The past week and a half in Costa Rica have been unlike any other, and I’m sad to leave from this beautiful country! But first, a quick recap of the last few days:
After the Medical Devices Bootcamp at UCIMED, we had one day off before the Clinical Needs Finding Bootcamp. We decided to book a hiking tour at Arenal Volcano (our most expensive purchase to date!). Our agenda would include a drive to the Volcano, hiking up the mountain, and a trip to the hot springs at the base of the mountain. The day started off great. We woke up early (at 6:30 to meet the driver at 7:30), got ready, and were met with a large van with four rows – turned out, we were the only people on the tour for that day! We piled in, pulled up some music, and started the drive up north. Our driver drove a little crazy, and he also had a small TV near the wheel where he pulled up music videos (which was a little concerning). The car’s engine also failed several times going up the mountain (also concerning), but we made it to our destinations in one piece! On our way to the volcano, we stopped in some small towns and took some great group photos with the beautiful scenery. Something interesting we noticed was that there was usually a large church in the center of each town, each with a different type of architecture. At around noon, we stopped to get lunch at a restaurant (which I believe was called Chez de Laurel lol), had one of the best meals so far. It was a three course meal with salad, more salad with rice and beans (for us vegetarians), and an affogato for dessert. The highlight however, was the fresh pineapple smoothie they served us. It was sweet and frothy and slightly tangy – I’m going to recreate it with pineapples I find in the US, but I doubt it could ever beat that. After dinner, we thought we were going to go hiking. It turns out that it wasn’t actually part of the tour (we argued over semantics for a while, but gave up in the end). So we headed straight to the hot springs, which actually provided some well needed rest after the intense week we just had. Overall, my favorite part was just bonding with the cohort and getting to know each other better!
On Sunday, we started the first day of clinical observations. After a zoom meeting in the morning to prepare us, we headed to Clinica Biblica in Downtown San Jose to do our first rounds. We split up into teams and rotated through the pharmacy, the radiology department, and the lab. Here are some observations we had:
- There wasn’t a clear method of organization in the pharmacy, with opened and closed boxes grouped together
- A pair of bloody scissors and blood spatters all over the lab!
- Minimal protocol in the radiology department.
After the day’s workshop, we headed to Lolita to hang out, play cards (monopoly in the cards version is out to get me, I can never win), and eat dinner.
On Monday, we headed to the Santa Ana Clinica Biblica and rotated in the pharmacy, the radiology department, the ER, and the lab. This location seemed to have more updated equipment, so there wasn’t many needs we could actually find compared to the first location. Then we ended the day with a second zoom meeting to discuss our findings. Afterwards, we headed to Kaira and my last dinner in Costa Rica! It was bittersweet, but I’m glad that I was able to join for the time I could!
On Tuesday, Kaira and I did a quick tour of the Starbucks Hacienda, where we got some breakfast and last minute souvenirs before heading out to the airport.
I’ll miss Costa Rica, but I’m excited to be reunited with everyone in the fall!
Until then,
Asma 😀