Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital
Puttaparthi, India
I traveled to the wonderful country of India this summer to work on a project at the Sri Sathya Sai general Hospital in Puttaparthi. My mentor this summer was predominantly Dr. Narayan from the Weill Cornell Trauma department but I was also connected to a local mentor name Dr. Dabir, a practicing dentist at the General Hospital. I spent June 15th- August 3rd in India completing my elective time and then traveled to Chennai for a trauma conference before heading back to the states.
My responsibilities on site changed some from my proposed responsibilities due to a miscommunication with training materials. On site I rotated through the General medicine department, obstetrics and gynecology department, mobile clinic, and pediatrics department working closely with an individual physician to learn about clinical medicine. When my mentor from Weill Cornell, Dr. Narayan, traveled to India later in the summer I was able to continue his previous research project, working to train healthcare providers in Stop the Bleed- a module for hemorrhage control training. This research did not require IRB approval and looked more at the training module and how effectively it could be taught to nonnative English speakers. We were hoping to gather an appreciation for the effectiveness of this model to help influence future forms to be more applicable in a global health setting. The research was centered around the administration of pre and post training surveys that we are currently in the process of analyzing.
I had incredible, varied clinical experiences this summer that have made me truly excited for the upcoming year of more hands on medical learning. I was able to attend rounds when working with the general medicine department and enjoyed gaining an appreciation for the process of working through each patient as a new case to solve. I worked at a hospital that provided care entirely for free, attracting a patient population from all walks of life but especially catering to rural, impoverished farmers in the region. Due to diet, genetics, and lack of access to primary care, many patients came to the hospital not for acute injuries but rather for more general care like diabetic maintenance or blood pressure medicines. This was both fascinating but also immensely enlightening to me as it changed my perception of who is truly needed in terms of specialties in the global health arena.
I was also able to work with my hospitals mobile hospital and was blown away by the level of care being not only again provided for free but also brought out into the communities. The mobile clinic was structured such that it ran for 12 days every month, providing care to communities that ranged from 8-40 km from the main hospital’s campus. This mobile health care structure went beyond the typical mobile clinic however, bringing ECG, cytology, x ray, and many other diagnostics out into the field. Additionally, with the established consistency, this helped patients maintain their drug regiments and vastly improved access to preventative care.
My summer felt like both a test run and a true immersion into what it would look like to be a practicing physician in another country. It undoubtedly came with is challenges many of which stemmed from cultural differences around how medical care should be provided in terms of a doctor patient relationship. These differences, though stark at times, also illustrate the nuances of providing patient care in resource limited populations. I think I now have a much better understanding of and appreciation for the realities of a career in global health and look forward to deepening this understanding in the future.