what can I do? I don't think I've missed many things overall since not many things seem to be happening in the slowest month of the year, but it just makes me that more ticked when I do miss something!
I was venting my frustrations to Steve and he just chuckles and says that I'm one of the many students that come here and end up having a bad experience. They all say the same thing about how Dr. Lazo hates students and won't try to include the students in anything. I'm just wishing I would have known this before I spent the money to come down here. I'm greatful for the week and a half that I had more responsiblity; I was having a blast even if it was pretty slow during that time. The problem is that the rest has been bad with an occasional good experience squeezed in there. I would probably do it again for some of the good experiences I've had and the tourist things I've seen and who knows, maybe this week will be a good one, but it sure is frustrating. Maybe my expectations were too high. I figured I would come down here to a place where they would appreciate my help and let me act independently and since that hasn't been happening for the most part I'm disappointed. Some of my rotations in the U.S. have been like this, but I didn't have much for expectations. I just wish I could start my intern year tommorrow. I know I'm probably not ready for that, but I just don't think I can learn much more unless I'm the primary physician doing things. I learn by doing and not so well by watching. If I don't know how to do something, well, I can always just look it up or ask somebody, but it's impossible for something to stick in my brain if I just read about it and never do it. Even if I watch somebody do it, it doesn't stick unless I'm directly involved. I need to be able to think independently and gain confidence in my skills. I wish I could just do the rest of my 4th year in Delta. It was fun there because Dr. Shamo would let me do alot and actually help him get things done. I felt like I was contributing. I could do all kinds of procedures and be first assist in all the surgeries. It was great. Anyway, I'm just rambling and venting here. Sorry about that.
Today I did get to put a splint on a little kid. He broke his arm, radius and ulna, near the distal end when he fell down. They have old school supplies here for that. I had never used the old plaster casting material which is all they have so it's a much more dirty, labor intensive process, but fun all the same. Besides that we just had a number of upper respiratory infections in the clinic and a few lower respiratory bronchiolitis infections. Nothing too special or exciting. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
I can't say the day was too exciting today. I've been trying to figure out how I can make my last week here more productive than the last week was. It's hard when they don't really seem to want my help here. I talked to Dr. Lazo and told him I would like to be doing every procedure possible this week under a doctor's supervision of course. I thought that might be a better approach than asking for total freedom which he seems to be really against. Then he may at least let me know if there's something going on. Up to this point, it seems like I've had bad luck with procedures. Many times stuff would happen when I was out on one of my weekend trips. And I swear whenever I'm hanging around the ER it is slow and nobody shows up, but as soon as I turn my head something comes in that I miss. I've been showing my interest to Dr. Lazo, but he doesn't seem to want to include me. I gave him my cell phone number (a phone I'm borrowing from Ardis) and told him if he could come get me or call me when procedures are going on I would appreciate it, because this week I'll be working with Dr. Sierra and in his office. When I'm in his office I don't usually know what's going on in other areas of the hospital. Well, I was feeling good about this upcoming week. I'll be able to work with Dr. Sierra who is great to work with and actually let's me be involved and I'll be able to be involved in any procedures happening whether its stitches or putting a cast on. So I was talking to Steve after lunch about his day and he asks me if I had gone in to participate in the D&C they had this morning. I responded, "What D&C!" He tells me a lady came in and for one reason or another she needed a D&C. Dr. Lazo's wife did it, but I am sure that Dr. Lazo knew about it, because he is the medical director and always knows what's going on. I was so ticked! Here we have this conversation this morning and I thought I might actually get somewhere with him, but it was to no avail. I'm not sure why he didn't get me. He knew where I was and he knew what I wanted. I doubt that he didn't know about it, so what can I do? I don't think I've missed many things overall since not many things seem to be happening in the slowest month of the year, but it just makes me that more ticked when I do miss something!
I was venting my frustrations to Steve and he just chuckles and says that I'm one of the many students that come here and end up having a bad experience. They all say the same thing about how Dr. Lazo hates students and won't try to include the students in anything. I'm just wishing I would have known this before I spent the money to come down here. I'm greatful for the week and a half that I had more responsiblity; I was having a blast even if it was pretty slow during that time. The problem is that the rest has been bad with an occasional good experience squeezed in there. I would probably do it again for some of the good experiences I've had and the tourist things I've seen and who knows, maybe this week will be a good one, but it sure is frustrating. Maybe my expectations were too high. I figured I would come down here to a place where they would appreciate my help and let me act independently and since that hasn't been happening for the most part I'm disappointed. Some of my rotations in the U.S. have been like this, but I didn't have much for expectations. I just wish I could start my intern year tommorrow. I know I'm probably not ready for that, but I just don't think I can learn much more unless I'm the primary physician doing things. I learn by doing and not so well by watching. If I don't know how to do something, well, I can always just look it up or ask somebody, but it's impossible for something to stick in my brain if I just read about it and never do it. Even if I watch somebody do it, it doesn't stick unless I'm directly involved. I need to be able to think independently and gain confidence in my skills. I wish I could just do the rest of my 4th year in Delta. It was fun there because Dr. Shamo would let me do alot and actually help him get things done. I felt like I was contributing. I could do all kinds of procedures and be first assist in all the surgeries. It was great. Anyway, I'm just rambling and venting here. Sorry about that.
Today I did get to put a splint on a little kid. He broke his arm, radius and ulna, near the distal end when he fell down. They have old school supplies here for that. I had never used the old plaster casting material which is all they have so it's a much more dirty, labor intensive process, but fun all the same. Besides that we just had a number of upper respiratory infections in the clinic and a few lower respiratory bronchiolitis infections. Nothing too special or exciting. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Sign in front of the hospital
Dr. Sierra and I
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