End of Semester Reflection

As a final exam for the actual class for this trip, we were required to write a 500 word reflection about the course and the trip, what we learned, our expectations, how it's going to affect us, etc. Below is my response to it, I hope you enjoy it. =)

When I first heard about this course, I was very excited about the whole going to another country and working with the people and their healthcare. I made a deal with my friend that if she went, I would go too since I didn’t want to be the only one going that I knew already. I felt that this course could help me put to use what I have been learning in school and to actually help people with my knowledge. So we both signed up and then in the fall the class started. It was very interesting learning about how the country was formed and the different cultures all mixed together into one small amount of land. The more we learned about the country, the more excited I got about the trip actually happening. Part of me is nervous about the clinic work though. I will finally be putting to use stuff that the school has taught me and finally dealing directly with patients. I currently work in a hospital pharmacy so I don’t get any patient contact and I only worked in a community setting for a short time, so this experience will help me a lot and get me used to explaining things in terms that people can understand.

 I feel that the P3 year in pharmacy school is very beneficial to anyone who is going on this trip. Pharmacy Skills lab 5 is where you learn to triage, take blood pressures, do different exams (such as cardiac and respiratory), and do blood glucose. I feel that the school should make a short blood pressure/blood glucose/patient interaction course for anyone going on mission trips through the school. It would be beneficial for the students going that haven’t made it into the P3 year and may not have had experiences doing blood pressure and other exams. Overall I think the school does a decent job at teaching the students how to counsel and interact with patients. It will be very interesting to actually use this knowledge in practice and build my confidence. I feel the experience of this trip could determine the career path that I take. Right now I’m unsure as to what direction I want to go. I keep going back and forth between staff pharmacist, clinical pharmacist, home infusion pharmacist, or managed care. Between this trip and rotations next year, I feel I’ll have many experiences in many fields that I will be able to make an educated decision on what I want to do with my career.

As far as expectations, I’m not really sure what to expect. After hearing some stories from last year’s group, I think it’s going to be filled with some very interesting people and interesting cases. It will definitely be interesting to see how life is down there, rather than just reading about it. Also, it will be nice to actually see how healthcare is different in another country compared to the US. Overall I’m very excited to meet the host families, work as a group to help people to the best of our abilities, see the Mayan ruins, and just see the wonderful country of Belize as a whole.

For anyone who doesn't go to pharmacy school reading this, P3 is the 5th year of Pharmacy school if you started without any previous degrees. It is considered the 3rd Professional year. 

As you can see from the reflection essay, I'm really excited to go on this trip. We leave 1/4/13 and come back 1/18/13. It's getting so close and I'm really excited, I just need to get through final exams which happen next week and the week after, and then enjoy 2 weeks off. I'm super excited =D

Initial Expectations

We just finished our 3rd week of class and I'm really excited to go to Belize. We're currently learning about the culture and the different types of people that live in Belize. It will be interesting to see the vast majority of cultures entwined into one. Also, part of the class involves doing a group presentation about anything related to the tropics, the Belize health system, etc. My group decided to do the etiology or Buruli Ulcer which is a skin infection cause by Mycobacterium ulcerans. If you decide to google it to see what it is, make sure you have a strong stomach. 

From talking about the different activities that we will be doing, it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. We get to visit Mayan ruins and go snorkeling in our down time while working in clinics and going to different schools during the week. It will be really cool to actually apply the information I am learning in lab this year (patient assessment such as blood pressure and blood sugars) and being able to help people. 

Overall I'm really looking forward to this trip to see how health care is in other countries and try and use some of the knowledge I have learned so far at ACPHS to better people's health. 

Now here's a picture to show my excitement and I'll update more later as the class goes on and we get closer to the trip. =)