Servicio de Adolescents

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This week Mary Beth and I have been working at Los Servicios de Adolescents with Doctora Maria Sanchez. It is a very small clinic located in Alto Miraflores, which is higher up than the city. It mainly services teenagers in sexual education, pregnancy prevention, and pregnancy and after childbirth care. The doctor’s specialty is adolescents, but she pretty much functions as an OB/GYN doctor. Most of the patients that come in our either pregnant or are in need of contraceptives.
Most of the patients that are pregnant are in their teens or early twenties. The doctor said that the most frequent ages she treats is 16, 17, and 18, but she does see girls as young as 13. When Mary Beth and I asked her about contraception, she said that it is all free but most teens don’t know about them or how to get them. She said that sexual education isn’t taught in the school until later high school years, and by that time it is often too late. She also said that another problem is that many of the teenage boys refuse to use any type of protection because they are too macho and girls do not stick up for themselves.
While at the clinic, the doctor had Mary Beth and I first take the patient’s vitals and then we had to do an audio ultrasound of the baby’s heartbeat. The doctor showed us how to find and feel for the baby’s head and back, and then how to differentiate between the different sounds of the placenta, which is the patient’s heartbeat, and the baby’s heartbeat. Finally she showed us how to adequately measure the size of the patient’s stomach. After the physical exam, the doctor would thoroughly ask the patient about their diet and emphasize the importance of vegetables and fruit, which is commonly left out of their diet. The doctor would also measure the patient’s Body Mass Index during gestation and show them where they were on a chart she had in her room.
When we had patients that weren’t pregnant, the doctor would just have us take their vitals and assist her if she needed to do a papsmear. Since the doctor didn’t speak any English, it was beneficial for us to just sit and listen to her consult with the patient.
It was very interesting learning about the challenges Bolivia faces with teen pregnancy and how to feel for the baby and hear the heartbeat, but I am excited to go back to Hospital del Nino and back to helping kids!

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Photos

A group class
Since it was the day before Mother's Day, the clinic had a class on some form of knitting.

Comments

[Colleen]

I like
This is the 1st chance I have had to look at your blog - I will have to catch up - loved seeing your family!

[Elizabeth]

What is this exactly
If you see this again, and you think of it, will you find out what this craft is called? Curious about it...

[Elizabeth]

Wow
Have just had time to start reading up on what you've been up to - WOW! This entry in particular caught my eye. I never thought about how much information could be gathered without a video ultrasound. So much about ob/gyn I don't know!