Taking Chances

Hello friends, family and faculty!

I’ve never considered myself to be a particularly adventurous individual. Making the decision to partake in the Thailand International APPE consisted of a great deal of self contemplation and encouragement from friends and family who felt strongly that I should embrace an amazing opportunity such as this. To be completely honest, in the months leading up to my departure, I was full of dread, regret and anxiety about my decision to spend four weeks in a foreign country, especially considering that the trip would be taking place very close to a critical time in the academic year for obtaining a residency and would draw me away from time spent working on my applications.  On the day of my departure to Thailand, I certainly felt excited but also highly concerned about whether or not I had made the right decision to go. 

Having completed almost all of the experience now, it probably comes as no big surprise to readers that I strongly believe that I DID make the right decision for myself in coming to Thailand.  

Firstly, learning about the practice of healthcare in a country vastly different from where I received my own training has revealed numerous similarities and differences that have altered the way I see health achievement and maintenance. I was intrigued by the coverage options provided by the government of Thailand and the extent that they go to ensure adequate access to care. Despite challenges in affording to provide healthcare for the country, the government values this service so strongly that they do all that they can to manage the burden. 

I found it interesting how they choose to manage costs, one methodology being to promote increased use of herbal supplements and traditional Thai medicine. In the United States, medicine is only considered worthwhile if large scale randomized control trials have demonstrated non-inferiority to conventional options. In Thailand, the traditional healing options are considered to be effective because of their long term reliability, overall safety, and via efficacy evaluations of outcomes different 
from what would be evaluated in the United States. I enjoyed learning about how Traditional Thai Medicine is practiced through visualizing techniques and attending the herbal medicine farm. This experience opened up my mind to alternative treatment options and that the most appropriate therapy may not be a conventional, westernized medicine. I found this especially true for treating pain syndromes where there certainly is no room for a one size fits all approach.  

In my experiences prior to the Thailand rotation, I had many interactions with patients where a language barrier prevented ideal communication from occurring. In Thailand, a communication barrier existed in almost every conversation I had. Throughout these four weeks, I have been given the chance to continue practice in handling these encounters in which both parties do not share the same first language. Continuous interactions like this have improved my patience and given me skills in fine tuning my word choice to ensure my message is clear and concise for the person on the other side of the conversation. These skills in communication that I have gained will surely help me in understanding my patients and guaranteeing that I deliver information effectively to them when they do not speak English as a first language. Only practice and humility could have helped me in developing this skill set and this rotation provided that to me. 

One of the biggest benefits I achieved from this rotation is curiosity and confidence in traveling and experiencing new cultures. By putting myself out there to take part in the unknowns of a foreign rotation, I discovered so much more about another culture, healthcare and myself. I’m itching to come home and educate family and friends about what I was able to learn during my time here and I’m already seek out new chances to travel again. I feel that this is an important mindset to have as a student and future healthcare professional as it helps to break down boundaries between cultures and foster increased awareness of others.  

I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and for the people who encouraged me to do something uncharacteristic. Thailand has inspired me to continue pushing my boundaries and living outside my comfort zone. 

Thank you for reading!  
Kayla Harris