Page 35 - COM Outlook - Winter 2013

35 COM Outlook . Winter 2013
it is to have medical professionals that
understand the technology, which is a
necessary component of patient care.
Because I’m still completing theM.S.B.I.
program, I decided to earn the degree prior
to entering a residency program. While I
am passionate about entering a residency
in physical medicine and rehabilitation, I’m
fascinated by the field of informatics. This
decision, in turn, has opened up several
other opportunities that aren’t often
considered upon graduating frommedical
school. For my master’s capstone project,
I am continuing some personal research
in using 3D printers and open-source
software to produce inexpensive plastic
models constructed from their CT and
MRI imaging. Amongst other uses, this will
allow physicians to provide their patients
with personalized and detailed physical
models that illustrate their injuries.
What has been the most enjoyable aspect
of your NSU-COM educational experience?
The most challenging and unexpectedly
educational experience I had while a
medical student was as president of the
college’s International Medical Outreach
Club. Planning the 2010 Ecuador medical
outreach trip became a full-time job on
top of my medical studies. When our trip
was postponed due to Ecuadorian political
problems, this then became an exercise in
crisis management because it required me
to develop my project management and
team leadership skills—something crucial
for all physicians.
I know you were involved in several
international selective rotations during
your fourth year. Please describe these
experiences and explain why you felt
compelled to participate in them. My
first international medical volunteer
experience was as a translator and medical
assistant with the college’s medical
outreach trip to Ecuador. This experience
encouragedme to improvemy medical and
conversational Spanish and illustrated that
the fundamentals of medical diagnosis
and treatment are the same regardless of
context. I also went to Ecuador in 2008,
prior to entering NSU-COM.
In 2011, the Department of Rural
Medicine began a partnership with the
Argentinian medical school Universidad
Barcelo, which allows several NSU-COM
students to complete their rural medicine
core rotations there each year alongside
Barcelo medical students in the desert
town of La Rioja, Argentina. During our
stay, we attended classes and rotated
alongside students in their last year at
Universidad Barcelo, who were also on
their rural medicine rotations.
For my May 2012 rural selective, I
wanted to return to the city of Pisco, Peru,
where I’d previously volunteered in 2008.
In August 2007, Pisco was devastated by
an 8.0-magnitude earthquake centered
nearby. Through my connections with the
group Pisco Sin Fronteras, I arranged my
rural selective rotation at Hospital San Juan
de Dios in Pisco. This hospital lost most of
its facilities during the quake and is the
main public hospital for the city. I worked
alongside the interns on the medicine and
surgery services during this month.
I also lived and volunteered with Pisco
Sin Fronteras during this month, providing
medical care for other volunteers and
assisting in projects ranging from electrical
wiring to improvements on their biodiesel
reactor and revising evacuation plans. I
found that practicing medicine with these
volunteers from around the world was a
far more challenging and rewarding rural
medicine experience than my time in the
hospital. My evenings were frequently
spent treating and aiding other travelers,
even performing house calls to their bunks.
Patient care often required a headlamp
and consulting a battered copy of Where
There Is No Doctor.
I enjoy these kinds of travels not
only for the opportunity to practice and
learn medicine in a new context, but as
an opportunity to learn the logistics and
leadership skills necessary for these trips.
All these experiences have translated well
to my rotations and clinical experiences
in the United States, which I believe have
made me a more capable and competent
physician overall.
Why are you so willing to share your
experiences with COM Outlook? I wanted
to share my story and plans with the NSU-
COM community for several reasons. Many
students have anxiety about stepping
outside of the normal track for a young
physician. I’ve had the privilege of working
alongside and learning from several
physicians who bucked this stereotype,
including my own parents. They’ve all
encouraged me to follow my passions and
instincts. I hope I can also provide this
encouragement to my colleagues and to
future physicians.
I knowmy colleagues and classmates are
more thanmerelymedical students. We are
artists, engineers, musicians, humanitarians,
tinkerers, entrepreneurs, philosophers,
travelers, and citizens of the world. This
diversity of experiences and interests
allows us to engage our patients not only
as their care providers, but as friends. Our
experiences and interests outside of clinical
medicine also allowus to innovate in patient
care and approach difficult problems with
a fresh perspective. It is critical that we
maintain these facets to our lives outside
of the classrooms and hospitals.
Dr . KK Pandya
“I know my colleagues and classmates are more than merely medical students.
We are artists, engineers, musicians, humanitarians, tinkerers, entrepreneurs,
philosophers, travelers, and citizens of the world. - Dr. KK Pandya