Medicine & Healthcare
If you want experience in health and medicine even without advanced or special skills, or if you are a pre-university or elective medical student or a health professional, these programs need your help.
Be involved in the day-to-day running of a hospital
The Medicine & Healthcare experience and observation program is tailored, where possible, to a volunteer's level of relevant experience and interests. Be involved in the day-to-day running of a hospital, observing or directly assisting doctors and nurses.
This program provides invaluable preparation for your future career
Assisting in this Medicine and Healthcare program is an invaluable preparation for a career in medicine and will enable you to broaden your medical experience in the context of medicine in a developing country. You will experience the stark contrast between Western medical practice and the realities of medicine in developing countries. Sadly, you will also see medical conditions that have remained untreated and have developed to an advanced pathological stage uncommon in developed countries.
Every day was an exciting, new experience at the hospital. I got to learn, see, and do things I never would have been able to do anywhere else. I know that the lessons and memories I’ve gained from living in Santa Elena will really help me later in life, as will my enhanced knowledge of healthcare and the Spanish language.
∼ Molly Josephson / Moorestown, USA
NEW!
During November & December 2010:
Medical Expedition visiting remote indigenous communities
needs volunteers!
- Medical students, nurses and interns from related fields
- Volunteers who like teaching & turoring children
and youth and work in related humanitarian fields
This is a humanitarian & medical expedition riverbased and deep into the Gran Sabana national park. On this exceptional assignment a team of doctors with diverse specialties, nurses and assistants and educators will be visiting remote indigenous villages. The team will bring diagnosis, treatment and health education to villagers who otherwise do not receive any. This is an exiting opportunity to practice and learn in the field. You will be involved in a important mission while learning about indigenous cultures. Everything from camping accommodation and daily food preparation will be taken care of by the team. Transport will be on curiaras (boats made from trees) using the dense network of rivers in the region. The team will also distribute fee medicine, clothes and school materials for the kids. If you want to know more about this great opportunity feel free to contact us. The program will be in November & December 2010.
The general hospitals of Santa Elena
The general Venezuelan hospital covers emergency, pediatric ward, gynecology, primary attention (after birth giving) and immunology. There is also a Cuban hospital which covers emergency, general medicine, intensive care, ophthalmology, physiotherapy, odontology and surgery.
The medical program is available for elective students, medical students with free holiday time, pre-university students and also students taking, or planning to take, specialist medical courses such as biomedical science, nursing and physiotherapy. You will find that your new colleagues and the patients appreciate the fact that you have come a long way to offer practical help.
Possible Activities
Volunteers taking part in the medicine and healthcare program will work at the local hospital in Santa Elena. More than anything they are able to observe and shadow doctors and nurses at their work. With adequate knowledge and language skills they will be able to take on their own tasks. Volunteers can help with general caretaking, comforting patients, observing nurses' daily routine and learning through experience about a typical Latin American hospital. You can assist with general care duties such as bandaging and taking blood pressure.
You might find yourself, for example, watching a caesarean in the operating theatre or working with a doctor on his rounds. You can help out in simple but practical ways, vastly increasing your own knowledge and understanding of medical practice. You can use the skills and experience that you have already acquired in the context of medicine in a developing country.
We welcome anyone thinking of taking up nursing or midwifery or already training to be a nurse or a midwife. As a physiotherapy student you can work with area disabled children and adults to rehabilitate and lead as normal lives as possible.
Requirements
The key requirements for a medical volunteer or intern are initiative, enthusiasm, and readiness to work in unfamiliar circumstances, a minimum time commitment of 3 weeks and basic Spanish language skills.
This placement is particularly suited to medical students in their first to fourth year, and for electives. More specialized skills will allow for more speicailized activities (an advanced level of experience, conversational Spanish language skills and a 2 months minimum time commitment open up more opportunities).
The hospital requires a doctor’s certificate from you with the following tests: faeces, urine, uraemia, crestinaemia, complete haematological test, glucose, HIV, VDRL. This is basically to state that you are healthy, free of contagious diseases and parasites.
Needed Supplies
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What you can donate to the hospital:
- White bandages
- Common medicine
- Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory (such as Ibuprofen)
- Cotton wool
- Hypodermic syringes 20 cc, 10 cc
- Hospital scrubs for surgeons
- basic surgical equipment
- Green operation cloth
- Medical gloves
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Availability
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