Clinic Recaps

During our 2 weeks in the Spiti Region of the Himalayan Mountains, we saw over 1300 patients in 6 villages, setting up clinics for multiple days in most places. On our trip there were 2 internalists, 1 ophthalmologist, 1 pediatrician, 1 ER resident, 1 dentist, and 1 nurse that supervised about 25 medical and dental students. We took turns rotating through the different stations with the prized stations being internal medicine and pediatrics for the main reason of having so much hands-on experience. The physicians let us do all the work, including interviewing, physical exam, presentation, and working through diagnoses. The amount of autonomy that we had allowed me to advance significantly on my clinical skills to the point that most of us were operating on a MS3 level! It was incredible.

On the mornings of clinics, we would set-up the tents around 8:30 am and start seeing patients at 9. Patients would first come to the triage tent where their vitals and chief complaint was taken before they were directed to the appropriate tent. For most of the patients, we were able to diagnose them and provide them with about a month's worth of medication with a referral to the closest doctor or to the hospital (if the situation was more serious). Some patients just wanted reassurance that their problems were not life-threatening or how they could change things in their daily lives to make the problems better (ie - sun-induced headaches, acid reflux). On occasion, we saw several seriously ill patients and lost one child that came to us in severe distress. It was very emotional at times with patients breaking down in front of us out of both happiness and sadness.

Clinic days were definitely highlights from our trip. Add the breathtaking backdrop to the clinic scene and it was almost surreal. Many days it was hard to believe where we were and what we were doing. Absolutely incredible!