I feel extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to spend one month in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca with CFHI’s women’s reproductive health program. I knew I wanted to do an international rotation during my 4th year of medical school, but I didn’t have much time to plan one and wanted to make sure that whatever program I did was a well organized clinical experience with a reputable organization that is socially responsible and economically just, and I felt this program fit that description.

I had a lot of specific goals in mind when deciding to do this program in Oaxaca with CFHI. In 4 weeks, I feel I was able to meet all of my goals through this program. They included:
1) To broaden my knowledge about the Mexican public health system and the health-related strengths and challenges encountered in Oaxaca, especially pertaining to indigenous populations.
2) To gain clinical skills in women’s reproductive health, especially in rural and low-resource settings.
3) To increase my Spanish language proficiency in the clinical setting, with a particular emphasis on medical Spanish.

A typical day consisted of going to a “centro de salud”, a small community health clinic in a rural community near Puerto Escondido. Each week I would spend time in a different centro de salud with a different precepting doctpr. The clinics are very small, usually with about 2 exam rooms and a triage area with some boxes with files of medical records. Two doctors, 1 nurse and 1 clerical worker typical staff the clinics and they have a small pharmacy attached.

Everyday in clinic my precepting doctors and I saw a big variety of illnesses. The most common presentations involve pregnant women for prenatal care, reproductive health issues including STDs and especially HPV and cervical cancer; followed by the usual upper respiratory and pulmonary infections (including TB); gastroenteritis/diarrheal illnesses, chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia; injuries like lacerations and fractures. The precepting doctors were all very nice, and gave great feedback and supervision. It was such great practice to do so many histories and physical exams in Spanish. By my third week, I definitely felt that I could conduct a medical history in Spanish competently.

CFHI also set up wonderful supplemental private Spanish lessons that are tailored to review grammar, as well as focus on medical Spanish. In addition, a comfortable homestay was organized for me through CFHI, and worked out extremely well.

I am very grateful for the incredible learning experience I have had in Oaxaca, both in the clinical setting as well as in the daily life setting. Seeing first-hand how medicine is practiced here has given me valuable opportunities to reflect on my own clinical practice as well as my values in practicing medicine. Overall, I think the most valuable thing I am taking away from this month is a positive attitude and enthusiasm for meeting new people in a place as beautiful as Oaxaca.