I've always enjoyed learning about hematology and oncology so decided to do an elective in it. I completed the elective in Ponce, Puerto Rico. I was placed with a physician that had a private office but also went to multiple hospitals to see patients as well. The nature of hematology, oncology is that it is a lot of counseling and follow up appointments just to check on how people are doing. The rotation itself wasn't extremely hands on because the physician adjusts treatment plans based on how the patient is responding to it. I was able to see a lot of bone marrow biopsies which was something new I had not seen before. It was a great learning experience because as the physician was describing things to the patients, I was listening and learning right along with them. The physician I rotated with also did clinical research which allowed me to see how that process works. He also presented at many events such as companies raising awareness about different types of cancers and risk factors.
One main goal of going to Puerto Rico for some rotations was to improve my medical spanish and that I did. Even though I studied Spanish throughout college, I never learned words like antibody or platelet. I'm much more confident in speaking Spanish to my patients and being able to understand them as well. I believe that everyone should be able to receive the same medical care regardless of the language they speak, but without being able to understand the patient this is very difficult. Most hospitals have a translator phone or interpreters that come but nothing replaces being able to connect with your patient with the same language. This is why I am so thankful that I speak 2 languages!
