Week I of Medicina Interna

Word of the day: Revista

Revista in regular Spanish means magazine. However in the medical context in Colombia, it also means ¨rounds¨ as in what doctors do every day with their residents and interns, going around and visiting patients, updating their condition... revistas are what we are taking part in over the course of our first month in Bogota:

It has been a full four days since K., S. and I have been immersed into the world of the Hospital de Fundación de Santa Fe de Bogotá, shadowing teams of doctors, residents and interns, specifically in the department of Internal Medicine. Every day in the hospital, has brought new adventures. Here is a brief summary:

Day 1 (Tuesday): Having arrived at the hospital excited to start our internship, we quickly became aware of how tight security procedures were. Because none of us realized that we needed to bring our passports to fill out the necessary paperwork for our carné (not carne, which is meat, but carné which means identification card), we had some runaround and issues with hospital security agents over the next two days. However, everyone was super-gracious in receiving us, especially the internos, who are in their last year of med school, and whom we are following around during their rounds.

Day 2 (Wednesday): After a lengthy round in the morning, we spent the rest of the afternoon navigating the highly Kafka-esque process of receiving our carné (again, not meat but hospital ID cards). BTW the carne (meat) in Colombia is great, but then again so is the chicken, fish, fruits, cheese, make that all dairy, in fact eating in Colombia is very enjoyable (and not too taxing on the wallet, score!). Score II, in the afternoon we finally received the elusive carné, and are now free to roam the hospital! However, in the evening we took a deviation from Colombian food, and went to a local pan-Asian food restaurant chain called Wok. Delicioso - best sushi I have had outside of Japan!

Day 3 (Thursday): We got some unexpected treats in the hospital! No not food, but 1) a juicy afternoon round in infectología (Dept. of Infectious diseases), where we saw patients suffering from diseases ranging from lupus, to Hepatitis C, shingles and whatnot. 2) In the evening, we got to sit in on the graduation ceremony of the outgoing interns and residents, which is interesting not just from a comparative point of view, but as a great insight into the institution that we are in (A university hospital that is a partnership between the Fundación Santa Fe and the Universidad de los Andes).

Day 4 (Friday): Among other highlights, we saw a patient suffering from Chagas disease receive some ventricular defibrilation, which looks just as cool as it sounds. Also, the awesome internos have been trying to teach us how to do basic things like take a pulse and measure blood pressure during spare time, for which I am oh so grateful!

All in all, it is so amazing to get a lengthy sneak peak into the life of a university hospital, and medicine in general. I hope the following weeks will be just as exciting!

Also some things to look forward to in this blog: the joys of taking taxis (and buses) in Bogotá, an upcoming weekend visit to nearby Villa de Leyva!