Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone: A Valuable Teaching Experience for Medical Students

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Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone: A Valuable Teaching Experience for Medical Students

Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2019, Vol 19, Issue 1

Abstract

Most mission statements for medical schools and hospitals proclaim their intent to “serve the underserved populations.” This is a phrase that gets so much traffic its essential meaning can become jargon to medical students and residents. What really is an underserved population? Where are areas with low access to health care and resources? Who suffers these disparities? Certainly, there are populations like this in the United States. Geography plays a part; regions exist where there is not a hospital or medical specialist for 50 miles or more. But moreover, there are people who have not been examined by any type of healthcare provider in years. Homeless individuals, migrant populations, poor urban families, and elderly disenfranchised citizens are just some of the groups in distress in this and many other countries. Yet, these are the patients’ medical students and residents very rarely interact with during core clerkships and residency training. Through hospital clinics, we deal with found needy individuals not lost individuals. My mission this summer was to participate in providing care to some members of these underserved populations. When you really want to find out what something is, sometimes, you must leave your comfort zone and go outside your world to see it for yourself. I found NOAH NY, a non-profit health organization that provides the underserved people of Fort-Liberté, Haiti with access to healthcare. This organization has been running medical/surgical missions to Haiti annually since 2009. Since the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the need and scope of this mission has only increased. Infrastructure, access to healthcare and other basic necessities are still lacking, especially outside the capital. Through Dr. William Lois, chairman of the Department of Surgery at Bronx- Lebanon Hospital in New York City and cochairman of surgery at American University of Antigua Medical School, this group brings family physicians, obstetricians, ophthalmologists and surgeons as well as nurses and pharmacists to the tiny hospital in Fort-Liberté for a week of medical service. This group partners with multiple medical schools including Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, Howard University, Washington D.C., AUA and Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City, to bring more hands to help with the overwhelming need for medical care.

Authors and Affiliations

Robert DeVito, Peter Michael DeVito

Keywords

EP ID EP622566
DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2019.19.003256
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