First days at the clinic

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These past few days have been crazy and I have learned so many things!



My first day in the clinic (although it's really more of a hospital) was mostly information. I had to explain to them what I was (they were taking bets about whether I was a fisio or a doctor). I learned about a lot of the differences in PT between the US and Colombia. Also, a lot of the syndromes, diseases and treatments that we identify with acronyms, they identify with different acronyms. For example - a common disease, COPD, is called EPOC (pronouced eh-pok), CVA is AVC or ECB or they pronounce it altogether. Every day I have figured out a new disease in Spanish. Luckily many of them share the same roots.

In Colombia, the physical therapists do both the physical therapy and the respiratory therapy. So I've been re-learning everything about arterial blood gases, pH levels, and learning all about ventilators, ventilator settings, and respiratory therapy. All of the therapists have been really cool so far (knock on wood) and more than willing to explain everything to me.



On my first day of actually working with patients, I realize how spoiled we are in the US. Here, they don't have walkers for the therapists to use with the patients and oftentimes, insurance doesn't pay for them either. The result - to walk the patient requires assistance from an auxilio or from the patient's family members (who are always there). That was completely unexpected, but as a result, I think I will leave here physically a LOT stronger!

Because of the lack of resources here, one has to be very creative with the rehab approach, which is great. This has been the biggest challenge so far, and I guess is the challenge I signed up for when I decided to come here. So far, people have been very patient with me, which is good. Sometimes it is really overwhelming, but I hope that will pass after this first week... (hopefully...)



Well, tomorrow is Colombia's version of Labor Day, so I have tomorrow to review all the things that today I realized that I had forgotten. Hopefully Friday, I will be a little more comfortable...



Questions, comments?

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