{"id":67557,"date":"2015-08-12T10:26:05","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T14:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=67557"},"modified":"2019-06-07T11:16:24","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T15:16:24","slug":"global-lessons-in-care-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/global-lessons-in-care-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons in Global Health Care, Collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"
The heat and humidity were oppressive and the smell of car fumes mingled with food stalls and garbage as buses carrying UCF medical and nursing faculty and students wound through the narrow downtown streets of San Francisco De Macoris in the northern Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n
Anticipation was high as the group reached an elementary school that would serve as the day\u2019s makeshift clinic for a rural village 30 minutes from the city. College of Medicine faculty member Dr. Judy Simms-Cendan led the 49-person medical mission team July 23-31, the fourth trip she has made as director of the college\u2019s global health initiatives.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s team was the largest to date and included UCF medical, nursing and engineering students, 海角直播 of Florida pharmacy students, their faculty, community dentists and doctors, and a pastor. During the eight days, the team cared for 864 patients, 300 more than last year, in six impoverished communities with virtually no health care services. And they worked together, bringing to life the team approach to care that Simms-Cendan and others model at the medical school.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have learners at different levels, fourth years (students) teaching second years, faculty from various backgrounds and community practitioners to help our students see and learn on their feet and see the relevance of what they\u2019ve learned in the classroom,\u201d said Simms-Cendan.<\/p>\n
The interprofessional approach to medicine is also something that health experts in the United States have been advocating more and more to help enhance patient care. The trip to the Dominican Republic offered UCF students a chance to live that team approach in some very trying conditions.<\/p>\n
The elementary classrooms-turned clinic rooms were dark and sparsely furnished so the team brought in its own generator to ensure constant electricity for light, dental compressors and the iPads they used for completing electronic health records. The goal is to track patients, assess their progress year after year and keep records of medications. The information will be useful for future visiting medical teams needing patients\u2019 medical histories.<\/p>\n