First Blog from Guatemala - Centro de Salud Barbara

My first attempt at blogging from Guatemala, only 42 days into my trip. I -will try to include lots of pictures since they are more interesting than my ramblings anyway.

I arrived in Guatemala on September 18th and, later that day, started my 2 month clerkship at the Centro de Salud Barbara, located just outside San Juan Sacetepequez, one of the suburbs of Guatemala City.

The Centro de Salud is the headquarters for students from the Francisco Marroquin Medical School during their required 4 month Rural Medicine Rotation.

During their rotation, students serve as the attending doctors in the Centro de Salud, managing patients, stabilizing emergency trauma and attending deliveries. Doctors are available by phone for consult, but do not normally provide care at the Centro.

The Centro de Salud has 2-3 consultation officies, 4 observation beds, one delivery room, and a fairly large post-partum ward, consisting of 8 beds. In addition, there is a basic laboratory for various blood tests, as well as an ultrasound room and ophthalmology room, each of which is open once a week and stationed by local radiologists / ophthalmologists.

There is a dormitory attached to the back of the Centro de Salud, which has been my home away from home for the past 1.5 months. There is one common room with a combined kitchen, living area, connected to 8 bedrooms and, thankfully, 4 bathrooms. The dorm is home for the international medical students, as well as about half of the guatemalan medical students as well as a designated call room for students covering the Centro de Salud at night. Having spent the last 3 years of my life in a dorm, it is really not much of a change.