April - UCC
For the month of April I bought an Agenda. Everyone here has these great leatherbound books that they use to write in and take notes. I was jealous so I went out and got one. It is brown leather with maps of Nicaragua and various cultura photos inside. It is the main reason I can go back and have an actual record of what I did, what course I attended, or what cases were in the hospital.
For instance there was a spay and neuter course called " Rapid Microsurgery Techniques" given by a group of Cosatarican veterinarians. It was a 2 day seminar with the highlight comming where the faculty got to particpate and sterilize roughly 30 animals on the second day of the course applying the techniques that we had learned. It was very cool.
Aside from the small animals I also had a chance to work with some large animals at the university farm. This course was provided by the instructors and delt with basic animal handling skills for the students. The professors and I went out a day ahead to prepare for the course. I had a chance to palpate various cows ( yes with a glove that had a very long sleeve) to determine if they were pregnant or not. This is definately a skill that comes with practice.
In addition to these courses the university has a clinic that sees a lot of very interesting cases. The thing I like most is that some of the cases are completely not what I would expect to see in the States. Such as the growing puppy with protien deficiency. Most of the food that the animals eat here is prepared at home. There are also not many comercial foods here and the quality of these foods is questionable. Also getting to practice using all of my senses to diagnose a disease is a skill not necessarily taught in the states or even one that can be developed because there is so much technology readily avaliable.
All in all the clinic was a welcome distraction when I was frustrated by the inertia of my project. I got to learn and practice as well as share my knowledge and skills with the other veterinarians and students here.
For instance there was a spay and neuter course called " Rapid Microsurgery Techniques" given by a group of Cosatarican veterinarians. It was a 2 day seminar with the highlight comming where the faculty got to particpate and sterilize roughly 30 animals on the second day of the course applying the techniques that we had learned. It was very cool.
Aside from the small animals I also had a chance to work with some large animals at the university farm. This course was provided by the instructors and delt with basic animal handling skills for the students. The professors and I went out a day ahead to prepare for the course. I had a chance to palpate various cows ( yes with a glove that had a very long sleeve) to determine if they were pregnant or not. This is definately a skill that comes with practice.
In addition to these courses the university has a clinic that sees a lot of very interesting cases. The thing I like most is that some of the cases are completely not what I would expect to see in the States. Such as the growing puppy with protien deficiency. Most of the food that the animals eat here is prepared at home. There are also not many comercial foods here and the quality of these foods is questionable. Also getting to practice using all of my senses to diagnose a disease is a skill not necessarily taught in the states or even one that can be developed because there is so much technology readily avaliable.
All in all the clinic was a welcome distraction when I was frustrated by the inertia of my project. I got to learn and practice as well as share my knowledge and skills with the other veterinarians and students here.
posted by Nneka | 6/20/2006 07:12:00 PM
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