Fifth Week: Obstetrics

For my last rotation in La Paz, I was at a small clinic called Servicio Adolesencias, which was located pretty far from where I was staying in La Paz. It was a bummer that I was really sick this week and couldn't make it to clinic everyday because this was by far one of my favorite rotations.

I found this rotation to be the most hands on rotation that I completed while in La Paz. On the first day, the doctor and Lila (another CFHI intern who had already done this rotation before), showed me how to complete an exam on a pregnant woman. After the first couple of patients, I was taking the patient's blood pressure, pulse, measuring the patient's belly, and finding + checking the baby's heart rate with a fetal heart rate doppler and reporting the information to the doctor. I also found myself filling out some of the patient forms that the doctor gave me to complete.

For this rotation, I think that the most shocking thing that I encountered were the number of pregnant teenagers. The youngest patient that I saw was 16 years old. I was also shocked by the amount of support that these young-soon-to-be moms had from the baby's father.

Overall, I really enjoyed the hands on experience, and as a result, I am considering becoming an OB-GYN.

For the remainder of my stay in Bolivia, I will be in southern Bolivia in a town known as Tarija, which is world famous for their wine. The rotations that I will be completing in Tarija will center on an infectious disease known as Chagas. I'm looking forward to my time in Tarija because infectious diseases fascinate me. In addition, I'm also looking forward to observing rural medicine and comparing it to what I encountered in La Paz.