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The Stethoscope and the Machete

My Journey Through the World of Humanitarian Medicine

  • Lumbini Medical College
  • Butaro District Hospital
  • Afghanistan
  • Maternity Hospital for Gaza
  • Princess Marina Hospital
  • Kyangwali Refugee Settlement
  • Return to Bocas
  • The Panama Journals

Category: Princess Marina Hospital

The more I learn about health inequality, the more I realize that the underpinning of inequality is tied to imperfect social structures, infrastructure deficits, and issues of governance. I could run around treating patients for a hundred years without ever impacting the true root of inequality, and the origin of poor healthcare has to be addressed farther back than at the bedside. So despite my love for the jungle, cold showers, and the romance of resource-limited medicine, this attachment at the University of Botswana-UPenn partnership was instrumental to my understanding of global health.

A two-year administrative process that started when I first arrived in Philadelphia led to six weeks as a visiting resident at Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone. Exposed to a new world in which I had far less to teach than I did to learn, I treated patients, learned about frameworks, and developed a far deeper understanding for why you can’t approach two systems in the same way.

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The Recipe for Change

The Recipe for Change

By juan.lopez, September 25, 2024
Posted in: Princess Marina Hospital

I was one of four Penn trainees visiting Botswana. Alongside me in the luxury apartment were three medical students. One was a PhD with cardiology aspirations, who would accept no…

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The Recipe for Change
Extubation Intubation

Extubation Intubation

By juan.lopez, September 25, 2024
Posted in: Princess Marina Hospital

I kept my usual pep as I sauntered into the ICU the next morning. I had spent some time reflecting on my circumstances and how I could help. In truth,…

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Extubation Intubation
La Resistance

La Resistance

By juan.lopez, September 18, 2024
Posted in: Princess Marina Hospital

When I was in medical school, I got a summer research scholarship to join a lab at the University of Toronto. I worked under a seasoned and clinically retired surgeon…

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La Resistance
The ICU

The ICU

By juan.lopez, September 18, 2024
Posted in: Princess Marina Hospital

After three weeks on the inpatient wards, I felt a longing for my biggest passion in medicine. So, after some strategic phone calls and well-placed visits to the intensive care…

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The ICU
Frameworks

Frameworks

By juan.lopez, September 11, 2024
Posted in: Princess Marina Hospital

Over the next several days I became more familiar with both the system and my team. We had six students in total, five ladies and one lad. After watching them…

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Frameworks
Long Call

Long Call

By juan.lopez, September 11, 2024
Posted in: Princess Marina Hospital

Admitting patients to the hospital is my favourite part of internal medicine. The first 24 hours of a patient’s journey in the hospital are typically the most active, as medical…

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Long Call
Princess Marina

Princess Marina

By juan.lopez, September 4, 2024
Posted in: Princess Marina Hospital

My first full day on the wards felt like a dunk in cold water. I knew I would feel useless, and boy did I live up to expectation. The infrastructure…

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Princess Marina
Dumela Botswana

Dumela Botswana

By juan.lopez, September 4, 2024
Posted in: Princess Marina Hospital

The more I learn about health inequality, the more I realize that the underpinning of inequality is tied to imperfect social structures, infrastructure deficits, and issues of governance. I could…

Read More

Dumela Botswana

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