The first half of this week has absolutely flown by! For the past three days, we’ve been taking part in a Needs Finding Workshop, in which we’ve had the opportunity to observe a variety of clinical settings. I was admittedly very nervous about this, as I have never worked/shadowed in a hospital in the past and have spent very limited time in hospitals in general, and thus had very little idea of what to expect.
The first day, we went to a public geriatric hospital, in which we were given a tour by an engineer who was an expert on many of the machines within the hospital. His experience with the machines made the tour extremely interesting, as he was able to point out a variety of equipment and explain its use to us in depth. We got to see a rehab area, the main hospital wards, an imaging area, the ophthalmology area, and the OR (or at least the part we were able to see without changing into scrubs). The main wards of the hospital struck me the most – the environment was a bit chaotic, with many patients in each room. Due to there being no air conditioning, each room had huge windows open to the outside; a pigeon even wandered in while we were there. In addition, there was minimal equipment, meaning a very small number of doctors and nurses were constantly wheeling devices from room to room. I found myself a bit overwhelmed by the combination of heat, sights, and sounds while there.
The second day, we went to Clinica Biblica, which is a private hospital. We started off in the emergency room, where one of the doctors gave us a great tour of the facility. The atmosphere of the emergency room was very different from the geriatric wards; it was much quieter (although this was partially due to it being a quiet time of the day), cooler, and had significantly more equipment and machines – overall, it reminded me a lot more of the hospitals I’ve been to in the past. The doctor explained to us that, in general, most people in Costa Rica utilize the public health system because of its free cost to all citizens; however, some people either choose to pay for private care or have it covered by insurance (which is much cheaper than in the US). In addition, because people who are taken to clinics in an emergency context must specify if they want to be taken to a private hospital, those in very serious condition frequently end up at public hospitals.
The original bag-hanging post
The new bag-hanging post proposed by a nurse
After finishing up in the ER, we headed to the OR, where we got all decked out in our scrubs. The OR was also relatively quiet, but we had the chance to watch a hysteroscopy, which was very interesting. I was particularly nervous to watch a surgery for the first time, but this was definitely a pretty relaxed one to start with, which I was grateful for. We also got to talk to some nurses about things they’d like to see improved in hospitals, and one showed us an innovation she had come up with herself – she explained that, when treating patients, the bags of fluid which hang near the patient have to be transferred one-by-one from the bed to a rolling post when moving patients, which is inefficient and takes significant time. Thus, she found a way to simply detach and reattach the entire pole with the fluid bags from the bed to a rolling stand, minimizing this time.
The final day of the Needs Finding Workshop, we went to the Hospital of Dentistry. Having only been in a
Compiling our observations into needs statements
dentist’s office for my occasional check-ups, I wasn’t sure what to expect; however, I ended up having a great time! I shadowed a nurse who was super enthusiastic and had so many proposals for improvements that she communicated with me, and it was very interesting to see the combination of high and low tech the clinic used due to resource limitations. At the end of the day, we used all of the observations we’d collected to practice formulating needs statements, beginning the process of taking what we’d seen and setting ourselves up for finding a solution.
Outside of the workshop, we also had the chance to try some good food from local sodas (restaurants with traditional Costa Rican food), check out some cute cafes, and have some fun at a karaoke night and playing word games at the hostel. I also ate the best mango of my entire life (which is saying something, since mangoes are my absolute favorite fruit).