Clinical experiences

 So the question is, what kind of clinical experiences will we have in Brazil?

The answer is: It's a work in progress so I'm not completely sure.  

I can tell you what I am working on.  I am fairly confident that we will be able to get these.  But some of it has to do with cooperation with other entities so I can't promise anything yet.  I should know more as the time gets closer.

There are a couple issues.  One is that Florianopolis is not third world.  Some places are eager to get any kind of medical volunteers because the need is so great.  Floripa is not like that.  That makes it a little difficult.  The other is the language barrier.  

I am planning some experiences with the nursing faculty and students of the program at the Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina.  That is one of the universities in Florianopolis.  I visited the faculty when I was there last spring and they were super nice and showed me all around and were excited to talk about partnering with me.  They let me tour through their teaching hospital, which is across the street from their nursing building.  I'm sure they are going to be happy to help us see it.  It was a fairly large hospital and is home to not only their nursing program but their medical school and pharmacy program.  I am hoping that their faculty will teach you guys about their healthcare system.  And I am really hoping that we can do a simulation in their lab.  Their lab is really great and they have three or four of them.  The other part I am hoping for is some type of health education experience in partnership with some of their nursing students.

We are also exploring government healthcare clinics or orphanages to volunteer in.  I am going to look into that when I am there this Christmas.  

That is what we have in the works so far.  If any of you have any input or ideas, we would love to hear them.  

Me with some of the nursing faculty at the Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina.  They were so nice to me while I was there and took me to a really fancy restaurant. The woman on the right, Cassia, is in charge of their lab.  She is their Betsy.  The man, Jose, is their department head.

One of their labs.  Notice the bars on the windows.  The police presence in Brazil is not strong.  People, businesses, and schools are responsible for their own protection mostly.  Crime is not high, but people lock up their stuff.  

Another of their simulation labs.

"The law of the mind is relentless.  What you think, you create.  What you feel, you attract.  What you believe, comes true."  The wall of their nursing department.

One of their nursing classrooms

The chapel in their hospital.  Most of the people in Floripa are Catholic.  The government observes Catholic holidays.  

Medical students getting their clinical orientation at the hospital

During my tour of the hospital, the nursing faculty casually pulled a patient chart off the wall and started flipping through it.  I was shocked.  He showed me different pages of the record.  I was intrigued by the medication orders, how many of the drug names I recognized as being similar.  I asked if I could take a picture of it as long as I covered up the name of the patient.  He shrugged and said that it didn't matter, that I didn't have to cover up the patient name.  But I did anyway because HIPAA law is so engrained in me.  Crazy.  

A hallway of the hospital.  "One in ten babies is premature.  All around the world."  Notice the chipped tiles on the floor.  Even though Floripa is very advanced by Brazilian standards, it is still not going to be what you are used to.