A few
reflections on our trip in no particular order:
- We are both enabled and limited by the extensive resources we are used to at home. While I am extremely grateful that I can (usually) access whatever medicines, diagnostic tests, and specialists I want for my patients, it was a challenge to switch my expectations in a setting with extremely limited resources. While at times this was frustrating, it did help remind me the importance of the simple things such as anticipatory guidance, diet, lifestyle changes which can often seem like an afterthought in a busy clinic but can have a huge impact on patients regardless of their resources.
- It was humbling to realize that Honduras has many physicians who, for political and economic reasons are unemployed or under-employed. While many of our patients expressed gratitude that we were there to help, I felt very mixed emotions thinking about all the doctors within the country who would be happy to do this work if they had the funding or resources to do so.
- I was grateful for the experience of working both with co-residents and faculty, whom I grew closer with during this experience, as well as with new team-members. We had a large group, often several dozen people and it was daunting to think of organizing a meal, much less a clinic and numerous projects with this many people over a short period of time, but I was amazed at how smoothly everything went. I think the elements of our team that led to success were:
- commitment to common goals- everyone at times put aside their personal preferences in order to make things run more smoothly
- learning from past experience- While for many of us this was the first time on this trip, our group took seriously the lessons learned from prior groups' experiences
- constant reflection and striving for improvement- our daily wrap-ups included not only a summary of the day’s events, but reflection on what went well, and what could be improved (for example communication between physicians and pharmacy about medications, flow of patients from one station to the next, etc. With this practice I noticed changes made each day that led to smoother and more effective clinic practices.
- waterslides never get old
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