Every year during winter break, first year QU Physician Assistant students have the opportunity to travel to the Puerto Plata region of the Dominican Republic to work in community-based chronic care clinics established by the organization Health Horizons International. This year, six first year PA students, myself included, spent a week during this past January participating in this Medical Service Trip alongside five Connecticut family physicians. During the trip we had the opportunity to set up clinics in communities such as Negro Melo, Severet, and Pancho Mateo.
In each community we set up our clinic area in churches, homes, or community centers. During our time spent in the clinics we had the opportunity to practice our clinical skills by volunteering in in-take and triage stations, running lab tests, and filling prescriptions in the pharmacy. We were fortunate enough to have two fluent Spanish speaking students with us to assist with the in-take station!
While in Puerto Plata, we also had the wonderful opportunity of observing the physicians as they interacted with the patients. At this time, we also got the chance to practice our interviewing and history taking skills as well as an opportunity to perform some focused physicals with physician supervision. During my time on this trip I gained the experience of working with medical interpreters to interact with patients. This was a great experience as I realize that I will be working with non-English speaking patients as well as interpreters quite often when I get out into practice as a PA.
During our time in the Puerto Plata we also had the opportunity to interact with Tufts University students who were carrying out a community health research project in the same communities where we were running our clinics. The QU PA Program takes a very inter-disciplinary approach to teaching their students about medicine, patient interaction, and patient education. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to interact with these community health researchers as we were able to discuss our different experiences. The Tufts students were able to learn more about our interactions in the clinics and the QU PA students were able to learn more about the views that our patients had regarding health and healthcare. This Medical Service Trip was one of the best experiences I have had during the first year of the PA Program so far and I highly recommend that future students look into participating in this experience.
In each community we set up our clinic area in churches, homes, or community centers. During our time spent in the clinics we had the opportunity to practice our clinical skills by volunteering in in-take and triage stations, running lab tests, and filling prescriptions in the pharmacy. We were fortunate enough to have two fluent Spanish speaking students with us to assist with the in-take station!
While in Puerto Plata, we also had the wonderful opportunity of observing the physicians as they interacted with the patients. At this time, we also got the chance to practice our interviewing and history taking skills as well as an opportunity to perform some focused physicals with physician supervision. During my time on this trip I gained the experience of working with medical interpreters to interact with patients. This was a great experience as I realize that I will be working with non-English speaking patients as well as interpreters quite often when I get out into practice as a PA.
During our time in the Puerto Plata we also had the opportunity to interact with Tufts University students who were carrying out a community health research project in the same communities where we were running our clinics. The QU PA Program takes a very inter-disciplinary approach to teaching their students about medicine, patient interaction, and patient education. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to interact with these community health researchers as we were able to discuss our different experiences. The Tufts students were able to learn more about our interactions in the clinics and the QU PA students were able to learn more about the views that our patients had regarding health and healthcare. This Medical Service Trip was one of the best experiences I have had during the first year of the PA Program so far and I highly recommend that future students look into participating in this experience.
--Kaitlyn Kasinskas Physician Assistant 2013
