Day 3-4
These last two days we went to the local government run hospital called R.K. Hospital. It is a free hospital that gives free treatment and medicine to the poor and those below the poverty line. (It is basically the Mysore version of Jackson Memorial hospital in Miami.) The conditions in this hospital are very, very different from hospitals in the US. On the basic level, things like equipment, contamination, and infection are a huge issue in this hospital. I will post pictures of the make-shift emergency room so you can see the conditions and lack of resources the physicians here are dealing with. I am in shear aw as to how amazing these physicians are in caring out their duties with such a lack of recourses. As the ICU attending told us, the conditions are very dirty yet the people here have a very strong immunity because they are used to living in unsanitary conditions to where they sometimes make miraculous recoveries from very serious infections.
So on Monday (day 3) we spent most of our time observing and shadowing in the MICU. It was there where I watched somebody die for the first time in my life. All but 4 of the 12 patients in that MICU were there for Organophosphate poisoning (something you do no see at all in the US yet is extremely common here due to easy availability of organophosphates) The patient we saw die was in the MICU for organophosphate poisoning. He had been hospitalized for I believe 3 weeks during which he acquired ventilator associated pneumonia and died from septic shock. We watched him crash and they did CPR and used Epi to bring his heart rate back up. Eventually they declared him dead because they could no longer feel any pulse and he was brain dead because he had no pupillary reaction to light. Defiantly a somber moment. We didn’t spend much time at this hospital today. After about 2 hours in the MICU we left the hospital.
Tuesday 7/2 (day 3)
These last two days we went to the local government run hospital called R.K. Hospital. It is a free hospital that gives free treatment and medicine to the poor and those below the poverty line. (It is basically the Mysore version of Jackson Memorial hospital in Miami.) The conditions in this hospital are very, very different from hospitals in the US. On the basic level, things like equipment, contamination, and infection are a huge issue in this hospital. I will post pictures of the make-shift emergency room so you can see the conditions and lack of resources the physicians here are dealing with. I am in shear aw as to how amazing these physicians are in caring out their duties with such a lack of recourses. As the ICU attending told us, the conditions are very dirty yet the people here have a very strong immunity because they are used to living in unsanitary conditions to where they sometimes make miraculous recoveries from very serious infections.
So on Monday (day 3) we spent most of our time observing and shadowing in the MICU. It was there where I watched somebody die for the first time in my life. All but 4 of the 12 patients in that MICU were there for Organophosphate poisoning (something you do no see at all in the US yet is extremely common here due to easy availability of organophosphates) The patient we saw die was in the MICU for organophosphate poisoning. He had been hospitalized for I believe 3 weeks during which he acquired ventilator associated pneumonia and died from septic shock. We watched him crash and they did CPR and used Epi to bring his heart rate back up. Eventually they declared him dead because they could no longer feel any pulse and he was brain dead because he had no pupillary reaction to light. Defiantly a somber moment. We didn’t spend much time at this hospital today. After about 2 hours in the MICU we left the hospital.
Tuesday 7/2 (day 3)
Today was an eventful day. We spent most of the day shadowing Dr. Mukesh, an oncologist. Dr. Mukesh is one of the best physicians I have ever met, he was great to learn from, extremely knowledgable and loved to teach. We talked about everything, from cancer treatment to religion and Eastern philosophy. Great guy to hang out with and amazing physician to learn from! Anyway, in the US we are supposed to spend minimum 15-20 minutes per patient. Very different in India, because there are SOOO many people at this hospital that the physicians spends maybe two or three minutes with each patient. Only when Dr. Mukesh makes the initial diagnosis of cancer does he spend 20-30mins with patient because that is a serious time. What I learned shadowing an oncologist today- if you like forming a deep, long term relationship with your patients, oncology is for you. However, be prepared to lose a good number of patients. You can not take lose too personally or you will not do well in oncology.
So, basically today was patient after patient after patient, and the line is very long and everyone is extremely eager to see the doctor. Everyone crowds in the room, breathing over each others neck, crowding the patient and the doctor as the doctor is performing the patient consultation. Hall ways were so crowded, you couldn’t even pass through. There is no privacy at all (except during pelvic exams). Aside from shadowing Dr. Mukesh, we also went into the minor surgery ward. Minor surgery basically deals with small traumas, putting on fresh bandages, removing stitches/staples, and treating abscesses/infections. It was absolutely the most jaw dropping 2 hours of my life. We saw some horrific infections- 2 people with diabetic foot infections all the way to the bone (osteomyelitis) who needed amputation but did not want to consent to amputation. We saw a case of leprosy that shocked both me and Alex, yet is apparently very common ailment seen at the hospital. I told the Indian medical students that in the US I will probably never see leprosy ever in my life, and they were shocked saying they see multiple cases every day.
Very eye opening and intense experience these last two days. These are the only 2 days we are spending at RK Hospital. I think the greatest thing I will get out of visiting this hospital is how they are able to help so many people with so few resources. We are truly spoiled in the US compared to India. The physicians here seem almost super human in dealing with the shear number and severity of cases per day with little to no recourses to help their patients. Their clinical skills are amazing. With no money to order labs and images, they are able to perform very detailed and accurate physical exams to determine diagnosis.
Make shift ER rounds. Almost no equipment at all in this ER. They didnt even have heart rate monitors. The electricity kept turning on and off.
Outside of RK hospital.
Mysore Medical College across from RK Hospital.
Patient waiting in waiting area before hospital hours.
So, basically today was patient after patient after patient, and the line is very long and everyone is extremely eager to see the doctor. Everyone crowds in the room, breathing over each others neck, crowding the patient and the doctor as the doctor is performing the patient consultation. Hall ways were so crowded, you couldn’t even pass through. There is no privacy at all (except during pelvic exams). Aside from shadowing Dr. Mukesh, we also went into the minor surgery ward. Minor surgery basically deals with small traumas, putting on fresh bandages, removing stitches/staples, and treating abscesses/infections. It was absolutely the most jaw dropping 2 hours of my life. We saw some horrific infections- 2 people with diabetic foot infections all the way to the bone (osteomyelitis) who needed amputation but did not want to consent to amputation. We saw a case of leprosy that shocked both me and Alex, yet is apparently very common ailment seen at the hospital. I told the Indian medical students that in the US I will probably never see leprosy ever in my life, and they were shocked saying they see multiple cases every day.
Very eye opening and intense experience these last two days. These are the only 2 days we are spending at RK Hospital. I think the greatest thing I will get out of visiting this hospital is how they are able to help so many people with so few resources. We are truly spoiled in the US compared to India. The physicians here seem almost super human in dealing with the shear number and severity of cases per day with little to no recourses to help their patients. Their clinical skills are amazing. With no money to order labs and images, they are able to perform very detailed and accurate physical exams to determine diagnosis.
Make shift ER rounds. Almost no equipment at all in this ER. They didnt even have heart rate monitors. The electricity kept turning on and off.
Outside of RK hospital.
Mysore Medical College across from RK Hospital.
Patient waiting in waiting area before hospital hours.
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