COM Outlook Winter 2020

CUBA NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 29 Additionally, the students had a private tour of three separate microbiology departments. They saw how and where all the lab exams take place, as well as what the microbes look like upon testing. On their final day, they scrubbed in with plastic surgeons on two burn cases and observed a skin graft procedure. OPHTHALMOLOGY EXPERIENCE Another KPCOM student worked with a Cuban ophthalmolo- gist, assisting with patient examina- tions in the cataract, glaucoma, and retina specialties. By the end of the week, she was well versed in using a funduscope and a slit lamp in order to make accurate diagnostic con- clusions alongside the physician. She also scrubbed in on two pterygium surgeries. During the surgeries, four conjunctival trans- plants took place, with the surgeon dictating what she was doing in both Spanish and English. This was an incredible case because, although pterygium is common in tropical countries, it is rarely found in the United States. On other clinic days, the student worked alongside fifth-year Cuban medical students to evaluate emergency patients. Together, they created a working diagnosis to present to the attend- ing physician. Wallace, the KPCOM’s dean, facilitated a group discussion every evening before dinner that provided an opportunity for the students to discuss that day’s medical encounters. This gave the group members the ability to learn from each specialty and have a well- rounded educational experience. Students in Cuba embark on their medical school education directly after graduating high school. It is a six-year program where students begin seeing patients in their first year. The first two years are spent covering the basic sciences, while the successive four years are divided by specialty, and the students learn via lecture and clinical rotations simultaneously. EMBRACED CULTURE Aside from the medical experi- ences, the students indulged in the culture and daily life of the Cuban people. Local motor taxis, which are small motorcycles with large carriages attached to accommodate four to eight people, provided transportation around the city. Interestingly, motor taxis, horses, and bicycles are the predominant methods of transportation in Cuba. The Cuban students also displayed their hospitality to the KPCOM participants by accompa- nying them around Santa Clara and introducing them to Cuban food and different styles of dance, as well the country’s history. While conditions in the Cuban hospitals were not what we are used to in the United States, the students were in awe at how resourceful the Cuban physicians were. They found that the Cuban doctors wrote prescriptions for medications that were often difficult to obtain in their country. Therefore, the doctors frequently supplemented the pre- scription with a detailed natural remedy that was easily accessible, such as chamomile. Although this was the inaugural collaboration between an American and Cuban medical school, it be- came apparent that it would not be the last. The bonds that were made, and the knowledge that was shared between the doctors and the stu- dents, were truly one of a kind. o Brittany Milo, Jillian Leibowitz, and Allan Barraza are second-year KPCOM students. KPCOM students Tahreem Hashmi and Brittany Milo (in blue scrubs) with physicians from Arnaldo Milian Castro Hospital. STUDENT PARTICIPANTS Allan Barraza Kellen Creech Azhar Ghumra Tahreem Hashmi Snigdha Ila Yara Khalifa Jillian Leibowitz Patrick Mansell Brittany Milo Jyoti Nair Karla Objio Chamine Robince Christy Sanchez Noareen Sheikh McKenna Tierney Shannon Varughese (continued from page 27)