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El Hospital del Niño
Where I spent my first week. This week I have been working at El Hospital del Niño in the mornings and have Spanish class in the evenings. It is a 220 bed children's hospital and has every department available. Mary Beth and I were assigned to shadow Doctora Salete Queroz, who is a pediatrician that specializes in respiratory problems and Down Syndrome. On Tuesday and Thursday, we were in the Respritory and Cardiology Unit of the hospital. Doctora Satete and another pediatrician, Doctor Hector Mejia, did rounds on the patients in the unit. They went around to every patient and a resident explained the patient's condition, treatment, etc., and then the two doctors would talk about the patient and offer future medication or treatment plans. Of course, this was all in Spanish but we could kinda get the gist of it. After rounds, Dra. Salete let us look at the patient's charts and listen to the patient's lungs. Most of the patients have pneumonia, bronchitis, a bacterial infection, or some other respiratory problem. There were also three patients with Down Syndrome who had respiratory problems too. One of the boys (pictured) with Down Syndrome didn't have any parents 😞. This happens a lot here. Once the
parents find out that their child has Down Syndrome, then they often abandon them because it is too much for them to handle. Also, here they can't test for Down Syndrome while the mother is pregnant like they can in the US.
On Wednesday, Dra. Salete sees patient's individually in her office. It is based on a first come first serve basis because there are no appointments, so some families wait hours. One by one, Dra. Salete went over each of the patient's conditions with us and their treatment plan. With each patient, she let Mary Beth and I do the entire examination. We would check the patient's teeth, throat, neck, stomach, and lungs. Most of her patients had Down Syndrome, since that is her specialty, and were either sick or needed a check up. Down Syndrome is very frequent here and is not attributed to older woman having kids like it is in the states, rather it is due to young woman (15-25 years) having so many kids. Since the girls here start having kids at such a young age, they usually have many, and by the third or fourth child, they are more likely to have Down
Syndrome. It is also a result from improper prenatal care. There is no education or resources here for pregnant woman like there is in the states. One of the patients was only 25 days old and the doctor suspects that he will have Down Syndrome. It was very sad for the parents because this was the first diagnosis. Besides the hard cases, Mary Beth and I had a lot of fun with the patients and learned a ton.
On Friday, Mary Beth and I shadowed Doctor Victor Valesco because Dra. Salete went on vacation. Dr. Valesco specializes in Infectology. We first did rounds with him and the other infectology doctor. Many of the patients had infections such as TB, Scarlet Fever, and other various bacterial infections. Unlike the United States, when patients here get a bacteria or virus infection it takes a lot longer for them to get better because the medicine and resources is more advanced. It is also harder to diagnosis cases because of a lack of resources and technology. After rounds, we went down to his office in the clinic where he saw patients individually. He had us practice listening to the patient´s hearts and doing
physical examinations. There were several cases where the child or baby was perfectly fine or healthy, but the parents thinks that something is wront. Dr. Valesco said that this happens a lot, especially with uneducated parents. For these patients, he gives the parent a placebo like a vitamin.
Overall, I had a great week at Hospital del Niño and I have learned a ton! I will be there next week too. This weekend we are going to be exploring the huge city of La Paz a little bit more. Have a good weekend!!
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Dude's Mom
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Hospital del Nino
Kayce - Thanks for taking the time to put all the pictures in your blog. Just like the earlier ones of your home-stay, these make it easy for me to visualize your day and what your are doing. You look so doctor-ish in your lab-coat and stethoscope around your neck! I see that Mary Beth also has a pink stethoscope......did she get hers for graduation too? Love you Dudes - Momma